Which Planets Can Be Captured and Which Cannot: Personal Colonies, Empty Planets, and Alliance Holdings

2 July 2026 · Player question

One of the most common questions in War for Galaxy goes something like: “I won an attack on a planet — why didn’t it become mine?” The answer depends not on fleet strength or the impressiveness of the battle report, but on the type of the target. In the game, it's important to distinguish among three situations: a player's personal planet, an empty planet, and an alliance planet. Each has its own rules, missions, and outcomes after the sortie.

In brief, a personal planet of another player cannot be completely destroyed or claimed by a standard attack. You can win the battle, destroy ships and defenses, loot resources, but the planet's ownership remains unchanged. An empty planet, on the other hand, is not captured through battle: it is occupied through colonization using a Pioneer ship. Alliance planets belong not to an individual player's empire, but to the territory of an Alliance multi-account.

The main confusion begins precisely with alliance planets. An ordinary player can attack a planet of another Alliance with their personal account, but this results in a standard attack with looting, not a change of ownership. Real capture of an alliance planet is only possible in the format of an Alliance multi-account attacking a planet of another Alliance multi-account. Therefore, before any major sortie, you should check the type of the target on the map and only then decide whether you need colonization, a raid, or a coordinated alliance operation.

Players' Personal Planets: A Standard Attack Is a Raid, Not a Capture

A persistent myth among newcomers is that if a fleet wins a battle on an enemy planet, that planet should then go to the victor. In War for Galaxy, this is not the case. A player’s personal planet is part of their own empire, and a standard attack does not convert it into your colony. Even if you completely suppress the defense, destroy the orbiting fleet, and haul away resources, the coordinates remain with the original owner.

A standard attack on a personal planet serves as an element of PvP economy and space battles. It allows you to inflict damage, weaken the opponent, and gain loot, but it does not confer ownership. Upon victory, the attacker can destroy ships and defenses on the planet and take half the resources if their fleet has enough cargo space. After that, the fleet returns, and the planet continues to belong to the defending player.

This is why saying "captured a player's planet" concerning a standard attack is incorrect. It is more accurate to say "raided," "carried out a fleet strike," "destroyed defenses," or "conducted a raid." This distinction is important: a raid can be very painful, but it does not remove the planet from the map nor assign it to the attacker.

Another boundary to remember: troops cannot be transferred to another regular player in any way. You cannot gift a fleet to a neighbor, place your ships on their planet as permanent property, or take their colony after victory. Personal accounts develop separately, and interactions between them in combat occur through attacks, ally defense, and alliance mechanics, but not through direct transfer of personal planets.

Removal of a personal planet is controlled only by its owner. A standard colony can be abandoned via management if it is not the main planet. In such a case, everything present on the colony at the moment of deletion — buildings, ships, defense, and resources — is irreversibly lost. The main planet cannot be abandoned until replaced. Hence, you cannot "wipe out" another player's personal planet by attack; at most, you can win the battle and loot available resources.

Empty Planets: They Are Not Attacked, but Colonized

An empty planet is a free expansion point, not a military target in the usual sense. If you find an empty planet on the map and want to add it to your empire, you need a Pioneer ship. This ship is sent to free coordinates and upon arrival creates a new personal colony.

It is important not to expect extra information from the map. Parameters of the free planet, including the number of fields/sectors and temperature, cannot be known in advance. They become available only after colonization. Therefore, exploring new worlds always contains an element of risk: you first send the Pioneer, and only then assess how suitable the planet is for further construction and development.

Empty planets for an Alliance are colonized differently. They are not colonized by a regular member from a personal account, but by the Alliance Multi-account. Being in the multi-account, you send the Pioneer with the mission "Colonization" to the empty planet. After the fleet arrives, the planet becomes the property of the Alliance multi-account, i.e., the common territory of the Alliance, not a personal colony of a specific player.

It is also worth remembering the procedure for creating an Alliance under the new rules. One Pioneer is required. In the "Alliance" → "Create" window, you specify the name and coordinates of an empty planet. After pressing the create button, the Pioneer departs from the active planet, and when it reaches the destination, the Alliance is created. Thus, an empty planet can not just become a new colony but also the starting point for a common territorial game.

This difference makes War for Galaxy similar to classic browser strategy and online space strategy games: the same free coordinate can be a personal expansion, the basis of a new Alliance, or a future part of an alliance territorial control network. But in all cases, empty planets are colonized, not attacked.

Alliance Planets: Who Can Actually Take Them

An Alliance in War for Galaxy is a union of players creating a common Alliance multi-account to capture and control territories in the galaxy. If a regular account represents your personal empire, then the multi-account is the Alliance’s team tool. It is needed to hold alliance planets, fight other Alliances, and control territory.

Alliance planets are marked specially on the map and differ from regular players' planets. Before a sortie, you must check this carefully. If the target looks like Alliance property, don't automatically assume that any victorious attack will change ownership. For capture, not only the target matters but also the account from which the fleet is sent.

The rule is simple: capturing an alliance planet is only possible in the scheme Alliance multi-account → planet of another Alliance multi-account. You must switch to an Alliance account, choose a planet of another Alliance multi-account, and send a fleet with a standard attack mission. In this particular scenario, a standard attack becomes a battle for territory ownership.

