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How to play

The aim of the game is to control and conqueror the asteroid belt. To do this you should colonize all the asteroids while also defeating all your opponents in your universe.

Here is a quick overview of how Dead Earth works. The game uses a turn based system in which all actions are carried out. One of the main aims of the game is to get resources in order to carry out research, and to start building the ships, platforms and modules required to create your game winning corporation.

Resources can be acquired through:

Mining asteroids
Creating and transporting valuable items
Salvaging wreckage
Finding cargo pods
Completing missions
Claiming bounties
Spending credits

Additionally research needs to be carried out in order to colonize other asteroids, explore and conquer the universe and to travel to new universes. However some players do not like direct confrontation and so prefer to join consortium's, use diplomacy and make alliances to win games.

But be warned you don't only have to defend against rival corporations but you also need to defend your Corporation against other threats such as the Red Alliance, United Earth and Solar Storms.

Turns

Each player is playing to the same clock and has 30 seconds to complete all their actions before the turn ends. Then everyone's screens around the world are updated at once.

Fog of war

Much of the map will initially be covered in grey titles, this is the fog of war when you explore the map these tiles will be removed. Some ships such as Scouts and Spy Ships will remove more of the fog than other ship types.

However if your ships and bases, or those of your consortium are more than 5 squares away from a quadrant on the map that has had its fog of war removed. The quadrant will become shrouded and the amount of information available to you about that quadrant will be limited.

Actions

To perform an action in the game click on a map square. The left hand pane of the screen will then describe what is in the square if anything. It will also give you a list of available options shown as icons. You can click on a icon to perform a task.

Ship actions

A ship with a icon can not be damaged, however if the ship makes any hostile moves this protection will be removed.

Rename the ship - by selecting the icon and entering a new name.
Move the ship - by clicking the ship then the icon and finally where you want the ship to move to. An icon will appear next turn on the ship to indicate its moving. The ship can be stopped moving by choosing the Cancel Orders option. There are several things that can happen when a ship reaches its destination, these are:
1. If you selected a square with a ship in it for your ship to move to the ship will chase and attack that ship or if the square your ship heading towards has a ship in it your ship will attack that ship.
2. If you move a Colony Ship or a Pioneer Ship onto a empty asteroid it will automatically colonize it and set up a new base.
3. If you move a Pioneer Ship into a wormhole it will pass into the universe the wormhole connected to.
4. If you move a Transport into contact with a asteroid with a non-allied base the troops it contains will attempt to conqueror it, in which case you will control their base. If they fail to conqueror it the soldiers may destroy base modules. The larger the base is in terms of the number of modules the harder it will be to conquer.
Auto Attack - click any ship, except the colony ship and then click the icon to activate this. Any current ship move will then be canceled and a Auto Attack icon will appear above the ship in your next turn. If any vessel from another corporation comes within three squares of your ship it will automatically chase it until it destroys it or is itself destroyed. You can cancel Auto Attack mode by moving the ship or choosing the Cancel Orders option. An icon will appear next turn on the ship to indicate its that it is in Auto Attack mode.
Transport valuable items - this is only available to freighters. Click the ship and then click the icon to activate this. You will need ten valuable items to send a freighter or a hundred for a heavy freighter. Once sent the freighter can't be stopped and if it reaches its destination it will cell the valuable items raising for you between 1,000 and 3,000 resources for every valuable item it contains. However other players can try to intercept the ship and steal its cargo for themselves.
Auto-salvage wreckage - this is only available to salvage ships. The will cause the ship to move from wreckage to wreckage looking for resources. Click the ship and then click the icon to activate this. Once selected the salvage ship can be stopped by choosing the Cancel Orders option. If it gets to the wreckage it will earn you between 0 and 100 resources.
Launch ZAT Fighters - this is only available to Carriers. To launch ZAT Fighters click the ship and then click the icon, this will create a squadron of three ZAT Fighters, equipped with plasma missiles, around the Carrier at a cost of 5000 resources.
Lay Magnetic Mines - this is only available to Minelayers. To lay mines click the ship and then click the icon, this will lay a mine field of four Magnetic Mines around the Minelayer at a cost of 4000 resources.
Cloak/Decloak - this is only available to Stealth Ships. To cloak click the ship and then click the icon, no one except you will be able to see or attack this ship, until you attack an enemy ship, tell your ship to Auto Attack or click the icon.
Create fleet - this available to any ship not already in a fleet and makes the selected ship your flagship. Click the ship and then click the icon to activate this. You can then select as many of your ships as you want to become part of this fleet, once you have finished selecting them press the icon. When you click on the flagship all the ships in that fleet will be outlined blue and the flagship will be indicated by the icon. Ships that are part of the fleet will not be able to move of their own accord but will be under the control of the flagship, so will carry out the same orders as the flagship. So if the flagships attack a ship so will the rest of the fleet.
Leave fleet - this available to any ship in a fleet apart from the flagship. Click the ship and then click the icon to make the ship leave the fleet.
Disband fleet - this only available to a flagship. Click the ship and then click the icon to make all ships in the fleet disband.
Spy - this is only available to spy ships. Click the ship and then click the icon, you can now select anything within five squares of the spy ship to spy on. You will then receive a report giving you critical information about the base, asteroid or ship, at a cost of five research points.
Scramble attack - this is only available to scramble ships. Click the ship and then click the icon, you can now select any Non-Auto Attacking ship within four squares of the scramble ship to scramble. Scrambling a ship will stop the ship from taking any action except from defending itself as it is blasted with electromagnetic radiation. When scrambling a ship the scrambler can do nothing else, if the scrambler moves it will then stop scrambling the target, if the scrambler is destroyed the target will no longer be scrambled. You can voluntarily stop scrambling the ship at any time by choosing the Cancel Orders option.
Place a bounty - you can place a bounty on any of your opponents ships by clicking the ship and then pressing the icon. This will mean that United Earth and Red Alliance ships will be more likely to attack the ship to claim the bounty. Similarly if a corporation destroys the ship they too will get the bounty.
Tug a platform - this is only available to tugs. Click the tug and then click the icon, you can now select any platform within one square. The tug will then capture the platform, allowing you to move both the tug and the platform to a new location.
Release a platform - this is only available to tugs. Click the tug and then click the icon, you can now select any square within one square of the tug to place the platform.
Cancel orders - click the icon to cancel whatever orders the vessel is following at the moment.
Self destruct - by selecting the icon. This will destroy your vessel but will give you up to the cost of the hull vessel back in resources.

