Expansion Protocol

Land on an uncharted rock and take control one turn at a time. Nothing moves until you end your turn. Scout the adjacent sectors, assimilate them, build and commit. The Overseer has already set your quota and started the countdown. Every run draws a different assignment, and at each step you choose which target to chase. Hit it before the deadline or the run ends. There is no partial credit.

Your base is one living grid. A building only counts while it is wired into the network and drawing power, so there is no building "for later." Every extractor, reactor and replicator you place is an answer to the objective in front of you. Balance power against expansion and guard the links between sectors. If a threat cuts one key tile, everything behind it goes dark the same turn.

Threats announce themselves turns before they land. A solar storm, a fault line, an asteroid rain. You see the countdown and the target, and you decide what to shield, what to shoot down and what to write off. Defense costs the same matter your quota needs, so every counter is a trade against the deadline. Ignore the warning and the storm takes it. Over-defend and you miss the quota.

Deadline closing in and normal output won't make it? Time for radical measures. Overload your own buildings: push a reactor or replicator into critical mode for a few turns of insane output, then watch it tear itself apart. Drain a deposit dry for one last payout and crater the tile behind you. Burn part of your base to complete the mission. Quota met. By any means.

Every run you gain experience points. Spend your points on the technology tree and change the rules you land with. Cheaper shields, stronger reactors, buildings that keep producing through a storm. Mid-run, the Overseer authorizes directives that can rewrite the economy itself, from squeezing every extractor harder to scrapping all defenses for cheaper construction. Find the combination that beats your next assignment.