Gems

A large gem

Gems are essentially the currency in Starblast, which can be gathered by mining asteroids or killing other bases, aliens or ships. Once a gem has been dropped, by either an asteroid, a player, or a base, it will remain floating in the same location for a few seconds, after which the gem will quickly shrink and disappear. Upon picking up any gems, the player will receive an equal quantity of points. The Gems currently have many uses in Starblast. They are able to be spent on upgrading ship stats, upgrading to a ship of a higher tier, purchasing extra lives, or they can be exchanged/donated for credits. In Survival Mode this donation screen can be accessed by pressing the W key. In Team Mode this menu can be accessed by entering a gem depot on a base. These credits can then be exchanged for secondaries. You also get a bonus gem reward for killing ships levels 3-7.

Larger gems contain a greater quantity when picked up by the player and are typically found in larger asteroids. A sound effect is played upon picking up a gem, the pitch of which is dependent on how large the gem is, with larger gems eliciting a lower pitched tone. A single life can be purchased in exchange for a full cargo of gems. They also function as a second layer of defense for ships once the shields have been depleted. When the player's shields are gone, all damage received will cause that quantity of gems to be knocked out of the player. These gems can then be picked up by anyone including the ship that they originated from, assuming that said ship was not destroyed. Because of a recent update you can not pick up more gems when your gem cargo is full.

In Team Mode, you can throw gems out of your cargo by holding "V". This is a fast and efficient way to help your teammates(Especially people who just joined) upgrade. Picking up gems given by teammates, however, does not give you any score.

Each tier of ship can hold a specific number of gems in its cargo. The level of gems currently in the player's possession can be gauged via the red bar on the top left of the in game GUI.

Tier:	Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3	Tier 4	Tier 5	Tier 6	Tier 7
Gem Capacity:	20	80	180	320	500	720	980

Team Mode Stations

In team mode, each player is assigned to a specific team and, thus, a specific station. The player will have they maximum ship tier limited to [Base Level] + 2 with tier sevens being unlocked once the level 4 base has been filled with gems completely. To upgrade a station and allow for the upgrading to additional tiers, the player must enter a gem depot which will result in the opening of the gem donation menu. Each station, if undamaged, will have a total of two gems depots available to the players. There is no limit to the number of players that can enter a depot at once. Each level base has a specific gem capacity that, when filled, will automatically upgrade the base. Gems can be exchanged for credits after the base has achieved Level 4 and full capacity, though this will no benefit the base directly in any way. If a station takes damage while it has gems in storage, they will begin to slowly drain from the module with the rate increasing as the shield level drops.

The player can also enter a depot and then leave the game safely. Assuming the base has not yet been destroyed, the player can accept the rescued ship upon returning and will not lose any of their points, ship, gems, secondaries or credits.

Note: In team mode there is also a mechanic that if an asteroid is mined, only the ship that does the greatest damage to it can collect the gems. The other ships will simply fly over the gems like they have a full cargo. When a few seconds have passed, and the gems are uncollected, anyone can grab them. This is to help prevent gem stealing when mining, although it is still possible to gem steal when mining by using a heavier ship to knock the other ships away form the mined gems.

Station Level:	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
Gem Capacity:	800	1600	3200	6400