There are 6 ways of gaining resources: 1. * Basic Income. Every planet has a basic income of a small amount of metal and crystal but not deuterium. 2. * Mining. Building and adding levels to Metal Mines, Crystal Mines, and Deuterium Synthesizers increase the hourly production of resources. 3. * Harvesting debris fields with a recycler. Available debris fields can be seen from the Galaxy View. 4. * Attacking planets or moons. 5. * Trading with other people in the game for a profit. 6. * Expeditions. This is done by sending a fleet to planet position 16. Expeditions can reward you with resources, ships or dark matter, or you can lose part of your fleet or all, or nothing happens.