This guide will deal with what are known in-game as "badge items". There are six different badge types (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Silver and Dark). Each are earned in a different manner and typically are used differently as well. To find badge items, you will need to go to the Battle tab and from there, click on the View Battle Market button near the top of the page. The amount of each badge is convienently listed at the top with the items available listed below. We'll start with Red.
Red Badges
Red badges are earned through the player vs player part of the game, better known as PVP. When you kill (disable) another player, you earn one Red badge. This is the only manner to earn a Red badge. Below, I have listed the available Red badge items.
Dominion Cannon
[ Special Weapon - Size:8, Attack:50 ]
Installs a Dominion Cannon on your ship.
Limit 4 per ship.
40 Red badges required for purchase.
Dominion Cannon - Mark II
[ Special Weapon - Size:12, Attack:90 ]
Installs a Dominion Cannon - Mark II on your ship.
Requires Rank 50 or Greater
Limit 4 Dominion Cannons per ship.
72 Red badges required for purchase
Dominion Cannon - Mark III
[ Special Weapon - Size:17, Attack:150 ]
Installs a Dominion Cannon - Mark III on your ship.
Requires Rank 100 or Greater
Limit 4 Dominion Cannons per ship.
128 Red badges required for purchase
Dominion Auto-Blaster Upgrade
Upgrades a Dominion Cannon - Mark III on your ship
to a Dominion Auto-Blaster, increasing its attack
by 80 without increasing its size.
Requires: 550 Medal Points Earned
184 Red badges required for purchase
Dominion Tri-Blaster Upgrade
Upgrades a Dominion Auto-Blaster on your ship
to a Dominion Tri-Blaster, increasing its attack
by 80 without increasing its size.
The Tri-Blaster also gains an
activated ability to increase attack vs enemy players.
Requires: 800 Medal Points Earned
272 Red badges required for purchase
As you can see, there's a fair bit of information. We'll examine the Dominion Cannon as a reference.
Dominion Cannon
[ Special Weapon - Size:8, Attack:50 ]
Installs a Dominion Cannon on your ship.
Limit 4 per ship.
As you can see, this is a weapon. The only way to acquire the Dominion Cannon is through pvp. It has a size of 8 so you will be required to have at least 8 unused decks on your ship to install. Each DC will add 50 attack to your ship after installation. You are allowed a maximum of 4 DC and at a cost of 40 Red badges, you will be required to disable at least 160 players. (4x40 badges). You will also be required to be at least at a rank of 50 to install as well. Each upgraded Cannon comes with its own requirements which of course you can read in their individual descriptions.
Now that we've covered the basic information, let's dig a little deeper. You'll notice that each Cannon has a different size/attack ratio. The below chart will detail that a little more:
DC size 8/atk 50 160 Red badges
DC2 size 12/90 288 Red badges
DC3 size 17/150 512 Red badges
Auto +80 736 Red badges
Tri +80 1088 Red badges
The baseline is 8/50. Using simple math, your attack per size is 6.25 for the Dominion Cannon, 7.5 for the DC2, 8.82 for the DC3. The Auto Blaster adds an additional 80 attack to a DC3 and the Tri will add yet another 80 to the Auto Blaster. It's plain to see that each upgraded level offers an increased efficiency of size vs attack added. Keeping that ratio at higher numbers will prove to be a wise decision as you progress in the game.
Another item of interest is the total number of Red badges required to purchase all four of each Cannon. If an individual were to acquire all four of each level, it would require 2784 disables. This is certainly attainable, but not necessarily a wise strategy. The following is my opinion but one I think that is certainly defensible. If you choose to pursue Dominion Cannons, ignore the first and the DC2 and go straight for the DC3 (x4). The only requirement is a rank of 100. You will almost certainly be at that rank by the time you have disabled your first 128 players. Once you have acquired all four DC3s, then you can begin to work towards the Auto Blaster and then Tri Blaster.
Another note on the topic of red badges. Red badges are required for scanning of bases for base combat. For more information concerning base combat, see the wiki.
