Population categories
The population consists of military, civilian, and logistical units.
Military units serve in ground combat.
Civilian units improve certain aspects of the economy.
Logistical units serve, among other things, as crew for ships.
Crew is drawn from these regular population stocks when a fleet departs, and surviving crew return depending on the mission outcome. When docked, a defending fleet missing at least one required crew role suffers a penalty to the ships it has committed to combat; orbital defenses are excluded. Exact crew requirements for each ship model are detailed in Crew requirements for a ship, and the effect in combat is described in Units present in combat.
The universe's population speed affects recruitment, training, and healing times. It does not affect the passive production of Soldiers. The rules shared by active and queued batches are detailed in Construction, research, and queues.
Soldiers
Soldiers are the basic ground troops.
They serve in ground combat and in certain important Pillar actions, such as colonization.
Depending on a ship's chassis, soldiers may also count toward its crew requirements.
Soldier production and storage
Soldiers are produced automatically by the Barracks.
The hourly formula is:
2 × 1,5^(Barracks level - 1)
This production is passive. Soldiers do not go through a dedicated recruitment queue, and their number is capped by the Barracks' storage capacity:
25 000 × 1,6^Barracks level
Example
A level 1 Barracks produces 2 soldiers per hour. A level 4 Barracks produces 6,75 soldiers per hour.
Soldier transport capacity
The target planet must have enough storage capacity for all the soldiers sent.
When launching a TRANSPORT or DEPLOY mission, the server checks the target planet's storage capacity for soldiers. It counts the soldiers already there and those on active incoming missions that have not yet been applied. If the delivery exceeds capacity, the mission is refused before departure.
Miners, Engineers, and Scientists
Miners increase overall resource production by +0,00020% per unit when present on a planet. This bonus is capped at +200% per planet and reaches its maximum with 1 000 000 Miners.
The Miners' orbital drilling rate is detailed in the article on mining planets.
Engineers reduce building construction time by 0,00012% per unit, up to a maximum of -60% per planet, reached when there are 500 000 Engineers.
Scientists reduce research time by 0,00012% per unit, up to a maximum of -60% per planet, reached when there are 500 000 Scientists.
Ship crew
The Training Charge speeds up the entire selected active population batch, including healing, without affecting queued batches. The Training Matrix reduces the resource costs of new population orders while its effect is active.
Logistical units serve as crew for ships.
Each chassis may require a different crew.
When a ship is sent on a mission, the necessary crew travels with it until it returns.