Solar System

Top view of the Solar System up to the Asteroid Belt at the beginning of the campaign

Terra Invicta models the larger bodies in Earth's Solar System out to a distance of roughly 50 times the distance of the Earth from the Sun. This includes much of the Kuiper Belt, the group of icy bodies orbiting beyond Neptune.

The Solar System also includes Lagrange Points as locations fleets may travel to. These are stable anchorages created by the confluence of gravity between two bodies and marked on the map with geometric shapes.

All space bodies and Lagrange Points have one or more circular orbits around them where factions can send fleets and build a limited number of space stations. Fleets don't require any propellant to remain in their position in an orbit.

Orbits close to a space body's surface are called interface orbits. These are orbits fleets can travel to in order to land or bombard targets on the surface. Around Earth, some hab modules grant bonuses if they are in an interface orbit as they provide greater benefits to the surface.

Higher-altitude orbits typically cost less Delta-V to launch from to reach other moons and planetary systems.

A few orbits also produce small amounts of antimatter that may be harvested with hab modules you can develop.

The number of objects in the solar system is chosen at the start of a new game. Regardless of the option chosen all planets, moons, planetoids and major asteroids will be present.

Hab Sites

With the exception of the hellish world of Venus, and the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, all space bodies have at least one hab site where factions may build a base with a mine and other modules. Larger bodies will have four, eight, nine or 16 hab sites, depending on their size.

When a mine is built, a hab site will provide certain space resources to the faction that controls the mine. The type of resources generally depends on the composition of the space body.

When first viewing the Solar System, factions will only have estimates of the space resources a mine at a particular hab site can provide. To discover their exact potential, they will need to conduct a prospecting survey of the parent space body.

Prospecting

To build a base, a faction must first survey the space body to determine the precise location for the habitat. Prospecting a space body will also reveal its precising mining output.

Prospecting can be conducted by a probe launched from Earth or from a shipyard at a hab, or by ships equipped with a space science lab module. Prospecting data may also be stolen from other factions.

Each planet requires a separate Space Science project to prospect. Moons are unlocked by their parent planets, except for Luna which requires a separate but cheaper project.

Ship Interactions in the Solar System

Orbital bodies provide an important role for spacefaring vessels when travelling. Depending on the Delta-V of a vessel, travel might be carried out by "hopping" between bodies for resupply, thus making their position crucial, while at the same time several manoeuvres such as aerobraking and other utilizations of celestial bodies to "pivot" on a journey can be enabled by the player when travelling in space and connecting with a target. This leaves the player with an array of options for travel and base planning when expanding or pursuing the factions' interests.