Core Manual

Core Play

Use this reference for the Command Deck, resources, trading loop, market opportunities, Stardock concourse, ships, Reconstruction, safe harbor, scoring periods, awards, Communications, universe selection, and progression. New captains should begin with the Getting Started manual.

First Run

Quick Start

  1. Create or sign into your account, then use Captain Registry to join or select a universe.
  2. Start at Earth and inspect Sector Console, exits, ships, cycles, fuel cells, cargo, shields, and credits.
  3. Open Captain's Orders: use Cadet Orientation as your first-flight checklist and daily directives for repeatable rewards.
  4. Move to a nearby port, buy what it sells, then sell that commodity at a port that buys it.
  5. Use Nav Computer to plot known routes and compare Fastest, Efficient, and Safest priorities.
  6. Return to Stardock for repairs, fuel, banking, equipment, upgrades, hulls, registry services, missions, and safe harbor.
  7. Check Communications after logging in; public activity, private alerts, conquests, bounties, and diplomacy can change while you are away.

Captain Registry

Universes And Scoring Periods

One Account, Many Universes

Your account credentials and avatar are global. Each universe has a separate captain name, ship, credits, XP, alignment, planets, mines, and corporation membership.

Joining Rules

Public universes can be joined directly. Private or invite-only universes require an access code, and locked universes reject new captains.

Living Expansion

When a captain first joins, the persistent universe can grow by 0-5 connected outer sectors. Rare route-less sectors remain reserved for future jump-drive discovery.

Maintenance

During a pause, read-only screens remain available while gameplay commands return a maintenance response. On resume, cycle, bank, market, planet, NPC, combat, and finite scoring-period clocks shift by the outage duration.

Banners

Information, warning, and critical banners announce release windows, outages, playtest resets, and other operational notices.

Persistent World

Ordinary scoring rollover does not reset ships, credits, cargo, planets, corporations, exploration, markets, mines, or territory.

Competition

Scoring Periods And Awards

Current PeriodFinite periods show a countdown; infinite periods have no scheduled end. Maintenance pauses freeze and extend finite deadlines.
Period XPCurrent standings rank XP earned since the period baseline. Lifetime XP remains intact and continues to determine captain titles.
Tracked ActivityPeriod records include trade, combat, missions, rescues, exploration, planet activity, wealth change, and alignment change.
Your SeasonCommunications summarizes your current overall position, period XP, trade, combat, mission, exploration, and planet counters.
History & AwardsCompleted periods preserve immutable player and corporation standings plus category winners.
Award CategoriesOverall, alignment, trade, combat, exploration, planets, missions, rescue, and corporations.
RolloverClosing a finite period assigns awards and starts the next scoring period without resetting the persistent universe.

Interface

Command Deck

Desktop Mission Control

A compact global header, captain rail, bounded sector scan, and right sensor rail keep status and local intelligence visible without crowding the workspace.

Sector Console

Context actions sit above the scan. Every adjacent route appears below it in ascending sector order with cost, risk, known intelligence, port, planet, and wormhole details.

Recommended Action

One gold action highlights the best immediate local opportunity: recovery, Stardock, a useful trade, or planet operations. Other valid actions remain available.

Nav Computer

Use the default Route Planner for courses and assisted travel; switch to Trade Officer to configure automation when your ship has suitable hardware.

Known Markets

Pick a commodity and compare visited sellers and buyers. Market memory only includes ports you have personally discovered.

Known Planets

Review owned planets, corporation-owned assets you can manage, and known unowned planet signals.

Communications

Read Galaxy Activity, Private Alerts, Evolving Opportunities, current standings, Your Season, and History & Awards alongside diplomacy, bounties, conquests, rescues, and corporation events.

Corporation

Manage membership, projects, memos, standings, assets, influence, ports, diplomacy, treasury, and shared operations.

Captain's Orders

On desktop, the right sensor rail shows daily Profit, Adventure, and Power directives above the permanent Cadet Orientation objectives. Claim each completed reward.

Return Report

After at least 15 minutes away, useful alerts, galaxy events, Trade Officer results, colony stores, and your active assignment are summarized before play resumes.

Phone Navigation

On phones, the current sector and essential ship status come first. Use fixed bottom navigation, tap an exit for its destination preview, and open commands as full-screen views.

Meters

Core Resources

CyclesMost commands consume cycles. They refill over time and are advanced correctly after maintenance pauses.
Fuel CellsMovement consumes fuel. Wormholes cost exactly 1 fuel and 1 cycle. Ship fuel capacity depends on hull.
Cargo HoldsCargo includes commodities, colonists, mines, and automation freight. Fuel is reactor supply except planet-to-planet logistics, where it can move as cargo.
CreditsSpend credits on fuel, repairs, upgrades, hulls, charters, bounties, ports, and construction.
Banked CreditsStardock banks protect stored credits and reconcile interest on economy ticks.
XP And AlignmentXP drives standings and titles. Alignment affects leaderboards, mission eligibility, bounties, NPC targeting, and Federation enforcement.