Blue Badges
Blue badges are earned as a result of Hacking another player during PVP. Each hack attempt comes at a cost of 5 energy and comes with various results. You either fail or succeed. A third result, though quite rare, is a critical hack. A critical hack often will copy the location of a planet in the victims planet list into your own list. Below you will see the various blue badge items:
Tactical Inner-Bypass
Deactivates up to 5 weapons or defense modules on the target enemy ship.
Usable only after successfully hacking the target.
Counter-Intelligence Nexus
[ Planet Structure - Size:2, Research:2, Cloak:150 ]
A powerful government complex housing the latest technology. (limit 1 per planet)
Nexus Command Center Upgrade
Upgrades an existing Counter-Intelligence Nexus
on your planet to a Nexus Command Center,
doubling all of its bonuses.
Requires: 550 Medal Points Earned
Decryption Quad-Frame
[ Special Device - Size:10, Scan:25, Cloak:25 ]
Installs a Decryption Quad-Frame on your ship.
Limit 4 per ship.
CipherBot
[ Special Device - Size:10, Cloak:45, Hacking Bonus:+7% ]
A Hacker's best assistant.
Installs a CipherBot on your ship.
Limit 3 per ship.
Decryption Senary-Frame Upgrade
Upgrades a Decryption Quad-Frame on your ship to
a Decryption Senary-Frame, increasing its scan and
cloak bonuses by 20 without increasing its size.
Requires: 350 Medal Points Earned
CipherBot 2.0 Upgrade
Upgrades a CipherBot on your ship to
a CipherBot 2.0, doubling its cloak
and increasing its hacking bonus to 9%.
Requires: 600 Medal Points Earned
Bainar, Systems Cracker
[ Ship Ally ]
Initial Stats: Energy:60, Cloak: 60, Hull:120 (Upgrades with Rank)
Bainar gains a new rank whenever using his Training' ability.
Requires Rank 200 or Greater.
Requires: 900 Medal Points Earned
The Tactical Inner-Bypass is a device for use in PVP. It's description is self explanatory. Counter-Intelligence Nexus is a planet building for use most typically on Research oriented planets. It is of some use but not commonly used after the first few hundred levels. The first truly useful blue badge item is the Decryption Quad-Frame. As you can see, it has a size of 10 and you get a dual benefit of scan and cloak. As you progress in the game, you will want to add these to your ship along with the upgrade. A total of 864 blue badges will be required to acquire all eight. Next, you will see CipherBot and its upgrade. Coming in at a size 10 and cloak 45, this item is a nice addition as well. And, an added bonus of +7/9% hacking added on comes in handy as you attempt to accumulate so many blue badges. Finally, we have our first ship ally. Allies are items that cost nothing in deck space and give a multitude of bonuses as they upgrade and finally reach completion. Bainar adds energy, cloak and hull as well as a planet building when it reaches a rank of 100. Bainar does come with some minimum requirements and will take a while to acquire fully. Also, you will need blue badges to upgrade Bainar from one level to the next. Just as a side note, you will be required to accumulate at least 2600 blue badges to fully install and upgrade CipherBot, Quad Frame and Bainar.
Yellow Badges
Yellow badges are another item acquired only from PVP actions. They are the reward from raiding a player that has been disabled by you or another player. It also has a success/fail component to it like blue badges.
Heist Dispatch Center
[ Planet Structure - Size:2, Artifact:1, Mining:1, Attack:150 ]
A focal point for coordinating raiding activity. (limit 1 per planet)
Heist Dispatch Station Upgrade
Upgrades an existing Heist Dispatch Center
on your planet to a Heist Dispatch Station, doubling all of its bonuses.
The new structure will also provide a 10% attack bonus.
Requires: 400 Medal Points Earned
Protean Armory
[ Special Module - Size:8, Hull:200, Raiding Bonus:+7% ]
Installs a Protean Armory in your ship.
Limit 3 per ship.
CK69 Assault Sentry
[ Weapon - Size:20, Attack:50, Defense:50, Hull:150 ]
If this sentry is already installed on your ship,
this will instead upgrade its stats by 25%, up to 500%.
When fully upgraded, it provides a 6% hull bonus.
