Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Game Play

How do i win?
Be the first to settle the four worlds of the ancient Tessera Constellation to win the game.
What should i do on my first turn?
  1. Send fleets to explore nearby stars.
  2. Review and sort your available technology projects.
  3. Make strategic adjustments to zones on your homeworld if needed.
  4. Add something to your building queue to start building ships.
  5. Click the next turn button in the bottom right.
How do i get new planets?
Send a colony ship (any ship with a colony module) to any unsettled planet that has a habitability rating of +1 or greater and click COLONIZE.
There aren't any!
If you are too far away from any stars, research engine range technologies. If none of the planets nearby are habitable, research adaptation technology to improve the range of planets you can settle.
How do i make money?
Create housing zones to increase the population capacity of the planet. Over time the population will go up and you will get more tax revenue.
How do i get resources?
Create mining zones to obtain resources. You can only mine resources that the planet actually has. You can also trade for resources with other civilizations.
How do i get more ships?
Add ship projects to your planetary building queue. Your planet will need to have developed stardock zones to create the labor to build the ships.
My resource numbers at the top of the screen have yellow or red highlights. What does this mean?
Yellow indicates resources (including cash) that your are currently positive in but may shortly run low on. Red indicates resources that are deficient to meet all of your demands.
How do i balance my economy?
Don't spend so much. Zones consume resources to do their work. If you don't have those resources, continuing to build more zones on more colonies will quickly put a strain on your entire civilization. You do not need to fill every unused planet sector with zones immediately. New colonies have some overhead in getting settled that will quickly drain your cash reserves, so be careful about expanding too fast.
How do i research stuff?
Build research zones on planets to start generating research points. Technologies are researched in the order you put them in. As more technologies are researched, newer ones become available for research.
How do i make new ships?
Visit the Ship Design screen and make anything you would like. Once you commit a new design, add the new blueprint to any available planetary building queue to build ships of the that design.
How do i attack bad guys?
If you have a fleet with weapons in the same system as any other fleet, you can attack them by clicking ATTACK and selecting your victim.
How do i invade planets?
  1. Research Basic Infantry (or better).
  2. Build military zones and add ground units to your planetary building queue.
  3. Build a troop transport ship (any ship with a troop transport module).
  4. Load your ground units onto empty troop transports.
  5. Send the fleet to an enemy planet of your choice and click INVADE.
How do i get an alien to like me?
Give gifts and ask for low-level treaties that benefit everyone.
I'm within range of another civilization but i can't talk with them. What gives?
You either can't communicate or the leader may not have the attention span to hear from you right now. Wait for it to go back up and try again later. Research Communication Skills technology to help communicate with other aliens.
There is a bunch of stuff missing from the trade menu during an audience. Where is it?
They may not want to trade absolutely everything with you. 1) They may be in a bad mood. 2) Technology options can be limited by the overall difference in technological levels between your two civilizations. You can not trade a very high technology to a relatively low-level recipient. They wont understand how it works. 3) Lack of Communication Skills makes it impossible to transfer advanced technology to each other.

About the Project

How can i play it?
You can play it online for free right now. All you need is an up-to-date web browser. You do not need to sign up, create an account, download, or install anything. It runs entirely client-side in your web browser.
Is this one of those "free to play" games that get you with in-game advertising and lootbox scams?
No. It's just straight-up "free as in beer".
What condition is the game currently in?
"Firm alpha". This means that technically you can play the game to completion, but it is missing features, has bugs, might crash, and is balanced like a giraffe on roller skates. But it's kinda fun!
When will the game be finished?
Never.
When will the game be playable?
Now.
How many people are working on this?
One: leiavoia
Can i help?
Yes! I need help with beta testing, fiction writing, adding music and SFX, ship graphics, technology graphics, and legal (getting permission to use art assets from artists). If you want to help with any of those things, please contact me at cc@leiavoia.net. You can also contribute financially on Patreon as a way of saying thanks for all the hard work. When you do, you get access to non-public discussions on design and development. If you would like to influence the future of Constellation Control, please contribute!
Can i tell you about this cool idea i have?
No. I have a notebook packed with cool ideas already. I'm not short on cool ideas. If there is something missing from the game, it is either because i have not had time to add it, or did not feel like it should be added.
Do you need programming help?
Not at this time. The code is in way too much flux.
How do i report bugs?
Submit issues on the github project page. Please note that i handle bugs in this order only:
  1. Show stoppers (game crashes, not playable)
  2. Dysfunction (stuff that does nothing or the wrong things, UI glitches)
  3. Logic problems (numbers not calculating correctly)
  4. AI misbehavior
  5. Quality of Life improvements (will be ignored unless very simple)
  6. Feature requests (will be ignored unless very simple)
  7. "You know what would be really cool?" (will always be ignored - go make your own stupid game)

When submitting bugs, be as specific as possible and list the version you are playing, how to reproduce the bug, and exactly where to look. Provide a saved game file if at all possible.

Is there a development roadmap?
Yes, of sorts. There is a plan i have in my private notes, but the first phase is about getting basic subsystems working well, then refactoring as needed or wanted.
What technology does the game use?
HTML, CSS, some images, and 100% client-side javascript. That's it. All bog-standard off-the-shelf web technologies. It is essentially a very fancy web page. It uses Aurelia as the javascript framework. It does not require a server (other than to download the files, like any website you visit.) It does not need a cookie, license, activation key, account, or service to play. Your saved games are stored in HTML5 LocalStorage on your own computer (if small) or saved as text files on your hard drive (if large) and you can easily email and trade them around.
Is it open-source?
Yes. You can tinker with the code all you want. However, art assets contained in the project may not be unless specifically stated otherwise.
How do i build the software?
See the GitHub project page README.
Can i download the game to play 100% offline?
If there is enough demand, i can box up the game as an electron app and distribute via app stores or direct download.
Does it work on a tablet?
Yes! Not as well as a desktop, of course, but i am making tablet-play a development priority.