Lifeforms Overview

6 min read#ogame #lifeforms #fundamentals

What Are Lifeforms?

Introduced in version 9, Lifeforms are the most significant OGame expansion. Each planet can host one of four species, which unlock unique buildings and technologies that provide passive bonuses to production, combat, fleet speed, and more. The game can be played without lifeforms, but developing them gives a substantial long-term advantage.

The Four Lifeforms

Lifeform	Synergy	Specialisation
Humans	No class (balanced)	Unique ability to discover other species; broad production and ship bonuses
Rock'tal	Collector class	Metal, crystal, deuterium production; energy; defence
Mecha	General class	Ship overhauls, fleet speed, fuel efficiency, deuterium production
Kaelesh	Discoverer class	Expeditions, moon creation, planet fields, phalanx range

Three lifeforms are synced to a player class and amplify its specific bonuses. Humans are the exception — balanced across all areas and the only species capable of discovering the others.

Starting Out

When you activate lifeforms for the first time, Humans are always the first species available. You cannot start with another species. Click the humanoid icon in the top-right area of the screen to open the lifeform selection menu.

To unlock the other three species you must:

Research Intergalactic Envoys (level 1+) in the Human tech tree
Send exploration missions (from Galaxy View, using the purple DNA icon) to discover new species in the galaxy

Exploration

Exploration missions search coordinates for new lifeform species or improve the experience of already-discovered ones.

No ship required — but you need a free fleet slot
Cost per mission: 5,000 Metal · 1,000 Crystal · 500 Deuterium
Daily limit: 50 additional missions per day (they accumulate, not use-or-lose)
Cooldown per coordinate: Each coordinate can only be explored once every 7 days; grey icons in Galaxy View mark recently explored coordinates
Experience level cap: Lifeform experience is capped at level 100, giving a maximum +10% bonus to all lifeform effects. Exploration continues for the Discoveries highscore and artefacts, but no further experience is earned past the cap

Artefacts

Artefacts are a currency earned through exploration missions. They let you directly choose a specific lifeform technology slot instead of receiving a random one.

Action	Artefact cost
Purchase Tier 1 research slot	200
Purchase Tier 2 research slot	400
Purchase Tier 3 research slot	600

Storage cap: 3,600 artefacts. Once at or above the cap you find 0 artefacts on missions. Exception: if a single mission finds more than the remaining space, you receive the full amount (e.g. 3,565 + 500 find = 4,065) — but you stop earning again immediately after.

How Lifeform Buildings Work

Lifeform buildings do not occupy planet fields — they are built separately from normal buildings
Some buildings require energy or a minimum population to activate
Construction speed is influenced by the Nanite Factory level on that planet — and you cannot queue a lifeform building while the Nanite Factory is being upgraded, and vice versa
Bonuses from buildings only affect the planet they are built on
Buildings are paid for with standard resources (Metal, Crystal, Deuterium), not with Food or Population

Population is needed to unlock buildings and technology tiers — it is a prerequisite, not a currency.

How Lifeform Research Works

Each species has 18 technologies grouped in three tiers (Tier 1 / Tier 2 / Tier 3). Roman numerals on a research icon indicate whether the same research appears in higher tiers.

Rule	Details
Unlock order	Must complete all of Tier 1 before unlocking any Tier 2; same for Tier 3
Population gates	Tier 1 requires T1 population, Tier 2 requires T2, Tier 3 requires T3
Unlocking ≠ developing	An unlocked slot appears at level 0; you still need to research it
Research scope	Bonuses from research apply empire-wide across all planets (as long as that species remains active on the planet where it was researched)
Randomisation	When unlocking a slot you are offered several technologies — the native species tech has 100% chance to appear; others may also appear randomly. Use artefacts to guarantee a specific choice
Research Centre	Cannot be upgraded while a lifeform research is running, and vice versa

Population thresholds per slot

Slot	Tier	Population required
1	T1	200,000
2	T1	300,000
3	T1	400,000
4	T1	500,000
5	T1	750,000
6	T1	1,000,000
7	T2	1,200,000
8	T2	3,000,000
9	T2	5,000,000
10	T2	7,000,000
11	T2	9,000,000
12	T2	11,000,000
13	T3	13,000,000
14	T3	26,000,000
15	T3	56,000,000
16	T3	112,000,000
17	T3	224,000,000
18	T3	448,000,000

Changing the Lifeform on a Planet

You can switch a planet to a different species at any time, subject to:

48-hour cooldown between species changes on the same planet
If a species has been on a planet for over 48 hours, you can replace it instantly; after the change you must wait 48 hours before changing again

What happens on change:

Any active LF building queue is cancelled and resources returned
Population leaves the planet — you must wait for it to repopulate before population-gated techs become active again
Food produced and stored is reset to zero
Buildings and research levels are preserved — if you reactivate the same species later, everything is exactly as you left it (except population must rebuild)
Research bonuses go inactive until required population is met again (shown as greyed out, not reset)

Repopulation speed varies by species (Rock'tal reproduce slowly; Mecha repopulate quickly) and is affected by economy speed and population buildings.

Resetting Lifeform Research

Three reset buttons appear at the bottom of each research tier block:

Reset type	Cost	Cooldown
Free reset	Free	Has a cooldown before you can free-reset again
DM reset	Dark Matter	No cooldown

Any active research in the reset block is cancelled and resources returned
Tiers after the reset block stop producing bonuses until previous tiers have all slots filled again
If only the Tier 3 block is reset, Tiers 1 and 2 continue functioning normally

Bonus Scope Summary

Source	Scope
Lifeform buildings	Planet where they are built only
Lifeform research	Empire-wide (all planets), while that species is active