Energy Emission Civilization Scale (A1-0)

The Energy Emission Civilization Scale (EECS) is a categorization system devised by the researchers of the Galactyan Empire to surpass the limits and shortcomings of the terran Kardashev Scale and all other similar scales that classify civilizations by the amount of energy they consume compared to the energy emitted by their local star, and the amount intercepted by their local planet. While theoretically useful this scale isn't so in practice, since many civilizations which do have energy budgets exceeding the entire available energy of a single planet seldom use that amount in a single location, but rather gather and use it across a number of worlds and habitats. Similarly, many civilizations that employ energies equal to or higher than the output of a single star can be distributed across dozens, hundreds or thousands of star systems, rather than employing the energies of a single stellar source.

This is why, after extensive observation of the known civilizations within Sector A1-0, the researchers devised the Energy Emission Civilization Scale, that classifies known and detected civilizations purely on their observed energy emissions, rather than comparing a civilization's energy usage to their local celestial objects.

The scale divides civilizations into four different categories: