Start mining on Mars or Luna to start your space industry. I wrote this content for the Terra Invicta Wiki (, but it may have been edited later on by other contributors).

Overview

Industrializing space is necessary for most factions, particularly those hostile to aliens. The space industry will allow you to

• Space allows you to extract valuable resources and make money.
• Receive research points and research bonuses from space.
• You can build warships fleets to defend yourself or fight the aliens to protect the Earth if you are playing as a faction.

Later, you will even be able to establish colonies on other planets or in space.

As mentioned, Boost is a resource that can be used to launch space stations or surface outposts into orbit and to other bodies. Boost can also be used to pay for maintenance costs of outposts and stations that are not being produced in space, such as Water and Volatiles. However, Boost cannot be used to launch them from Earth. While space stations orbiting around Earth can be very useful, they can also hinder your ability to gather enough Boost to begin mining resources. These resources can be used to maintain habitats and space stations and don’t require Boost. Therefore, it makes more sense for you to start mining first and then expand your space stations.

Mission Control determines how many ships and facilities can be kept running on Earth. Mission Controls can be built on earthbound countries by using the Mission Control priority to either invest in them or direct investment. Later in the game, Mission Controls can be built in space. Mission Controls work best in smaller countries you control, but you can plan to unify them into larger countries later.

As your space industry grows, Mission Control will likely limit you. You can exceed your Mission Control cap, but this will make your outposts, stations, and ships more vulnerable to other factions.

Start Requirements

You will need to have enough Boost and some Mission Control. A good starting point is 40-60 Boost. Having 2-4 Mission Control (will be sufficient. Two MC) will be required. These techs are also required, along with the projects that unlock them (in brackets.

• Mission to Space
• Outpost Habs (Outpost core)
• Advanced Electromagnetism
• Mass Drivers
• Space Mining and Refining (Outpost Mining Complexe)
• Platform Core
• Nuclear Fission in Space (Fission pile, unlocked by this tech, Platform core) to mine on Mars.

You must first prospect a site on a spacebody before building an outpost. Sending a probe to a space body costs Boost and takes time. Also, you need the right global technology to research: Mission to the Moon (. Note that the space body is called Luna in the game. From now on), Luna will be referred to simply as Luna. These techs are available later to colonize and mine other areas of the solar system and technologies for larger, more efficient facilities.

Select “View Solar System” to select the space body you wish to prospect. Once the body has been selected, the button to send the probe is displayed at the bottom of your screen.

Prospecting with one probe will reveal all potential outpost sites on a planet. Any site can produce any or all of these:

• Water (blue droplets)
• Volatiles (red flame)
• Base Metals (light Blue pile of bricks
• Noble Metals (yellow pile bricks)
• Fissiles (radioactivity symbol).

The site’s ability to produce resources is determined by its randomness within certain upper and lower bounds. Because of the present water ice, Ceres and Europa tend to have lots of Water, while Luna Water is rare.

Water and Volatiles can be used to maintain outposts and stations, while Base Metals and Noble Metals are mainly used to build them. Fission Piles require Fissiles. Understanding how the space industry works is important. While resources from Earth are expensive Boost to send, resources from space go into a pool that is shared with all your outposts and stations without any transfer times. If you mine water on Mars, this water is immediately available to a space station in Earth orbit. It might be helpful to think of the solar systems as being split into two resource pools: Earth and space.

Your goal is to begin mining and accumulating enough materials that you can launch cores from Earth using Boost and then complete the base using five space resources. This saves time and enormous amounts of Boost.

Your First Mine

There are two ways to start.

• Building a mine or two on Luna and then moving to Mars with the resources from Luna.
• Going directly to Mars (Note that Mission to Mars is not required for Mission to the Moon)

There is no one right or wrong way to approach a game. It is important to be able and able to mine for Water, Volatiles Base Metals, Noble Metals, and Base Metals in space. This is necessary to build more mines. Fissiles are required to create the cores and fission piles that power everything. However, Boost can be used to build these cores and piles if you have enough.

If Luna does not have two sites that can produce all five resources, then skipping Luna may be a good idea. To mine on Mars, you will need an extra project (Fission Piles), as Mars is far from the Sun. Mars will always be more profitable to mine than Luna, but it costs more Boost to send outposts. It is also more difficult for Councillors (e.g., to attempt to take over an outpost.

A mine (, including the core and power plant), on Luna, should cost around 20 to 40 Boost. A mine on Mars should be about 40 to 70 Boost. If Mars’ cost is higher, consider whether Mars is within or near the launch window. Launch windows are dates when a target in space aligns with Earth’s orbit in such a way that it takes less boost to get there than normal. It might be worth waiting a few months for the launch window. To lower Boost costs, you can also look into the Nuclear Freighters project (which has been unlocked by Solid Core Fission Systems).

The following components will make your first mine simple:

• Outpost Core.
• Complex for Outpost Mining.
• (Fission Pile on Mars and a power plant (Solar Collector on Luna).

If you have the Boost, you can deploy them all in one go. This is advantageous since the mine will be operational simultaneously with the outpost core. The mine will take care of most maintenance requirements for the outpost, so it won’t cost much Boost to keep. It will also provide the resources to build more. One mine can only be supported by an outpost.

The parts may take several weeks to reach Luna (and Mars). You can send another mine if you have enough Boost.

Expansion

Once you have begun mining for all five resources, you can change your approach and send the Outpost Core to a site using Boost. Then, build the Fission Pile and Mining Complex with resources from the space resource pools instead of Boost.

Later, if you create a Construction Module on any station in planetary systems, you will be able to build Outpost Cores from space resources within that system. Mission Control capacity will begin to hinder your progress, rather than boost it. As you move down the tech tree, you will be able to add Mission Control in space using Operations Center modules.

You might want to target the Mission to the Asteroids technology. Asteroids have plenty to offer, and Mission to the Inner Planets. Solar Collectors are more powerful the closer you get to the Sun, making outpost layouts more efficient. The next tier, or habs, of surface outposts, is something to aim for, and it’s not locked by the tech Settlement Habs.

Then it’s time for you to think about space docks and shipyards, warships, and point defense modules to keep your stuff safe.

 

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