Everything you need to know about commanding your Legion in the Great Crusade. This guide covers all game systems from your first steps to endgame strategies.
Void Crusade is a cooperative grand strategy browser game set during the Great Crusade era of Warhammer 40,000. You command a Company within one of 18 Space Marine Legions, managing economies, building fleets, and conquering the galaxy alongside other players.
This is a purely cooperative (PvE) game — all players fight together against 12 NPC xenos factions. There is no player-vs-player combat.
Games run in campaigns (called 'galaxies') that last roughly 10-14 days. Each campaign has a unique galaxy layout, event storyline, and victory condition.
1. Choose your Legion — each of the 18 Legions has unique combat modifiers that affect your playstyle.
2. You start with a homeworld (Legion Command) and a small garrison fleet.
3. Build up your economy: upgrade resource buildings (Adamantium Refineries, Promethium Wells, Gene-Seed Vaults) and energy generators.
4. Recruit units at your Shipyard and Barracks to grow your fleet.
5. Expand to nearby empty planets to increase your production.
6. Fight NPC patrols and planets to earn loot, XP, and territory.
Four resources drive your economy:
Adamantium — primary building material. Used for most constructions and unit recruitment.
Promethium — fuel and advanced materials. Required for vehicles, void ships, and upgrades.
Gene-Seed — rare biological resource. Needed for elite infantry and hero units.
Research Points — generated by Research Stations. Spent on technology upgrades.
Resources accumulate continuously based on your buildings and planet types. Production is calculated on-demand when you load the game — no need to stay online.
Energy is a special resource: every building consumes energy, and if your energy production falls below demand, ALL production on that planet is reduced proportionally. Always ensure your energy generators keep up with your buildings.
Planets aren't instantly yours when you conquer them. They must be brought into compliance through Iterator Cadre garrisons.
Compliance ticks every 5 minutes. Station Iterator Cadres to grow compliance: +3% for the first, diminishing returns per additional cadre, max +10%/tick.
Below 50% compliance, building queues and production are frozen. At 50% the planet becomes 'established' and operational. Established planets that decay back below 50% also halt production until restored.
Supply lines (bonus): each adjacent ally planet at ≥50% compliance grants +5% compliance speed. Stacks per planet (a single sector with 3 ally worlds = +15%) and caps at +15% — multiple stable neighbors push the tick faster.
Once established (50%+), planets gain passive compliance even without iterators: +1% per ally-adjacent sector, up to +3%/tick.
Enemy ground adjacency attrition: each adjacent NPC sector subtracts compliance per tick by max NPC level — L1-3 = -2%, L4-6 = -4%, L7-9 = -6%, L10+ = -8%. Stacks across sectors and caps at -15%/tick. Applied as a base-rate subtraction, fires regardless of iterators.
Enemy void presence (additional, stacks ON TOP of -15% cap): NPC patrol in same sector = -3%/tick, NPC space station = -5%/tick, Ork Rok / Big Mek's Workshop = -5%/tick. Multiple of the same type each contribute.
Contested sector: if NPCs also hold planets in the same sector as your planet, your iterator gain is multiplied by 0.2 (20% of normal) until you clear them out.
Monument to the Primarch (compliance projection): a Monument grants +3%/tick to every player planet in its sector and +1%/tick to every player planet in the 6 adjacent sectors. Stacks across multiple Monuments — coordinate placement with allies for shared logistics.
Company Leaders (compliance): a stationed Captain adds +2.0%/tick on whichever planet they're parked at (directly OR aboard a fleet stationed there). Each Command Squad officer adds +1.0%/tick under the same placement rule. Stacks across players in co-op garrisons. NOTE: Iterators are still required to break out of decay and to reach the 50% threshold — supply routes and Company Leaders alone cannot establish a planet.
Soft-loss: if a planet was ever established under your ownership (reached ≥50%), compliance decay clamps at 1% instead of flipping to NPC. You keep the planet but production halts until you restore it. Never-established planets still flip ownerless at 0%.
Iterator catch-up grant: if you fall ≥10 planets behind the top player, your daily reward includes a free Iterator Cadre spawned instantly at your homeworld (lifetime cap: 5 grants per player).
Tip: rush planets to 50% with iterators, then move iterators to the next world — supply lines will handle the rest.
Send a fleet to an empty planet to begin colonization. Your fleet establishes a garrison and compliance begins ticking up.
To conquer an NPC planet, dispatch a fleet with the Conquest stance. If you win the battle, the planet becomes yours at low compliance.
Nearby empty space is valuable — claim it before NPC factions expand into it.
