How to Play

Fundamentally the game is played according to this simple diagram:

Technology → Assets → Actions

In English: technology allows you to build assets, which allow you to take actions.

Technology

Technology controls what you can do and when.

Each technology allows you to build one asset and has one prerequisite technology. A technology may, however, unlock more than one follow-on technology, forcing choices.

With few exceptions (you may receive one or two "free" technologies at game start) you must research a technology to own it. Owning a tech lets you use it; it does not prevent others from researching the same tech.

The fact that someone already owns a technology may make it easier for others to research it — and the more people who own it, the more that can factor in.

Research Facilities

Research requires a Research Facility. The number of different techs you can research in a single turn equals the number of Research Facilities you own — but owning more facilities does not shorten the time to research any single tech.

You need a special technology to benefit from more than one Research Facility simultaneously; without it, only one counts.

You can also obtain technologies through Contracts — another player or the game itself may offer a tech as part of a contract reward.

Research Progress

Researching a technology is not a single pass/fail attempt — it is a cumulative process. Each time you queue a research action, your progress toward that technology increases. When your accumulated progress reaches the threshold for that technology, you own it.

Progress accumulates: each research action adds to your total progress for that tech, regardless of whether any individual attempt "succeeds."
Threshold: the threshold is set per technology. More advanced technologies require more total progress.
Cost per attempt: each research action has a cash cost that is charged whether or not the threshold is reached that turn.
Progress is not lost: if you stop researching a tech and return to it later, your accumulated progress remains.

The practical result: you can estimate roughly how many turns a tech will take and plan accordingly. You will never be surprised by a long streak of failures.

Assets

You need technology to build assets; you need assets to take actions.

There is a one-to-one correspondence between technology and assets — each technology enables exactly one asset and each asset is enabled by exactly one technology.

Assets allow you to take actions. Principally, owning the right rocket and the right satellite allows you to launch that satellite into orbit.

Fuel and the Satellite Lifecycle

Satellites are physical objects with limited fuel. Understanding fuel is essential to long-term planning.

Fuel Basics

Fuel tanks: each satellite prototype has a fixed fuel tank size, which determines how much fuel it can carry.
Launch fuel: reaching a higher orbit requires more fuel. A satellite launched to GEO uses more fuel than one launched to LEO.
Operational fuel: satellites consume fuel each turn they are operational.
Fuel exhausted: when a satellite's fuel runs out, it stops operating. It can no longer fulfill contracts or generate revenue.

Satellite Status

Operational: satellite is active and generating revenue (if you have the right contracts and ground support).
Fuel exhausted: satellite is out of fuel and no longer operating. It remains in orbit but earns nothing.
Retired: satellite has been formally retired from service.

Managing Your Satellite List

Fuel-exhausted and retired satellites accumulate over time. You can hide them to keep your Turn page clean. Use the Hide button next to any inactive satellite to move it to the hidden section. Use Show to bring it back. Hiding a satellite is a display preference only — it has no effect on the game.

Contracts

Contracts are the economic heart of Space Race. They are how you make money and progress through the game.

Contract Types

Government Contracts: pre-built contracts with specific requirements such as "deploy a communication satellite to GEO orbit."
Recurring Revenue Contracts: provide ongoing income each turn as long as your satellite remains operational.
One-time Contracts: pay immediately upon completion.
Loan Contracts: you receive benefits upfront but owe cash every turn for the duration. If you cannot cover the payment, you lose Victory Points instead (see VP Penalties below).

What Contracts May Require

Cash payment: you pay upfront costs.
Assets: specific rockets, facilities, or equipment.
Technologies: you must own certain research.
Satellites: deploy satellites with specific abilities to target orbits.

What Contracts May Provide

Cash payment: immediate money upon completion.
Assets: new equipment or facilities.
Technologies: advanced research you haven't unlocked.
Satellites: pre-built satellites for specific missions.
Recurring payouts: ongoing revenue each turn (requires operational satellites).

