Star Conquest - Era I: The Cradle

Drag to pan, scroll to zoom, and click any planet, moon, station, fleet or freighter to inspect it. This is a pausable real-time 4X set in the solar system from Mercury to Pluto, where planets follow real orbits and freighters fly actual trajectories between them.

Colonies produce into stockpiles, and convoys haul the cargo home. Goods count only once they land, so transfer windows and alignment matter. Populations grow toward each world's habitat cap, and research takes real time.

Three pirate clans raid every faction's shipping from armed havens. You can hire escorts, commission corvettes, build orbital defense platforms, or burn a haven out. Two rival factions run the same economy. Sign non-aggression pacts, buy peace, join strikes on pirates, or raid and conquer. Reputation works as a currency: protecting civilians earns it, mercenaries and settlers spend it, and conquest loses it.

In year five the Swarm arrives, a wave of vessels that attacks everyone and outguns anything humans can build. You can win through Dominion before it lands, Endurance by holding Earth, or Swarm Broken by destroying the wave. Defeat is the single loss. Three difficulty levels run from Cadet to Admiral, which adds a 25-vessel Swarm. Time compression runs from 0.1x to 120x, and a single save slot persists in the browser.