If a regular player attacks a planet of another Alliance from their personal account, a standard attack with looting occurs. Upon victory, they can gain raid results, but ownership of the planet will not change. A personal account cannot take an alliance planet for itself and cannot substitute for an Alliance multi-account in territorial war.

What Happens after Multi-account vs. Multi-account Battle

If the attacking Alliance multi-account wins, the territory fully transfers. The planet becomes property of the attacking Alliance. All buildings, defenses, and infrastructure become the new owner’s. This fundamentally differs from a usual raid: the winner does not just take some resources and leave but gains control over a point on the map.

The Alliance rating also changes. After a successful capture, the attacking Alliance’s rating increases by the value of the captured planet. The Alliance that lost the planet loses the corresponding rating points. Thus, attacking an alliance planet is not just a flashy space combat report, but a strategic decision affecting the Alliance’s standing.

After victory, it is important to understand the fate of fleets. The fleet of the attack organizer remains on the captured planet. If other fleets joined the attack, including regular participants’ fleets, they return to their start planets after the battle. This means the organizer must be prepared to station their fleet on the new planet, and allies should not expect their joined ships to remain automatically as a garrison.

If the defending Alliance multi-account wins, no capture occurs. The attacking fleet is destroyed, and planet ownership remains unchanged. Buildings, defense, and infrastructure stay with the previous Alliance; rating points for the planet do not transfer; the control line does not move.

The practical conclusion: major actions on alliance planets require coordination. It is important to define the goal, attack organizer, fleet composition, arrival timing, support participants, and plan for victory or defeat in advance. In the web version of War for Galaxy, territorial warfare is based on team coordination, not on one person wanting to "try to take a planet."

How a Regular Player Can Help Their Alliance's Planets

A regular Alliance member does not capture alliance planets by personal attack, but this does not mean they are useless for the common territory. From their personal account, a player can send fleets to their Alliance’s planets with missions "Transportation" and "Relocation".

"Transportation" allows delivering resources to a planet of their Alliance. It helps construction, defense, fleet preparation, and development of the shared infrastructure. When the Alliance strengthens an important frontline, members' resources can significantly accelerate preparation.

"Relocation" permits transferring ships into the Alliance’s ownership. This is a key point: ships are not sent "for storage" and remain personal — upon arrival, they become part of the Alliance multi-account. They cannot be returned to the regular player, as the multi-account can receive ships but cannot transfer them back.

Therefore, before sending ships to Alliance ownership, coordinate with your team. Relocating ships is a contribution to the common military potential, not a temporary loan. This approach is especially important in real-time strategy and space MMO games, where coordination errors can be costly.

Why the Alliance Multi-account Is Not a Second Personal Account

The Alliance multi-account is created for territory control and inter-Alliance warfare, not for standard personal development. It has separate restrictions to prevent confusion with a regular player’s empire.

The multi-account has no main planet;
planets in the multi-account cannot be deleted;
Marauders do not appear in it;
it does not influence pirate spawns in the system;
it cannot attack pirates — attempts produce the error "Alliance Codex forbids attacking Pirates";
missions, shop, profile, and reward calendar are unavailable;
there are no free Hermes tokens;
reports cannot be deleted.

However, the "Navigation" technology bonus to fleet slots is higher in the multi-account: +2 instead of +1. This highlights the mechanic’s purpose: the multi-account lacks personal conveniences but is tailored for large-scale movements, territory holding, and Alliance wars.

Check-List before Sending a Fleet: What to Choose and Coordinate

Before sending a fleet, ask yourself one question: what exactly is ahead on the map? The answer determines everything — mission, account, expectations, and battle outcome.

I want to colonize an empty planet for myself. You need a Pioneer and to colonize the empty target. After arrival, the planet becomes your personal colony.
I want to colonize an empty planet for my Alliance. Act via the Alliance multi-account and send a Pioneer with the "Colonization" mission.
I want to create an Alliance. Prepare one Pioneer, open "Alliance" → "Create," specify the name and coordinates of the empty planet, then wait for the ship's arrival.
I want to attack a player’s personal planet. This is a standard attack. Upon victory, you can destroy the fleet and defenses and take half the resources, but ownership does not change.
I want to capture an alliance planet. This must be done by an Alliance multi-account against a planet of another Alliance multi-account. A personal attack will only yield a standard raid with no change in ownership.
I want to help my Alliance with resources. Use "Transportation" to your Alliance's planet.
I want to help my Alliance with ships. Use "Relocation," but remember: ships transferred become Alliance property, and the multi-account cannot return them to a regular player.

The main rule is simple: do not confuse raiding with capturing. Personal planets are raided, empty planets are colonized, and alliance planets change hands only in multi-account wars. If the target is important, coordinate actions with the Alliance in advance: who will fly, from where, which mission is chosen, and what to do after the battle result.

Want to test the mechanics practically and not get lost in the rules? Visit War for Galaxy via the official site, launch the web version, or download the client. Open the map, find the target, identify its type — and only after that send the fleet. In the galaxy, the winner is not the one who hits the button fastest, but the one who clearly understands what war they are starting.