Navigation And Automation Guide

Navigation Workspace

Route Planner, Known Markets, And Trade Officer

NavCom has three modes inside one command station. Route Planner is the default manual workspace, Known Markets compares remembered port roles and route costs, and Trade Officer contains persistent automated logistics.

Map-First Route Planner

Select any known destination from Course Plot, saved or recent sectors, or the clickable chart, then compare Fastest, Efficient, and Safest paths before engaging.

Organic Known-Space Chart

Circular sectors settle into stable connected clusters over a starfield. Course scope focuses on the route; All Known shows every visited sector. Zoom from 50%-200% and read dashed wormholes and one-way arrows.

Course Plot

Known Sector sits at the top, with saved and recent sectors collapsed beneath it. The column shows destination intelligence, ordered stops, total costs, priorities, risk, and Engage Route.

Known Markets

Select a commodity to compare visited sellers and buyers by Efficient-route cycles, fuel, or sector. Choose a row to preload Route Planner without moving or trading.

Trade Officer

Create and monitor port circuits or planetary logistics dispatches, inspect installed hardware slots, and resolve route blockers. Your callsign, portrait palette, and voice personalize concise reports using only known market intelligence.

Direct Course Links

Market rows, known Evolving Opportunities, distant colonies, and active-mission Plot Course actions preload Route Planner directly.

Authoritative Operations

Trade Officer changes where automation is managed; routes still use the same server and worker rules, costs, risks, and supported endpoint combinations.

Read the chart as topology: positions show connected neighborhoods, not physical coordinates or travel cost. New discoveries can reflow the layout, but route selection and preference changes do not.

Sector Console

Local Route Deck

On larger screens, immediate adjacent movement belongs directly below the sector scan. This is different from NavCom: the route deck shows every lane leaving the current sector, while Route Planner handles longer paths through explored memory.

Complete ListEvery authoritative adjacent route appears in ascending sector order; high-connectivity sectors are never truncated to four cards.

Known DestinationVisited destinations can show remembered sector identity, port direction, planets, and other known intelligence.

Uncharted ExitUnknown destinations remain limited to information your captain has legitimately discovered.

Movement CostEach card shows its fuel-cell and cycle cost before travel.

Risk And WormholesKnown danger remains visible, and wormhole exits retain their special state and one-fuel, one-cycle movement rule.

Immediate TravelSelecting an enabled exit commits one movement command immediately on large screens and phones. There is no second confirmation; insufficient fuel or cycles disables the exit.

Course Plot

Route Priorities

Fastest

Minimizes cycles first, then fuel cells. Use it when time matters more than exposure.

Efficient

Minimizes fuel cells first, then cycles. Use it when fuel supply is tight or routes cross sparse markets.

Safest

Minimizes known route risk before cost. It considers explored hazards, outlaw/frontier exposure, wormholes, visible minefields, and known war pressure.

Memory Bound

NavCom uses only sectors and lanes already in your exploration memory. It does not reveal hidden sectors, unknown ports, or live ships before entry.

Persistent Travel

Assisted Routes

Engaging a route creates a server-owned assisted-route execution with a frozen known-sector path. The route console advances one authoritative hop at a time, survives browser refreshes, and can be cancelled explicitly.

Refresh RecoveryActive routes can resume after a browser refresh.

Outside MovementMoving outside the planned course interrupts the execution.

CompletionWhen the destination is reached, the route completes and the captain remains in that sector.

Preflight RiskThe route console keeps known risk visible while each hop still resolves live incidents on entry.

Route Risk

Travel Incidents

Manual and assisted movement share one ordered incident pipeline.

1. ValidateUniverse state, route edge, ship, and execution state are checked.

2. SpendCycles and fuel cells are consumed before route events resolve.

3. MinesBlockade mines roll first. Larger fields raise trigger chance; scanner and escape ratings reduce it.

4. HazardsEnvironmental checks are reported as a structured stage, ready for future balancing.

5. InterceptionOpposing-alignment NPCs can intercept and link directly into tactical briefing.

6. ReportThe structured travel report tells clients whether automation should continue or pause.

Living Traffic

NPC Operations

Assignments

NPCs now keep persistent goals, destinations, risk tolerance, home sectors, credits, and cargo state.

Roles

Rescue captains seek stranded ships; raiders and bounty hunters hunt eligible targets; patrols guard protected space; merchants, haulers, smugglers, and roaming captains follow role rules.

Movement

NPCs follow deterministic shortest paths with route restrictions by role. Sector presence and ship contacts show operation labels.

Player Risk

Opposing-alignment NPC interception remains chance-based and reduced by scanner and escape ratings.

Trade Hardware

Trade Officer: Trade Autopilot

Trade Autopilot routes are persistent port-to-port circuits managed in NavCom's Trade Officer mode. They require logistics-capable hardware and start only while docked at a known source port that sells the selected cargo.

Route Controls

Choose endpoints, cargo, quantity, priority, cadence, endpoint refueling, pause/resume state, and whether known danger is allowed.

Normal Costs

Automation consumes ordinary credits, cargo space, market stock, demand, fuel cells, cycles, and route risk.

Cadence

Each route advances only one action when its selected cadence is due: load, one sector hop, unload, or one return hop. The minimum cadence is five minutes, so a complete circuit takes several intervals.

Pause Conditions

Routes pause on incidents, captain deviation, depleted markets, insufficient credits/fuel/cycles/cargo, ownership changes, or other blockers.

Checking Progress

Trade Officer route cards show the current phase, leg, completed trips, active state, last status, and any blocking error. Refresh or reopen NavCom to retrieve worker progress; the current panel does not update itself while left open.

Stay On Course

Do not move the captain manually after commissioning a route. Leaving the expected source, destination, or route sector pauses automation for review.

Delivery Missions

A compatible Trade Autopilot route can advance an accepted Delivery mission. Its movement and trade actions consume the same mission cycle allowance as manual commands.

Prospect Barge

Planetary Logistics Core

Planetary Logistics Core is a separate Prospect Barge hardware slot for planet-to-port exports, port-to-planet supply, and planet-to-planet transfers.

AuthorizationPlanet endpoints must be personally owned or controlled by the captain's corporation.

Finite StoragePlanet stores and warehouse capacity are enforced. Full storage pauses the route.

Fuel Cargo RuleFuel cells can move as cargo only between planets. Port fuel remains reactor supply.

Same SectorSame-sector routes skip movement without inventing fuel or cycle costs.