Navigation and exploration
Surface systems span 192,000 × 108,000 Rz and wrap. Geography is regenerated from fixed seeds; live NPC traffic and encounters restart with the realm. Your Pilot Chart remembers explored coordinates in each system.
Factory sensors reach 12,000 Rz from your ship. Fitted sensors can change that range. Charted terrain remains known, but live ships, projectiles and loot require sensor coverage. Coordinate Frequency Jumps reveal only the arrival area. The public roster is a deliberate exception for pilot presence, not remote positions.
N or the strip below Sensors opens the Navigation System beside Sensors. Click or drag the heading dial and vertical throttle, or open the map and Astronav. Emergency Overdrive remains an equipment action. 000° points to the map’s top; bearings increase clockwise.
Frequency and groups
Anchor uses 1.xxxx THz, Vigil 2.xxxx, Ember 3.xxxx, Drift 4.xxxx, Chorus 5.xxxx and Null Reach 8.xxxx. Bands 6, 7 and 9 are unavailable. Travel through Astronav takes calibration and a signal transition, retuning the major band while preserving your suffix.
Matching major bands protect players and faction NPCs in the main world. Matching nonzero suffixes additionally protect human group members across bands. .0000 means ungrouped. Off-band visitors are tolerated until provoked; combat eligibility still applies even to a neutral-looking target.
Dock at the Forge’s Frequency tab to tune. Local chat is named for your current system and stays within that system; inside an instance, it reaches only that instance. Group chat follows the suffix across systems. Instances have their own team rules. Environment and instance enemies use reserved 0.0000 THz. Values are written with four decimals, such as 1.0000 THz; the full numeric scale runs through 9.9999 THz.
Mining, trade and contracts
Target an asteroid and press A for all fitted mining lasers, or use its mining controls for one available laser. The ship turns toward the rock; a newer navigation order takes priority. Green extraction beams flow from rock to ship, and confirmed cargo gains appear as small green popups.
Each laser completes a 20-second cycle at 2 capacitor/s. Its Extraction Power becomes work against ore resistance: Alloy 4, Iridium 7, Plutonium 24 and Depleted Uranium 12 work per unit. Unfinished work carries between cycles while the laser stays assigned. The starter laser has 16 power, so valuable ores yield fewer units instead of granting the same quantity at a much higher price. Range, obstruction, empty energy, cargo capacity or depletion stop extraction. Multiple lasers share the rock’s finite reserve. Trade resources or listed equipment at a Trading Outpost; Resource Depots offer one claimed hauling job at a time with a 30- or 60-minute real-time deadline.
Mining Depots also offer group or solo Escort contracts. Nonzero suffixes share admission; ungrouped pilots get solo lobbies. No joins after launch. Temporary ships, mission rewards and the return to your entry depot are separate from your main ship’s fittings. Easy supplies the starter Viper without its Mining Laser. Asteroids are collidable scenery, not mining targets. The convoy follows a varied route without waiting for you; focus attackers waiting ahead and watch for a rear attack. The freighter panel above System Feed shows shields, hull and acquired enemy locks. Its Upgrade button offers one choice whenever you want, without pausing the mission. Surviving teams recover downed teammates as the convoy passes the midpoint. Clearing attackers lets the convoy make slightly better time. Enemies use fitted weapons, ammunition, capacitor, locks and the shared movement rules. Medium and Hard increase pressure and pay more.
Combat and Frequency Rifts
Pulse Cannons spend capacitor and fire visible shots that can bounce. Railguns spend capacitor plus one cargo round for a fast, non-bouncing slug, with a brief fading trail. Missiles use their own guidance and cadence. Each hardpoint explicitly shows the families it accepts.
Frequency Rifts are contained 96,000 × 54,000 Rz hostile facilities with multiple Depths. Each floor starts uncharted; your fitted sensors reveal terrain and live contacts just as they do in a system. Exploration of that floor lasts while its exact instance survives. Groups share a run; ungrouped pilots get solo runs. Upgrade and prepare before entering: patrols and guard groups use fitted combat ships. Connected rooms and loops offer several routes, with a few tougher optional branches and relatively quiet arrival clearings. Double-click a portal to approach and enter; simply passing over it never transfers you. Defeating the deepest boss creates a clear exit near the kill. Unfinished runs remain in memory while the server runs; completed runs retire after everyone leaves. To abandon a run, open NAV and choose Escape Rift where Astronav normally appears. The 15-second countdown can be cancelled; you remain vulnerable until departure. A surviving ship and its cargo return to the parent system’s Forge. Escaping grants no completion reward.
Shields recover continuously when enabled and powered. Their bubble is also your collision boundary. Dropping or depleting shields exposes the hull; rearming waits for room. Safe docking fields prevent combat. A target’s red focus marker is selection, not permission to bypass protection. A fitted Targeting Jammer is a manual countermeasure: spend 15% of maximum capacitor to break a rolled number of incoming locks and briefly prevent new targeting. It does not erase missiles already in flight.
Anchor raiders and risky prey
While pilots occupy Anchor, a pirate alert names a public waypoint at least every five minutes. Two Scrap Raiders patrol its outskirts for up to twelve minutes; several groups can overlap. They harass local traffic and installations, and local defenders can fight back.
Stay on Anchor’s normal 1.0000 THz to assist legally. Raiders use 8.0000 THz, so ordinary Frequency protection still applies if you deliberately match them. Each defeated raider can leave 35–55 Burst plus a 35% chance of useful starter equipment. You must participate to earn drops from a fight finished by NPC defenders; expiry pays nothing. Recover the salvage before it disappears.
