The Selenite War

How Pressure Grows

A moon starts at 30 pressure. Every day it grows by:

• ›6 x the activity factor, where the activity factor follows how many players fought the Brood in the last 7 days: 1.0 at 15 fighters, from 0.5 on a quiet server up to 1.5 on a busy one
• ›+1 for each infested neighbour in the same moon group, at most +3
• ›all multiplied by the tide factor: 0.9 at tide 1, up to 1.3 at tide 5

Contested moons (shield down) grow at half the rate. Growth is booked hourly.

How You Push It Down

From bombardments, garrison assaults and nexus hits, one player can remove at most 30 pressure per moon per UTC day. Sieges and the resupply wave have no cap.

The Tide

The tide is the server's danger level from 1 (calm) to 5 (spring tide): 1 plus one step for every 25 points of average pressure across the fronts, then -1 after a won War Order or +1 after a failed one.

• ›A higher tide makes pressure grow faster and sieges hit harder (siege strength x1.0 at tide 1 up to x1.4 at tide 5)
• ›Retakes only happen at tide 2 or higher, so a server that wins its War Orders can hold them off

When a Retake Starts

• ›The tide is at least 2
• ›The attacking moon (the source) is at 80 pressure or more and has not attacked in the last 7 days
• ›The target was liberated at least 7 days ago and was not targeted in the last 14 days
• ›At most 1 open retake per moon group and 2 across the server

Only liberated moons can be targeted. The Inner and Major moons are never at risk.

Defending

A 24-hour warning starts with a defence bar on the War Room and on both moon pages. The goal: bring the source below 50 pressure before the deadline. Anyone can bombard or assault the source, and every point of relief counts.

• ›Defended: the defenders share a 300-shard pool by their share of the relief, at most 100 shards each. The source drops to 40 pressure or lower.

If the Moon Falls

• ›It turns Infested again with 25% of its shield, half its garrisons and its nexus at half health, and is shown as Retaken
• ›Territory control there is cleared and the +15% liberation harvest bonus stops
• ›Your bases on it stay yours and can still be harvested, but new claims and visa missions are blocked until it is liberated again
• ›The former liberator gets the moon's campaign back for 7 days
• ›Liberating it again pays no gem pool, and the treasury Gold and shards from it are halved

Which Stations Are Besieged

• ›A complete station with a Defense Satellite or a Shipyard module. A station with only a Collector is never attacked
• ›The wave comes from the hottest infested moon at 60 pressure or more. It hits harder from a nearby moon than from a distant one
• ›At most one siege per station every 7 days, none in the first 72 hours after the station is finished, and none against an owner with no war activity in the last 7 days
• ›The first siege of every station is a small wave its point defence wins on its own

Announcement and Forecast

Sieges strike at 18:00 or 20:00 UTC, announced 12 to 24 hours ahead. The wave tier follows the source's pressure:

The wave grows with the tide and with your station's record: every siege it holds makes the next one 0.15 stronger, every siege it loses 0.30 weaker, between x1.0 and x3.0. The forecast on the orbit page runs the siege with the ships docked right now, and flags in red every ship below 25% hull.

Defenders

Every docked warship of that colony with a full crew fires, plus the colony's own Cruisers on orbit duty and up to 3 rallied Cruisers: members of the owner's alliance can each pledge one Cruiser on orbit duty that is not escorting, until the siege goes live.

The Live Siege

• ›The siege runs for 10 minutes, and anyone can watch it on the orbit page or in 3D
• ›The owner can overcharge the laser once per siege: double damage for 12 seconds
• ›While it is live, the colony's ships and Cruisers cannot launch, repair, change crew, undock or transfer. Before the slot everything is allowed

Outcome

• ›Held (breach 10 or less): Selenite Shards like a colony raid of that tier (15 / 40 / 100 / 250, +20% when flawless). With rallies, 70% go to the owner and 30% to the rallying players. The owner also gets Dark Matter back: 5 / 10 / 25 / 50 by tier. Warships lose 3 hull, rallied Cruisers 10% of their health
• ›Breached: a breach above 10 damages one module, above 50 two. A damaged module stops working until repaired (40 / 80 / 120 Dark Matter over 6 / 12 / 24 hours by module level). Warships lose 25 hull, and a warship that entered the siege below 25% hull is destroyed with its crew. Up to 15% of the owner's Dark Matter is lost (at most 300). Rallied Cruisers lose 25% of their health but are never destroyed

The Four Orders

The order is picked from the week's situation: Front Fund when a Sim round is expected to end that week (never twice in a row), Hold the Line when 2 or more retakes or sieges are open or coming, otherwise Front Strike, or Sorties instead once 3 or more stations have a Shipyard.

