Every empire in ECON Galaxy runs on resources. Your planets mine them around the clock, also while you are offline, and you spend them on buildings, research, ships and defenses. A strong economy is the foundation for everything else in this space browser game.
The three resources
- Ferrite - the metal for hulls, buildings and almost everything else. Every planet produces a small amount even without a mine.
- Crystal - needed for electronics, research and advanced ships. It also has a small base production.
- Helion - the fuel gas for drives and high-end technology. There is no base production: only a Helion Extractor produces it.
A new home world starts with 800 ferrite and 500 crystal, so you can pay for your first upgrades right away.
Production and energy
Each resource has its own mine: the Ferrite Mine, the Crystal Refinery and the Helion Extractor. Every level produces more than the one before. All production rates scale with the universe speed.
Mines need energy, which the Fusion Core supplies:
- A Fusion Core delivers exactly as much energy as a Ferrite Mine and a Crystal Refinery of the same level consume together.
- The Helion Extractor is hungry: it needs twice as much energy as a Ferrite Mine of the same level.
- If a planet needs more energy than it produces, all mines run at reduced efficiency. At 80 percent energy coverage they deliver 80 percent of their output. The base production is not affected.
Helion also depends on the climate. Cold planets in the outer orbits yield considerably more helion, hot planets close to their star noticeably less. When you pick a colony for helion, look at its temperature.
Storage
Each planet stores its own resources. Without a Storage Vault a planet holds 10,000 of each resource. The vault raises this quickly: level 1 holds 20,000, level 2 40,000, level 3 75,000 and level 4 140,000.
- When a resource reaches the capacity, the planet stops producing it until you spend some or upgrade the vault.
- Deliveries by transport fleets and returning cargo always land in full, even above the capacity.
- If a single upgrade costs more than the capacity, you cannot save up for it by waiting. Build a bigger vault first.
Spending resources
Costs are always paid from the planet where you start the order. Your planets do not share a pool: to fund a big project, send resources with the Transport mission (see Fleets).
- Buildings and research can be cancelled while they run, and you get the full cost back.
- Shipyard orders cannot be cancelled once they are placed.
- Every 1000 resources you spend earn you one point in the Rankings.
Stored resources are also a target: a successful attacker can take up to half of them as loot (see Combat).
Your economic profile
The game looks at where your resources went and shows an economic profile for your empire. If at least half went into mines, energy and storage, you are a Raw material producer. If most went into the Shipyard, Research Lab and other industry buildings, you are an Industrial corporation. A Military power has invested mostly in ships and defenses and also commands a strong fleet. Everyone else is a Versatile empire.
Tips
- Grow your Fusion Core together with your mines, so no mine level is wasted on an energy deficit.
- Watch the warnings on the Planet Overview: it flags a full storage or an energy deficit and suggests the next sensible step.
- Spend before you log off, so no resource sits at the cap overnight and nothing tempting waits for raiders.
- Use the Empire overview to compare all your colonies at a glance.