Platform actions

Platforms are a type of ship that is used only for defensive or mining purposes for that reason, platforms can't move without the aid of a tug nor can they become part of a fleet. However platforms will automatically attack non-allied ships that come within one square of it.

Base actions

A base is indicated by the icon above an asteroid, while a icon indicates that the base is protected and can't be damaged. Bases you own will also show their status on the map indicates its building a module, indicates it has built a shipyard and indicates it is building a ship.

Rename the base - by selecting the icon and entering a new name.
Build up to one shipyard - click the icon to build a shipyard, once built this will allow your base to build spacecraft.
Build up to one lightning shield - click the icon to build a lightning shield, once built this protect your bases, however they take a huge amount of resources to generate and so will use resources if attacked. The shield will require more resources to protect a bigger base, it will also require more resources to protect against a stronger attack. However if you have enough resources and the shield works (there is a chance it won't) it will protect your base completely against the attack.
Build one or more mines - mines generate resources, however each asteroid has a limit to how many resources it contains, which is also shown in the asteroid information. Your corporations total resources is shown next to icon at the top of the screen.
Build one or more research labs - research labs use one resource point per turn to generate research points, a lab continually produces research as long as it has resources. Your total research is indicated at the top of the screen next to the icon.
Build one or more factories - factories use four resource points per turn but give you a chance of creating a valuable item that Earth desperately needs. These valuable items are indicated at the top of the screen by the icon.
Build a habitat - once you have exhausted a asteroids resource you can turn the inside of the asteroid into a habitat capable of supporting humans by clicking the icon. This can make the asteroid a center of culture in your corporation and enables you to build Media Outlets and Media Transmitters. Doing this will delete all existing Mine modules on the asteroid.
Build a barracks - once you have built a Habitat you can build one barracks by clicking the icon. This module gives every ship that is build at this asteroid base one extra experience point when it is built. It also improves the bases defence against invasion.
Build a media outlet - once you have built a Habitat you can build a media outlet by clicking the icon. This module distributes your positive propaganda to your populace and can increase your morale. It costs one resource for every turn to pay for the media outlet.
Build a media transmitter - once you have built a Habitat you can also build a media transmitter by clicking the icon. This module transmits your propaganda to your competitors (but not your allies) which can decrease their morale, this will only work if you have a 100% morale yourself. It costs fifteen resources every turn it transmits propaganda.
Place a bounty - you can place a bounty on any of your opponents bases by clicking the base and then pressing the icon. This will mean that United Earth and Red Alliance ships will be more likely to attack the base to claim the bounty. Similarly if a corporation destroys the base they too will get the bounty.
Self destruct - by selecting the icon. This will destroy your base but will give you up to the cost of the hull of the base back in resources.

