Economic takeover is the method by which traders can take over cities and planets in the Civilization Stage and the Space Stage. To begin the process to start an economic takeover, the player must start a trade route with the targeted city or solar system.
Civilization Stage[]
The Economic Buyout bar
To buy a city, you must have an economic vehicle that can reach the city they want, then select "Propose Trade Route" in the city's interaction menu. If your relationship is high enough with the nation (or they are the only other nation on the planet), they will agree to start a trade route with you, and the city will gain a bar that fills as trading goes on. Once the bar is full, make a reasonable offer and they will accept, turning the city over to you. Underbidding for a city may result in a relationship penalty. 16,000 Sporebucks is almost always a guaranteed takeover, but smaller cities may go for just 8,000.
It is also possible to take over spice derricks economically. Click on the Spice Derrick while controlling an Economic Vehicle and select 'Bribe Workers' (You must be able to afford the bribe). When your vehicle arrives, it will pay the workers, making that Derrick yours. However, this results in a relationship penalty.
Space Stage[]
The player can have up to 5 trade routes active at a time in the space stage. Once created, the trade route will appear from the closest player-owned system to the system being captured. The trade route is visible on the galaxy view as bi-directional arrows, with the colors of the player and the trading empire, linking the systems, as well as trade ships traveling between the systems. When collecting spice from the player's linked system, some traded spice will also be collected.
When a trade route is in place, an economic capture bar will be displayed, starting at 0%. Once the bar reaches 100%, the empire will alert the player that the system can be bought. Alternatively, the Trader archetype's Cash Infusion skill can instantly fill this bar at any time once a trade route has been initiated.
To buy a system, the player must make an offer in the "Buy System" popup over a planet. if the bid fails, the economic takeover bar is reset to 0%. The chance of a bid being accepted is suspected to depend both on the player's relationship with the system owner and the T-Score of the planets in the system. Spice rarity is not a factor in determining system price.
Table of Offers[]
- 500,000 - Can usually succeed on systems with only a city hall and nothing else
- 1,000,000 - Usually works on T0 systems
- 3,000,000 - Usually works on T1 systems
- 5,000,000 - Usually works on T2 systems
- 10,000,000 - Always successful even on Homeworlds
Note: For Grox Empire star systems, an offer of 500,000 is usually sufficient, but it is advised to bid 1,000,000 to avoid angering them if the bid is too low.
Relation Bonus[]
There is a +30 or +40 (depending on the traits of the empire) relation bonus that is given for as long as a trade route exists. If, despite this bonus, the relation with the empire is allowed to decay too far, they may cancel their trade routes. The relation bonus "You were generous" can result from overbidding on a system, which can go up to +50.