Each sector can contain multiple planets. Having all planets in a sector under your control gives a compliance bonus.
Starting worlds (homeworlds) can never be conquered by NPCs — they're always safe.
Sector Garrison: deploy fleets to sectors with unclaimed planets to intercept NPC expansion fleets. Your garrison automatically engages colonization attempts, preventing NPCs from filling empty space. Note: sector garrisons block expansion only — they do not intercept NPC invasion fleets targeting player planets.
Every galaxy partitions into the five canonical Imperial segmentums: Solar (around Terra), Obscurus (north), Pacificus (west), Tempestus (south), Ultima (east). Solar is a hex disc that scales with galaxy size — radius 0 on tiny galaxies, 2 on standard, 3 on the biggest. The four outer wedges divide the rest by angle.
Each segmentum has one Imperialis Auxilia command world: Jupiter (Solar), Bakka (Obscurus), Hydraphur (Pacificus), Cypra Mundi (Tempestus), Kar Duniash (Ultima). They're held by the Imperialis Auxilia pseudo-player from the start; Mars + Jupiter are invasion-immune. The four outer HQs can fall to NPC invasion and be liberated back.
Tier bonuses: hold ≥25% of player-owned planets in a segmentum to unlock Tier 1 (+2% build speed, +5% garrison WP & HP across that segmentum). 50% buys Tier 2 (+4% / +10%). 75% buys Tier 3 (+6% / +15%).
Bonuses are PER-SEGMENTUM-PER-PLAYER. You can simultaneously hold Tier 1 in Solar and Tier 2 in Obscurus; each one's bonus applies to YOUR planets in THAT segmentum. There is no global "dominant segmentum".
The bonus suspends immediately if the segmentum's Auxilia HQ is taken by NPCs. Liberate the HQ to bring the bonus back online — when this happens, the entire galaxy gets a war dispatch and a global Vox alert.
Liberated HQs always belong to the Imperialis Auxilia, never to the conqueror — same pattern as forge worlds returning to the Mechanicum. Liberation is a strategic event, not a planet flip on the map.
Galaxy Map shows segmentum boundary outlines and gold ★ markers on every Auxilia HQ when the "Segmentum Borders" overlay is on (default ON). Held HQs render in the segmentum's color; LOST HQs render dashed grey.
Tip: bonuses stack across segmentums. Spreading just enough to qualify in two segmentums is often better than maxing out a single one.
Every battle follows a structured sequence of phases:
1. Leader Duels — if your Captain or an Officer is deployed and the enemy has a leader, a one-on-one duel occurs before the main battle.
2. Steel Rain (if selected) — warship cargo deploys ground troops via drop pods at Round 0 with impact damage. Only warship cargo (escorts, cruisers, capitals) contributes — transports do not.
3. Void Combat — warships clash in space. Fighters, escorts, cruisers, and capital ships engage.
4. Orbital Bombardment — if you achieve void supremacy (win the void phase), surviving void ships bombard ground defenders.
5. Ground Deployment — transports (Thunderhawks, Storm Eagles, Stormbirds) ferry ground forces to the surface in waves. Before void supremacy, deployment is limited by transport capacity and faces AA fire (max 25% troop loss per wave). After void supremacy, all troops deploy instantly with no AA fire.
Note: Planetary Cannons fire into void combat but do NOT block void supremacy. They target escorts, cruisers, and capitals only — their macro-cannons cannot acquire lock on fighters, gunships, or transports. Destroying all enemy warships grants void supremacy even if ground cannons survive. Planetary Cannons can only be destroyed during the ground phase.
6. Ground Combat — infantry, vehicles, walkers, and titans clash on the surface.
Each phase has its own casualties, and surviving units carry into the next phase.
Choose your stance when dispatching a fleet:
Skirmish — quick 5-round probe. Survivors retreat on loss. Good for scouting enemy strength.
Conquest — fight until one side loses 50% of forces. Standard stance for taking planets.
Do or Die — fight to total eradication. No retreat. Maximum risk, maximum reward.
Void Strike — void combat only, no ground deployment. Use when you only want to clear enemy ships.
Steel Rain — warship cargo deploys ground troops via drop pods at Round 0 with impact damage. Only warship cargo contributes, not transports.
Void Siege — orbit and bombard the garrison over time before launching a ground assault. Requires capital ships + Orbital Bombardment research.
Your stance also affects leader duels — Skirmish limits duels to 5 rounds, Conquest allows up to 15, Do or Die fights until one falls.
