Terra Invicta

Terra Invicta is a strategy game about humanity’s response to an approaching alien invasion. After a probe is detected heading for Earth, an alien force begins mining a dwarf planet in the distant Kuiper Belt. With Earth’s nations unable to agree on a response, covert human factions compete to shape the defense—and may become enemies or allies before the aliens arrive.

The alien arrival

You lead one of seven factions, each with its own view of how humanity should respond:

• The Resistance seeks to unite nations in a coordinated defense.
• Humanity First aims to exterminate the aliens and their sympathizers.
• The Servants worship the aliens and believe they can solve the world’s problems.
• The Protectorate argues that negotiated surrender is the only way to avoid annihilation.
• The Academy sees the arrival as a chance to form an interstellar alliance.
• The Initiative aims to profit from the chaos and destruction.
• Project Exodus plans to build a massive starship and escape the Solar System.

Field agents investigate sightings, crash sites and disappearances while scientists explore new fields of research. Illustrated events present difficult choices as alien activity grows, from early UFO sightings to rampaging alien megafauna and robotic armies. You can uncover the aliens’ origins and motives, unless you are playing Humanity First, whose priority is extermination. The other six human factions are also competing for influence and resources.

Factions and geopolitics

You lead an organization united by ideology rather than a nation defined by borders. Instead of claiming territory by painting a map in your nation’s colors, you compete for control points that represent a region’s military, economic and political leadership. You can unite or break apart nations, and use those under your influence to wage proxy wars against other factions.

Earth’s regions are modeled through measures including education, unrest, GDP and inequality. Wealthy, militarily powerful regions can help you impose your will on Earth, while regions with space launch facilities are also important to the struggle for the Solar System. You can seek support among populations and politicians, convert followers of opposing ideologies and respond to shifts in public opinion. Opinion is tracked along multiple axes: the Servants’ support for the aliens and the Protectorate’s support for surrender may align, but evidence that the aliens can be defeated can persuade the Protectorate’s followers to resist.

A council of politicians, scientists and operatives carries out your plans around the world and in space. Councilors gain experience and can acquire control over organizations such as intelligence agencies and wealthy corporations. Their abilities can suit different roles: a veteran commander might lead a tactical team, while an experienced diplomat secures funding for resistance. Global research also creates opportunities for competition and cooperation. Shared scientific progress unlocks private engineering projects, while factions that focus on private projects can weaken Earth’s overall efforts and give other factions more influence over research priorities. If left unchecked, the Servants or the Initiative may steer research toward social control instead of propulsion or weapons.

Colonize the Solar System

The game begins on Earth, where your first rivals—and possible allies—are other human factions. You can start in the modern day and develop your capabilities over time, or begin in the near future and expand into space sooner. The Solar System’s more than 300 asteroids, moons and planets form a strategic map in constant motion. You build stations and bases, expand into the inner Solar System and prepare for the threat developing in its distant reaches.

Space stations can serve as shipyards and fuel depots; mining stations gather advanced resources; and bases provide research or construction facilities. Celestial bodies orbit the Sun, so stations and forward operating bases move as well. You must plan around these shifting positions: an alien military outpost or an Initiative privateering base that was once distant may become a close neighbor to your colonies among the Jovian moons.

Space exploration requires water for life support and propellant, metals for manufacturing, fissiles for nuclear drives and weapons, and other resources. At first, you must obtain them on Earth and pay the high cost of using rockets to escape its gravity. Over time, you can increasingly rely on asteroid mining and other local supplies. The game also explores possible designs for space colonies, engines and warfare, including the prospect of mining the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche.

Design and fight with ships

You design ships by choosing from a range of hulls, weapons, drives and other modules, balancing fuel capacity, maneuverability and other capabilities. Tactical combat simulates Newtonian physics in three-dimensional space, where momentum and maneuvering matter alongside firepower. You can fire missiles and use point-defense cannons against incoming projectiles, build momentum to bring enemies into your weapons’ firing arcs, or retract radiators to trade heat dissipation for better armor against a barrage.

Modding

The game supports modding, and much of it can be accessed without a coding background. Its Solar System setting and geopolitics simulation provide a framework for modders to develop their own ideas.