Basic settings[]
Difficulty[]
There are seven difficulty settings: Newbie, Easy, Normal, Hard, Serious, Impossible, and Endless.
For the player, difficulty only affects disapproval per population and system.
| Difficulty | Overpopulation disapproval | Expansion disapproval |
|---|---|---|
| Newbie | x1.0 | x4.0 |
| Easy | x1.1 | x4.5 |
| Normal | x1.2 | x5.0 |
| Hard | x1.3 | x5.5 |
| Serious | x1.4 | x6.0 |
| Impossible | x1.5 | x6.5 |
| Endless | x1.6 | x7.0 |
For the AI, difficulty affects a variety of stats:
| Difficulty | Overpopulation disapproval | Expansion disapproval | 
|
Improvement upkeep Buyout cost |
Ship/Hero upkeep | Industry cost | Science cost | Healing cost | Weapon damage | Defense efficency |  ,  bonus |
 bonus
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newbie | x1.0 | x3.0 | +15 | x1.0 | x1.0 | x1.0 | ||||||
| Easy | x0.9 | x2.8 | +20 | -15% | -10% | x0.9 | x1.0 | x0.9 | +10% | +5% | +5% | |
| Normal | x0.8 | x2.2 | +25 | -30% | -20% | x0.8 | x0.95 | x0.8 | +20% | +10% | +10% | +10% |
| Hard | x0.7 | x1.8 | +30 | -45% | -30% | x0.7 | x0.9 | x0.7 | +40% | +20% | +20% | +15% |
| Serious | x0.6 | x1.4 | +35 | -60% | -40% | x0.6 | x0.85 | x0.6 | +60% | +35% | +30% | +20% |
| Impossible | x0.5 | x1.0 | +40 | -80% | -50% | x0.5 | x0.8 | x0.4 | +80% | +50% | +40% | +25% |
| Endless | x0.4 | x0.6 | +50 | -90% | -60% | x0.4 | x0.75 | x0.2 | +100% | +65% | +50% | +30% |
Game speed[]
Changing the game speed applies a multiplier to all FIDS costs except for hero costs and upkeep.
| Game speed | Cost multiplier |
|---|---|
| Slow | x1.5 |
| Normal | x1 |
| Fast | x0.5 |
Advanced settings[]
Pirate difficulty[]
Pirate strength scales with your research into armaments and defenses. Pirates will almost always provide a credible threat, even if other empires do not.
Victory[]
Main article: Victory
Galaxy generation seed[]
If not zero, this number determines what the galaxy look like, all other settings being equal.