You can delete a module by pressing the icon against the module name. In a similar way a module being constructed can be canceled by clicking the icon next to the description about the module being constructed. When building modules you can only build as many modules as the asteroid will allow this information is present under the asteroid information.

You can quick build a base module by pressing the icon next to the module in the base description. This will complete the module next turn but will charge you extra resources dependent on the amount of time left to do so.

The cost of building a module increases with the more modules that have been built on a asteroid.

If you see an opponents base or ship you can click on it and then choose the talk option to talk to the player. Once you have talked to the player a diplomatic channel will be available to the player in the messages pane.

Repairing

Your ships, platforms and asteroid bases will automatically repair themselves if your corporation has more than zero resources.

If a ship is damaged, its engines can be come inoperative making the ship immobilized, in which case it will display the icon. Every turn immobilized ships will attempt to repair thier engines and get under way, there is a higher chance of ships with a high repair rate successfully completing the repairs.

Experience

Every time a ship or platform destroys a vessel in combat causes it to gain experience. The more experience a vessel has the better it will perform in future battles.

Maintenance

It costs resources to maintain bases, Interplanetary Missiles (IPMs) and some ships and platforms. The amount of resources an item costs to maintains is shown in the description of its hull.

Morale

The amount of morale you currently have is indicated at the top of the screen next to the icon. The lower your morale the slower you will generate resources, research and precious items in your mines, labs and factories. Furthermore a low morale will also have a detrimental effect on any battles your forces are involved in.

Your morale is reduced by losing ships and bases, and increased by building media outlets.

Building ships and platforms

Before you can build a ship you must first design your ship or platform classes. Go to the ship designer tab and use the form at the bottom. You must name your ship class and choose a hull type. This will have a hard point value indicating how many weapon and defence hard points it can hold.

Then choose the number of different defences and weapons you want your ship class to have. The cost of each is indicated by the icon, don't worry you don't actually pay this until you build the ship class later. The icon indicates how many hard points the weapon or defence uses, therefore this will be always be a negative number.

Next to each hull, weapon and defence there is the icon which indicates how many turns it will take to build, all of these turn values are added up to calculate the total number of turns required to build the class.

Finally there is the this gives you a technology summary and tells you how good the defence or weapon is against different weapons and defences respectively.

Once you have finished press the accept button to save your ship class.

You can't build ships until you have a shipyard. Build a shipyard on one or more of your bases. Once you have at least one shipyard you can go to the shipyard tab and select a shipyard and then if no ships are being built a form should appear otherwise the ship currently under construction will appear. Then enter the name of the ship and select the ship class you want to build. If you choose the "Build Continously" option the base will keep on making this ship. Press Done to start building the ship.

When you go back to the shipyard it will show you the ship being built and the time left. You can cancel the build by pressing the icon.

You can quick build a ship next turn by pressing the icon next to the vessel in the base description or on the shipyard tab. This will complete the vessel next turn but will charge you extra resources dependent on the amount of time left to do so.

Research

You can research better ships by clicking on the Research tab and then choosing the weapon, defence or hull type you want. The icon indicates how long it will take to research the technology while the indicates how many lab points it will cost. Once you press accept the technology begins to be researched and the research screen will not allow any other technology to be researched. You can press the icon to cancel the research.

You can quickly research a technology by pressing the icon next to the vessel in the research on the research tab. This will complete the research next turn but will charge you credits dependent on the amount of time left to complete the research.

Locked tech

Some items are locked. These can be unlocked by finding the design in a cargo pod in the form of a special item, credits can then be used to unlock it. Once unlocked the technology is always available for research in any universe you enter.

Diplomacy

This tab allows you to give resources, research, valuable items, credits, alliances, ships and bases to players you have diplomatic contact with. To do this select the corporation you want to give items to from the drop down and then select what you want to send them before clicking the accept icon. This functionality allows you to sell ships to other players, or to help out other players in the game.

Alliances

An alliance is a temporary relationship in which your ships are not allowed to attack each other as long as you are allies. To set up an alliance go to the diplomacy tab and choose the player you want to have an alliance with then tick the alliance checkbox and then send the proposal. The alliance proposal will then appear on their diplomacy screen, they must accept the alliance before it is complete.

You can cancel the alliance at any time by pressing the icon next to the alliance, this will cancel the alliance for both players.

