Game Manual & Wiki
How to Play
Tethered is a persistent, tick-based space strategy game. Every … minutes (a tick), resources are generated, constructions progress and fleets move through the galaxy. You own one planet. Build ships, research technology, mine asteroids and climb the leaderboard.
Goal
Discover and tow asteroids to your planet, build a powerful fleet and defenses, and outscore everyone else on the leaderboard.
Score
1,000 points per Asteroid owned, plus points for every Ship, Defense, Facility, and Research level you have accumulated.
Ticks
All game events — resource income, queue progress, fleet movement, bot actions — advance exactly one step per tick. Every action is measured in ticks, not real time.
Universe
The galaxy is organised as Sectors → Solar Systems → Planets. Distance between planets determines travel time and scan cost.
Resources & Mining
| Resource | Description | Income per tick |
|---|---|---|
| Ore | Primary material for ships, defenses and facilities. | Base +15, then +5 per Asteroid owned. |
| Isotopes | Used for high-tech construction and planet scanning. | Base +5, then +2 per Asteroid owned. |
| Asteroids | The main scoring resource. Also boosts Ore and Isotopes income. | Mined by Tether Ships. See below. |
Gathering Asteroids with Tether Ships
Dispatch a Tether Ship from the Fleets page to search nearby space. The more asteroids your planet has already discovered, the longer each new search takes. Once found, the ship tows the asteroid home — towing takes twice as long as the outbound search due to the cargo mass.
Once an asteroid is placed in orbit around your planet, it is automatically mined each tick — no further action required. Each asteroid in orbit increases your Ore and Isotopes income passively.
Tether Ships can also capture disabled enemy ships in combat when no asteroids are present on the target planet.
Recalling a search: An outbound search mission can be recalled from the Mining page before the Tether Ship finds an asteroid. Once recalled, the ship returns home immediately. Missions that are already towing an asteroid cannot be recalled.
Travel Times
Fleet travel time depends on where the origin and destination planets are in the galaxy hierarchy. Within a Solar System the trip is short; crossing multiple Sectors adds significant travel ticks.
Cross-sector distance is measured as Manhattan distance between Sector coordinates (|Δx| + |Δy| + |Δz|). Each extra unit of distance adds … ticks.
Fleet speed divides the base travel time (rounded up, minimum 1 tick). Faster ships like Interceptors arrive sooner than slow Cruisers sent over the same route. When a fleet contains mixed ship classes, the slowest ship's speed determines the fleet speed.
Towing an asteroid doubles the return travel time.
Combat Mechanics
Combat is resolved automatically when an offensive fleet arrives at a target planet.
Before combat begins, each Carrier in the fleet deploys 10 Interceptors directly into battle. These are included in the Carrier's purchase cost — no separate build needed. They fight as normal attacker units and can be lost. A log entry confirms deployment before Round 1.
All planetary defenses fire first, before any ships exchange fire. A well-defended planet can eliminate part of the incoming fleet before the main battle begins.
Remaining ships and defenses fire in Shooting Order (lower number = fires first). Within each tier, shots interleave: one attacker fires, then one defender, alternating until all ships in that tier have fired. Combat runs for up to half the combined ship count rounds (minimum 10), or until one side is eliminated or has all its ships disabled.
Each weapon has preferred target sizes (Small, Medium or Large). If any targets of the preferred size are alive, the weapon fires exclusively at those; only when none remain does it fire on other sizes. Within that size pool, armed ships are targeted before unarmed ones — so a Laser will shoot down an Interceptor before a Tether Ship, even though both are Small. Only if no armed targets remain in the pool will unarmed ships be hit. Check the Weapons table for each weapon's preferred targets.
When multiple attacking fleets arrive simultaneously, defenders distribute their fire across all incoming fleets in round-robin order — no single fleet absorbs all damage. Allied defenders stationed at the target planet apply the same round-robin logic when returning fire at attackers.
Some weapons (e.g. Phase-Detonation Bomb) only target planetary defenses, not ships. The Bomber carries this weapon, making it a specialist at destroying fortified planets.
Each weapon has a damage multiplier against each shield type. Check the Weapons & Shields table to see which weapons are effective against which shields.
Hull damage is absorbed by shields first — only the overflow reaches the hull. Each ship also has an Energy reserve that powers its systems. EMP weapons drain shields first; once shields are depleted, EMP overflow drains Energy. A ship whose Energy reaches zero is Disabled: it cannot fire for the rest of the battle, but it remains on the field and is still a valid target. Disabled ships can be destroyed by subsequent hull damage. If all ships on one side are disabled, the battle ends immediately and those ships are counted as destroyed. The Tachyon Beam deals both EMP and hull damage in a single shot — it can disable a ship and punch through to the hull in one firing.
After combat, surviving attacker Tether Ships capture assets: first priority is towing an Asteroid; if none are available they capture a Disabled defender ship instead.
Players who have stationed ships at an allied planet receive a battle report notification whenever those ships participate in combat — even if the battle happens at a planet they don't own.
Want to test a battle before committing? Open the Battle Calculator →