Hissho Leader
Heroes are powerful characters that provide great bonuses to your planetary systems and fleets. Heroes must be recruited and then attached to a fleet or system. While active, Heroes will gain XP, allowing them to access abilities that improve their bonuses each 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 Hero 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 details on each specific Hero.
Recruitment 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).
Experience
Heroes can gain experience and level up. Each level gives 1 ability point, which can be spent to unlock abilities. XP requirements are as follows:
| Level | Total XP | XP from previous |
| 1 | 0 | - |
| 2 | 10 | 10 |
| 3 | 20 | 10 |
| 4 | 40 | 20 |
| 5 | 80 | 40 |
| 6 | 120 | 40 |
| 7 | 160 | 40 |
| 8 | 200 | 40 |
| 9 | 250 | 50 |
| 10 | 300 | 50 |
| 11 | 360 | 60 |
| 12 | 420 | 60 |
| 13 | 500 | 80 |
| 14 | 600 | 100 |
| 15 | 700 | 100 |
| 16 | 800 | 100 |
| 17 | 900 | 100 |
| 18 | 1000 | 100 |
| 19 | 1100 | 100 |
| 20 | 1200 | 100 |
The XML suggests the following values for XP gain; however, there appear to be some hidden modifiers:
| Source | XP |
|---|---|
| Assigned (per turn) | 1 |
| Completed construction | 1 |
| Won battle | 20 |
| Drew battle | 10 |
| Lost battle | 5 |
| Injured enemy Hero | 20 |
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 |
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
A Hero attached to a fleet who is defeated in combat becomes injured. A Hero attached to a system is injured when the system is lost. Injured Heroes can not be used until they are healed. You can pay Dust to heal the Hero. This cost is reduced each turn. However, you must always pay some amount of dust 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.
Cloning
Horatio - Administrator Commander Hero
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.