abnormally durable and well-defended asteroids that have no resources but provide a boost to tax income. Furthermore, there are several different spatial anomalies (more commonly known as uncolonizable objects) found in the game which serve as obstacles and hazards to all players. These include ice and asteroid fields, which reduce weapon accuracy; gas giants, which can cause dangerous explosions if a ship is destroyed nearby; stars, which allow for interstellar jumps but have large gravity wells that are slow to traverse; and various forms of space junk, which do not affect ships directly. Wormholes link some systems, and once the necessary technology has been researched, they can be utilized for instant travel. In addition, DLCs have added traveling hazards such as plasma storms, random rebellions, economic downturns and coronal mass ejections. Neutral forces, known as militias, guard and may own colonizable planets not occupied at the start by any of the players. Their forces are an assortment of TEC frigates, cruisers and defensive structures. They do not venture outside the gravity well, but will attack anything owned by non-militia forces that enter their gravity well. Pairs of pirate ships sometimes similarly "guard" uncolonizable gravity wells. Diplomacy and bounty The diplomacy options of the original game allow players to forge and break alliances and place bounties on their enemies or allies (depending on the game setting) without anybody knowing who placed it. Players can trade resources, establish trade routes between empires, manipulate the commodities market to hinder enemies by utilizing supply and demand, and issue optional "missions" to allies. Most planets are "guarded" by neutral TEC fleets, who will attack anyone that ventures near; this is especially true for the Pirate Base planets, which are settled by pirates and are heavily fortified. In the game's start-up screen, players can also choose to enable "Pirate Raids". This mechanic allows players to anonymously place "bounty" on other players, with the goal of inducing the pirates to attack that player. The more bounty is placed on another player, then the larger the attacking fleet will be if the pirates choose to attack that player; pirate raids also gain strength over time, and to deal with them, the player has to find all the pirate bases, which are the spawn points for raids in their respective star system, and wipe them out. Pirate forces are, with one exception, TEC frigates, cruisers, orbital defense platforms, and