Game Guide

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Expeditions

Expeditions are one of the most rewarding — and unpredictable — mission types in Age of Space. By sending your fleet to the empty position 16 of any solar system, you venture into uncharted space where anything can happen. You might discover vast caches of resources, stumble upon abandoned ships, find rare Dark Matter, or run into hostile pirates and aliens. This chapter covers everything you need to know about expeditions: how to send them, what you can find, how to maximize rewards, and how to use expeditions as a clever fleetsaving technique.

What Are Expeditions?

Expeditions are a special mission type that sends your fleet into deep space — specifically to position 16 of any solar system. Unlike other missions that target planets or moons, expeditions target empty space itself. Your fleet departs, spends time exploring, and returns with whatever it found (or didn't find).

Think of expeditions as controlled gambling with your fleet. The outcomes are random, but generally favorable. On average, expeditions are profitable — you'll earn more than you spend on fuel over time. The key is consistency: send expeditions regularly and the rewards add up significantly.

Expeditions are available once you research Astrophysics technology. The number of simultaneous expeditions you can run depends on your Astrophysics level, making it a high-priority research for serious players.

Requirement: Astrophysics Level 1

How to Send an Expedition

Open the Fleet page from the navigation dock.
Select the ships you want to send. Bigger fleets yield better rewards — send your strongest ships.
Set the destination coordinates to any system with position 16 (e.g., 1:50:16). The galaxy and system can be anything.
Select "Expedition" as the mission type. This option only appears when targeting position 16.
Choose the expedition duration: 1 to 10 hours. Longer durations increase the chance of finding something valuable.
Confirm and send your fleet. It will fly to the coordinates, spend the chosen duration exploring, then return automatically.

Possible Outcomes

When your expedition fleet arrives at position 16, the game rolls random outcomes during the exploration time. Here is every possible result:

Outcome	Frequency	Description
Resources Found	Common	Your fleet discovers caches of Titanium, Graphene, or Deuterium floating in space. The amount scales with your fleet size and expedition duration.
Ships Found	Uncommon	Your fleet stumbles upon abandoned ships that join your fleet for free. Ship types and quantities scale with fleet size. This is one of the best outcomes.
Dark Matter Found	Rare	Your explorers find Dark Matter (Antimatter), the premium currency. This is the only free source of Dark Matter in the game besides daily missions.
Pirate Ambush	Uncommon	Your fleet encounters space pirates who attack immediately. A battle occurs using standard combat mechanics. Win and you keep your fleet; lose and you lose ships.
Alien Contact	Rare	Your fleet encounters an advanced alien civilization. Similar to pirates but aliens are much stronger. The rewards for winning are significantly better.
Black Hole	Very Rare	Your fleet is caught in a black hole and partially or completely destroyed. This is the worst possible outcome. Larger fleets lose a smaller percentage.
Nothing Found	Common	The expedition finds nothing of value. Your fleet returns empty-handed but intact. No loss, no gain.
Fleet Delay	Uncommon	Navigation errors cause your fleet to arrive later than expected. No resources are lost, but the return trip takes longer than planned.

Warning!

Your fleet is caught in a black hole and partially or completely destroyed. This is the worst possible outcome. Larger fleets lose a smaller percentage.

Duration and Rewards

You can choose an expedition duration between 1 and 10 hours. This is the time your fleet spends exploring at position 16, separate from the travel time to and from the coordinates.

Longer expedition durations increase the probability of finding valuable rewards. A 1-hour expedition might find a small resource cache, while a 10-hour expedition has significantly better odds of finding ships, Dark Matter, or large resource hauls.

However, longer durations also mean your fleet is away longer, consuming more fuel for the round trip and leaving your planets undefended. Balance duration against your need for fleet availability.

Strategy Tip

For maximum efficiency, use the longest duration you can afford. If you're going to sleep for 8 hours, set a 10-hour expedition — your fleet earns rewards while you're offline and comes back by the time you wake up.

Fleet Size Matters

The size and strength of your expedition fleet directly affects the quality of rewards. A fleet of 10 Small Cargos will find tiny amounts of resources. A fleet of 200 Battleships will find vastly more resources, better ships, and more Dark Matter.

Fleet size also affects combat encounters. Pirate and alien strength scales with your fleet size — but the scaling is favorable. A stronger fleet faces tougher enemies but wins more reliably and gains better loot. Weak fleets sent on expeditions risk being destroyed by even basic pirate encounters.

The ideal expedition fleet is your main combat fleet plus enough cargo capacity to haul back any resources found. Include Large Cargos or Pathfinders for maximum hauling capacity.

Important!