Wormholes

Wormholes are gateways into other universes that people are currently playing in. Any ship other than a pioneer ship that attempts to enter the universe will be destroyed. If a pioneer ship enters the wormhole it will appear in the new universe and all your assets in your current universe will be deleted, the head of your corporation moved into the new universe and you will play in the universe you have moved to from now on. Furthermore moving into a new universe will not cause you to lose your existing resources, research, precious items, morale or ship designs from the universe you left.

Universe Events

When trying to conquer the Solar System, you may come up against one or more of the following universe events.

Solar Storms

Solar Storms can happen at anytime in a universe. The general area a solar storm will occur is shown by the icon, however any ships and platforms within 5-30 squares of this location can possibly be effected, bases are not effected. Effected ships and platforms will be out of communication for 60 turns and will be indicated by the effect. Being out of communication means that the ships will not be able to recieve new orders and will continue doing what ever they were doing before the Solar Storm struck. Once a Solar Storm has struck the icon disappears.

Major Red Alliance Attack

This happens when there is a certain number of Red Alliance fighters in a universe. Once this number is reached the fighters will attack all Corporations who are not protected, cloaked or have bribed the Red Alliance.

Pandemic

A Viral Pandemic can decimate your workforce, which can badly effect your Corporations morale. However all Corporations are effected by a Pandemic to differently, with some suffering greatly and others barely being touched. Corporations can be made immune to Pandemic's by using the Immunization Special Item.

Cosmic Radiation

Cosmic Radiation can suddenly pass through a Solar System making some of your Corporations resources and precious items radioactive and hence worthless. Similarly to a Pandemic all Corporations are effected by Cosmic Radiation differently, with some suffering greatly and others barely being touched. Corporations can be made immune to Cosmic Radiation by using the Cosmic Radiation Immunity Special Item.

Computer Virus

Highly intelligent Computer Viruses can spread through a Solar System destroying some of your Corporations research. All Corporations are effected by the Computer Virus event differently, with some suffering greatly and others barely being touched. Corporations can be made immune to Computer Virus by using the Computer Virus Immunity Special Item.

Asteroid Survey

Sometimes asteroids that have been stripped of resources are not as empty as they appear. Later Asteroid Surveys can find resources that the previous owners have missed!

United Earth Government Bounty

Ships of players who have not been in the game for over 24 hours can have a United Earth Government bounty placed on thier vessels. The bounty can range from a bounty of 100,000 to 200,000 resources and is claimed by anyone who destroys the ship.

Rebellion

Worker rebellions can occur on bases that belong to Corporations with less than 50% morale. Rebellions can potentially destroy many base modules!

Defection

Ship defections can occur on ships that belong to Corporations with less than 50% morale. The ship will defect to another Corporation in the same universe with a higher morale!

Worker Strike

Worker strikes occur simultaneously througout the universe all current construction projects build times are doubled.

Scientist Shortage

All the research times of projects currently under development time is doubled.

Missions

Missions are optional tasks you can carry out during the game for a resource reward. The missions can be such things as colonize a asteroid or destroy a particular enemy base. However missions can include attacking your allies so you must decide what is more important your alliance or the resources?

Consortium's

Any player can become a member of a consortium, by going to the consortium screen and applying to join an existing consortium or by starting their own.

Consortium's allows players to play cooperatively across universes, allowing chats to take place between universes in order to allow global consortium strategies to be made. If only players from one consortium are left in a universe after a universe has closed or become full then that consortium, and by extension all corporations in it, will win that universe. Because consortium's can win rewards consortium's also have their own credits that are managed by the consortium administrators.

If a consortium player joins or moves into any universe they are automatically put in an alliance with any of their existing consortium members within that universe and will have full diplomatic communication with them.

Consortium Tax

However because this gives consortium members a huge advantage consortium's, not the member corporations, are taxed in credits each month, when the number of corporations in a consortium are larger than one.

The consortium tax is calculated as below:

2-4 consortium members = 1 credit per month
5-7 consortium members = 2 credit per month
8-10 consortium members = 3 credit per month
11-13 consortium members = 4 credit per month
14-16 consortium members = 5 credit per month
...and so on...

If a consortium owes tax the consortium member corporations will be fined in resources and precious items daily relative to the amount of tax the consortium owes.

