On the horizon · Politics
Founding a nation
It takes a group of founding companies and control of at least one system. The nation is the one in charge of territory, laws and taxes. Founding a nation and holding office require premium.
Here I show where the game stands. From top to bottom: what has already shipped, what I am building now and what comes next. I do not put dates on it: each part comes out when it is ready.
Updated on October 9, 2026
Players found nations, choose a regime and write laws the game enforces by itself. Nations also issue the only kind of money there is.
On the horizon · Politics
It takes a group of founding companies and control of at least one system. The nation is the one in charge of territory, laws and taxes. Founding a nation and holding office require premium.
On the horizon · Politics
Citizenship is optional, and each company can hold at most one. The nation decides by law whether admission is open, by approval or closed, and a new citizen waits 14 to 30 days before voting. Companies on a free account can vote, unless the constitution limits the vote to premium.
On the horizon · Politics
The default is a republic with three elected powers that depend on each other, and seats in proportion to citizen companies. There are also absolute and parliamentary monarchy, dictatorship, corporatocracy, direct democracy, oligarchic council and military junta, each with its own power structure.
On the horizon · Politics
Each regime sets what a vote weighs, such as one company, one vote in republics, or the size of the contribution in a corporatocracy. Terms last somewhere between 7 and 90 days, as the constitution sets, with impeachment and an optional no-confidence vote. Citizens vote in secret, and votes cast in office are public.
On the horizon · Politics
An amendment needs a qualified majority and a long deadline, and an ordinary law follows the regime's own procedure. A decree takes effect at once, but it is limited to the executive's powers and can be overturned.
On the horizon · Politics
Every proposal has its discussion, history, deadline and official notices inside the game.
On the horizon · Politics
Territory is held by structures in each system, which can be attacked and taken. Their upkeep is paid in goods and fuel and grows with the number of systems and the distance from the capital. They are the only borders on the map, and the core stays neutral forever.
On the horizon · Politics
Rulers build laws from a catalog, and the game applies them by itself: taxes, tariffs, embargoes, licenses, bans and access rules. An economic law can treat citizens, foreigners, specific nations and sanctioned companies differently, always with prior notice. Tariffs and embargoes look at the trader's citizenship, the place and the border, never at where the goods were made.
On the horizon · Politics
Economic laws apply at exchanges, stations and bases. Ship-to-ship deals in open space escape them, so smuggling exists and is fought with ships and defenses. There is no toll just for passing through: a nation that wants to block transit uses access laws, backed by its defenses.
On the horizon · Politics
Laws that hurt residents only take effect after a minimum notice. Orders already running keep the old rule, and residents can pack their base into a moving kit in the meantime.
On the horizon · Politics
Inside its territory, the nation sells, rents or grants land. In unclaimed space, whoever arrives first takes it.
On the horizon · Politics
Courts judge contract disputes, crimes, constitutionality and impeachment, and the game keeps the record of crimes and bounties. The code of the territory applies, and each nation also judges its own citizens wherever they are. Treaties can recognize other nations' warrants.
On the horizon · Politics
A regime changes by amendment or by revolution, which needs enough citizen companies to join in and control of the capital for a set number of hours. Every constitution has a line of succession, and an inactive ruler loses office automatically.
On the horizon · Politics
Every nation has a capital, and taking it brings the government down. In peacetime it can be moved.
On the horizon · Politics
Nations court newcomers in a showcase in the core, with data side by side to compare. The welcome package is a contract paid in installments while the company stays a citizen and active.
On the horizon · Politics
Treaties are game contracts backed by collateral. Economic clauses carry themselves out, and whoever breaks a security clause loses the collateral and has it on the public record.
PvP applies everywhere, except for those who just arrived. Battles last hours and your fleet follows the rules you set, even while you are offline. Formal war is between nations, with public demands, allies and a negotiated peace.
On the horizon · Politics
Only nations declare formal war, and it is always public. Attacking without a declaration is possible and can even take territory, but it is recorded as a crime and gives no right to demand anything. The victim can declare its war goals at once, and the aggressor only ends the war by accepting them.
On the horizon · Politics
A formal war starts with published demands and a deadline, such as 48 hours. The target can accept, give up part, make counter-demands or call its allies, and other nations take sides. If nobody backs down, the war begins.
On the horizon · Politics
Demands come from a catalog: territory and capital, regime change or a puppet government, tribute and reparations, open markets, an end to an embargo, demilitarization and more. Declaring them costs nothing, and the limit is winning.
On the horizon · Politics
Each side has a war support meter that moves with losses, occupation, blockades, goals taken and how long the war lasts. Peace is negotiated, and a side whose support hits zero surrenders and hands over every goal. A mandatory truce follows, such as 30 days, and attacking during it counts as undeclared aggression.
On the horizon · Politics
Taking the capital in a declared war lets the winner decide the fate of the defeated. It can annex systems, install puppet rulers, demand periodic tribute or a one-time reparation.
On the horizon · Politics
A nation that loses all its territory becomes a government in exile for 30 to 90 days. If it does not win anything back in that time, it is dissolved.
Research produces blueprints that belong to you. You can keep them secret or license them, known recipes get better versions and each nation protects patents under its own law.
On the horizon · Politics
Each nation's law sets the fee and term of patents, within a cap set by the game. By treaty, a nation can recognize other nations' patents.
What comes after launch and is already on my list: shortcuts across the galaxy, unions of nations, tools for those who build on top of the game and more to do in the universe.
On the horizon · Politics
Unions of nations that share rules or even a currency, and empires built from conquest, puppet governments and tribute.
With every new version I come back and update this page: things move from Up next to In progress and then to Shipped. When I change my mind about something, it changes here too. Whatever is marked Still thinking is something I have not decided yet.
The foundation is already live, and I am building the rest in the open, in front of whoever plays. Download the current version →