Requires: 800 Medal Points Earned
Protean Arsenal Upgrade
Upgrades a Protean Armory on your ship to
a Protean Arsenal, doubling its hull
and increasing its raid bonus to 9%.
Requires: 600 Medal Points Earnedup to 500%.
Starting with the Heist Dispatch Center, you have a planet building that offers artifact and mining along with attack. Somewhat useful but a little expensive considering the amount of energy expended to acquire the 25 and 36 yellow badges for a single building. Later game play trends away from attack and defense on most planets, so it's true usefulness is questionable. The next item of note is the Protean Armory. With only a size of 8 and 200 hull, this is a definite must have for any player that engages in regular PVP. Your ship can carry only 3, therefore you are looking at 852 yellow badges to fully install both. The 9% raid bonus is also very useful as you continue to grow in strength and rank. The last yellow item is the ck69. It will add attack, defense and hull as you upgrade it from one level to the next. At completion, you also gain a 6% hull bonus as well. The ck69 will be a time consuming addition costing you a minimum of 2800 yellow badges. This is definitely not an early level item considering the cost and 800 medal points requirement.
Green Badges
Green badges are generated by successfully invading an enemy player's planet. You can only successfully invade an enemy planet every 24 hours therefore green badges are the least numerous badge in most player's inventory.
Assimilation Locus
[ Planet Structure - Size:2, Mining:2, Population:100 ]
Puts the enemy to work in your mining facilities.
The bonus doubles if used on a 'New Colony' that you recently invaded. (limit 1 per planet)
Subjugation Protocols
Permanently upgrades an 'Assimilation Locus' on
your planet, and increases its bonuses by 50%,
up to a maximum of a 100% upgrade.
Requires: 600 Medal Points Earned
Luring Cynosure
[ Planet Structure - Size:1, Artifact:1, Attack:+20% ]
If the planet has an Insurgent Uprising
or Enslaved Prisoners when this is built, this structure
gains +2 mining and +20% attack.
Limit 1 per planet.
Requires: 650 Medal Points Earned
Atmospheric Decimator
[ Special Weapon - Size:10, Invasion Attack:100, Invasion Attack Bonus:+7% ]
A weapon designed to improve invasion potential against enemies.
Requires Rank 40 or Greater
Limit 2 per ship.
Biospheric Decimator Upgrade
Upgrades an Atmospheric Decimator on your ship
to a Biospheric Decimator, increasing its invasion
attack by 150 and its invasion bonus to 9%.
Requires: 800 Medal Points Earned
The first green badge item is the Assimilation Locus. It is a planet item that gives mining and population. It can be upgraded to a mining:8 using the Protocols. This is best used on a mining planet that you have invaded from another player. The next item is also a planet building (Luring Cynosure) that gives artifact and an attack bonus. If the qualifying requirements are met, it will also give +2 mining and more attack bonus. The third green badge item is a ship weapon module that gives invasion bonuses. If you plan on doing a lot of planet invasion (and you should), definitely add this item and its upgrade. Note the medal points requirement on the upgrade.
Silver Badges
Our next badge is quite an important one. Silver badges give us some very useful ship items as well as something that can greatly benefit our legion and its base. Silvers are generated from base combat. For the ins and outs of base combat, check the wiki or the leadership of your legion. There are various rules and expectations in every legion and its important you are aware and abide by them as long as you are a member.
Charged Exo-Clamp
Increases a base's shield capacity by 10, and hull integrity by 15.
Overcharged Exo-Clamp
Increases a base's shield capacity by 50, and hull integrity by 75.
Barrier Nexus
[ Planet Structure - Size:1, Artifact:1, Defense:300, Defense Bonus:+20% ]
Constructs a Barrier Nexus on your planet.
(limit 2 per planet)
Barrier HyperNexus Upgrade
Upgrades an existing Barrier Nexus
on your planet to a Barrier HyperNexus, increasing
defense by 300. The new structure's defense bonus will
also increase an extra 10%.
Requires: 500 Medal Points Earned
Tetra-Seek Targeter
[ Special Module - Size:20, Scan:40, Base Attack:+5% ]
An advanced targeting system designed for battles against legion bases.