Defensive Stances: when garrisoning an allied planet, the same stances apply but with defensive labels — your fleet's behavior if the planet is attacked:
Light Defense (Skirmish) — your garrison fights a 5-round defensive action, then retreats if losing.
Standard Defense (Conquest) — your garrison fights until 50% casualties, then retreats. The default choice.
Last Stand (Do or Die) — your garrison fights to the death. No retreat. Only use when the planet must be held at all costs.
Orbital Defense Only (Void Strike) — your garrison only fights in void combat. If the enemy wins the void and lands ground forces, your fleet does not engage on the surface.
Deep Insertion Defense (Steel Rain) — your garrison deploys via drop pods if the planet is attacked, landing behind enemy lines with impact damage.
Siege Defense (Void Siege) — your garrison holds an orbital siege posture, bombarding attackers from orbit.
There are three distinct cargo systems that determine how your forces deploy:
Void Cargo (Warships) — Escort, cruiser, and capital ships carry cargo used exclusively for Steel Rain drop pod insertion. When you select the Steel Rain stance, 50% of your warship cargo becomes drop pod capacity. Ground troops are loaded by bulk into these pods and crash-land at Round 0 with impact damage. Transports (Thunderhawks, Storm Eagles) do NOT contribute to drop pod capacity.
Troop Capacity (Transports) — Atmospheric transports like Thunderhawk Gunships (40), Storm Eagles (20), Thunderhawk Transporters (60), and Sokar Stormbirds (100) carry ground troops from orbit to the surface during wave deployment. Before void supremacy is achieved, ground forces deploy in waves limited by your total transport capacity. Each round, transports ferry a batch of troops to the surface based on their troop capacity. Defender anti-air units fire at transports during each wave — destroyed transports kill a proportional number of the troops they were carrying (capped at 25% loss per wave).
Ground Capacity (APCs) — Ground transports like the Rhino APC have ground capacity that distributes shield points to nearby infantry units during ground combat. This is a passive combat bonus, not a deployment mechanic.
After Void Supremacy: once you win the void phase, all remaining ground troops deploy instantly with no transport limit and no AA fire. Your transports are no longer at risk. This is why achieving void supremacy first (the default stance) is often the safest approach — it protects both your transports and your ground forces from insertion casualties.
Without Void Supremacy: if you choose to deploy ground forces before winning the void phase, troops trickle in wave-by-wave based on your transport capacity. Each wave faces AA fire (capped at 25% troop loss per wave — some troops always make it through). If all your transports are destroyed during void combat, up to 20% of undeployed ground troops are lost (stranded in orbit with no way down). This is high-risk but can establish ground presence faster.
Combat uses a seeded PRNG — the same seed produces the same result, but different engagements get different seeds, so outcomes vary naturally between fights.
Rapid Fire (RF): units fire bonus follow-up volleys against targets they're effective against. After the initial volley, a percentage of shots continue firing in a cascading chain. RF values range from ×1.5 (33% continue) to ×3 (67% continue). Each follow-up volley has ±20% variance via the seeded PRNG, which cascades through subsequent volleys for ~20-30% total damage spread between fights.
RF resolves in 3 tiers of priority: (1) Unit-specific — bonus vs exact unit types like 'Fighta-Bomba ×3', (2) Faction-scoped — bonus vs a specific faction's category like 'Ork Infantry ×2', (3) Category-wide — bonus vs any faction's infantry/fighters/etc. The highest-priority match is used. Legion bonuses (Emperor's Children, Raven Guard), research, and captain talents all increase effective RF values.
Example: 100 marines with RF ×2 fire 100 shots, then ~67 follow-up, then ~45, cascading to 0. Total: ~280 shots (2.8× base). With RF ×3: ~100 + 67 + 45 + 30 + 20... ≈ 295 total shots. The ±20% variance means one fight might deal 240 shots and another 320.
Combat Tags: units carry tags like 'anti-infantry', 'anti-armor', 'anti-air', or 'siege' that grant damage bonuses against matching targets. Combined arms — bringing the right counters — is more important than raw numbers.
Armor Floor: heavily armored targets ignore attacks from very weak units. If your weapon power is below the target's armor threshold, your shots deal zero damage. Bring anti-armor or higher-WP units to break through.
Targeting: units prioritize targets they have Rapid Fire or combat tag bonuses against. Smart army composition matters more than just stacking one unit type.
Shield Regeneration: some factions (Necron Dynasty) regenerate shields each round. Extended battles favor durable defenders.
Dodge (xenos): some NPC factions (Aeldari, Hrud, Drukhari) have a chance to completely avoid incoming shots.
