Board Game Arena

Just wondering what the stars (normally victory points/equivalent in other games) represents in SE4X. In a game I am playing, I have 5, another has 1, and the other two have 0. I'm unsure what causes you to get these, and if they count for ranking at the end of the game. Are they colonies burned/battles won? The victory conditions are standard multi-player (1st to kill homeworld wins) so I'm unsure how these are being generated.