Engines

Engines

Engines are devices for Realm 4 and above. Your Engineering Lab forges them with resources, they wait in that colony's Colony Stores, and you install one in a planet's Shipyard. An installed engine gives a passive bonus for 30 days. Once calibrated it can be overcharged: a week at full power, after which it burns out. Overcharge is built for the moment after a hard battle: rebuilding a fleet or getting graveyard hull back sooner.

Engines are bought with resources only, never with Quantum Shards. They are valuable: stored engines can be looted, and installed ones can be stolen or destroyed in raids.

Build them at Engineering Lab → Open Workshop → Engines, see them in Inventory → Colony Stores, and run them from Shipyard → Engines (the Engine Bay). In game: Quick Guides → Engines.

A new core must be calibrated to its Shipyard: engineers run it at rising load before trusting it at full power. Only a calibrated core can be redlined.

Contents

• Engine types
• Grades
• Building (forging)
• Colony Stores
• Installing (Engine Bay)
• Calibration and wear
• Overcharge
• Scrap
• Raiding
• Transport
• Scouting
• Tips
• FAQ

Engine types

Engine	Engine Bay slot	Effect
Ship Production Engine	Forge	Ships in that Shipyard build faster, also below the minimum build time, by the engine's current bonus: passive Mk III down to about 74% of it, overcharged down to 1/2, 1/3 or 1/4 of it (Mk I / II / III). It never offsets the Tonnage over-capacity penalty.
Graveyard Reconstruction Engine	Recovery	Every recovering graveyard batch on that planet recovers faster, including buybacks made while it runs. A batch is never shortened below 12h in total.

Every speed change (install, calibration step, overcharge, end) applies from that moment. Progress already made is kept.

Grades

Engine	Grade	Passive (30 days)	Overcharge (7 days)	Calibration	Forge time	Build cost (raw)	Overcharge cost (raw)	Cargo space	Engineering Lab (build and run)
Ship Production	Mk I	+15%	+100%	72h	4h	≈ 25T	≈ 25T	2.5T	31
	Mk II	+25%	+200%	72h	12h	≈ 90T	≈ 90T	9T	33
	Mk III	+35%	+300%	72h	24h	≈ 225T	≈ 225T	22.5T	35
Graveyard Reconstruction	Mk I	+15%	+50%	24h	4h	≈ 30T	≈ 30T	3T	31
	Mk II	+25%	+100%	24h	12h	≈ 90T	≈ 90T	9T	33
	Mk III	+35%	+200%	24h	24h	≈ 250T	≈ 250T	25T	35

• Speed bonuses are shown as +% for both modes: +100% means twice as fast (half the build or recovery time).
• Cost is about 80% steel and quartz; the rest is rare resources (iridium, silicium, elerium; gas for graveyard engines). The Workshop shows the exact prices.
• Higher grades (Mk IV at lab 37, Mk V at lab 39) are planned.

How much does it help?

• Passive is a steady edge: +15–35% build or recovery speed for a month on that planet.
• Overcharge is for the aftermath of a big battle. When a large fleet falls in PvP, most of the lost hull goes to the Ship Graveyard and comes back within 2–7 days; only the destroyed share has to be rebuilt. Late-game Shipyards already build at the minimum build time, so rebuilding can take weeks. An overcharged Ship Production Engine on each planet adds +100%, +200% or +300% to that week (2, 3 or 4 weeks of building in one); Mk II–III bring a typical large loss back within about a week.
• An overcharged Graveyard Reconstruction Engine brings the graveyard part back sooner, so both slots together cover the whole recovery.
• Overcharging Mk III on every planet is a major spend. It is meant for the occasional big loss, not to run all the time.

Building (forging)

1. Open an Engineering Lab (planet or moon) and tap Open Workshop → Engines.
2. Pick the engine, the grade and how many, then tap Build. The colony pays straight away.
3. The lab forges each engine for the grade's forge time. Each colony forges one engine after another, so orders queue; the Workshop shows the queue with timers.
4. A finished engine moves into that colony's Colony Stores.
5. Changed your mind? Tap Cancel on an order in the queue. The queue marks the running order Forging and the ones waiting behind it Queued. Cancelling a queued order is free: the full price returns to that colony. Cancelling the order that is already forging costs a 5% fee. Either way the orders behind it move up.

Rules:

• The colony's Engineering Lab must be at the grade's level (31 / 33 / 35)
• No bulk surcharge: forging ahead is fine, but every stored engine is something raiders can take
• Not available in vacation mode or on alliance colonies
• Engines still being forged cannot be raided, moved or installed

Colony Stores

Inventory → Colony Stores lists the engines held on each colony and the ones still being forged. Stored engines:

• do not wear while stored
• can be installed (on a planet with a Shipyard), transported, scrapped or raided
• a used engine (e.g. one stolen from a Shipyard) shows the wear it has left and stacks apart from new ones

Installing (Engine Bay)

Open the planet's Shipyard and tap Engines in its tool row. The Engine Bay has two slots, one engine each:

• Forge slot: Ship Production Engine
• Recovery slot: Graveyard Reconstruction Engine

To install:

• the engine must be in that planet's Colony Stores
• the planet's Engineering Lab must meet the grade's level. The check is always the installing planet's own lab: a Mk III forged at a level-35 lab and moved to a planet with a level-32 lab cannot be installed there

You can install at any time, even before you queue ships or buy back graveyard hull. An installed engine cannot go back to Colony Stores (you can scrap it). While an engine is installed, that planet's Engineering Lab cannot be downgraded below the engine's level. Once the engine gives a bonus (from the first calibration step), the Shipyard progress bar and the Graveyard screen show it, and ship build times show the boosted time with the normal time struck through, e.g. ⏱ 50ms (100ms). Each calibration step, overcharge or end updates these and the running ship order straight away.

