Prestige
Prestige is everything a galaxy collapse pays. It raises the energy every sun you own produces, permanently and everywhere.
You gain one prestige level each time you collapse a black hole, or a clan ally collapses one in a galaxy where you hold a sun. A sun then produces 1 + your prestige level energy per minute for you: 1 before your first collapse, 2 after it, 3 after the second. There is no cap, and the bonus covers every sun you hold, not only the ones in the galaxy that collapsed.
| Prestige | Energy per sun per minute | Income from 20 suns |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 20 / min |
| 1 | 2 | 40 / min |
| 2 | 3 | 60 / min |
| 5 | 6 | 120 / min |
| 10 | 11 | 220 / min |
Earning a level
A collapse needs you to own the black hole with 1,000 megaprobes garrisoned there, and every sun in the galaxy held by you or a clan ally. Black Holes has the full path. You gain the level whether or not you owned a sun there yourself, since the black hole was yours.
What a collapse costs
The collapse deletes the galaxy: every planet and sun in it, yours included, along with their automations. Holdings in other galaxies are untouched, and nobody is removed from the game. If it leaves you with nothing at all, a popup offers Restart for a fresh home system. Rebuild instead from what you hold elsewhere, or restart any time from the account panel.
A galaxy can also collapse on its own: 14 days after it is created, its black hole turns unstable and starts eating its own garrison. If that garrison runs out, the galaxy collapses the same way, but nobody is paid. Holding a galaxy past day 14 means feeding its black hole (see Black Holes).
Prestige, your energy balance, tech levels, credits and skins live on your account and survive a collapse either way.
Whether you come out ahead depends on how many of your suns were in that galaxy. At prestige 0 the rate goes from 1 to 2, so losing up to half your suns still leaves you earning more than before. At prestige 1 the break-even is a third, at prestige 2 a quarter, and it keeps tightening. Probe production takes the harder hit, because only re-expansion brings the planets back.
Why later levels are still worth it
Each level adds the same flat 1 energy per sun, so the first collapse doubles your rate and the tenth adds 10%. What keeps the later ones worth taking is the tech tree: a single upgrade run to level 100 costs 33,835,000 energy (see Energy & Tech).
Prestige in a clan
Allied suns count toward the sun requirement, so a clan can conquer a galaxy together, and the level is paid out the same way: everyone who holds a sun in the galaxy when it collapses gains one, plus whoever owned the black hole. A member who held nothing there gains nothing. Spreading the clan's suns across the galaxy is therefore worth more than concentrating them.
Where you see it
Your own level and the rate it gives you are in the Tech panel next to your energy balance. Another player's card shows Galaxies collapsed once they have one. The collapse confirmation spells out the before and after rate.