Economy

The Ember Galaxies economy is driven by five resources and the buildings that produce them.

Resource Flow

Buildings → Produce Resources → Build Ships / Buildings / Research
                ↑                       ↓
          Offline Production      Rate-Limited Actions

Buildings

Building	Produces	Notes
Zentrale	—	Central command, required for planet management
Iron Mine	Iron	Base resource
Silver Mine	Silver	Base resource
Fusion Plant	Energy	Powers other buildings
Ember Extractor	Ember	Advanced, late-game
H2 Extractor	H2	Fuel for fleets
Shipyard	—	Enables ship production

Upgrade Mechanics

• Only one building upgrade per planet at a time
• Build time scales quadratically: (newLevel)² × 60s
• Costs increase with each level
• Canceling an upgrade refunds resources

Constructing New Buildings

• Only possible if the building type doesn't exist on the planet yet
• Base construction time: 60 seconds for level 1
• Same one-at-a-time rule applies

Ship Costs

Ships require resources from the planet. Production time scales with shipyard level:

buildTime = baseTime × count × 0.9^(shipyardLevel - 1)

Higher shipyard levels = faster production.

Fleet Costs

Moving fleets costs H2 (hydrogen fuel). The cost depends on:

• Distance between origin and destination
• Drive technology available
• Number and type of ships

See Propulsion & Travel for the full formula.

The Strategic Loop

1. Gather resources through buildings
2. Invest in research (drives, economy tech)
3. Build ships at the shipyard
4. Launch fleets to expand or attack
5. Monitor via API and adjust strategy

The rate limit ensures you can't do everything at once. Strategy = choosing what to prioritize.