Aerial Evasion (player): your aerial craft have a base per-shot dodge chance. Lightning Strike Fighter / Voss Primaris Lightning = 5%, Xiphon Interceptor = 10%, Fire Raptor / Corsair Bomber / Storm Eagle / Thunderhawk Gunship / Thunderhawk Transporter / Sokar Stormbird = 3%. Dodged shots are negated entirely (no hull or shield damage). Stacks additively with flagship modules, research, and captain talents — capped at 50% total. Evasion works in BOTH void AND ground phases — a Fire Raptor strafing infantry dodges ground-to-air return fire the same way it dodges anti-ship flak.
Carrier Replenishment: at the END of each void round, your surviving capital ships reinforce lost fighters and gunships from their hangar reserves. Per-round cap = min(10% of the round's fighter+gunship losses, Σ ships × their per-ship rate). Ship rates: Gladius Frigate 5, Strike Cruiser 5, Lunar-Class Cruiser 10, Devastation-Class Cruiser 10, Battle Barge 10. (The Lunar Cruiser does double duty: it both shields fighter wings with its point-defence aura AND replenishes lost wings from its hangars.) Replenished units don't act until the following round. Transports are NOT replenished. IMPORTANT: fighter/gunship losses during the GROUND phase cannot be recovered — capital ships never participate on the surface, so there's no carrier to restock from. Plan your strafing runs with the assumption that ground-phase air losses are permanent.
Dodge and Evasion are the only non-deterministic combat element — they use a seeded PRNG so battles remain reproducible for replay.
Combat Layers: units operate in specific layers. Void ships (escorts, cruisers, capitals) only fight in the void phase. Ground units (infantry, vehicles, titans) only fight on the surface. Dual-layer units (fighters, gunships like Xiphon Interceptors and Fire Raptors) participate in both phases.
Engagement Rules: some units have targeting restrictions. Aerial units (Xiphon, Fire Raptor) require anti-air weapons to be damaged — ground tanks can't shoot at flyers. This makes anti-air units (missile launchers, dedicated AA) essential for mixed battles.
When a side has no engageable target left, the engine resolves the situation according to who's stuck:
Targetless retreat (immediate): if your surviving units can't engage any of the enemy's remaining units AND the enemy has at least one ground-holding unit left (titan, walker, infantry, vehicle, garrison), you retreat. There's no point standing in the open getting shot by something you can't damage.
Aerial harassment lock-in (5 rounds): if the only enemy units left are aerial-only — transports, fighters, or gunships with no ground troops alongside — neither side retreats early. The harassed side stands its ground and takes 5 rounds of damage. After 5 rounds, the aerials run out of ammo / fuel and retreat. The OTHER side wins the ground phase (defender keeps the planet, or attacker takes it if the defender's last force was aerial).
Why the asymmetry: aerial-only units can't physically take or hold territory — barges and fighters need ground troops to occupy a planet. The 5-round window means anti-air still matters (skipping it costs you the full 5-round window of free hits before the engine bails you out), but you don't lose your entire garrison to a single squadron of barges that already lost their ground complement.
Both directions: the rule is symmetric. If you attack with all aerials and the enemy has no anti-air, your aerials retreat after 5 rounds and the planet stays with the defender. If you defend with all aerials and the attacker has no anti-air, your aerials retreat after 5 rounds and the attacker takes the planet.
Mixed forces: as long as at least one ground-holding unit survives on the side you can't engage (e.g. an enemy titan you can't penetrate), you retreat normally — the 5-round lock only applies when the ONLY remaining enemies are aerial.
Stance-based retreat (Skirmish/Conquest): your stance's retreat threshold still triggers normally. The aerial-stalemate rule is on top of stance retreat, not instead of it.
Some encounters and planet conditions restrict which units can participate. The game uses Phase Templates to enforce these restrictions automatically:
Space Hulk Exploration — only infantry, elites, walkers, and fast attack can enter the derelict interior. No vehicles, titans, or void ships.
Underground Combat — tunnel fighting in Necron tombs or Megarachnid hives. Infantry, elites, walkers, and fast attack only. No wheeled vehicles or titans.
Toxic Wasteland — irradiated surface where only sealed vehicles and walkers survive. Infantry can't operate outside in the toxins. Titans too heavy for unstable ground.
Atmospheric Fights — aerial-only combat over the planet surface. Only dual-layer flyers (Xiphon, Fire Raptor, Storm Eagle, Thunderhawk) can participate.
