Expeditions

An expedition flies past the last planet position of a system into deep space and holds there for the hours you pick. When the stay ends, one thing happens to it, and a message tells you what.

What can happen

• Nothing. Some expeditions come home empty.
• Resources. Metal most often, crystal less often, deuterium rarely. The find grows with the value of the fleet, up to its free cargo space and to a ceiling that rises as the strongest players of the universe grow.
• Dark matter. A small amount, now and then a large one.
• Ships. Abandoned ships join your fleet.
• Pirates or aliens. A fight: pirates fly with weaker technology than yours, aliens with stronger.
• Lost. Now and then a fleet does not come back.
• Early or late. The fleet comes home sooner or later than planned.

• Commander items. An item for your commander.

• A card pack. A 1% chance per expedition, which takes the place of every other outcome (Cards and packs).

Boosts and events that raise expedition rewards multiply resource finds, still up to the free cargo space (How bonuses combine).

Archive players earn faction reputation for every expedition that comes home, and a perk raises their resource finds (Factions).

How many at once

The number of expeditions you can fly at the same time grows with the square root of your Expedition Research level: every new slot needs a much higher level than the last. Each expedition also takes a normal fleet slot.