Auctions and Bidding

Most contracts go through a competitive auction:

Auction creation: a contract goes up for auction as soon as its technology prerequisites have been researched by anyone in the game — you do not have to be the one who researched it.
Bidding phase: players bid cash amounts to win contracts. You must have enough cash on hand to cover your bid.
Auction end: an auction closes automatically after 3 turns pass without a new bid. An auction with no bids stays open indefinitely until someone bids, then the 3-turn clock starts.
Winner selection: highest bidder wins and pays their bid amount immediately. In a tie, the earliest bid received wins.
Contract assignment: the winning player receives the contract and must fulfill its requirements within the specified timeframe.

Recurring Revenue System

Some contracts provide long-term income paid each turn:

Satellite requirements: you must maintain operational satellites in the correct orbits to keep receiving payouts.
Ground Operations Facility: each Ground Operations Facility supports up to 3 operational satellites. If you exceed that capacity, recurring payouts are paused.
Multiple ground facilities: you can build more than one, but you need a special technology to benefit from more than one simultaneously.
Revenue validation: payouts are paused if a required satellite is no longer operational — including if it has run out of fuel.
Duration: some contracts pay indefinitely; others have a fixed number of turns.

Coalitions

Players can form coalitions — formal alliances that share certain benefits and are governed by a vote-based governance system.

Forming a Coalition

Any player can create a coalition. Once created, the founder is the first member. The coalition exists as long as it has at least one member.

Inviting Players

Any coalition member can invite another player to join.
When an invite is sent, the inviting member's "yes" vote is cast automatically.
All current coalition members must vote on each invite. The invite is approved or rejected at the next turn run.
Unanimous approval required: if all members vote yes, the player joins at turn run. If any member votes no, the invite is rejected.
The invited player does not vote — only current members do.

XP Cap

To prevent early-game players from being overwhelmed, each game has an XP cap on coalition total experience.

XP: each player's XP equals the number of games they have completed.
Cap formula: the cap is max(floor(total_XP / 5), highest_single_player_XP + 1).
Enforcement: when a player attempts to join a coalition, the combined XP of all members plus the new player must not exceed the cap. If it would, the join is blocked.
Skip condition: if the average XP across all players in the game is less than 5, the cap does not apply. New game groups are not penalized for having veterans.

Disbanding

A coalition can only be disbanded by its sole founding member before anyone else has joined. If a player creates a coalition and changes their mind, they can disband it — the only effect is that they are free to join or create another coalition.

Once a second member joins, the coalition cannot be disbanded. Members can leave individually but the coalition persists as long as at least one member remains.

Actions

Build: if you have a technology you can build its asset. You can only build one copy of a thing per turn, but you can build multiple different things in the same turn.
Launch: if you have a payload (satellite) and an appropriate rocket, you can launch the satellite into orbit.
Research: queue a research attempt for any technology you are eligible to research. Progress accumulates toward the threshold; when it is reached, you own the tech.
Operating Satellites — the hidden action: when you launch a satellite, it is automatically operated for you and generates revenue each turn as long as it is operational and you have sufficient ground support.
Change orbit: shift a satellite from one orbit to another (e.g., LEO to MEO). Note that orbital transfers consume fuel.

Facility Limits

The number of facilities determines what you can do each turn:

Research Facility: required to research technology. Each facility lets you research one additional tech per turn. You need a special technology to benefit from more than one simultaneously.
Launch Facility: required to launch rockets. Each facility allows one additional launch per turn. You need a special technology to benefit from more than one simultaneously.
Ground Operations Facility: required to support operational satellites and collect recurring revenue. One facility supports three satellites. You need a special technology to benefit from more than one simultaneously.

Money

Money is the core resource. All amounts are in millions of dollars ($M) and are always whole numbers — never fractions.

Income Sources

Contract completion: immediate payment when you fulfill contract requirements.
Recurring payouts: ongoing revenue each turn from operational satellites serving contracts.
Contract bonuses: additional payments specified in contract reward details.

Major Expenses

Research costs: cash cost per research attempt.
Asset construction: building rockets, facilities, and equipment.
Contract bids: auction payments when winning contracts.
Contract requirements: upfront costs some contracts demand.

