OGame Classes Guide: Collector vs General vs Discoverer (Which Is Best?)
Every OGame class bonus compared: Collector, General and Discoverer, their class ships, the three alliance classes, and which class fits miners, fleeters and turtles.
Short answer: OGame has three player classes. The Collector boosts mine production and cargo ships and builds Crawlers, the General speeds up and strengthens combat fleets and builds Reapers, and the Discoverer is built around expeditions, faster research and bigger colonies and builds Pathfinders. For most new and returning players the Discoverer or Collector is the safer first pick; the General pays off once you actively fight other players. Your first choice is free, every later change costs 500,000 Dark Matter.
Classes arrived with OGame version 7 and they changed how every account develops, because each one favours a different playstyle: the miner who wants income, the fleeter who wants debris fields, or the explorer who lives off expeditions. Picking the wrong one does not ruin an account, but it does slow it down for weeks.
This guide lists every class bonus, explains the class ships, covers alliance classes, and matches each class to the classic OGame playstyles.
Not sure which lifeform to develop? Our lifeforms guide compares Humans, Rock'tal, Mechas and Kaelesh and shows the best pick for each class.
In this guide
- How OGame classes work
- The Collector
- The General
- The Discoverer
- Class comparison table
- Which class for miners, fleeters and turtles?
- Alliance classes: Trader, Researcher, Warrior
- Changing your class
How OGame classes work
- You choose one of three player classes: Collector, General or Discoverer.
- The first selection is free. If you deactivate your class, activating one again costs Dark Matter, and changing class costs 500,000 Dark Matter. Class change items are occasionally handed out during events.
- Your alliance can also pick an alliance class. You receive both bonuses at the same time: your own player class and your alliance's class.
- Each player class unlocks one exclusive ship: the Crawler (Collector), the Reaper (General) and the Pathfinder (Discoverer).
The bonus values below come from the OGame Wiki. Gameforge has rebalanced classes before, so check the class selection screen in your universe for the exact current numbers.
The Collector
The Collector is the economy class. Its bonuses make every mine and every cargo ship worth more.
- +25% mine production and +10% energy production
- +100% speed and +25% cargo capacity for cargo ships
- Builds Crawlers, with a +50% Crawler bonus and the option to overload them to 150% efficiency (which doubles their energy use)
- More working Crawlers when the Geologist officer is active
- 10% discount when finishing buildings with Dark Matter
About Crawlers: each Crawler adds a small percentage to a planet's metal, crystal and deuterium production. The number that actually works is capped by your mine levels (on the Wiki's example, total mine levels × 8), and the total bonus is capped as well. Crawlers are cheap (2,000 metal, 2,000 crystal, 1,000 deuterium) but fragile: attackers destroy them and they go into the debris field. They are a late-game optimisation for planets with well-developed mines, not an early purchase.
The General
The General is the combat class. It makes fleets faster, cheaper to fly and harder to beat.
- +100% speed for combat ships (except Deathstars) and for Recyclers
- Reduced deuterium consumption for all ships (25% by default, varies by universe)
- +2 combat research levels and +2 fleet slots
- Extra cargo on Recyclers and Pathfinders, +5 fields on every moon
- Fleet speed settings in 5% steps instead of 10%, which makes timing attacks easier
- Wreck fields also form when you attack, not only when you defend
- Builds Reapers; 10% discount when finishing shipyard items with Dark Matter
The General's value depends entirely on how often you fight. Faster, cheaper flights and extra fleet slots are huge for a player who raids and crashes fleets every day, and almost worthless for a player who mostly builds mines. See our Reaper guide for the class ship.
The Discoverer
The Discoverer is the exploration class, and on many universes the most popular one.
- +2 expedition slots, fewer enemies on expeditions (50% less chance) and a bigger share of resources and ships found on expeditions (scaled by universe economy speed)
- 25% shorter research time
- +10% planet size when colonising (roughly 21% more fields)
- +20% Sensor Phalanx range
- Expedition debris fields are visible in the galaxy view
- 75% loot from inactive players
- Builds Pathfinders; 10% discount when finishing research with Dark Matter
Expeditions scale with your fleet and research rather than your mines, which is why Discoverers grow quickly early on. Our expedition guide and the free expedition calculator show how to get the most out of those extra slots.
