The frontier and influence
The galaxy has three regions: the two syndicates' home clusters, which run from the start; the frontier, which sleeps until someone founds it; and the core in the middle. The frontier is won by founding outposts and by influence; the season is won by building gates.
Founding outposts
A dormant node on the frontier makes nothing and nobody holds it. A node can be founded when it borders a running station, or when its founding basket is already open.
- Select a dormant node; its station panel shows the founding basket.
- Press Set founding route and tap where the ship should load. The game sends a ship on a project route.
- A frontier basket wants 150 Rations. A core node also wants 25 Habitat Modules; a good of a later era does not count until its era begins.
Each unit delivered is paid at 120 % of its base price. The trailing syndicate's units count 25 % extra. When the basket is full, the syndicate that delivered the most value founds the outpost: a level 1 station with 40 influence, and its three biggest contributors become founders with a stake in its industry.
Influence and control
Every delivery adds influence for your syndicate in that system: 0.01 points per credit of delivered value. Each minute, influence spills to neighbouring systems, 2 % per station level, and 2 % decays. A home system always keeps at least 25 points.
A syndicate takes a system when it has 1.1 times the holder's influence and at least 10 points more. The station panel shows both syndicates' points and who controls the system.
An outpost that receives nothing for 6 game hours turns neutral. From 3 hours without a delivery it shows as starving. Home systems never lapse.
Gates
Each syndicate has three gate sites, mirrored with its rival's:
| Gate | From, to | Unlocks | Construction needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home | the capital to the outer home cluster | Era II | 3,000 Alloys, 3,000 Fuel |
| Frontier | the home edge to the deep frontier | Era III | 4,000 Alloys, 1,500 Machinery, 3,000 Fuel |
| Core approach | the deep frontier to a core hub | Era IV | 4,000 Alloys, 3,000 Machinery, 1,500 Drive Cores |
Only the syndicate's own companies supply a gate, by a project route from the gate panel. Each unit is paid at 136 % of its base price and earns prestige on top. Tariffs and tolls collected from rivals fill the syndicate treasury, which buys gate goods at base prices once a day.
An open gate is one jump of length 12. A rival pays three times its jump fee to pass. A built gate goes dark when its owner no longer holds one of its ends, and lights again once the end is back.
The season and its eras
A season lasts 28 days in four eras of 7 days: Extraction, Industry, Fabrication and Ascendancy. Eras advance on the clock; no player can hurry them. Each era releases new goods, gates and, from Era II, Heavy hulls.
Both syndicates are told when a core-approach gate is 50, 75 and 90 % built. The syndicate that finishes one first wins the season at once. Otherwise, after 28 days, standing decides: the levels of the systems a syndicate controls, plus 5 points for each Charter Board term it won. Equal standing is a draw. Once the season ends, the game accepts no more commands.