Excavation
Pirate-held sites at position 16 that pay out resources to whoever controls them.
Excavation sites are temporary pirate outposts at position 16 of a system. Defeat the pirates, hold the site with cargo ships, and it pays resources to you until it expires.
Finding a site
Sites appear in random systems in galaxies where commanders live. A site only shows up in the Galaxy when you're viewing its system, so you have to explore to find one. When you're in the right system, a shortcut appears at the top of the Galaxy page.
Requirements
Research Excavation Technology 1 (needs Research Laboratory 3 and Espionage Technology 2) to attack and excavate.
The five tiers
Ten sites are active across the universe: two of each tier. When one expires, a replacement appears somewhere random shortly after.
| Tier | Lasts | Pirate strength |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 hours | Beatable by newer fleets |
| 2 | 4 hours | Around an average active commander |
| 3 | 8 hours | Stronger than most commanders |
| 4 | 16 hours | Among the strongest commanders |
| 5 | 24 hours | Stronger than any single commander: bring an alliance ACS |
Pirate fleets are sized from the strength of active commanders, so tiers stay challenging as the universe grows.
Taking and holding a site
- Open the site in the Galaxy to see its pirates, their tech, current holders and time left. Use Simulate attack first.
- Send an Attack (or ACS Attack with allies) including combat ships and Small or Large Cargo ships.
- If you win, your surviving fleet holds the site and starts extracting.
One commander or alliance controls a site at a time. Members of the controlling alliance can join and extract together. Anyone else has to defeat the holders to take over, and a draw leaves the defenders in control.
Rewards
- Each site has a reward pool based on the value of its pirate fleet. It's paid out evenly over the site's lifetime as an hourly rate, so it never runs dry early.
- The rate is shared among holding fleets in proportion to their committed cargo capacity. Only Small and Large Cargo holds count on these sites; escorts protect but don't carry.
- Higher Excavation Technology increases extraction speed with diminishing returns: about +14% at level 5, +24% at level 10 and +33% at level 20, approaching +50%.
- Full cargo fleets return home automatically. Combat escorts stay until you recall them or the site expires.
Risks
- Everything you've extracted stays aboard your exposed fleet until it gets home. Lose the fight and you lose ships and cargo.
- Holders get warnings about incoming hostile fleets.
- When a site expires, all holders are sent home automatically.
Also good to know
- A site's debris can be collected by Recyclers at position 16, even after the site expires.
- Sites can't be colonized, transported to or spied on.
- Watch your fleet from Fleet → Movements, and recall it from there.