Class comparison table
| Collector | General | Discoverer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main focus | Mines, trade, transport | Combat and fleet movement | Expeditions, research, colonies |
| Class ship | Crawler | Reaper | Pathfinder |
| Economy | +25% mine production | None | Expedition finds, 75% inactive loot |
| Fleet | Faster, bigger cargo ships | Faster combat ships, less fuel, +2 fleet slots | +2 expedition slots |
| Research | None | +2 combat research levels | 25% faster research |
| Planets | None | +5 moon fields | +10% planet size |
| Time needed | Low | High | Medium |
| Best for | Miners, casual players, late game | Fleeters, active raiders | New accounts, expedition players |
Which class for miners, fleeters and turtles?
Long before classes existed, OGame players described themselves by playstyle. The classes map onto those styles, but not always the way you would expect.
Miner
A miner spends almost everything on things that pay back: mines, Plasma Technology and more colonies through Astrophysics. Miners fleetsave instead of building big defences and can play with one or two logins a day. The natural pick looks like the Collector, and at high mine levels it is. But since version 7 many miners also run expedition fleets, and players on the official forums regularly point out that the Discoverer out-earns the Collector until mines are well developed. A common path is Discoverer early, Collector later. Our build order guide covers the mine side.
Fleeter
A fleeter lives off crashing other players' fleets and recycling the debris. It is the most time-intensive style: you need to learn rivals' fleetsave habits, keep a phalanx and jump gates on your moons, and never get caught yourself. This is where the General shines, with faster ships, lower deuterium costs and extra fleet slots. Many fleeters start as miners to build an economy before they switch. Master the fleetsave first.
Turtle
A turtle relies on heavy defences rather than a large fleet, so the account survives being offline for days. No class has defence bonuses, so turtles usually choose by their income source: Collector for mine income, Discoverer if expeditions pay for the walls. Remember that destroyed defences partly rebuild after combat, and see the defense ratio guide for what to build.
Alliance classes: Trader, Researcher, Warrior
Alliances choose their own class, and every member gets its bonuses on top of their player class. A newly created alliance can pick its first class for free after 14 days; later changes use a class change item that costs 500,000 Dark Matter.
| Alliance class | Bonuses for all members | Pairs well with |
|---|---|---|
| Trader | +10% cargo ship speed, +5% resource production, +5% energy, +10% storage capacity | Collectors |
| Researcher | +5% planet size when colonising, +10% flight speed on expeditions, access to the System Phalanx | Discoverers |
| Warrior | +10% speed for flights to alliance members, +1 level of Weapons, Shielding and Armour Technology, +1 Espionage Technology, espionage of a whole system from the galaxy view | Generals |
The Researcher's planet size bonus stacks with the Discoverer's: together they give planets about 32% more fields than without either class.
Changing your class
- Changing class costs 500,000 Dark Matter, so decide based on the next few months of play, not the next few days.
- Crawlers you already built keep working if you stop being a Collector, but you cannot build new ones.
- Switching from Discoverer to Collector on a mature account is the most common and usually the most profitable change.
- If your alliance is about to go to war or start a big expedition push, coordinate player and alliance classes: Warrior with Generals, Trader with Collectors, Researcher with Discoverers.
Classes without the Lifeforms layer
On current official universes, classes are only one of several progression layers; Lifeforms add a second tech tree and racial bonuses on top. If you prefer the version of OGame where your class choice was the main specialisation decision, OGameXL recreates OGame as it was before Lifeforms, with the three player classes, alliance classes, expeditions and ACS, on a fast x1000 universe. The OGameXL overview explains what is included.
Sources
- OGame Forum (board.en.ogame.gameforge.com): "FAQ - Player Classes".
- OGame Wiki: Class, Collector, General, Discoverer, Crawler, Trader, Researcher, Warrior, Miner, Fleeter and Turtle articles.
Related Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What's Your Reaction?
Like
0
Dislike
0
Love
0
Funny
0
Wow
0
Sad
0
Angry
0
Playing and helping run OGame.life since its early seasons. Every build order, fleet composition, and expedition setup covered in these guides has been tested first-hand on our own servers before being written up.
Comments (0)