Game Guide
Learn to Play Age of Space - Complete beginner's guide to Age of Space. Learn how to build, attack, spy, colonize, and dominate the galaxy!
Your First Ships
Ships are the only way to interact with the galaxy beyond your planet. Without them, you cannot spy on enemies, transport resources, colonize new worlds, or attack other players. This chapter covers the Shipyard, ship categories, what to build first, and how to think about fleet composition in early game.
The Shipyard
The Shipyard is the building where all ships and defenses are produced. You must build a Shipyard before you can construct any fleet units. Higher Shipyard levels unlock larger, more powerful ships and reduce production time for all units.
The Shipyard runs its own independent queue — separate from your building queue. This means you can upgrade a mine AND build ships at the same time. Always take advantage of this parallelism.
Ship production time depends on the ship cost, Shipyard level, and Nanite Factory level (if you have one). Each Shipyard level reduces build time, making higher levels increasingly valuable when producing large fleet batches.
The Hangar Queue
When you order ships or defenses, they enter the Hangar queue. Units build one at a time within each batch. If you order 100 Light Fighters, each one builds individually, but you can queue additional batches after them.
You can order multiple ship types in sequence. For example: 50 Light Fighters, then 20 Small Cargos, then 10 Cruisers. They will build in that exact order.
Civil Ships
Civil ships perform non-combat roles: transporting resources, spying on enemies, colonizing new planets, and recycling debris fields.
| Spy Probe (ID 210) | The cheapest and most important ship in the game. Sends espionage reports revealing target resources, fleet, buildings, and defenses. Cost: only 1,000 Graphene. Always build plenty of these. | 0 / 0 / 1,000 |
| Small Cargo (ID 202) | The workhorse of your fleet. Carries 5,000 resources. Fast, cheap, and essential for raiding inactive players and transporting resources between your planets. Build many of these. | 2,000 / 2,000 / 0 |
| Large Cargo (ID 203) | Carries 25,000 resources — five times more than Small Cargo. Slower but much more fuel-efficient per resource transported. Best for large resource transfers and fleet-saving. | 6,000 / 6,000 / 0 |
| Colony Ship (ID 208) | The only ship that can colonize empty planet positions. Consumed upon successful colonization. Requires Impulse Drive level 3. You need one for each new colony. | 10,000 / 20,000 / 10,000 |
| Recycler (ID 209) | Collects resources from debris fields left after battles. Each Recycler can collect 20,000 resources. Essential for profitable raiding — the debris often contains more resources than the loot. | 10,000 / 6,000 / 2,000 |
Combat Ships
Combat ships are designed for battle. Each has different strengths: some are cheap swarm units, others are expensive powerhouses. Understanding their roles helps you build effective fleets.
| Light Fighter (ID 204) | The cheapest combat ship. Low stats but extremely cost-effective in large numbers. Perfect for early-game raiding and as cannon fodder to absorb hits in fleet battles. | 3,000 / 1,000 / 0 |
| Heavy Fighter (ID 205) | Tougher than Light Fighters with better stats, but not as cost-effective. A stepping stone to better ships. Good for early defense supplementation. | 6,000 / 4,000 / 0 |
| Cruiser (ID 206) | The first truly powerful combat ship. Excellent against Light Fighters (rapidfire 6) and decent all-around stats. The backbone of mid-game fleets. Requires Impulse Drive 4. | 20,000 / 7,000 / 2,000 |
| Battleship (ID 207) | A powerful all-rounder with high attack, shields, and hull. No specific rapidfire weaknesses. A solid late-game fleet staple. Requires Hyperspace Drive 4. | 45,000 / 15,000 / 0 |
| Bomber (ID 211) | Specialized anti-defense ship with rapidfire against defensive structures. Best used when attacking heavily defended planets. Slow but devastating against turrets. | 50,000 / 25,000 / 15,000 |
| Death Star (ID 214) | The ultimate weapon. Massive attack, shields, and hull. Has rapidfire against nearly everything. Extremely expensive and slow but almost indestructible in small numbers. | 5M / 4M / 1M |
Understanding Ship Stats
Every ship has five key attributes that determine its effectiveness:
- Attack — Damage dealt per combat round. Higher attack destroys enemies faster.
- Shields — Absorbs damage each round and regenerates. Acts as a buffer before hull takes damage.
- Hull (Structural Integrity) — Total hit points. When hull reaches 0, the ship is destroyed. Does not regenerate.
- Speed — How fast the ship travels. Faster ships reach targets sooner and spend less time vulnerable.
- Cargo Capacity — How many resources the ship can carry. Only relevant for transport and raiding.
- Fuel Consumption — Deuterium burned per mission. Higher consumption means more expensive fleet operations.
What to Build First
Your first fleet purchases should follow this priority:
- Spy Probes (5-10): Cheapest ship, absolutely essential. You need to spy on targets before doing anything else. Every commander should have Spy Probes ready at all times.
- Small Cargos (10-20): Your primary raiding and transport ships. Send them with fighters to collect loot from inactive players or transfer resources between colonies.
- Light Fighters (20-50): Cheap combat ships for protection and raiding. In numbers, they overwhelm small defenses and provide cover for your cargo ships.
- Later: Cruisers, Recyclers, Colony Ships as your economy and tech levels allow.