Qirk’s gamblers now fly worn civilian Wayfarers that a starter Viper can take on. Their purses vary, winners can carry more and losers may carry nothing. Equipment drops are possible. They are still Anchor civilians: attacking requires hostile tuning and can summon responders far stronger than a starter ship. Safe pirate assistance and civilian piracy are different choices.
Qirk’s Casino
Discover Qirk’s orbital station in Anchor, approach and press E to enter. Choose Tango Hold’em, Kilo Keno, Romeo Roulette or Sierra Derby; Comms remains available in each game.
Tango is ten-seat no-limit Hold’em with 10/20 Burst blinds and no rake. Buy in for 400–4,000 Burst (2,000 by default); NPCs yield seats between hands. You have 30 seconds to act, then check automatically if free or fold. Choose Fold, Call/Check or Raise before your turn to queue it; click again to cancel. A changed table bet, street or hand clears the choice instead of silently accepting a higher call. Cash-out and disconnection finish the current hand, including all-ins, before returning your remaining table stack.
Kilo draws 20 of 80 numbers for your own 3–10-pick ticket. Choose numbers yourself or use the 3–10 Quick Pick dropdown, choose a wager, then draw. The three arrow speeds draw normal balls every 0.5, 0.25 or 0.125 seconds. Hits pulse and pause longer, especially when they increase the return. Balls fall into a vertical chute with hits highlighted; the highlighted payout row stays tied to your last ticket until the next draw begins. Once accepted, your ticket is settled and its reveal plays locally; changing speed does not contact the server. Reconnecting restores the saved result. The selected Game King-style schedule returns about 91.6–92.7% over the long run, depending on picks.
Romeo uses the American 00 wheel. Choose chips and click a number, an outside bet or a border between adjacent numbers for a split. Zero splits have separate buttons. Maximum stakes are 1,000 Burst per inside position and 10,000 per outside position per round. Repeat restores your last settled layout; Undo and Clear work while betting is open. Recent results show resolved rounds, newest first.
Sierra Derby races eight named Frigates around an oval that expands during the race. Fresh fields feature clear favorites, longshots and more than10,000 possible names, with visible thrusters and a live running order. Choose a chip, then a ship to Win or a pair in the Top Two — Any Order matrix. Returns include the stake; shown multipliers are rounded for display. Betting is open for 80 seconds, closes for 10, and the race lasts about 90. The probability model targets 95% long-run return, with fractional Burst retained for future payouts. Limits are 1,000 Burst per selection and 10,000 per race. Undo, Repeat and Clear work while betting is open. Leaving refunds open bets; locked races finish and pay even if you disconnect.
Each wager and payout is saved with your Burst balance. The game menu preserves an active poker seat; Leave departs the Casino and requests cash-out after the hand. The Forge remains your source for ship services.
Ships, Hangars and persistence
Your Pilot, Burst, Vault, unlocked Hangar capacity and ship records persist. Your Vault starts at 200 CU, with paid 200 CU expansions up to 1,000 CU. Blueprints become permanently learned designs and occupy no cargo space. One free ownership slot includes the active ship. Additional slots open sequentially, from 100 Burst for slot 2 to 50,000 for slot 16; only the next unlock is shown.
Current ship, cargo and condition save while you play. Logout takes 10 seconds, or completes immediately when safely docked. New combat interrupts a normal countdown; restarting while in combat lets you leave, with your ship remaining vulnerable until 60 consecutive quiet seconds. A disconnected ship keeps its existing orders. Rejoin returns control of that same ship. Transfer to Hangar still requires an Orbital Forge. Normal ship destruction loses the active hull; eligible cargo and fittings can become plunder. Burst, Vault and stored ships survive. A free fitted starter is available when you own no active or stored ship.
Surface ships return at their saved location. A surviving exact Frequency Rift instance resumes at the same spot; otherwise the ship returns to its parent system’s Forge. Training and Escort protect the main ship. World loot, ongoing encounters and mission progress are server memory, not a permanent world save. This is a development alpha, so broader resets remain possible.
A readable cockpit
Nearby contacts come from your sensors. Current sensor cores provide two target slots and independent two-second acquisition. A rolled Targeting Oracle adds one to three slots (five maximum) and reduces lock time by 15–60%. Yellow cards count down until a red lock is ready; focus has its own highlight. The focused ship has a blue circular shield gauge and a separate hull bar in space. Other selected targets keep their defenses in the top cards. Selected cards show shield, hull and capacitor bars; a dashed bar means the value is unavailable. A can queue weapons or mining while a lock acquires; S cancels pending or active assignments. Waiting for lock spends no ammunition or operating capacitor. Click a numbered bullseye in Nearby to focus another queued target without losing its lock. Click the already-focused target’s bullseye to remove it; an empty badge adds a target, and removing an entry closes the numbering gap. Warm card backgrounds distinguish incoming tracking from armed weapons. The selected contact also has a red box on Sensors. Armed weapons wait for range; a confirmed kill moves them to a surviving queued target, preferring one ready and in range. An empty queue turns weapons off. Manual removal, sensor loss and jamming never trigger this handoff. Cards report assignments, while the nearby filter limits browsing by ship, object or ore category. Filter choices last until your next login.
The bottom instruments sit between your Pilot/Burst and Uplink/online readouts. Hover Uplink for ping and loss; brief fluctuations do not immediately change its color. Actual disconnections show a reconnect dialog. The top-left System Feed keeps 100 entries with a scrollbar, newest at the bottom. Anchor pirate alerts name the waypoint to visit. Empty action-rack space accepts normal world navigation.