Rewards

• ›Success: next week's tide -1, a 1,500-shard pool split by your share (15 to 150 shards each) and 5 gems per participant. Gems are capped at 150 for the whole server per week: with more than 30 participants, the 150 gems are split evenly (at least 1 each)
• ›Failure: next week's tide +1, nothing is paid

Front Fund and Resupply

The current round's contribution goal is shown as the front fund in the War Room and on the Sim banner. When a regular Sim round ends having reached its goal:

• ›Resupply wave: -20 pressure on every Selenite moon
• ›Half-price repairs: Dark Matter repairs of warships and station modules cost half for 24 hours

Supply Grants

Everyone who contributed at least 1,000,000 to a regular Sim round earns grants by their share of the contributions, also when the round missed its goal:

• ›A harvest voucher pays for one harvest instead of an energy point, used automatically before your energy
• ›Repair credit pays for Dark Matter repairs of warships and modules

Your Harvest Boost

While the war runs, your galaxy harvest boost follows your own Sim play rather than the server's. See The Sim Link in the Economy chapter for the exact rule.

The Colony Seal

A Sim card your colony earns for you. It cannot be sold, applied to a base or bridged, and only your best Seal counts:

It applies from the next Sim round you open, does not stack with a better card of the same kind, and is ignored in tournaments.

War Calendar (UTC)

Rewards at a Glance

Two Kinds of Battle

Fleet slots are 17:00, 19:00 and 21:00 UTC, between the siege slots, so a fleet can fight at 17:00 and still defend its station at 18:00. At most 2 battles per slot across the server, one battle per player per slot, one open battle per moon, and 24 hours between battles over the same moon.

Your Fleet

• ›One colony's ships: up to 12 warships and 2 Cruisers on orbit duty. Up to 6 fleets fight in one battle
• ›When the battle starts, each ship must be docked with its full crew and at least 50% hull (a Cruiser at 50% health), and its colony must not be under a live siege
• ›Fleets jump in through the Spacegate with no travel time and are home 30 minutes after the battle
• ›The battle page shows a forecast with your expected repairs; on desktop you can also open the battle in 3D

Ships Against the Brood

The Brood fields Swarms, Spore carriers (they spawn more swarms), Armoured and, from tier 3, Brood mothers. Its mix (Balanced, Swarm-heavy, Armoured or Carrier-heavy) is fixed when the battle is announced and shown in the forecast. You win when no spore carrier, armoured or mother is left; you lose when no fleet is still fighting or after round 12.

Doctrine

Set per fleet before the slot, and change it twice during the battle:

• ›Formation: Line (steady), Wedge (+15% damage dealt, +15% taken) or Sphere (-20% damage taken, -30% from swarms, -5% dealt)
• ›Target priority: By role (each class hits what it counters), Spawners first, or Swarm first
• ›Retreat: at 25% (default) or 50% of the fleet's strength, or Last stand (+10% damage, but ships knocked out are destroyed if the battle is lost)

Damage and Losses

30% of the damage your ships take reaches their hull. A knocked-out ship loses 60 hull (never below 5). A warship is destroyed only in a lost last stand, and Cruisers are never destroyed.

Rewards

Only won battles pay, and never gems: a shard pool of 60 / 120 / 200 / 300 by tier, split by damage dealt, plus 10 / 20 / 35 / 50 Dark Matter for each paid fleet. A fleet below 5% of all damage gets nothing; every paid fleet gets at least 10 shards. You are paid for at most 2 battles per UTC day.

