Heroes are powerful characters that you can recruit to greatly improve the efficiency of your planetary systems and fleets. While attached to a fleet or system, Heroes will gain XP, allowing them to access abilities every time they level up.
Every Hero has two classes out of the five total (Commander, Corporate, Adventurer, Pilot and Administrator), which determine the Hero's starting attributes and their access to special abilities. The five attributes (Melee, Offense, Defense, Labor and Wit) give bonuses to FIDS production or combat actions. Heroes accumulate XP every turn they are attached to a fleet or system and even more when they engage in battle. Every time the Hro levels up, you can unlock one ability for that hero. There is a limit on how many heroes can be used by an empire at any time, the so called "Academy Cap", which can be increased by certain technologies. There is a Dust cost to recruit a hero as well as a Dust upkeep that must be paid each turn.
See Hero Statistics for each specific Hero.
Recruiting and Expelling
Heroes are recruited out of a Recruitment Pool, that initially consists of 3 randomly chosen Heroes for the faction. Every 50 turns, another Hero is added to that pool. This interval can be influenced by research.
The Dust cost for recruiting Heroes depends on the number of Heroes you already have in your service.
| No. Heroes | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hiring Cost | 20 | 80 | 140 | 200 | 260 | 320 | 380 | 440 | 500 | 560 | 620 |
The upkeep cost of Heroes is equal to twice their level. When you fire ("expel") a Hero, they become available to every empire still in the game (this implies that the initial Hero pool is not shared between the different empires). Stats
There are 5 different stats that give bonuses to the system or fleet the Hero is stationed in. All stat bonuses are per point.
| Wit | |
| Labor | |
| Offense |
|
| Defense |
|
| Melee | Invasion rate |
Cloning
One of the traits of Horatio is "Cloning", which gives the ability to copy an existing Hero. The copy has the same abilities, attributes and the same experience as the original. It is possible to clone a clone but clones count towards your academy cap. The cost for cloning is the same as for hiring a Hero.
Abilities
Main Article: Abilities
Abilities are traits of Heroes that change the attributes for a hero, allowing the hero to benefit the system or fleet they are located in.
Injury
Fleet heroes who lose combat become injured. System heroes are injured when the system is lost.
Once injured, the hero cannot be used, but you can pay Dust to heal the Hero. Time reduces the cost to heal the hero, though you must always pay some amount to fully heal them and start using the hero again.
Some effects reduce the cost to heal your heroes, including the hero ability Hardy Constitution.