Atmospheric Disruption — severe storms ground all aircraft. Only ground-based units fight. Flyers return home safely.
Titandeath — god-engines only. Only Warhound and Reaver Titans participate. Everything else is too small.
Ion Storm — void warships only, no fighters. Electromagnetic interference grounds all small craft.
Boarding Action — ship-to-ship corridor fighting. Infantry, elites, and fast attack only. Walkers too bulky for corridors.
Siege Assault — two sequential phases in one battle: capitals and cruisers fight void first, then ground forces deploy (no flyers due to planetary AA).
Night Raid — stealth infantry operations. Infantry, elites, and fast attack only. No vehicles, walkers, or titans.
Warp Rift — all units can fight, but raw warp energy drains 3% of hull HP per round. Daemon-tagged units are immune (their natural environment).
Void Patrols — void-only encounters against NPC patrol fleets. Ground troops aren't involved.
Units that can't participate in a restricted battle return home at full strength with no retreat penalty.
Rally is the cooperative attack system. Any player can call a rally against a target.
Other players pledge fleets to the rally within a 2-hour window.
When the rally launches, all pledged fleets combine into one massive assault.
Rallies are essential for taking high-level NPC planets, fortresses, and capitals that no single player can defeat alone.
Research technologies stack across rally participants — the combined fleet benefits from the best tech of each contributor.
Rallies work for planet attacks, NPC patrols, space stations, and space hulk encounters.
Attack Plans let you coordinate multi-player assaults without the 2-hour rally window.
Any player can create an Attack Plan targeting an NPC planet, specifying the minimum combined fleet strength needed.
Other players can pledge their fleets to the plan. When the total WP meets the threshold, the attack can be triggered.
Unlike rallies, Attack Plans persist until triggered or cancelled — no time pressure to assemble forces.
The plan creator decides when to launch. All pledged fleets dispatch simultaneously.
Use Attack Plans for major operations like capital assaults that require careful preparation.
Rapid Dispatch: plans that have been assembling for 3+ hours unlock drastically reduced travel time (15 minutes) for the entire strike force — rewarding patience with decisive speed.
Your Company Captain is a persistent hero unit that levels up through combat.
At Level 5, choose a permanent specialization:
Void Commander — can build a personal Flagship at the Forge, focuses on void combat. Cannot participate in ground leader duels.
Ground Commander — duel specialist with enhanced ground combat abilities. Participates in leader duels against NPC warlords.
Logistician — economic bonuses that affect all your planets. Strategic talents active while stationed at Legion Command.
6 background choices (permanent): Techmarine, Chaplain, Veteran Sergeant, Apothecary, Librarian, Standard Bearer. Each unlocks a unique talent with duel-specific abilities.
Equipment from 6 slots (weapon, shield, helm, armor, augmetic, relic) provides stat bonuses and special duel effects.
Captain earns XP from combat: base XP per enemy planet level, bonus for survival, damage dealt, army size, and first encounters with new factions.
A second hero focused purely on melee combat and dueling.
10 talents across 3 tiers: defensive (Parry, Adamantine Resolve), offensive (Nemesis Hunter, Precision Cuts, Executioner), and strategic (Blade of the Legion, Unbowed).
Deploy alongside your Captain for chained duels — the first hero weakens the enemy leader, the second finishes them off with a 25% HP/Shield regen between duels.
Choose duel order per dispatch: Captain first or Champion first.
Option to skip duels entirely to protect low-level heroes.
Most NPC planets above Level 1 have a resident leader with unique combat traits.
Each NPC faction has distinct leader archetypes:
Ork: Warboss (high HP, multi-attack), Mekboy (shields), Weirdboy (warp powers), Nob Champion (balanced).
Aeldari: Autarch (balanced), Farseer (dodge + shield bypass), Warlock (warp shields), Exarch (precision strikes).
Necron: Overlord (high shield + regen), Destroyer Lord (shield bypass), Chronomancer (time manipulation), Technomancer (repair).
Defeating a leader removes their army buff from the battle and earns a trophy item unique to that leader type (e.g. Autarch War Mask, Overlord Phase Crown).
High-level planets (L5+) can have 2 leaders for chained duels — a serious challenge.
Hover over a leader card on the Galaxy Map to preview the full victory loot table for that planet's NPC level, including guaranteed resources (adamantium, promethium, gene-seed) and item drop chances.
Loot scales with NPC level: L1 yields modest resources and small chance items; L10 yields tens of thousands of resources plus rare drops like Dreadnought summons, Strike Cruiser summons, Relic Shards, and major Commander Shards.
