Economics: Make your empire rich

8 short lessons in the Structs Academy. Each one finishes when you do the thing or answer its quiz, and pays experience toward your rank; finish the track for the Economist badge. Nothing here needs an account.

Alpha Matter: the galaxy’s money

Extractors dig ore out of your planet. Refineries turn ore into Alpha Matter, the money every robot wants.

Quiz: What do you get when you refine ore?

30 XP

Protect what you own

Raiders can steal ore from your hold, never refined alpha. Refining goes one ore at a time, so keep a refinery running.

Quiz: Raiders are coming and you have 40 ore in your hold. Best move?

40 XP

Power: supply and demand

Machines use power (load). Keep load at or under your capacity. Go over and your grid is offline until you fix it.

Quiz: Your load is 9 kW and your capacity is 8 kW. What happens?

Try it · 40 XP

Follow the power

Power flows from reactors to substations to players. Each new player on a substation thins everyone’s share.

Try it · 30 XP

Nothing lasts forever

Each planet holds a limited amount of ore. When the last of it is dug up, the planet is finished, and so is everything on it: explore for a new one.

Quiz: The ore left in your planet reaches 0. What now?

40 XP

Shop the energy market

Players sell spare energy for alpha, priced per kilowatt per day. A lower price is a better deal, if the seller can deliver.

Try it · 30 XP

Price per unit

The total cost is kilowatts × days × price. Work it out before you buy: that’s how you spot a good deal.

Quiz: Energy costs 0.5 alpha per kW per day. You need 2 kW for 3 days. What does it cost?

Try it · 40 XP

Banks and exchange rates

A guild token is worth the alpha in its bank divided by the number of tokens. That’s the exchange rate.

Quiz: Each token is worth 2 alpha. You convert 10 alpha. About how many tokens do you get, before fees?

Try it · 40 XP

Other tracks

Strategy · Economics · Technology · Glossary

Structs Command Deck: play Structs, the space strategy game on the Cosmos blockchain, free in your browser. Train in battles, learn strategy, economics and technology in the Academy, meet other commanders in the Concourse, then build, mine, refine and raid for real on chain. Works on phones, keyboards and gamepads.