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Genesis Devices

The only mechanism for creating new planets in the universe. Three tiers, each with its own cost, formation time, and outcome distribution.

Tier matrix

Source: services/gameserver/src/services/genesis_service.py:GENESIS_TIERS.

Tier Cost (cr) Sacrifices ship? Habitability range Resource richness Size range
basic 25,000 No 40–60 0.5–1.0 3–6
enhanced 75,000 No 55–75 0.8–1.5 4–7
advanced 250,000 Yes — Colony Ship 70–90 1.2–2.0 5–9

Pricing is tier-based per device. The advanced tier consumes the Colony Ship.

Planet-type weights

Each tier rolls a planet type from a weighted distribution:

basic: | Type | Weight | |------|-------:| | TERRAN | 50 | | OCEANIC | 20 | | DESERT | 15 | | ICE | 10 | | VOLCANIC | 5 |

enhanced: Terran 60, Oceanic 20, Desert 10, Ice 5, Volcanic 5.

advanced: Terran 80, Oceanic 10, Desert 5, Ice 3, Volcanic 2.

Higher tiers bias heavily toward Terran (best planet) and away from hostile types.

Ship capacity

GENESIS_CAPACITY_BY_SHIP:

Ship Genesis capacity
Light Freighter 1
Cargo Hauler 2
Colony Ship 3
Defender 3
Carrier 5
Warp Jumper 1

The Advanced Genesis path (which sacrifices the Colony Ship) only needs 1 advanced device.

Ships with active Genesis devices suffer: - ~50 cargo units consumed per device for containment. - −20% max travel speed (safety protocols). - −50% drone capacity. - −100 max hull and shields each.

Formation process

Standard tier (basic / enhanced)

  1. Acquire devices at a Class 9 Research Station (1–3 in stock, 7-day refresh) or Class 7+ Technology Port. Federation reputation level ≥ 8 (design).
  2. Travel to an empty, non-protected sector (>= 5 jumps from Federation Space; ≥ 2 sectors from any other planet — design).
  3. Initiate the Genesis sequence:
  4. basic: 1 device.
  5. enhanced: 3 devices.
  6. The 48-hour formation timer (GENESIS_FORMATION_HOURS = 48) runs server-side. The player is free to leave the sector — the forming planet is invulnerable on its own (see Formation-window protection).
  7. During the sequence, the player has a reduced turn cap (50/day) — design.
  8. On completion, devices are consumed and a planet is generated using the weighted distribution.
  9. Ownership auto-assigned to the deploying player.

Aborting the sequence loses all devices.

Formation-window protection

While a Genesis-created planet has formation_status == "forming" (the 48h window for basic/enhanced; effectively zero seconds for advanced, which sets formation_status = "complete" on creation), the planet is invulnerable:

  • Cannot be landed on — the landing endpoint rejects with "this planet is still forming" (services/gameserver/src/api/routes/planets.py — landing handler checks planet.formation_status == "forming").
  • Cannot be attacked — the attack_planet path must reject ship-vs-planet combat against a forming target (services/gameserver/src/services/combat_service.py:attack_planet).
  • Genesis device cannot be reclaimed — devices are consumed at deployment and the forming planet has no salvage path.
  • The deploying player can leave the sector freely without aborting the sequence; formation completes purely on the server-side timer in GenesisService.check_formation_status (services/gameserver/src/services/genesis_service.py). The lock-to-sector requirement only applies to Genesis Teams (see below), where any member leaving collapses the sequence.

Once formation_status flips to "complete", the planet enters the normal lifecycle and is defenseless until the Outpost citadel finishes its initial drone deployment.

🐛 Bug — formation_status == "forming" is enforced on the landing path but not on combat_service.attack_planet, so a forming planet is currently attackable even though the spec calls for full invulnerability. Add the same formation_status guard to attack_planet before turn deduction.

Advanced tier (Colony Ship sacrifice)

  1. Pilot a Colony Ship with at least 1 advanced device.
  2. Initiate the sacrifice sequence in a valid empty sector.
  3. Colony Ship is consumed immediately + devices consumed.
  4. Player auto-transferred to escape pod.
  5. Planet generates immediately (no 48-hour wait).
  6. Starts at Settlement phase (citadel level 2), 5,000 colonists, +10% production bonus, 4 automated turrets, basic shield generator.

This bypasses the standard Outpost phase entirely — it's the express lane to a viable colony at the cost of a 100k+ ship.

Restrictions

  • Sector must be empty — no other planets, stations, anomalies.
  • Cannot deploy in protected sectors (e.g. sectors 1–7 reserved zones, faction capital areas).
  • Cannot deploy within 5 jumps of Federation Space (design).
  • Cannot deploy within 2 sectors of an existing planet (minimum spacing — design).
  • Anti-monopoly: single player capped at ~25% of planets in any region (design).
  • Rate limit: max 3 device purchases per real week per account (design).
  • Sequence participation: max 1 every 14 days per player (design).

🚧 Partial — most of the rate-limit and anti-monopoly logic exists as design constants; code currently enforces basic empty-sector and ownership rules.

Genesis teams

Multiple players can pool devices for a shared planet: - All members must be in the sector throughout the 48h sequence. - At least one ship must be Genesis-capable. - If any team member leaves the sector, the sequence fails and devices are lost. - Ownership shares record contribution percentages. - Colony Ship sacrifice variant: sacrificing player gets 50%, remainder split per agreement.

🚧 Partial / Planned — multi-player Genesis is documented in design; code path supports single-player creation.

Anti-cheat / safety

  • All Genesis transactions are atomic with rollback on failure.
  • 48h sequence runs server-side with heartbeat verification.
  • Planet type rolled with cryptographically secure RNG (server-side).
  • Genesis device serial numbers tracked to prevent duplication.

Player-facing affordances

  • Genesis purchase UI at Research Stations with rarity warnings, ship-capacity preview, refresh countdown.
  • Genesis sequence UI showing 48-hour progress with progressive planet-formation visuals.
  • Three-mode selector (Basic / Enhanced / Advanced).
  • Emergency abort button (with clear "all devices lost" warning).
  • Genesis Team coordination panel for shared planet creation.
  • Mobile push notifications for sequence milestones.

Source map

Topic Path
Genesis service services/gameserver/src/services/genesis_service.py
Genesis device model services/gameserver/src/models/genesis_device.py
Planet model + types services/gameserver/src/models/planet.py
Genesis API routes services/gameserver/src/api/routes/genesis.py
Ship Genesis-capacity column services/gameserver/src/models/ship.py (max_genesis_devices)
Related: terraforming planets/terraforming.md
Related: colonization planets/colonization.md

Status: 🐛 Bug — the deploy validator in services/gameserver/src/api/routes/planets.py (/planets/genesis/deploy) currently rejects 7 of the 12 valid Planet.type values, so most rolled planet types fail to commit. Validator should accept all PlanetType enum members.