Comparison

Cosmic Forge vs Pilots

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Cosmic Forge

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Cosmic Forge is a deep offline idle game about turning a single iron vein into an interstellar mining empire. START SIMPLE Tap rocks. Upgrade your shaft. Automate with a baseline foreman. Watch a transporter shuttle ore from the mine to the refinery, then to the warehouse, where it sells for Coins. Every component — shaft, transporter, refinery, warehouse — has its own milestone multipliers every 10 levels, so progression keeps unlocking speed and capacity spikes. UNLOCK THE COSMOS Beyond Alpha Asteroid there are comet clusters, planets, moons, anomalies, and singularity zones. Each location type has its own production multipliers and warehouse sell rates — anomaly-grade minerals pay poorly per second but richly per sale. HIRE MANAGERS Common managers enable auto-mining; bonus managers stack passive multipliers and trigger powerful active abilities (instant trips, production boosts, free upgrades). Assign them per mine. Some managers survive prestige. RESEARCH TREE 50+ research nodes across multiple branches — economy, production, transport, offline efficiency, stock capacity, coin multipliers, prestige. Queue active research in parallel slots (expand via Galactic Research). Every tier you complete compounds. PRESTIGE FOREVER Perform a Stellar Reset when the cosmos is ready. Earn Stardust based on your total iron-equivalent across every resource. Spend Stardust on permanent upgrades that carry across runs. Eventually unlock Galactic Ascension — a meta-prestige layer with its own research tree and Dark Matter currency. DAILY CHALLENGES Three challenges per day with streak rewards at 7 and 14 days. Missed days reset the streak but the game doesn't punish absence. OFFLINE EARNINGS Step away for up to a week — Cosmic Forge continues mining at a tapered efficiency schedule and rolls a summary up on your return. Research that was in flight completes while you sleep. COMPLETELY OFFLINE No account required. No internet required. No ads. No in-app purchases. No subscriptions. No tracking. No analytics. No SDKs phoning home. GOD MODE (OPTIONAL) Want to test builds, skip a grind, or just play sandbox? God Mode is free for everyone — a one-tap toggle in Settings (behind a "this may corrupt your save" warning, because it really can). First public release — 0.19.0. Thanks for playing through 100+ pre-release builds with us.

About

Pilots

An aviation idle and incremental strategy game where you build an airfield from scratch. Research new technologies, design aircraft, and manage pilots to progress through different flight eras. Enjoy offline progress and dynamic weather without timers or ads.

Highlights
  • Idle and incremental strategy gameplay
  • Fleet and route design
  • Dynamic weather system
  • Pilot experience and ranks
  • Prestige reset for permanent upgrades
  • Offline progress simulation
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Build from a grass airstrip to interstellar flight, one horizon at a time. Pilots: Ascension is an aviation idle and incremental strategy game. It starts with a hand-cranked fuel drum and a wood-and-fabric machine that has no business leaving the ground. Your job is to get it into the sky anyway. You are the quartermaster of a tiny airfield. Crank fuel, recruit crew and coax the first aircraft into the air. Then build an industry: depots, mines, smelters and workshops. Assign aviators to the jobs that suit them and research your way up the altitude spine through seven eras: Dawn of Flight, the Propeller Age, the Jet Age, the Rocket Age, Orbit, the Interplanetary frontier and the Interstellar Age. IT KEEPS THE LOOP YOU KNOW Gather, build, assign, research, trade, prestige. Then it adds mechanics built around flight: • Adventure campaign: five flight programs tie era research to real flying. Aircraft must be capable of their route, so your fleet choices matter. • Grand Expeditions: three voyages and 16 story legs with changing routes, flight modes and supply needs. Earn Bronze, Silver and Gold honors that stay with every future career. No deadlines. • Flight Operations: seven stories and 21 mission stages across all seven eras. Choose relief service or scientific survey. • Flight modes: Standard, Economy, Express and Survey trade speed, fuel, risk and science output for each aircraft. • Route mastery: successful landings earn better payouts and lower risk on familiar routes. • Simulated weather: four in-game seasons plus changing conditions. Tailwinds, fog and thunderstorms can ground flights and shift production. • Pilot ranks: aviators climb from Rookie to Wingman to Veteran to Ace, multiplying their output. • New Horizon: take a Final Flight, bank Legacy, Ace Points and Renown, pick a Founding Charter and, if you want, a challenge for your next run. Your career log remembers your last 50 runs. A CALMER, CLEARER AIRFIELD A compact home screen puts one crank button beside your crew and fuel stats. Tap any resource to see what produces it, what stores it and what consumes it. Fleets group by aircraft, route and mode, with bulk controls for dispatch. CLASSIC AND ADVENTURE New careers begin in Adventure. Existing careers keep the original rules as Classic, and you can choose Adventure at a voluntary New Horizon. Offline progress for up to three days: your fleet keeps flying while you are away. Your save lives on your device. No timers nagging you. No ads. No in-app purchases. No account or login. Start with a windsock and an empty field.

Screenshots

Cosmic Forge4 screens
Pilots4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Cosmic Forge at Free against Pilots's $0.99. Pilots's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Cosmic Forge is free to download; Pilots costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cosmic Forge ships an update every 5 weeks, Pilots monthly. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Cosmic Forge versus Pilots: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCosmic ForgePilots
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating—5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—5 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Paid
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperQUALITY CAT SP Z O ODas Creative LLC

In-app purchases

None

Cosmic Forge

No in-app purchases

None

Pilots

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Cosmic Forge free?
Cosmic Forge is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pilots free?
Pilots costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Cosmic Forge or Pilots have ads?
Neither Cosmic Forge nor Pilots shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Cosmic Forge or Pilots?
Cosmic Forge ships an update every 5 weeks, and Pilots monthly. Most recently, Cosmic Forge was updated on October 25, 2026 and Pilots on October 25, 2026.

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