Scoring
What does a system's score mean in Old Light?
Every system has a public score summarising how developed it is. It rolls up structure investment, so higher levels across more structures give a higher score. Score is the only strength hint you get on a system without sending a probe.
Every system has a public score, a single number that summarises how developed it is. Higher structure levels mean a higher score.
Ownership, borders, and score are visible on every system across the galaxy; score is the only "how strong is that?" hint you get without a Probe. Empire totals also rank every player on the leaderboard on the website.
System score
The score on a system rolls up its structure investments and rises with every upgrade.
Empire score
Your empire score is the sum of every system score across your claimed systems. It's the leaderboard number, ranked against the other humans unless you tick Show NPCs to count the grey empires too, see NPC Empires. Two routes to grow it:
Tall: push a few systems to high levels.
Wide: claim more systems and keep each at modest levels.
What score doesn't tell you
Score is a hint, not a battle prediction. It tells you "this system has had a lot of investment" but says nothing about which structures got the levels. A system with a high score could be 90% extractors or 90% reactor.
Score also says nothing about the fleet in orbit, and a low-scoring system can have a massive one. A Probe shows both.
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Common questions
How is empire score calculated?
Your empire score is the sum of every claimed system's score, and it is the leaderboard number. You can grow it tall by pushing a few systems to high levels, or wide by claiming more systems at modest levels.
Does score tell me how strong a system is in battle?
No. Score shows investment but not which structures got the levels, so two systems with the same score can be very different opponents. It also says nothing about the fleet in orbit; a low-scoring system can hold a large one.