The Trophy Hunter captain talent (Champion branch, tier 4) awards an extra copy of the trophy item on every duel kill.
Void Commanders can build a personal Flagship at the Forge.
Choose from 5 hull chassis as your Shipyard level increases: Hunter-Class Destroyer, Gladius Frigate, Crusade-Class Cruiser, Strike Cruiser, Battle Barge.
Your Flagship fights as part of your void fleet with stats based on the hull choice.
Upgrade to larger hulls as you progress — each requires higher Shipyard levels and significant resources.
18 playable Legions, each with unique combat modifiers:
Some Legions excel at offense (World Eaters: +3% stacking damage per round + +10% vehicle & infantry HP), others at defense (Imperial Fists: +30% planetary defense HP), speed (White Scars: +30% fleet speed), or economy (Ultramarines: +15% resource extraction, −10% unit recruit time).
Your Legion choice is permanent for the campaign and affects every aspect of gameplay.
Underpopulated Legions receive a logarithmic production and combat bonus to keep things competitive.
12 hostile xenos factions, each with distinct combat identity. Six are always present; six more appear through campaign event decks.
Ork WAAAGH! — massive swarms with exponential WP scaling. More Orks in the fight = more dangerous.
Aeldari Warhost — elite units with 12% dodge chance and shield bypass. Very few in number but individually powerful.
Necron Dynasty — 3% hull regen per combat round. Nearly impossible to destroy quickly — sustain is their weapon.
Megarachnid Swarm — chitin armor reduces all incoming hits by a flat 2. Ground-heavy, hard to chip down.
Hrud Migration — 10% dodge, entropy mechanics. Fights last longer against Hrud and they punish drawn-out engagements.
Rak'Gol Raiders — 1.5× weapon power, high counter-attack bonus. Glass cannons: hit devastatingly hard but fold fast.
Men of Iron — ancient AI constructs guarding Forge Worlds. Very strong garrisons; do not expand naturally.
Rangdan — appear via the Rangdan Xenocide event deck. The most dangerous xenos threat ever recorded.
Laer — appear via the Laer Corruption event deck. Void-dancer serpentines with daemon blade mechanics.
Commonality — appear via event decks. Ancient machine-collective with coordinated precision strikes.
Khrave — appear via event decks. Psychic predators that bypass armor through mental assault.
Drukhari — appear via event decks. High evasion, rapid assault, devastating anti-infantry firepower.
Day 1: NPCs expand to empty adjacent worlds (colonies spawn at ~65% of the source planet's level). Players race to colonize before NPCs fill the gaps.
Day 2 (00:00 UTC): NPC invasions begin — enemy fleets target player planets. Fleet strength scales with player army strength and campaign age.
Invasion fleets are level-capped by both campaign day AND player strength — the stronger your armies, the stronger the invasions you attract.
NPC factions also fight each other — watch the galactic map for amber fleet arrows showing NPC vs NPC conflicts.
Per-faction escalation: each NPC faction tracks how many of its planets you've taken since the last daily tick. Lose 3+ planets in one day and that faction's level-up chance multiplies up to 2×. Slow and steady is safer than coordinated wipes.
Faction heat — immediate hardening: the 5-minute cron also tracks your attack rate against each faction. If your Legion hammers one faction too fast (e.g. 3+ attacks within 5 minutes), that faction's remaining garrisons immediately gain +1 defense level. At 6+ attacks they escalate harder. Heat decays over about 10 hours. This is per-faction — coordinating attacks across multiple factions avoids triggering the threshold on any single one.
Strongholds (Outpost L8, Fortress L10, Citadel L12) are high-level NPC fortifications that require coordinated rallies to take.
NPC capitals are the ultimate objective — L15 boss-tier garrisons at the edge of the galaxy.
Desperation: when a faction is reduced to 5 or fewer planets, it enters desperation mode — NPC-vs-NPC conflicts bypass level caps, and newly claimed NPC planets receive a 24-hour shield against further attack. Cornered factions fight harder to survive.
NPC max level scales with campaign day: Day 3 → L4 cap, Day 5 → L5, Day 7 → L6, and so on. This ensures early-game worlds stay manageable while late-game pushes face serious resistance.
Each campaign galaxy runs one event deck — a 10-event storyline that unfolds as players progress.
Events chain automatically when conditions are met: conquer enough planets, defeat enough enemies, or complete special objectives.
Each event has unique objectives (kill X enemies, conquer Y planets, defend against invasion waves) with resource and equipment rewards.