Victory Point Penalties

Any time you are required to pay money under a contract and cannot cover it, you lose Victory Points instead. This applies to all contracts with a recurring cash obligation — not just loans.

Missed payment penalty: you lose 1 VP per $20 you cannot pay, with a minimum of 1 VP. A missed $100 payment costs 5 VP; a missed $200 payment costs 10 VP. Your cash is not taken below zero, but the VP penalty still applies. You will see a notification in your events feed.

Orbits and Launch Mechanics

Orbital Destinations

Space Race features over 30 different orbital destinations, ranging from Earth orbits to asteroids and planetary bodies.

Earth Orbits

LEO (Low Earth Orbit): easiest to reach, lowest fuel cost.
MEO (Medium Earth Orbit): mid-range fuel cost and rewards.
GEO (Geostationary Orbit): high-value orbit for communication satellites.
Beyond GEO: various high Earth orbits with specialized applications.

Deep Space Destinations

Lunar System: Moon surface and Lagrange points (L1, L2, L3, L4, L5).
Asteroids: mining targets like Ryugu, Bennu, Eros, Ceres.
Planets: Venus, Mars, and their moons.
Advanced targets: complex orbits with high fuel requirements.

Rocket Capabilities

Four rocket sizes determine your launch capabilities:

Small Rocket: LEO only, limited payload capacity.
Medium Rocket: LEO and MEO, moderate payloads.
Heavy Rocket: up to GEO, large payload capacity.
Super Heavy Rocket: expanded destinations, massive payload capacity.

Satellite Classifications

Five satellite sizes affect launch requirements and capabilities:

Tiny: CubeSats and micro-satellites.
Small: standard small satellites.
Medium: mid-size platforms.
Large: heavy satellites with advanced capabilities.
Huge: space stations and major infrastructure.

Launch Capability Matrix

This table shows which rocket/satellite combinations can reach each orbital class:

Satellite Size	Rocket Size → Maximum Orbit Reachable
Satellite Size	Small	Medium	Heavy	Super Heavy
Tiny	LEO	MEO	GEO	Any
Small	LEO	MEO	GEO	Any
Medium	—	LEO	MEO	GEO
Large	—	—	LEO	MEO
Huge	—	—	—	LEO

Satellite Abilities

Satellites carry abilities that determine which contracts they can fulfill. Examples:

Communication Systems: Basic Radio, High-Gain Antenna, Communication Satellites.
Earth Observation: Weather Sensors, Cloud Imaging, Surveillance Cameras.
Advanced Missions: Signal Intelligence, Power Beaming, Asteroid Exploration.
Orbital requirements: each ability has a minimum orbit requirement for operation.

Retiring from the Game

If you need to stop playing, you can retire at any time. The Retire from game link appears at the bottom of the Turn page. Retiring removes you from active play — your satellites and contracts remain in the game world but you will no longer take turns. This option is for players who cannot continue but do not want to simply abandon their account.

Space News

The Space News is a newspaper that reports on game events. Players can use it to track how opponents are doing.

The Space News does not require a login. It is accessible to non-players and acts as a "rail" — a place where observers can follow the game without participating.

The Space News may include game-generated advertisements for certain contracts, and may contain real-world space news articles whose relevance it is up to players to work out.

The Space News does not provide a complete picture of everything happening in the game, and the veracity of articles is not guaranteed.

User Interface

Actions

Every turn the game calculates what you can research (based on your technology), what you can build (based on your technology), and what you can launch (based on your assets). The result appears in the "Possible Actions You Could Take" table.

Check any actions you want to take and click Add Commands to move them to the "Actions You Are Taking" table. Click Remove Commands to move checked items back. You can go back and forth until you are satisfied.

You can also hide actions you are not interested in using the Hide checkbox. Hidden actions appear in a separate section and can be unhidden at any time.

All queued commands are executed by the server when the turn runs — nothing happens immediately when you click Add or Remove.

Information

The Turn page shows:

Events from last turn
Your current cash
Assets you own
Tech you control
Tech you are researching (with progress toward threshold)
Satellites you are operating (active, fuel-exhausted, and optionally hidden retired satellites)
Your contracts (won, in auction, and all-game history)