Consortium control panel

When a player is a member of a consortium they get access to the consortium control panel. What the player can do on the control panel depends on their security level. The options are:

Consortium messages (all members) - this allows all consortium members to communicate with each other across the different universes, these messages will also appear to players who are in games. Players in games can respond by choosing the "My Consortium" option in the message screen.
Transfer credits to consortium (all members) - this allows you to transfer some of your own credits to the consortium's reserves this is non-reversible.
Leave the consortium (all members) - this allows you to leave the consortium, note this is not possible if you are a treasurer and the consortium is in debt.
Edit the consortium (treasurer) - this allows you to change the name and icon of the consortium.
Approve/disapprove consortium applicants (administrator/treasurer) - this allows you to accept or decline petitions to join your consortium.
Consortium corporations (member/administrator/treasurer)
- Members can see all details but not edit anything. However members can vote to make a member or an administrator a treasurer. If 50% or more of the consortium's administrators and members vote for a particular corporation, that corporation then becomes a treasurer.
- Administrators can make members administrators or treasurers, as well as being able to remove members.
- Treasurers can make anyone administrators, members or treasurers, as well as remove both administrators, members and other treasures.
Note that you can't effect yourself. Nor can you effect someone that has the same or higher role than you, unless you are a treasurer.
Consortium finances (treasurer) - this allows the treasurer to transfer the consortium credits to any corporation in the consortium. Beware this means a treasurer could steal the consortium's credits, so only make players who are trusted treasurers as we will not recoup any lost credits.

Cargo Pods

Cargo pods contain cargo left behind by space companies for pick up by their cargo carriers. However corporations can intercept them and receive the resources, precious items or research they contain. Alternatively they may even contain virtual goods which can give you a huge advantage in Dead Earth.

These can also contain special items that you need to purchase with credits in order to access. Once purchased the purchased items will always be available in any universe you go into!

Red Alliance Forces

The Red Alliance will get involved in a universe if the strongest players in a universe are above a certain threat level. In which case the Red Alliance will send raiders against those corporations for as long as they are still deemed a threat. To defend against Red Alliance Raiders it is wise to have ships and platforms guarding your bases.

Red Alliance also have access to the Red Alliance Fighter that will only hunt vunerable merchant vessels such as Salavage Ships and Frieghters.

United Earth Ships

The United Earth gets involved to try to stop corporations using warships, as they believe a civilian corporation has no right to. Therefore the United Earth will attack both Red Alliance raiders and any warship bigger than a scout vessel. The bigger the vessel the more likely it is to come under the scrutiny of United Earth.

Scanner

Space is big and its because of this that there's a scanner tab. The scanner tab allows you to find things not currently hidden by the Fog of War. Just specify if you want to find an asteroid or ship and then what you want to show out of these and press done. The scanner will then give you a list of possibilities, next to each is a map icon which will take you straight to were that item is on the map. Note that if filtering by the largest asteroids or richest asteroids the largest and richest will appear first in the list.

Credits

The Upgrades tab allows you to spend in-game credits to buy the following items:

Resources - you can spend your credits to get more resources.
Base protection - you can spend your credits to protect your bases from all attacks for a certain number of days while you are logged out.
Propaganda package - you can spend credits on this to reset your morale to 100%
Shroud package - you can use credits to double the amount of shrouded quadrants your ships, platforms and bases remove in your current universe.
Special items - found in cargo pods, but need credits to be activated. Once activated they are activated permanently for the player even if they move into different universes.
Research - complete the research of a technology next turn as described in the research section.

Credits don't have to be spent in one universe but can be saved for future games.

The more people spend credits in a universe the higher the universe reward becomes. For every three transactions made in a universe the reward goes up by one credit!

Chatting

You can start a chat with a new Corporation by clicking on the Corporation on the map and clicking the icon. From then on the corporation will be listed in the list of corporations you are chatting to in the bottom map panel. To send messages to a Corporation you are already in communication with simply select the Corporation name from the drop down and then enter the text and press the icon.

A highly useful feature is the ability to send map coordinates to another Corporation, to do this select the location in the map and then press theicon turning it tofrom now on all messages you send will have your selected map coordinates, until you press theicon again to deactivating it.

Sound

In the latest browsers that support HTML5 Dead Earth has sound effects. This can be enabled and disabled in your My Profile page.

In game help

Help messages appear during the game to help the player understand what actions they must carry out. A particular message can be disabled by selecting the "Don't show this message again" check box. All the help messages can be enabled once more by going to your My Profile page. Top

Quitting the game

You can choose the "Abandon this Universe" option in the game menu to permanently exit the universe. But beware this will delete all your progress and stats. If you want to leave the game temporarily then choose the "Logout" option instead.

Another way to leave a universe is by not entering it at all for two weeks, any players that do this will be automatically removed from the universe.

Winning the game

To win the game you must be the last player or consortium left in your universe, after the universe is closed. A universe is closed when the number of players reaches the maximum allowed in the universe, usually 60 or all asteroids with 3000 or more resources are colonized.

If you win the game you will receive a three credits prize or if playing as a consortium your consortium will receive the prize instead.