1. The Main Window
   1. The Planets Screen
   2. The Planet View Screen
   3. The Ships Screen
   4. The Ship Design Screen
   5. The Scanning Screen
   6. The Recon Screen
   7. The Diplomacy Screen
   8. The News Screen
   9. The Research Screen
   10. The Overview Screen
   11. The Battle Calculator Screen

Hopefully this section will explain the concept of scans and answer some of the following questions:

• “What are scans?”
• “How do I make scans?”
• “How much do they cost?”
• “Can they be detected?”

Scans provide you with instant information about another player. One of the advantages of scans is that you don’t necessarily have to be at war with the other player that you scan in order to get the information. The type of information a scan can provide can be about ships, planets, technology, etc. To date, there are 6 different scans you can research, produce, and use.

• Route Scan
• Fleet Scan
• Planetary Scan
• Technology Scan
• Military Scan
• System Scan

These scans are listed on the right “branch” of the research tree. As you can see, the Route Scan is the easiest to research, and System Scan is the toughest.

NOTE: Don’t get scans confused with scanners (Neutron, Tachyon, Subspace, and Hyperspace). With the exception of system scans, scans only provide a snapshot of information. Scan reports do NOT get updated as the other player makes changes.

Scans have a random chance of being detected. When a scan is used, there is a 50% chance that the target will detect the scan. Detection will include information of which type of scan was used and the object that was scanned. There is also another 50% chance that the target will know who scanned them. So all together, there is a 25% chance of detection AND knowing that it was you. The target will get notified with a message in the News screen. The target does not need a central defense agency in order to detect scans.

The Central Defense Agency is a facility you can build on a planet. Once researched and built on a planet, the Central Defense Agency (CDA) will be able to produce scans for your empire. Only planets with a CDA are able to build scans. Once a CDA is built, the planet will get an new icon. You can see in the picture below, this planet (erwin 2) shows that it has a CDA. Just like ships and facilities, you build scans with production and can also add them to a production queue.

When a scan is built, it will increment your scan count in the scanning screen. The top picture is a view of a sample scanning screen. You can see there are 7 Planetary Scans, 1 Route Scan, and 2 Fleet Scans that have been built. When a scan is used, a scan report will be generated to view the information. The picture shows a Planetary Scan and a Fleet Scan were used at turn 130 and 132, respectively.

The following list provides details of the scans that can be built and used.

The Route Scan provides information of the destination of the ship and it’s Estimated Time to Arrival (ETA) in turns. The scan also shows the starting point of the route. To use a route scan, simply right click on any player’s ship or fleet and click “Route Scan”. Here is a sample route scan.

We see here that Rismagi’s fleet is heading towards a certain point in space just outside a solar system. The scan also shows that the fleet left one of Rismagi’s planets (not shown in picture). It will arrive at its destination in 6 turns.

The Fleet Scan will provide information about the number of ships within a fleet. To use a fleet scan, simply right click on any player’s ship and click “Fleet Scan”. Here is a sample fleet scan.

We see here that Rismagi has 1 shuttle and 5 corvettes within that fleet.

The Planetary Scan will provide information about facilities, production, citizen assignment, and probably most importantly, planetary defense (PD). To use a planetary scan, simply right click on any player’s planet and click “Planetary Scan”. To view the information, double click the scan report. This will bring up the Planet View screen and show the details of the player’s planet. Here is a sample planetary scan.

This is a scan of planet Alpha Centauri III belonging to The Phantom. We see his planet has quite a lot of facilities and will have a new university in 1 turn. He does not have any citizens assigned as Stationed Military. In addition, this planet does have some PD. If at war, this information would be extremely helpful when planning an attack. Note: Planetary scans will NOT show the ships in orbit.

Additional concerns:

• If you scan a planet in a system you have not scouted for awhile, and the planet has changed owners, the planetary scan will update the planet’s ownership on the galaxy map.
• You won’t be deducted a scan for trying to scan an uncolonized planet.

The Technology Scan will provide information about what the player has researched, currently researching, and the percentage complete of the current research. It will NOT provide information on the number of turns to complete current research. To perform a technology scan, simply right click on any player’s planet, and select “Technology Scan”. A scan report will be generated. Expand the scan report to show a listing of completed research (i.e. Advanced Networking, Advanced Magnetism, Quantum Fields, etc.)in the order that it was researched.

This is a scan of Xiiro’s technology. As you can see Xiiro’s researched technologies are listed in the order in which he researched them. He is currently researching Anti-Matter Fission and has completed 61% of the research required.

The Military Scan will provide information about a ship or fleet such as speed, firepower, units, hitpoints, rank, and condition. To perform a military scan, simply right click a player’s ship or fleet and select “Military Scan”. Both the scan report and galaxy map will contain the information. Here is a simple military scan.

This is a scan of a fleet of destroyers belonging to Gedrin that is heading towards quickstrike’s system. This fleet is in nearly perfect condition with a speed of 42.1 units/turn and 55,443 hitpoints. Fortunately for quickstrike, this fleet is not meant for conquering planets since it contains no bombing firepower. However, it does contain a whopping 97K heavy firepower.

Additional concerns:

• WARNING: when a scanned fleet or ship moves out of range and is no longer visible, the military scan will expire! It might be best to take screenshots of the report and store the image locally in order to recall the information at a later time.

System Scans will provide you with visibility in a system for a period of 8 turns. It reveals the current population and ownership of all planets in the system. Additionally, the system scan will detect all ships within a range of 200 units from the systems sun, including cloaked ships.