Expansion and buildings

Expansion and geography

confirmedPatch 11.73Reviewed

Expansion converts Central Spire milestones and colonization hulls into additional territory on a wrapped galaxy map. Source

Evidence status — confirmed: Unless noted otherwise, mechanics are verified against the installed patch 11.73 guide.

The galaxy wraps at its edges. Distance is shortest-path Euclidean distance on that torus, so a visually distant opposite edge may provide a short route into an empire’s territory.

Central Spire provides +10% building speed per level and unlocks:

Spire Unlock
5, 10, 15 One generic outpost slot at each milestone
20 One child colony from that origin
21–25 One additional generic outpost slot per level

Each generic slot can fund:

  • a strategic outpost on empty space;
  • an asteroid mining outpost on an asteroid;
  • a rare-metal mining outpost on a seeded site.

A full colony requires a Colonization hull, consumes one hull, and can raise its own Spire to continue the colony chain. Reaching an occupied hostile tile resolves as combat.

References

  1. Installed Riftborne gameplay guide, patch 11.73Bundled with the local Steam build dated 22 July 2026.