How powerful should a civilisation become?
From a planet that hasn't yet mastered its own energy, to a hypothetical intelligence beyond spacetime itself — teams will build, defend and govern their way up the cosmic ladder, one mission at a time.
Opening · The Cosmic Starting Line
Where are we?
Seven civilisation cards. Seven levels of cosmic power. Before we explain any of them — take a guess. Which level do you think humanity is currently sitting at?
Game: Where Are We?
Facilitator note
Don't reveal the answer until every team has committed to a guess out loud or on the board. The surprise is part of the hook.
Orientation · The Kardashev Ladder
Meet Nikolai Kardashev's ladder
In 1964, astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev proposed a way to rank civilisations — not by culture or intelligence, but by the one thing every civilisation needs more of: energy.
The honest split
Kardashev himself only described Types I–III. Types IV–VI are extensions later thinkers added for fun and speculation — not established science. That split is exactly why this workshop works: it lets us tell the difference between science, extrapolation, and imagination as we climb.
Solid line, established science. Dashed line, speculation. Watch the ladder at the top of the page — it tracks exactly where you are, the same way.
Type 0 · The Survival Civilisation
🌍 Pre-Planetary
Humanity's starting point.
⚠️ Earth has just lost 80% of its energy infrastructure.
You have 100 Energy Points left to keep your civilisation alive. Spend them across the systems below — every point you don't spend on one thing is a point you're betting doesn't matter.
Game: Power Outage!
Can a civilisation survive if its energy systems collapse — and which systems turned out to matter most?
Type I · The Planetary Civilisation
🌎 Planetary
You control energy at the scale of an entire planet.
It's the year 2200 and you lead Earth. You have 100 Planet Credits to allocate across every system that keeps a planet-scale civilisation running.
Game: Planet Commander
Type II · The Stellar Civilisation
☀️ Stellar
Your civilisation has outgrown its planet.
To harness a whole star, most designs converge on a Dyson swarm — a vast cloud of collectors encircling your sun. Choose how you gather that energy, and where you send it.
Game: Build the Star Machine
Energy collection — choose one
Energy destination — choose up to two
Your star produces near-limitless energy. But your civilisation now has to maintain billions of machines. Power was never the hard part — upkeep is.
Type III · The Galactic Civilisation
🌌 Galactic
Billions of stars are now your playground.
First, decide how a galaxy-spanning civilisation makes decisions.
Game: Galactic Governance
Signal Delay Calculator
Drag to set the distance to your farthest colony.
Can you have one government when your citizens might wait tens of thousands of years for a reply?
Type IV · The Universal Civilisation (speculative)
🌠 Universal
You've conquered — or cooperated across — a galaxy. What's next?
A hypothetical Type IV civilisation could work with energy on the scale of the observable universe itself. Choose your civilisation's next great mission.
Game: Choose Your Universe
At this level, are you still a civilisation — or something completely different?
Type V · The Multiversal Civilisation (highly speculative)
🌀 Multiversal
We have no evidence other universes can be reached. But imagine.
Your civilisation has just discovered that this universe might not be the only one. Three possible universes appear on your instruments.
Game: The Multiverse Decision
Step 1 — pick a universe
Step 2 — pick your response
Should an advanced civilisation explore something simply because it can?
Type VI · The Transcendent Civilisation
♾️ Transcendent
Beyond conventional civilisation altogether.
⚠️ EXTREMELY SPECULATIVE — nothing here is an established prediction.
At this hypothetical level we've left the Kardashev scale's own logic behind. The real question becomes: could intelligence eventually transcend the limits that currently define a physical civilisation? Flip each card.
Thought experiments
Finale · The Ultimate Game
🌌 Build your civilisation
You've climbed the whole ladder. Now design one civilisation of your own — as small or as cosmic as you like — and give it one law it will never break.
Closing · The Final Cosmic Question
What should humanity become?
Not "how powerful can we become?" — but how powerful should we become, and how wisely should we use that power?
Final poll — what should be humanity's ultimate goal?