What Is Needed to Colonize a Planet in OGame?

OGame is a Web-based empire building game based in a futuristic setting. Each player starts the game with a single planet in the middle of a large galaxy. Eventually, that planet will run out of space; to continue to build your empire, you will need to colonize other planets. In order to perform this colonization, you have to meet a few requirements.

OGame Prerequisites

Almost all facilities, technologies and ships that you can create in the game have a certain number of prerequisites that you must built first. Some are simple, like ships that simply need shipyard, while others are significantly more complicated, like the Intergalactic Research Network, which requires five different technologies and buildings, all at a very high level. If you click on the item that you want to build and then click the "Techtree" button, you will see a list of all the prerequisites. However, when colonizing a planet there is an additional technology requirement not listed under the prerequisites for a colony ship.

Resources

While building metal mines, crystal mines, deuterium synthesizers and solar plants may not be directly listed as a prerequisite for colonizing another planet, without them you won't be able to afford to buy any of the items and technologies that you do need. Because of the high cost of the colony ship and the astrophysics technology, you will want to have each of these resource buildings around level 10. Additionally, you'll need to have a crystal storage building of at least Level 1, as you need 20,000 crystal, along with 10,000 metal and deuterium, to build your colony ship.

Facilities

Facilities are the buildings that allow you to research technologies and build ships. To create a colony ship, first you will need a robotics factory of at least Level 2. This will allow you to build the second prerequisite, which is a shipyard of at least Level 4. Finally, due to the technologies that you will have to research, you will need a research lab of at least Level 3.

Research

Your research lab gives you access to a number of technological advances that you will need in order to colonize other planets. First, you will need to research the first level of Energy Technology, followed by the first three levels of Impulse Drive. This will allow you to create your colony ship; however, you still need to research Astrophysics. The first level of Astrophysics allows you to build a colony, and you can build another colony for every two levels of Astrophysics after that. The first level of Astrophysics also requires that you have researched the fourth level of Espionage Technology.

Colonization Process

Once you have done all of your research, build your colony ship. Use the "Galaxy" screen to locate a planet between positions 4 and 13, as colonizing positions lower or higher than that range require higher levels of Astrophysics. A vacant planet will not have anyone's name next to it. Click on the relocate button to send your colony ship to that planet, and as long as no one has colonized it before your ship gets there, you will establish your new colony.