8 fully implemented event decks, each with unique mechanics:
Ork WAAAGH! — face the green tide with Rok bombardments, Warboss challenges, and massive WAAAGH! waves.
Aeldari-Daemon — the original storyline. Ancient alien empires and warp storm threats.
Dark Compliance — not all threats are alien. Maintain order across human worlds that resist Imperial rule.
Necron Awakening — ancient machines stir beneath dead worlds. Seal the tombs before dynasties fully awaken.
Rangdan Xenocide — the most dangerous xenos threat. Assimilation mechanics and redacted records.
Laer Corruption — a daemon blade corrupts all who wield it. Server-wide corruption meter.
Khrave Overmind — psychic predators threaten civilian populations. Liberate worlds before casualties mount.
Hrud Migration — time-warping creatures with entropy mechanics and temporal effects.
Resource events: gather a target amount of resources across all players.
Conquest events: conquer a certain number of NPC planets.
Kill events: defeat a target number of enemy units.
Survival events: defend against timed invasion waves without losing worlds.
Special events: unique objectives like dueling a named NPC leader or exploring a space hulk.
Server events appear on the Events page with progress tracking and countdown timers.
Active only when the campaign is running the Khrave event deck.
Khrave-controlled worlds enslave their populations through psychic bondage. When you defeat such a world, the surviving civilians are freed and remain on the planet as ownerless 'goods' awaiting evacuation.
Civilian counts scale with the Khrave garrison level. Your Liberation Doctrine determines how many survive the assault: surgical doctrine saves the most (~80%), standard saves ~50%, full assault saves ~20% (with diminishing returns from research bonuses).
Pickup: civilians sit on the planet until any fleet with cargo capacity (Unarmed Freighters work best) flies there and clicks 'Load Civilians' on the fleet card. They consume 0.1 cargo per civilian (1,000 civilians = 100 cargo). They are independent of planet ownership — anyone can pick them up, even from unowned liberated worlds.
Delivery: dispatch a loaded fleet to your homeworld or to Terra. Delivery is automatic on arrival. Each delivered civilian increases your Liberation Score and reduces your personal Resentment.
Resentment: a per-player meter (0-100%) that ticks up when civilians die under your command. At 50%+ you suffer -5% compliance, at 75%+ you also lose -5% WP in combat. Delivering civilians reduces it.
WARNING: if the Khrave retake a planet that still holds civilians, those civilians are lost — counted as casualties on the server-wide meter and adding NPC Heat to the Khrave faction. Don't liberate a planet you can't transport from.
Map: enable the 'Civilians' overlay (chain icon) or use the 'Civilians' filter on the galactic map to find planets with populations awaiting evacuation.
Defeat threshold: if server-wide civilian casualties exceed the threshold (scales with player count), or if Khrave reclaim 60%+ of non-starting planets, the campaign is lost.
Legion Command — your homeworld HQ. Unlocks higher-tier buildings and increases your unit cap.
Adamantium Refinery — produces Adamantium. Higher levels = more output.
Promethium Well — produces Promethium.
Gene-Seed Vault — produces Gene-Seed (rare, needed for elite units).
Plasma Reactor / Geothermal Plant — generates energy to power other buildings.
Shipyard — unlocks void ship recruitment. Higher levels unlock larger ship classes.
Barracks — unlocks infantry and ground unit recruitment.
Machine Cult — unlocks vehicle, walker, and titan recruitment at higher levels.
Research Station — generates Research Points for technology upgrades.
Planetary Defense Network — garrison buildings that provide free defensive units.
Void Shield Generator — provides shield bonuses to planetary garrison.
Research uses a one-shot node system: each technology is a single unlock that provides a permanent bonus. No repeated leveling — once unlocked, it's yours forever.
The research tree branches into multiple paths. Some nodes have choice locks — picking one path permanently excludes its alternative. Plan ahead.
APEX nodes are special repeatable research at the top of each branch. They can be leveled 1-5 for scaling bonuses, but cost significantly more at each tier.
Research requires a Research Station of the appropriate level. Higher-tier nodes need higher lab levels.
In rallies, the combined fleet benefits from the best technology of each participant.
Research is per-player — your tech bonuses apply to all your fleets regardless of where they fight.
Establish trade routes with other players to share resources.
Trade routes provide a steady stream of resources between allies.
Coordinate with your Legion to ensure frontier players get the resources they need.
Vox Chat — real-time messaging with all players in the galaxy.
Forum — persistent discussion threads for strategy, coordination, and announcements.
War Dispatches — auto-generated military communiques reporting significant events across the galaxy.
