Syndicates and alliances

Two syndicates hold the galaxy, Zarya and Meridian. They share the rules, a mirrored map and nothing else: each has its own voice. Within a syndicate, companies join alliances and compete in the rankings.

Two syndicates

You pick your syndicate when you sign the contract, for the whole season. Zarya speaks with the voice of a brigade from Ostrava and Těšín; Meridian in the cool language of contracts. Rules, prices and gates are the same for both, and the map is mirrored.

The syndicate with fewer members offers new companies a 2,000 cr signing advance on top. In your own territory you pay no tariff; in the rival's, 10 % of the revenue. Tariffs and tolls from rivals go to the syndicate treasury, which builds gates with them.

Who wins a season is on The frontier and influence.

Alliances

The Alliance panel in the top bar shows your alliance, or the alliances of your syndicate you can join.

• An alliance gathers companies of one syndicate, at most 20.
• The name has 3–32 characters, the tag 2–5 capital letters or digits; both must be unique.
• Create an alliance opens a dialog for the name and the tag. The founder leads it.
• When the leader leaves, the longest-standing member takes over. When the last member leaves, the alliance dissolves.
• The member view shows the alliance's total prestige and its members.

Joining an alliance is one of the induction steps.

The syndicate channel

Alliance members of one syndicate share its channel (Zarya's Commons channel, Meridian's Trading floor), which opens as a drawer beside the map. Without an alliance you cannot write in it. A line has at most 280 characters, and the channel slows down anyone who writes too fast.

Memos

The Memos panel collects your company's notices, newest first, the last 50. Tapping a memo about a system focuses the camera on it. Opening the panel marks them all read; otherwise its button shows the unread count.

Rankings

The Ranks panel has three tabs:

• Companies: the top 20 by net worth, the first three on a podium; each row also shows prestige, the rank change since the last day mark and any title. A company in debt comes after every other one.
• Alliances: by the members' summed prestige.
• Hall: finished seasons and their podiums.

Prestige comes from: 1 point per 100 cr of trade profit, 1 point per 10 units delivered to a growth basket, 2 points per 100 cr delivered to a founding or a gate, plus tenders and titles (The Charter Board and tenders).