Exploration

Exploration sends a Wayfinder-led fleet into deep space to search for abandoned resources, derelict ships, and hostile contacts. It is the highest-variance deep-space mission in the game: some ticks do nothing, some pay well, and some end in a total fleet loss.

Quick Rules

Rule	Value
Mission ID	15
Target	Deep space at position 16
Return trip	Yes, unless the fleet is lost
Tick interval	Every 30 minutes while holding
Launch requirement	Hold time is required
Unlock	Wayfinder research level 1
Required ships	At least 1 Wayfinder

Launch Requirements

To launch Exploration:

choose a target system and the game sends the fleet to deep space at position 16
include at least 1 Wayfinder
set a hold time

Exploration does not launch as a zero-hold mission. If you do not set hold time, the mission is blocked before launch.

The Outcome Roll

Every 30 minutes while the fleet is holding, Exploration makes one outcome roll.

The logic happens in two stages:

Stage 1: Combat Check

If roll 1-100 is 1 to 10:
  hostile encounter

That gives Exploration a 10% combat chance per tick.

Stage 2: Non-Combat Check

If the combat check does not trigger, the mission rolls a second table on a 1-90 scale:

Non-Combat Roll	Result
1-50	Nothing
51	Fleet lost
52-75	Resources found
76-90	Ships found

Combined into overall chances per 30-minute tick, the real results are:

Final Outcome	Chance
Nothing	50% before Gravitational Navigation
Fleet lost	1%
Resources found	24%
Ships found	15%
Hostile encounter	10%

Gravitational Navigation shifts the non-combat table after the hostile check:

its level-one reduction moves one percentage point from Nothing into Resources found and Ships found, split equally
further completed tiers and compounding increase the displayed rounded reduction, capped at 50 percentage points; it is not a fixed extra percentage point at each level
Fleet lost stays at 1%

Fleet Points

Exploration rewards scale from your fleet's fleet points.

The mission calculates fleet points as the total resource cost of the ships in the expedition:

fleet_points
  = sum(metal_cost + crystal_cost + deuterium_cost of every ship)

Wayfinders count extra:

each Wayfinder counts at 250% of its normal point value

That means a fleet with Wayfinders gets stronger Exploration outcomes than an equal-cost fleet without them.

Reward Multiplier

Exploration rewards are multiplied by mission bonuses, then adjusted by universe score scaling.

The mission multiplies its Fuel Cell reward boost by three independent research bonuses: Gravitational Navigation and Wayfinder Research each start at +5%, and Frontier Logistics starts at +2%. Each uses five-level research tiers and compounding, not a flat extra percentage point per later level. Check your current Research previews when planning a boosted expedition; higher levels can cross tier milestones and change the final multiplier significantly.

Universe Score Scaling

Deep-space rewards also compare your overall score to the average overall score of the top player in each of the four research focuses. If a focus has no scored leader yet, that focus contributes 0 to the average.

If you are below that average, Exploration rewards scale up.
At 0 score, Exploration rewards can be up to 2x.
At the focus-leader average, Exploration rewards are 1x.
Above the focus-leader average, Exploration rewards scale down quickly.
At 200% of that average or higher, Exploration rewards are reduced to the 1% floor.

This keeps Exploration strong enough to lead the universe while preventing one explorer from pulling too far ahead of every other focus.

Resource Finds

When Exploration finds resources, it uses:

base_resource_find
  = floor(fleet_points × random 5% to 20%)

final_resource_find
  = floor(base_resource_find × exploration_reward_multiplier)

That total is then split into:

50% Metal
30% Crystal
20% Deuterium (whatever remains after Metal and Crystal are assigned)

The resources are loaded into the mission fleet, so cargo capacity still matters. If the fleet does not have enough free cargo for the full find, Exploration loads only what fits and reports the loaded amount.

Ship Finds

When Exploration finds ships, it creates a ship-value budget:

ship_find_budget
  = floor(fleet_points × random 1% to 4% × exploration_reward_multiplier)

The mission then fills that budget with a random mix of eligible recovered ships, including:

Small Cargo
Large Cargo
Light Fighter
Heavy Fighter
Cruiser
Recycler
Espionage Probe
Wayfinder

Recovered ships are added directly to the expedition fleet.

Hostile Encounters

If the hostile branch triggers, Exploration creates an Unknown enemy fleet and resolves a full combat report.

Enemy strength is based on your fleet points:

enemy_fleet_score
  = fleet_points × random 30% to 150%
    × max(0, 1 - navigation_reduction)

navigation_reduction = the tiered Gravitational Navigation reduction
  (5% at level 1, with later levels shown in Research)

Nomads, Raiders, and Aliens all apply a 0.45 strength modifier to that base range. In practice, hostile fleet strength now lands between 13.5% and 67.5% of your expedition fleet score.

Fuel Cell reward boosts do not make these hostile fleets larger. They only affect reward outcomes after the branch is chosen.

Gravitational Navigation does reduce hostile encounter size, because it is part of the base Exploration research path rather than a Fuel Cell mission boost.

The contact is generated as one of these enemy themes:

Nomads
Raiders
Aliens

If your fleet survives and still has Wayfinders, surviving Wayfinders automatically salvage the combat debris into available cargo space.

Any debris left after automatic Wayfinder salvage is placed into a random debris slot in the same system. Exploration debris never stays at deep-space position 16; it lands in a normal slot from 1 to 15, and the encounter message tells you which coordinates to recycle.

If your fleet is destroyed, the mission ends immediately and nothing returns.

Fuel Cell Reward Boost

Exploration uses the reward-style Fuel Cell boost.

You can spend up to 500 Fuel Cells on an Exploration launch, but that spend shares the same 500 Fuel Cells per calendar day player cap with other reward-style Fuel Cell mission boosts, Sensor Phalanx scans, and Jump Gate activations:

fuel_cell_reward_multiplier
  = 1 + min(5, fuel_cells_spent / 100)

That gives these breakpoints:

Fuel Cells Spent	Reward Multiplier
0	1x
100	2x
200	3x
300	4x
400	5x
500	6x

The Fuel Cell boost affects:

found resources
found ship value
debris created by hostile encounter combat, but only up to 2x from the Fuel Cell portion of the bonus

It does not increase the size of the hostile fleet when the encounter branch rolls.

Strategy Tips

Bring enough cargo for the rewards you hope to find; flight fuel itself does not consume the hold, but your origin still needs enough deuterium to launch.
Wayfinders are mandatory, and they also improve the size of Exploration outcomes.
Wayfinder Research now also makes surviving Wayfinders materially harder to kill by adding shield strength from base value.
Gravitational Navigation improves positive outcomes, reduces hostile encounter size, and shifts empty ticks into finds over time.
Long holds increase your expected value because you get more 30-minute rolls.
Never treat Exploration as guaranteed income. It is a high-upside gamble.