Defense Requests — alert allies when your planets are under NPC invasion threat.
Forge Worlds contain Standard Template Construct (STC) blueprints for unique unit variants.
Conquering a Forge World grants your Legion access to its STC Pattern Unit — a specialized variant not available otherwise.
You can grant STC access to allied players (up to 10 grants per STC).
STC units are separate buildable unit types with distinct stats, not stat overrides on existing units.
Every player operates under a Doctrine that defines their strategic role: Vanguard (offensive) or Bulwark (defensive).
Vanguard is the default. No penalties, no bonuses. Standard aggressive playstyle focused on conquest and expansion.
Bulwark is opt-in. Trade -25% Weapon Power on solo offensive attacks for scaling defensive bonuses. Designed for players who prefer to build tall, defend territory, and support allies.
Bulwark players earn Entrenchment Stacks — 1 stack per 12 hours of continuous Bulwark status, up to 5 stacks. Each stack adds +6% WP & HP to garrison units (up to +30% at Stack 5, regardless of building level — stacks additively with every other garrison buff), +5% resource production (up to +25%), and -2.5% garrison build cost (up to -12.5%).
Switching doctrine is allowed at any time with an 8-hour cooldown. Switching resets all entrenchment stacks to 0.
Shatter Condition: if a Bulwark player's True Conquest Score enters the top 25% of the server, they receive a warning. Two more conquests without switching forces revert to Vanguard with all stacks lost.
The WP penalty does NOT apply to: defensive combat, void patrols, space hulks, station assaults, or rallies where the Bulwark player contributes less than 50% of the total fleet WP.
The Expeditionary Relay is a unique homeworld-only building with doctrine-dependent behavior. It has 6 upgrade levels.
In Bulwark mode, the Relay generates a support fleet pool over time. Support units are free — the investment is the building upgrade cost and recruitment time. Support units do not consume your fleet's bulk capacity.
Bulwark players can pledge their support fleet to allied rallies and attack plans. Pledged units fight alongside allies. On victory, the Bulwark player receives a share of salvage proportional to their WP contribution. Losses auto-replenish.
In Vanguard mode, the Relay provides passive efficiency buffs: bonus salvage recovery, fleet travel speed, reduced insertion losses, bombardment efficiency, and recruitment speed — scaling with building level.
Building levels are preserved across doctrine switches. Switching freezes the support pool (Bulwark to Vanguard) or deactivates buffs (Vanguard to Bulwark) without losing anything permanently.
Company Captains and Champions that are not assigned to a fleet and not in recovery automatically engage in Training Regimens.
Training generates passive XP over time, ensuring heroes remain combat-viable even for players who focus on defense and logistics rather than active conquest.
Training XP is modest compared to combat XP — a few days of pure training equals roughly one good fight. It prevents zero-progression, not leapfrog leveling.
NPC factions track how aggressively you attack them. Rapidly assaulting one faction triggers Heat — a defensive hardening response.
At low heat (25+), the faction hardens 25% of its frontier planets (+1 garrison level each). At moderate heat (60+), 50% harden. At extreme heat (100+), all remaining planets harden immediately.
Heat decays over roughly 10 hours. Spreading your attacks across multiple factions avoids triggering any single faction's heat threshold.
This encourages strategic target selection rather than zerging one faction mindlessly.
Void Siege is a prolonged orbital bombardment strategy for heavily fortified planets.
Your fleet orbits the target and bombards the garrison over time (5-minute ticks).
Bombardment weakens the garrison progressively. Once sufficiently weakened, launch a ground assault.
Multiple players can join a siege for combined bombardment power.
The defending garrison fires back with cannon return fire — expect losses during the siege.
Space Hulks are timed sector events — derelict ships drifting through the galaxy.
Send infantry, elites, walkers, and fast attack units to explore. No vehicles or void ships allowed inside.
Combat encounters inside the hulk are ground-only with a 20-round do-or-die stance. Enemy strength scales to 85% of your eligible forces — hulk fights are serious engagements, not free loot.
Rewards scale with hulk level and are comparable to planet conquest loot: large resource payouts, commander shards, equipment drops, archeotech fragments, and rare vault artifacts at higher levels.
Each player can raid a hulk once per spawn (solo or via rally, not both). Max 1 active hulk at a time with a 24-hour cooldown between spawns.
Track your progress through milestone tracks: combat victories, planets conquered, resources gathered, and more.
Completing milestone tiers awards titles, resources, and unique badges displayed on your profile.
Legion Orders provide multi-objective chapter challenges with escalating rewards.