Free multiplayer space strategy · Plays in your browser
Orbital is a persistent real-time strategy game for two to ten players, set across the real Sol system. Send fleets between moving worlds, build and terraform colonies, bend the Senate to your will, and come back to find out what your rivals did overnight.
How it plays
Ticks resolve on the server on a real schedule. You don’t need to be online when they do, only when it matters.
Send fleets, queue ships at your yards, propose laws, make offers. A few minutes is enough.
Every tick, ships move, battles resolve and economies pay out — hourly by default, whether you’re watching or not.
The Situation Report shows what changed: fights in progress, fleets inbound, idle shipyards, decisions waiting on you.
Alerts reach you by browser notification, Discord or email.
The game
From the Sun out past Pluto, every world sits where it really is and moves along its orbit. Distances change as the planets turn, so choosing when to launch is part of the plan, and a long flight is a commitment your rivals can see coming.
Build corvettes, frigates and destroyers to your own designs. Railguns or energy lances, armour or shields, flak, repair bays: shields blunt kinetic fire and armour blunts energy, so the right loadout depends on who you’re fighting. Fleets clash in orbit, and can be caught and fought in mid-flight.
Plant stations in orbit and cities on the ground. Terraform raw worlds into living ones, raise forges, mints, labs and shipyards, and run freighters to haul what you mine back home. Every shipment is physical, and every shipment can be raided.
Every game starts at peace. War is declared, not assumed, and ending one takes both sides. Sign pacts, trade and share intelligence, then take it to the Senate, where passed laws change yields, costs and damage for everyone, and sanctions land on whoever you name.
Victory
Hold more than 60% of the worlds in play (the host can change the bar). The Sun counts.
Win the Senate’s vote. Each empire gets one bid per game, and the vote stays open for 48 ticks, long enough for rivals to rally against you.
Found a station in orbit of the Sun and feed it 15,000 metal, 15,000 credits and 10,000 science. Rivals can destroy the foundation, and whoever rebuilds it keeps most of the progress.
Recorded in the game
Anywhere
Orbital runs in any modern browser on desktop, tablet and phone, with a layout built for touch. There is nothing to install. Android and Wear OS apps, with home-screen widgets, are in testing.
Questions
Yes. Orbital is free to play with no ads, and nothing that affects the game is for sale. An optional one-time Commander’s Commission ($10) unlocks ship designs, megastructure looks, premium emblems, and your games posted to your own Discord server.
No. Orbital runs in any modern browser on desktop, tablet or phone. Sign in with Google or an email address and join a game straight away.
There is no time limit: a game runs until someone wins. The default is one tick an hour, which suits checking in a few times a day. Hosts can choose anything from a tick a minute to a tick a day.
Your empire keeps going. Ticks resolve on schedule, freighters keep running their routes and armed stations defend themselves. Nobody plays your empire for you, so set your orders before you log off.
Two to ten. Quick Join drops you into the fullest open game, or you can browse the lobby or invite friends to a private game. You can even join a game that has already started, as long as a home world is still free.
If you have played Neptune’s Pride, the rhythm will feel familiar: a shared map, ticks that run on a real clock, and alliances that matter. Orbital sets it in the real solar system and adds orbital flight, ship design, a Senate that writes the rules, and three different ways to win.
Join an open game in one click, or start a private one for your group.
Free · No download · No ads