Lifeforms: buildings, population and research.

Three separate choices

A planet’s species determines its Lifeform buildings. Population unlocks research slots. Each slot holds a technology with levels bought on that planet; eligible active contributions combine across the account. A technology’s origin species need not match the species living on the planet.

Choose for the income or fleet you actually use. Rock’tal buildings can support an expedition research selection, for example. All Lifeform buildings use zero ordinary planet fields; population, food, cost and time are the relevant constraints.

Lifeforms reference

Open the page for the detail you need. Research tables are kept off this overview.

Discovery and activation

For a Human discovery pilot, the Research Centre requires Residential Sector 21 and Biosphere Farm 22. Construct it, support the population and wait for the first slot. Intergalactic Envoys level 1 enables discovery missions from the Galaxy view DNA icons, not position-16 expeditions. Keep it active somewhere before replacing the pilot’s species or slot selection.

A large housing capacity is not the same as actual, sustainably fed population. Higher tiers require conversion buildings; a population shortfall can deactivate research. Stop at the next useful slot rather than funding all eighteen by default.

Before a large upgrade

• Budget population infrastructure, prerequisites, the desired research levels and artefacts together. Technology selection costs are 200 / 400 / 600 artefacts for tiers 1 / 2 / 3, separate from resource research costs.
• Options in the same slot compete. Record the whole tier before resetting, and check the current warnings and costs. A species switch preserves developed levels for reuse but the replacement setup must support its own active research.
• Test the intended setup on one suitable planet. Compare actual account-bonus changes and keep the ordinary economy, cargo and fleetsave reserve funded.