Never send a fleet you can't afford to lose. While black holes are rare, they can destroy a significant portion of your fleet. Experienced players send their main fleet confidently because the long-term profit far exceeds occasional losses.

Maximum Simultaneous Expeditions

The number of expeditions you can have active at the same time is determined by your Astrophysics research level. Higher Astrophysics lets you run more simultaneous expeditions, multiplying your rewards.

Max Expeditions = floor(sqrt(Astrophysics Level))

The maximum number of concurrent expeditions equals the square root of your Astrophysics level, rounded down to the nearest whole number.

Example: Astrophysics 1 = 1 expedition. Astrophysics 4 = 2 expeditions. Astrophysics 9 = 3. Astrophysics 16 = 4. Astrophysics 25 = 5.

Astrophysics Level	Max Expeditions
1	1
4	2
9	3
16	4
25	5

Pathfinders: The Expedition Specialist

The Pathfinder is a specialized ship designed specifically for expeditions. Including Pathfinders in your expedition fleet significantly increases the quantity and quality of rewards found. They act as a multiplier on your expedition outcomes.

Pathfinders have moderate cargo capacity, decent speed, and low fuel consumption — making them ideal expedition fleet members. While other ships provide combat power against pirates and aliens, Pathfinders ensure you find better loot.

Once you unlock Pathfinders, always include them in every expedition. The bonus they provide to expedition rewards is substantial and stacks with fleet size bonuses.

Pro Tip

Pathfinders are one of the most cost-effective ships in the game when used for expeditions. The resources they help you find far exceed their construction cost within just a few expeditions.

Expeditions as Fleetsaving

One of the most powerful uses of expeditions is combining fleetsaving with reward earning. When you send your fleet on an expedition, it is safely in transit — invisible to enemy attacks and Phalanx scans (if launched from a moon). This means you protect your fleet AND earn rewards simultaneously.

Before going offline, load your fleet with all your resources, send it on a long expedition (8-10 hours), and time it to return when you'll be back online. Your resources are safe, your fleet is safe, and you'll come back to bonus rewards.

This strategy is especially effective when combined with moon-based launches. A fleet departing from a moon on an expedition is completely invisible to enemy intelligence — no Phalanx can track it, and the expedition itself generates profit.

Strategy Tip

Expedition fleetsaving is superior to deploy fleetsaving because you earn resources instead of just burning fuel. Make it your default fleetsave method whenever possible.

Advanced Expedition Strategy

Experienced players optimize their expedition strategy by running maximum simultaneous expeditions constantly. With Astrophysics at level 16 or higher, you can run 4+ expeditions at all times, creating a steady stream of free resources and ships.

Fleet composition matters for advanced play. Include enough combat ships to handle pirate and alien encounters (your main fleet handles this), enough cargo ships to haul back maximum resources (Large Cargos or Pathfinders), and Pathfinders for the reward bonus.

Risk analysis: the chance of a black hole destroying ships is very low (roughly 1-2% of expeditions). Over hundreds of expeditions, the total resources and ships found vastly outweigh any black hole losses. Expeditions are mathematically profitable in the long run.

Target system selection does not matter — all systems at position 16 have identical outcomes. Choose nearby systems to minimize travel time and fuel costs, maximizing your expedition-per-hour rate.

Expedition Tips

Send Your Biggest Fleet

Fleet size is the single biggest factor in expedition rewards. Always send the largest fleet you can. A small fleet of cargo ships finds scraps; a massive war fleet finds treasures. The stronger your fleet, the better your discoveries.

Use Maximum Duration

Unless you need your fleet back quickly, always use the maximum duration (10 hours). The reward quality increases with duration and the fuel cost is the same regardless of how long you explore. Maximum duration = maximum value.

Expeditions Are Free Dark Matter

Expeditions are one of the only ways to earn Dark Matter (Antimatter) without spending real money. Regular expeditions provide a steady trickle of premium currency that adds up over weeks and months. Never skip expeditions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, you can send expeditions to position 16 of any system in any galaxy. The outcomes are identical regardless of location. Choose nearby systems to save on fuel and travel time.

If your fleet loses to pirates or aliens, you lose the ships that were destroyed in combat. The surviving ships return home. This is why you should always send a fleet strong enough to handle combat encounters.

You can recall an expedition fleet while it is still traveling to the destination. Once it arrives at position 16 and begins exploring, you cannot recall it — the fleet will complete the full exploration duration before returning.

Yes, Pathfinders provide cumulative bonuses to expedition rewards. More Pathfinders mean better discoveries. Include as many as you can build — there is no cap on the bonus, though returns diminish at very high numbers.

Moons Next Chapter: ACS — Allied Combat System