Calibration and wear

• Calibration: 72h for Ship Production, 24h for Graveyard Reconstruction. The passive bonus rises in quarters: 0% at install, then 25%, 50% and 75% of it, and the full bonus when calibration ends. Every install calibrates from zero, including a used engine.
• Wear: a new engine has 30 days of passive running. When it runs out the engine is worn out, the slot frees up and you get a mail.
• Calibration and wear run in real time and pause only in vacation mode.

Overcharge

Once calibrated, tap Overcharge in the Engine Bay:

• the planet pays the overcharge cost (shown on the Engine Bay card)
• the engine runs at its overcharge bonus for 7 days, then burns out and is gone (you get a mail)
• wear is the engine's whole life: with less than 7 days of wear left, the overcharge only lasts until the wear runs out. Plan it with at least a week of wear to spare; the Engine Bay shows how long it will run
• an overcharged engine cannot be stolen, destroyed or scrapped
• you cannot overcharge while a hostile attack fleet is heading to that planet

Scrap

Scrapping dismantles an engine for 75% of its build price × the share of wear it has left (a new engine counts as unworn).

• Installed engines: Scrap in the Engine Bay (not while overcharged)
• Stored engines: Scrap in Colony Stores, on a colony with an Engineering Lab
• Not while a hostile attack fleet is heading to that colony: engines cannot be scrapped to dodge a raid

Raiding

Engines still being forged and overcharged engines are always safe.

Stored engines

Rule	Detail
Share	Same as resources: the loot rate and Resource Protection apply to engines up to your warehouse capacity (in cargo space); engines beyond it are fully exposed.
Inactive colony	Flat 80% of stored engines
Cargo	Engines and resources share the raiders' free cargo in proportion, in whole engines
War fatigue	Reduces engines like resources
Joint attacks	Never take stored engines (whole engines cannot be split fairly between members); all the cargo goes to resources

Worked example: a raid has 25,000 free cargo. The target exposes 80,000 steel and 8 engines of 9 cargo each (72). Total 80,072 > 25,000, so everything is scaled by 25,000 / 80,072 ≈ 0.31: about 24,980 steel and 2 engines.

Installed engines

When the attacker wins, each installed engine that is passive or calibrating rolls once:

• 25%: stolen, if the raiders still have free cargo for it (otherwise nothing happens). It keeps its wear, lands in the raider's home Colony Stores and must calibrate again when installed
• 15%: destroyed. It leaves debris like a destroyed ship: its install price × the share of wear it had left, at the battle's ship debris rate (iridium and silicium 60% of that rate, elerium 48%). See Debris
• otherwise nothing happens
• Both chances are scaled by war fatigue
• Joint (FCS) attacks cannot steal installed engines; they can still destroy them (15%)

Battle reports list Engines Captured / Engines Lost (stored) and Installed Engine Stolen / Installed Engine Destroyed. Pirates and NPCs never take engines.

Transport

Use Transport or Dispatch. The fleet send screen has an Engines section listing the source colony's stored engines. Each engine takes cargo space equal to 1/10 of its build price, shared with the resources you load.

• Deliver to your own colonies or to another player who has reached Realm 4 (the usual transport rules apply)
• Moving an engine does not lower its lab requirement: send it to a planet whose Engineering Lab meets its grade if you want to run it there
• Used engines keep their wear
• If the target cannot receive engines, they stay aboard and come home
• Recalled fleets bring their engines back; fleet details list the engines aboard
• Engines are lost if the carrying fleet is destroyed

Scouting

Scout reports show a Colony Stores section: the number of stored engines from intel level −5, and the breakdown by type and grade from −2. Installed engines are never shown.

The battle simulator never includes engines in its loot estimate, with or without a scout report: only a scout report tells you what is stored.

Tips

• Install early: calibration takes days, and only a calibrated engine can be overcharged when a battle hits.
• Don't hold an overcharge too long: in the engine's last week it gets shorter, because it cannot run past the engine's wear.
• Overcharge once you have the work queued: a long ship queue after losses, or a big graveyard buyback.
• Overcharge before the enemy launches: it is blocked while an attack fleet is inbound, and an overcharged engine cannot be taken.
• Keep stored engines within your warehouse share, or install them.
• A captured Mk III needs Engineering Lab 35 to run. Store it, move it to a lab that can, send it to an ally, or scrap it.

FAQ

Why does the Engine Bay say "Lab 35"?

An engine only runs on a planet whose Engineering Lab meets its grade: 31 (Mk I), 33 (Mk II), 35 (Mk III).

Why can't I overcharge?

The engine is still calibrating, a hostile attack fleet is heading to that planet, you are in vacation mode, or the colony cannot pay the overcharge cost.

Why can't I downgrade my Engineering Lab?

An installed engine on that planet needs the lab at its grade's level. Wait for it to wear or burn out, or scrap it.

Can I cancel a forging order?

Yes, until it is finished. Tap Cancel on the order in the Workshop's forging queue and confirm. A Queued order (not started yet) is refunded in full. Cancelling the order that is already Forging costs a 5% fee. The colony's later orders start sooner. Finished engines cannot be cancelled; scrap them from Colony Stores instead. Not available in vacation mode.

Related pages

• Engineering Lab · Shipyard · Fleet Combat · Resource Protection · Tonnage · Translocator / Colony Relocate