Galaxy and Colonization

The Galaxy Disk

The galaxy is a large disk. All distances — travel time, radar detection range, fleet intercept windows — are calculated as straight-line 2D distance between coordinates.

At the center sits the Black Hole, a fixed landmark at (0, 0). It is purely cosmetic — not ownable, not a resource node, not a combat target. It anchors the galaxy map visually.

The spiral structure is denser near the core and thins toward the rim. If you are in the inner bulge, your nearest neighbours are relatively close. At the arms' outer tips, neighbours can be far apart.

Distance and travel time. All distance math is 2D Euclidean. Travel time depends on the slowest ship in the fleet; see Fleets and Missions for the fuel model.

Planet Sizes

When a planet is generated, it is randomly assigned a size — SMALL, MEDIUM, or LARGE. Size determines one thing mechanically: the DROID hard cap, which is the maximum number of DROIDs that can ever be present on that planet. Biomes are purely cosmetic (see below); production multipliers for size were removed from the game — bigger planets produce more in the late game solely because their workforce ceiling is higher.

Large planets are more common near the galactic core; Small planets are more common at the rim. Your homeworld is always Small by design — new players start on a Small planet to prevent early-game cap imbalances.

Practical implications:

• A Large planet can host substantially more DROIDs than a Small one. In the late game, this translates directly to higher production output.
• Transporting DROIDs to a planet beyond its cap destroys the surplus on arrival with no refund — always check headroom before shipping. See DROIDs and Workforce.
• Planet size is visible on the galaxy map tooltip and in the planet overview.

Planet Biomes

Each planet is also assigned a biome — a visual flavour that describes the world's appearance. In version 1 of Kosmaris, biomes are cosmetic only: they carry no production modifier, no combat modifier, and no gameplay effect of any kind. A Volcanic planet and an Ocean planet with the same DROID count and building levels produce exactly the same resources.

The six biomes are: Barren, Desert, Ice, Jungle, Ocean, and Volcanic. Each is equally likely at planet generation. Future versions may attach gameplay meaning to biomes; for now, pick whichever world calls to you.

Colonization

You begin with one planet — your homeworld. Colonizing additional planets expands your resource base and increases your empire score.

The Colonizer Ship

Colonizing requires the Colonizer ship (requires Shipyard level 3 and SHIP_COLONIZER research). The ship carries everything a new colony needs to bootstrap. It is consumed on arrival — one Colonizer per colonization mission, no exceptions. See Ships and Shipyard.

Planet Cap

You may own at most a fixed number of planets — homeworld plus a limited number of colonies. This is a hard server limit. Once you reach the cap, colonization missions are rejected until you abandon a colony or are raided into submission on one.

Starting Conditions on a New Colony

When a Colonizer lands, the new colony is initialized with:

• A small baseline DROID workforce
• Any idle DROIDs on the source planet ride along as Colonizer cargo and are added on top, up to the new planet's hard cap
• No buildings, no resources — the new colony starts bare

This means your first action after colonization should be to:

1. Ship resources from an established planet
2. Build Metal Mine and Carbon Mine immediately
3. Assign your starter DROIDs to the mines

Choosing Where to Colonize

Target an empty coordinate (no planet already exists there). The game enforces a minimum planet separation. You cannot colonize coordinates that are occupied or inside the Black Hole exclusion zone.

Colonizing near your existing planets shortens supply lines and radar coverage. Colonizing deeper into the galaxy opens access to asteroid fields and strategic positioning, but lengthens every supply run.

Colonizer Cargo

Whatever the source planet's idle DROIDs total, they ride with the Colonizer (each DROID consumes a fixed amount of the Colonizer's cargo hold). If you want to give the new colony a large DROID workforce from the start, build up DROIDs on the source planet and send them all. They cannot exceed the new planet's size cap on arrival, so plan accordingly.