Held Orbit

For 24 hours after a won Orbit Assault, every bombardment, garrison assault and liberation assault on that moon gets +10% shield damage, +10% troop damage and -10% damage taken, within the usual orbital support caps.

Armaments and the Orbit Relay

• ›Armaments index: every hour the total earnings of the running Sim round are turned into +0% to +15% fleet damage. It grows with the round: a few per cent in the first days, about +10% late in the round, close to +15% at its end. It is 0 between rounds and fixed for each battle when it starts
• ›Orbit relay: a fourth station module (100 / 200 / 400 Dark Matter, 12 / 24 / 48 hours) that multiplies your Sim contribution for war rewards only (supply grant and Front Fund shares) by x1.25 / x1.5 / x2. It never changes Sim prizes or ranks, and a damaged relay counts as none

Command Points

Your fleet gets 1 command point in its first round and 1 more every round, banked up to 3. You can give one command per round. It lands in the next round, or in the round after if fewer than 5 seconds are left.

Reinforcements

While a battle is live and before round 7, you can join with a ready fleet. It arrives two rounds later. An Orbit Assault accepts only allies of a fleet already in it; every other battle is open to anyone.

Live Alerts

When a battle goes live, the pledged players' alliance members (or every player with a ready fleet) get a "Battle live: join or watch" notification. The battle page refreshes itself as commands and joins come in.

Salvage

Each Brood capital your fleet finishes off pays shards: 6 for a spore carrier, 10 for an armoured, 40 for a Brood mother, up to 60 per battle and 120 per day.

Watching in 3D

On desktop the 3D battle view shows the same command bar as an overlay. Its director camera frames each round's main event and hands control back to you for 15 seconds after any input.

The Nest

The Nest is the Brood's own moon. It appears when the first Flood is announced, never grows pressure and never sends attacks: it is fought only in Nest battles. Open it from the War Room in 2D, or in 3D on desktop.

When the Flood Comes

In the fourth week of every Season Pass season (UTC):

• ›Wednesday 17:00: the Flood is announced
• ›Friday 17:00: it opens
• ›Friday, Saturday and Sunday 19:00: the three Nest battles
• ›Monday 17:00: it closes

The Flood Bar

The bar starts at 300 and loses 6 per hour while the Flood is open. It is won the moment it reaches 1,000, and lost if it hits 0 or the Flood closes below 1,000.

Nest battles are tier 4 fleet battles open to anyone with a ready fleet. They are hard: two fleets never win one, three often do, four always do.

Won or Lost

• ›Won: the next locked ring opens for everyone (Gallic, then Norse, then the Irregular moons), and every participant (anyone who added to the bar or flew in a Nest battle) gets 100 Selenite Shards and 20 Dark Matter
• ›Lost: new fronts start at 45 pressure instead of 30 until a Flood is won, every infested moon below 45 is raised to 45, and up to 3 retakes (at most 2 per group) start at once, even at a low tide

How It Moves

• ›Parked (48 hours): over the hottest infested moon of a group, adding +0.25 pressure per hour there and +0.08 per hour on the group's other infested moons
• ›In transit (12 hours): to its next group; the War Room and the galaxy heatmap show its next stop

Repelling It

Declare a brood ship battle at its moon from the War Room, in a fleet slot before it leaves. It follows the Orbit Assault rules at tier 4, and the ship fights as an extra Brood mother. A win sends it into transit at once, pays like any won fleet battle, and adds +150 to an open Flood.

Ranks

The rank is updated every hour. It is a title only: it never changes any number in either game.

Front Points

Home-Front Points

For every regular Sim round you contribute to: 5 points at 1,000,000 contributed, 10 at 10,000,000, 15 at 100,000,000, up to 30, plus 20 if the round reached its goal.

Theater Tasks in the Season Pass

Every week adds a fourth Season Pass task, worth 150 XP like the others, alternating between the two theaters:

• ›Front: fight in a fleet battle (weeks 1, 3 and 5 of a season)
• ›Home front: contribute to the Sim round on 3 different days, UTC (weeks 2, 4 and 6)

With 24 tasks a season (3,600 XP), the tasks alone reach Season Pass tier 8.