The objective of the game is to do one of two things:
- Win by being elected as the ruler of the galaxy.
- Win by destroying every trace of every other civilization.
Elections are run by giving civilizations votes in proportion to their number of living colonists. The two civilizations with the largest number of colonists are up for election starting when 2/3 of the galaxy has been colonized and subsequently at every year divisible by 25. The second election could be from 1 year to 24 years after the first, and all subsequent elections will be 25 years later. In the game, one turn is one year.
To become elected requires a 2/3 majority of all votes cast. Generally it is best to abstain voting as a player unless it will make you win the game. The only other time when it is good to vote is when you want to improve relations with a certain race who will not win the vote based on your votes (if they won, you would lose the game). The player always votes last.
Some individuals have invented other unofficial victory conditions such as colonizing half the planets in the galaxy or having one's own species account for 2/3 of the total galactic votes.
Generally, if you can do either of these things you can just win by the regular voting process so they are considered "higher level" than winning the regular election and lower level than straight destroying every other race completely.
Despite the game's name, conquering the Orion star system does not automatically win the game.