Economy

Ports And Trade

Sells And Buys

Sells are goods the port sells to you. Buys are goods the port buys from you. This direction matters for manual trading and automation.

Dynamic Markets

Buying reduces stock and raises price. Selling reduces demand and lowers price. Corporation ports also use finite source inventory and operating treasury.

Core Commodities

Alloy Ore, BioMatter, Fabricator Parts, and Fuel Cells are the main economy goods. Colonists and mines are cargo with special rules.

Known Markets

Use known-market planning after exploration. It can preload Nav Computer with the selected port.

Trade Feedback

Rows preview totals before confirmation. Results show quantity, transaction value, remaining credits, cargo and fuel context, executed and next price, plus eligible XP.

Living Market

Evolving Opportunities

Communications shows up to three priority demand surges selected from real shortages at ordinary non-fuel ports. Each dispatch window lasts six hours.

Known Location

If you have explored the sector, the opportunity shows its sector and port and offers Plot Course through Route Planner.

Unknown Location

An unexplored opportunity names the port but hides its sector number and disables course plotting, preserving your navigation memory.

Priority Premium

Sell the named commodity at the active port before expiration to receive the displayed 15% premium. The trade row and result identify the bonus.

Shared Conditions

The underlying port still has finite demand and dynamic pricing. Confirm current demand, route cost, and time remaining before committing cargo.

Service Hubs

Stardocks

Stardocks are typed service hubs. Earth-Moon Stardock is a Federation Citadel and Sector 84 Stardock is a Frontier Exchange; both currently preserve full-service gameplay. Future hubs can be ShadowDocks, Industrial Yards, Research Nexuses, Rescue Anchorages, or Mercenary Stations.

Concourse

Use Orbital Armory for drones and mines, DriveWorks Engineering for upgrades and automation hardware, and Shipyard for complete hulls. Banking and Government Office services remain separate destinations.

Mission Boards

Eligible Stardocks offer shared Survey, Delivery, Hunt, and Rescue work. You must be docked to accept, but can finish the location-specific steps without returning to the issuing Stardock.

Police And Tavern

Good and neutral captains can post lawful warrants at Police Station. Evil captains can post contracts in the Lost Trader's Tavern backroom.

Personal Bounties

Bounties are escrow funded, have a 1,000-credit minimum, do not expire, aggregate on wanted lists, and pay eligible PvP victors.

Safe Harbor

Secure Berth at capable Stardocks or eligible citadel planets protects a docked active ship from PvP. Active combat and the 15 minutes after hostile action block berthing; movement clears it.

Comeback Path

Federation Reconstruction

An eligible captain in an Escape Pod can request Reconstruction from a Stardock shipyard once every seven days.

LocationYou must be physically present at a Stardock that offers Shipyard service.
ReplacementThe package replaces the Escape Pod with a starter Courier Rig named Federation Recovery Rig.
SuppliesThe recovered ship receives starter condition and supplies, plus a 500-credit operating stipend.
ProtectionThe package applies 24 hours of Federation protection so the captain can rebuild.
CooldownEach captain can claim the package once every seven days. Ineligible captains still use the normal pod trade-in and ship-purchase path.

Hull Roles

Ships

Courier RigStarter generalist with 20 cargo holds and 50 fuel-cell capacity.
Pathfinder SkiffScout hull with low cargo capacity, efficient travel, and strong escape profile.
Bulk HaulerFreighter for trade loops and Trade Autopilot hardware.
Prospect BargeHeavy planet/resource hauler and the only hull for Planetary Logistics Core routes.
Sentinel CutterCombat-leaning anti-raider hull with limited holds.
Deep Range TraderExplorer-trader hybrid with good scanner range and automation support.
Ghost RunnerFast rogue runner with strong escape but no mine deployment or recovery.
Federation LanceLawful patrol interceptor with strong combat stats and limited cargo.

Standing

Progression

Lifetime ProgressLifetime XP determines captain titles and survives scoring-period rollover. Ship destruction costs 10% of current XP, capped at 1,000 XP.
Period StandingXP earned since the current period baseline determines seasonal placement, with activity counters and immutable completed-period history.
Corporation StandingCorporations receive period standings and awards while influence and planet count remain important territorial context.
WrecksDestroyed player ships can leave wrecks with 50% surviving assets. Victors get 10-minute exclusive salvage; wrecks decay after 24 hours.
RecoveryDestroyed captains continue in an Escape Pod. At a Stardock shipyard, eligible captains can claim weekly Federation Reconstruction; otherwise use normal pod trade-in and ship purchase.