Requires Rank 40 or Greater
Limit 3 per ship.
BM50 Convoy Shuttle
[ Special Defense - Size:20, Defense:100, Defense Bonus against Enemy Bases:+5% ]
An advanced shuttle designed for guarding and support.
Requires Rank 50 or greater
Limit 3 per ship.
Surge Plexus
[ Special Module - Size:20, Energy:50, Non-Player Enemy Attack Bonus:+5% ]
Installs a Surge Plexus on your ship.
Limit 3 per ship.
Mega-Coil Repulsor
[ Special Module - Size:20, Shield:150, Non-Player Enemy Defense Bonus:+5% ]
Installs a Mega-Coil Repulsor on your ship.
Requires Rank 50 or Greater
Limit 3 per ship.
Requires: 500 Medal Points Earned
Argent Consulate
[ Planet Structure - Size:2, Artifact:2, Research:2, Population:+40% ]
Can only be built on planets that have been calm for 3+ months.
Limit 1 per planet.
Requires: 800 Medal Points Earned
Exo Clamps are used on your legion base. As you can see, they add hull and shields to your base which will make it harder to disable by other legions. Its very important as a team player to add clamps to your legion base. I recommend that you pursue the ship mods and once they are completed, be a good legion mate and regularly add clamps to your base. The Barrier Nexus and its upgrade are a planet building that adds artifact production as well as defense as well as a bonus defense. On the surface, these seem to be extremely useful. But as you grow in the game, you will come to find that planet defense and attack are almost irrelevent. Silver badges used for Nexus' are better utilized for Clamps.
Next we have a few ship mods that are quite useful. The Tetra Seeker gives you scan and base attack. It is a size 20 that makes the 40 scan it gives somewhat inefficient. But 5% base attack is useful, therefore add all three to your ship. The BM50 is similar to the Tetra in that it adds inefficiently but that add on bonus is useful. Surge Plexus gives energy as well as attack bonus. Add this to your ship as well. Mega Coil also. As you add attack, defense, shields and hull, these little ship mods and their bonuses become far more useful to you as you grow. The last item, Argent Consulate, is a planet building that gives artifact and research. They have a use on some planets but none on many.
Dark Badges
The last set of badges we will cover are Dark Badges. These are the most plentiful, therefore the items involved require a lot more. You receive dark badges by disabling certain NPCs.
Quantum Accelerator
[ Planet Structure - Size:2, Cloak:150, (Choice Production:2) ]
Choose mining, research, or artifact when building this structure.
The structure will provide 2 production for that resource.
(Limit 2)
Magnetosphere Charger
Permanently increases a passive ability on the planet
(of your choice) by 10% + 50, up to a max of 3500.
Choices are: cloak, attack, or defense.
Acceleration Protocols
Permanently upgrades a 'Quantum Accelerator' on
your planet, and increases its bonuses by 50%,
up to a maximum of a 100% upgrade.
Requires: 900 Medal Points Earned
Composite Ray
[ Special Weapon - Size:13, Attack:80 ]
When first installed, choose 1 permanent bonus to this weapon:
40 Defense, 40 Scan, OR 60 Cloak.
Requires Rank 50 or Greater. (Limit 4 per ship)
Cosmic Rail
[ Weapon - Size:20, Attack:60, Defense:60, Energy:60, Cloak:60 ]
If this device is already installed on your ship,
this will instead upgrade its stats by 25%,
up to a max of 500%.
Requires: 800 Medal Points Earned
The first item is the Quantum Accelerator. It is a planet building that gives cloak and your choice of production. The usual accepted manner of use on this item is artifact. When using the Acceleration Protocols, you can upgrade it to a size 2, production: 4 building. You're going to want a lot of these. The Magnetosphere Charger is primarily used to add passive cloak to planets. You use these after you can no longer add the cloak dropped by Lazuli Fab planets to a particular planet. The last two items are ship weapons. Both are good and should be added to your ship. The Cosmic Rail will require a large number of dark badges, so be ready to kill a lot of npcs to finish it.
This article is by no means exhaustive and reference is made to many topics that are not defined. For more information, visit the GL wiki at
http://galaxylegion.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page .