Leaders

See VB6 and C# pages

This page contains basic generic information that is version-independent. It is accurate for both the VB6 version of the game (last released December 27, 2015) and the C# version of the game (currently in active development). It does not contain version-specific details - for those, see C-Leaders (C#) and VB-Leaders (VB6).

Leaders are the "talent pool" of every Empire, who improve how it performs in their respective field. These are divided into Scientists, who lead research projects, Civilian Administrators, who govern colonies and sectors, Naval Officers, who captain ships, and Ground Commanders, who command ground units.

Each leader type has an array of abilities relevant to their field. Leaders are trained at military academies and can have one or more abilities. Some assignment may require a leader with a specific ability or rank. Leader ability bonus will grow over time in their positions, though it may take time for qualified leader to gain skill and advance in rank. Leaders can die in combat, get captured, die due to poor health or retire.

You can manage all your Empire's leaders and assignments from the Leaders interface (F3 in C#, F4 in VB6). The mechanical details differ between versions, so see the version-specific pages for more details.

Types of leaders

Civilian Administrators

Civilian Administrators govern planets and sectors. Governors can make a huge difference, especially early in game, as they can grant a significant bonus to Mining, Shipbuilding, Wealth and even Terraforming.

Governors are rated by their 'Administration Rating' which determines how large a population or sector a Civilian Administrator is capable of managing. The administration rating can rise through experience. A Planetary Governor applies his bonuses to all aspects of his colony. A Sector Governor applies one quarter of his bonus to all colonies within his sector.

Scientists

Scientists can be assigned to research new technologies and projects. Assigning scientists to research new technologies is crucial for your empire's expansion. Each Scientist has a bonus in a single area of study, along with a maximum number of labs: this bonus is applied to any research project they're given, but giving a scientist a research project in his/her field of expertise will quadruple their bonus.

Scientists are rated by their 'Administration Rating' which determines how many research facilities a Scientist is capable of managing during each project. Each Scientists can lead one research project at once.

Naval Officers

Naval Officers can be assigned to command ships, fleets, or groups of fleets, or as staff officers, and enhance the stats of their commands. Having a good commander in the right spot at the right time can swing the tide of a battle.

Ground Forces Officer

Ground Forces Officer are similar to Naval Officers, but for your ground forces.

Abilities and Traits

Leaders can have one or more Abilities and Traits. Abilities as well as being useful in a number of fields, increase the chance that a commander will be promoted in Ranks and Seniority, when using Automatic Assignments. Traits have no mechanical effect, they're for role-playing flavour only.

All the non-team abilities have a chance to increase with experience and the ability bonus that increase will be related to officer's current assignment. For example, an officer commanding a survey ship can advance in Crew Training, Fleet Initiative or Survey Bonus whereas a carrier commander could advance in Crew Training, Fleet Initiative or Fighter Operations. A planetary governor may advance in any of the skills that influence a population.

Assignments

All assignments are requires a specific Leader type and rank\rating. There is no "correct" answer for where the highest skilled leaders should be placed within the command structure, as it depends on a player's strategy, talent pool, etc.

At the Leaders window you can view a list of all Commands and vacancies. You can assign leaders by using Automatic Assignments or manually.

Tips and Misc

• It is important to build military academies as your empire grows, as they increase the number of admins/scientists/officers you get per year.

• Give promising junior scientists a single lab and have them research something. Let promising administrators govern unimportant mining colonies. Their skills can only grow when they have something to do.

• Research the Improved Command & Control tech ASAP, it allows you to build a sector command and assign a civilian admin to that position, which bestows bonuses on top of your planetary governor. This makes a big difference in the long run.

• Even though Scientists and Civilian Administrators have only a single rank, you can rename that rank. So a Russian themed player may decide to rename Scientist as Academician for example.