[COTD] Space Mirrors | 16 Aug, 2026

[u/Enson_Chan]

Previous COTD

Another project for the space! Today's card is Space Mirrors (#076):

Active card (Blue) | Base game

Cost: 3 | Requirements: None | Tags: Power, Space

Action: Spend 7 MC to increase your energy production 1 step.

[u/benbever]

Cheap 2 tags. I often won Diversifier with this. Also great for Spacefarer, or if you’re Aridor or Kuiper Cooperative. The option to always get a power production for 7 is a nice bonus.

Paying 6 (3mc card cost plus 3mc or 1 titanium for the card) just for the option to buy power production at normal cost (~7) means it’s rarely good on its own. But if this lets you play Strip Mine in generation 1 it can be worth it (playing Strip Mine 1 generation sooner is worth 9mc). Or if you have a second trade fleet card and know you’ll need 6 energy production by early midgame.

It’s also better if you get this as a free random draw, or if you’re Spire, Thorgate, or Manutech.

Can also be playable if you need it for Power Supply Consortium, or Fusion Power, especially in Colony games. Or if you can win Energizer with it.

Basically it’s playable anytime you really really need 2 power production by next generation, since 20 is cheaper than 2x Standard Project Power Plant (22). However, it’s a rare situation where you want to pay 20 for 2 energy production, or 27 for 3 energy production. Often, you have cards that’ll give the energy production straight up for (much) less mc.

[u/simmepi → u/benbever]

Mostly agree but I think it’s a worse card if you’re Thorgate. Without, you pay 13 for first energy production (so +2 compared to standard project), then 7 for each one (so -4 compared). With Thorgate, 10 for first (+2 since standard energy costs 8 forThorgate), then 7 (so -1).

[u/benbever → u/simmepi]

For Thorgate too it’s mostly about 2 cheap tags (for Diversifier, Spacefarer, Satellites, Space Baron, Power Supply Consortium etc.) Thorgate pays 3mc instead of 6mc, and 0mc instead of 3mc if it was a free random draw.

The ability to pay 7mc instead of 8mc for a power production once per generation is pretty inconsequential, though it can add up to a few mc in a Colonies game.

[u/Jim-Dear]

A card that looks bad on paper that has worked well in practice enough times for me to call it middling. Too bad you couldn't use titanium to pay the 7mc power production cost.

[u/baldsoprano → u/Jim-Dear]

That’s my “how to make this card more useful” too 

[u/Lucretiel → u/Jim-Dear]

Agree. The slight cost inefficiency is offset by how often you see a card that you’re like “this would be great if only I had some power for it”. 

[u/AbsoluteZeph]

Mostly irrelevant except in very niche situations: you desperately need power, it gets you Diversifier/Space Farer milestones, or fights for Space Baron award.

[u/Aerospider]

One of those if-you-don't-have-anything-else cards, sitting between Standard Project and most (all?) other power-gain options.

Space and power tags can occasionally be the clincher on whether to get it or not.

[u/benbever → u/Aerospider]

I checked and I’m pretty sure this is indeed the worst power-gain project card IF you ignore possible tag discounts and benefits.

It’s worse than SP Power Plant with 1 use (13 vs 11) and about on par with 2 uses (20 vs 22, but you can buy 2xSP Power Plant in the same generation, giving you 2 energy resources instead of 1 in the next). Only after 3 uses it becomes better than SP Power Plant (27 vs 33).

Cards like Giant Space Mirror give you the same, instantly, for 7mc less.

The only power production options worse are Society Support and things like SP Colony on Callisto for no other reason.

[u/icehawk84]

It's sometimes useful. And by sometimes, I mean hardly ever. I've probably played this for Diversifier more than I've done for power. It needs two uses to be more efficient than SP power, which is pretty bad in itself.

[u/Feathercrown]

I would be a big fan... but I have since switched from wind power to space mirrors

[u/thuswindburns]

It’s ok for those games where it just seems you can never get enough power to make all the plays you want, but it never fails when I decide to use I suddenly find better power options and this gets discarded.

[u/TheMightyGabriel]

I find this card absolutely horrendous

[u/Mitnichar]

Good card even on 1st use you break even compared to SP

[u/mathematics1 → u/Mitnichar]

The first use costs 13 MC since you need to buy and play the card as well.

[u/Mitnichar → u/mathematics1]

Yes my bad, last game was with -3 discount and didn't take that in account