Galaxy Gardeners
Expeditions
How long pod trips take, the odds of losing a pod, and what comes back.
Your ship carries two kinds of pods. Mining pods work asteroid belts for resources. Exploration pods scan planets and moons for flora. You send a pod from the sector map, it flies out, works the site, and returns with whatever it found.
Every run carries a risk: riskier sites are more likely to cost you the pod, and shielding upgrades improve the odds. You'll see how it went when you collect it.
Risk tiers
Every destination has a risk tier. The tier sets both how long the trip takes and how likely you are to lose the pod.
| Belt risk | Planet or moon risk | Base trip time | Chance of losing the pod |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low | Safe | 5 minutes | 5% |
| Medium | Moderate | 1 hour | 15% |
| High | Dangerous | 4 hours | 30% |
| Extreme | Hostile | 12 hours | 50% |
Riskier places are slower and more dangerous, but they are also where the best loot and the rarest flora live. See Discovery and flora for how risk is worked out.
Trip time
The Star Drive upgrade speeds up every trip. Divide the base time by your expedition speed.
trip time = base time ÷ expedition speed
With no upgrade your speed is 1.0, so trips take the base time. Special events can speed trips up for everyone for a while.
Losing a pod
Shielding upgrades cut the loss chance point for point. Blast shielding protects mining pods, and environmental shielding protects exploration pods.
loss chance = tier loss chance − shielding
No amount of shielding brings the risk below 2%. See Ship and pods for upgrade levels.
While you are still in the tutorial, pods are never lost.
What comes back
- Mining pods bring back resources from the belt's loot table. Some resources are guaranteed at each risk level, and others drop by chance.
- Exploration pods bring back the body's flora species for your catalog, plus a 3D scan of the specimen, projected as a hologram in your vault, if your vault has room.
A lost pod brings back nothing.
What belts drop
Each belt's risk tier decides what its loot table holds. Every resource in the Always column comes back on every run that survives. Each one in the Sometimes column rolls its own chance.
| Belt | Always | Sometimes |
|---|---|---|
| Low | Iron Ore 1–3, Copper Ore 1–3, Helium-3 1–2 | Titanium 1–2 (50%), Plasma Crystals 1 (15%) |
| Medium | Iron Ore 1–3, Copper Ore 1–3, Helium-3 1–3 | Titanium 1–3 (85%), Plasma Crystals 1 (30%) |
| High | Iron Ore 4–7, Copper Ore 3–5, Titanium 2–4, Helium-3 1–3 | Plasma Crystals 1–2 (40%), Quantum Alloy 1–3 (35%) |
| Extreme | Iron Ore 5–8, Copper Ore 3–6, Titanium 2–5, Quantum Alloy 2–4 | Plasma Crystals 1–3 (50%), Dark Matter Shard 1–3 (30%), Void Essence 1–2 (15%) |
| Extreme, around a black hole | Iron Ore 5–8, Copper Ore 3–6, Titanium 2–4, Quantum Alloy 1–4, Dark Matter Shard 1–3 | Plasma Crystals 1–3 (60%), Void Essence 1–2 (40%), Singularity Fragment 1 (20%) |
A few things follow from the table:
- Singularity Fragments only come from black hole belts. The last tier of every upgrade needs them.
- Dark Matter Shards and Void Essence only come from extreme belts, and black holes are the best place for both. Building a station takes 15 Dark Matter Shards and 5 Void Essence.
- Helium-3 stops at high risk. Extreme belts don't drop it, so refuel from Plasma Crystals out there.
Where to find each kind of belt
A belt's risk depends on its star and on how far the system is from the galactic core.
| Where | Low | Medium | High | Extreme |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black hole | always | |||
| Neutron star | 40% | 60% | ||
| Within 100 GU of the core | 10% | 50% | 40% | |
| 100 to 300 GU | 10% | 30% | 40% | 20% |
| 300 to 600 GU (the mid ring, where most captains start) | 30% | 40% | 20% | 10% |
| 600 to 900 GU | 50% | 35% | 10% | 5% |
| Beyond 900 GU | 60% | 30% | 10% |
Heading toward the core, or finding a neutron star or a black hole, is how you reach the rare materials. The outer galaxy is safer and mostly common ore.
What each planet yields
Mining pods can also work planets without life. A lifeless world pays out ore by its type and its risk tier, always a little less than a belt of the same risk. Planets with life are for exploration pods, which bring back flora instead.
Every planet has a main resource that always comes back and a second one that sometimes does.
| Planet type | Main resource | Second resource |
|---|---|---|
| Barren | Iron Ore | Titanium |
| Volcanic | Plasma Crystals | Copper Ore |
| Gas giant | Helium-3 | Plasma Crystals |
| Ice | Helium-3 | Titanium |
| Desert | Copper Ore | Titanium |
| Oceanic or terrestrial, without life | Iron Ore | Copper Ore |
Risk sets how much comes back:
| Planet risk | Main resource | Second resource | Extra |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safe | 3-4 | 1-2 (40% chance) | |
| Moderate | 3-5 | 1-3 (60% chance) | |
| Dangerous | 6-9 | 2-4 (always) | |
| Hostile | 8-12 | 3-5 (always) | Quantum Alloy 1-2 (25% chance) |
Singularity Fragments, Void Essence and Dark Matter Shards only come from asteroid belts. Planets never drop them.
Flying the run yourself in Pod Squadron brings back half again as much ore as the table above.
Worked example
You send an exploration pod to a dangerous planet. Your Star Drive is at level 1, which gives an expedition speed of 1.15.
- Trip time is 240 minutes ÷ 1.15, which rounds to 209 minutes, or 3 hours 29 minutes.
- Loss chance is the dangerous tier's 30%.
- Seven times in ten, the pod returns with the planet's species and, if there was room in your vault, a sample.