How a turn works

A turn in Stellar Nexus is a single round of orders. You issue commands; the game resolves them all at once.

What you do during a turn

You control everything: fleet movement, colony production queues, research selection, diplomacy. Every order you submit is a tentative plan — nothing happens until you press End Turn.

You can change orders any time before End Turn. There’s no real-time pressure; sit and think for as long as you like.

What happens when you press End Turn

Stellar Nexus resolves the round in a fixed order so every player sees the same outcome:

1. Resource income — colonies produce, fleets pay maintenance, treaty partners pay tribute.
2. Research — research points roll into your active project; if it completes, you unlock the next tech.
3. Movement — fleets travel toward their destinations. A fleet that runs out of movement stops short.
4. Combat — fleets from different players that share a tile fight a brief, decisive battle.
5. Diplomacy — treaty proposals are accepted, rejected, or expire.
6. Exploration — fog of war updates around any new positions.
7. Colony events — population grows, building queues advance, happiness updates.
8. Random events — anomalies, distress calls, scientific breakthroughs (some factions encounter these more often).

Once all of that resolves, you’re returned to the map and a new turn begins.

What you see after the turn resolves

Three full-screen takeovers can appear between consecutive turns. They’re hard-blocking — you can’t pan the map or open a panel until you continue past them.

1. Resolving — a brief loading screen with a 10-segment phase indicator while the engine runs the steps above. On a fresh, fast machine you’ll only see this for a moment; on long campaigns it stays visible long enough to register that something’s actually happening.
2. Turn summary — a one-screen recap of what changed for your faction this turn. Five sections: combat outcomes, economy income/expenses, diplomatic events, research progress, and per-colony updates. Quiet turns (first turn, mid-game cooldowns) collapse to a “A quiet turn” composite — the game is honest about when nothing happened. Tap Continue to advance.
3. Victory or defeat — terminal takeovers. If your faction met a victory condition, you see a celebratory crest with a per-condition heading (“Galactic Domination”, “Transcendence”, “United Galaxy”, or “Economic Hegemony”) and your final score breakdown. If another player won, you see the Defeat screen with a reason-specific verdict (your capital fell, your last fleet was destroyed, the galaxy voted against you, your economy collapsed, or the turn limit expired). Either way you exit by starting a New Game or returning to the main menu.

The summary’s “View Details” rows jump straight into the relevant management panel — tap Open Diplomacy Panel on a turn where a treaty was signed and the diplomacy destination opens with the row in context.

Why does the order matter

It matters because you can plan around it. Income lands before maintenance, so a brief shortage is forgiven; movement lands before combat, so a fleet you ordered to retreat will retreat before being engaged; diplomacy lands after combat, so an enemy who attacked you can’t sue for peace mid-engagement.

Why is async multiplayer special

In a multiplayer game, the engine waits for every player to submit their turn before resolving anything. You don’t have to be online when others play — you submit, walk away, and come back to find the round resolved. See the multiplayer guide for details.