Astrarchy terms of service

These terms are an agreement between you and Knooty ("we", "us"), about the Astrarchy app and its online game service ("Astrarchy"). They apply together with Apple's standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement ("Apple's EULA"), which covers your licence to the app itself. The app links to these terms and to our privacy policy in Settings and on the sign-in screen. By continuing past the sign-in screen, creating an account or playing, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use Astrarchy.

1. Who may play

You must be 13 or older to create an account. If you are under the age of majority where you live, a parent or guardian must agree to these terms for you and is responsible for your purchases.

2. Your account

• Signing in. You sign in with Sign in with Apple or with a one-time code we email to you. There are no passwords. Keep access to your email address and Apple Account secure: anyone who can read your email can sign in to your account.
• One account per email address. An account belongs to one email address and holds one empire. If you use Sign in with Apple and share the same email address as an email-code account, both sign-ins reach the same account. An Apple "Hide My Email" address forms its own account.
• Several accounts are allowed. You may run more than one account with different email addresses. Each account is subject to these terms and the game's rules on its own.
• Your account is personal. You may not sell, rent, trade or transfer an account, its empire or its Sovereigns, or buy one from someone else.
• Deleting your account. You can delete your account at any time in the app. Deletion is permanent: your empire, your Sovereigns, your Accelerators and your purchase records are erased and cannot be restored. See our privacy policy.
• Dormant accounts. If an account has no activity for 2 years, we delete it, with everything in it, including unspent Sovereigns and Accelerators. The 2 years run from the account's last activity: any use of the game while signed in counts. We email the account's address 30 days before.

3. The game

• Astrarchy is one persistent universe shared by all players. Other players can attack your planets, take resources, destroy ships and defences, and destroy moons, under the game's rules. Losses in play are part of the game and are not compensated.
• The game runs on our servers. What our servers record is the authoritative state of your empire.
• Inactivity. An account with no activity for 7 days is shown as inactive, and after 28 days as long-inactive. After 90 days with no activity, all its planets and moons are removed from the universe. The account, commander name, research and Sovereigns are kept, and you can start a new empire when you return. Away mode pauses your empire and does not count as inactivity, and ends by itself after 90 days.
• Changes to the game. We may change, balance, add or remove game features, rules, values and prices in Sovereigns, open new areas of the universe, and correct errors in game state, including after a fault. We will try to keep the game fair for everyone when we do.

4. Names

• Commander, planet and moon names must be 3 to 20 characters of letters, digits and single spaces, and commander names must be unique. Names are checked automatically for offensive words.
• You must not choose a name that is offensive, hateful, sexual, threatening, impersonates another person or organisation, or infringes someone else's rights.
• If you find another commander's name or planet name offensive, use Report name in the app. Our operators review reports.
• We may refuse or change any name that breaks these terms, without notice. A changed commander name also changes in existing reports.

5. Sovereigns and Accelerators

• What they are. Sovereigns are a virtual currency you can buy in the app. You spend Sovereigns on Accelerators, which shorten construction, research, dockyard and defence timers. Accelerators cannot shorten fleet flight times. Sovereigns and Accelerators are the only things sold in Astrarchy.
• A licence, not property. When you buy Sovereigns you receive a limited, personal, non-transferable licence to use them in Astrarchy. Sovereigns and Accelerators have no cash value, cannot be exchanged for money or anything outside the game, and cannot be transferred between accounts.
• No expiry. Sovereigns and Accelerators do not expire while your account exists, including after your planets are removed for inactivity. An account is deleted only as section 2 describes.
• Payment and refunds. Purchases are made through the App Store and are subject to Apple's terms. Apple takes the payment and handles all refund requests under its own policies. We do not issue refunds. If Apple refunds a purchase of Sovereigns, we may remove the Sovereigns that purchase credited from your account.
• Errors. If Sovereigns or Accelerators are credited to your account by mistake, we may correct the balance.
• Suspended and banned accounts. A suspended account keeps its Sovereigns and Accelerators. A banned account forfeits them.
• When they are lost. Unspent Sovereigns and Accelerators are also lost when you delete your account or when a dormant account is deleted (section 2).
• If Astrarchy closes. See section 9. Unspent Sovereigns have no cash value and are not refunded by us.
• Applying an Accelerator is final. If an Accelerator is longer than the time left, the timer completes and the unused time is lost.

6. Fair play

You must not:

• cheat, or use bugs, exploits or errors to gain an advantage (report them to us instead);
• use scripts, bots, macros, modified clients or any automated means to play or to access our servers;
• reverse engineer, decompile or tamper with the app, except where the law allows it;
• attack, overload, probe or disrupt our servers or other players' use of Astrarchy, or get around rate limits, app verification or other security measures;
• sell, buy or trade accounts, game resources or Sovereigns for anything of value outside the game;
• harass, threaten or abuse other players, or use names to do so;
• break any law while using Astrarchy.

7. Enforcement and appeals

If we believe you have broken these terms, we may, with or without notice: warn you; rename your commander, planets or moons; correct resources gained unfairly; suspend your account; or ban it. A suspended or banned account cannot play, but you can still delete it. If a banned account is deleted, we keep a one-way hash of its email address and Apple identifiers so that it cannot be used to open a new account.

If you believe we suspended, banned or renamed you in error, write to app@knooty.com with your commander name and why you think the decision was wrong.

8. Our content

Astrarchy, its name, artwork, text, software and game content belong to us or our licensors. Under Apple's EULA and these terms, you may use the app on Apple devices you own or control, for your own entertainment.

9. Availability, changes and closure

Astrarchy is an online service. It needs an internet connection and may sometimes be unavailable, for maintenance or for reasons outside our control. We may change or stop Astrarchy, or any part of it.

If we decide to close Astrarchy, we will announce it at least 30 days before it closes, on our support page (astrarchy.knooty.com/support) and in Astrarchy's description on the App Store. Sales of Sovereigns stop when we announce the closure. Unspent Sovereigns have no cash value and are not refunded by us.

10. Disclaimers

Astrarchy is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent the law allows, we make no promises that it will be uninterrupted, error-free or free of loss of game progress, and we disclaim all implied warranties, including of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Some places do not allow these exclusions, so they may not all apply to you.

11. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for loss of game progress, virtual items, data or profits. Except where the law does not allow such a limit, our total liability to you for all claims about Astrarchy is limited to the amount you paid for Sovereigns in the 12 months before the claim. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, or your statutory rights as a consumer.

12. Applicable law

These terms are subject to applicable law.

13. Apple

Apple's EULA applies to your licence of the app. Apple is not a party to these terms, is not responsible for Astrarchy, its game service or its content, and has no obligation to provide support for it. Questions and complaints about Astrarchy go to us (section 16).

14. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. When we do, we post the new version on this page and update the "Last updated" date at the top. If you keep playing after a change, you accept the new terms. If you do not accept them, you can stop playing and delete your account.

15. General

If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. If we do not enforce a term, we have not waived it. You may not transfer these terms; we may transfer them to a successor of our business. These terms, Apple's EULA and our privacy policy are the whole agreement between you and us about Astrarchy.

16. Contact

Knooty: app@knooty.com.