Pilot Reference

The Three Loops

Port Kestrel has three ways to earn. You don't have to pick one — most pilots mix all three depending on what their current sector makes possible.

1. Port trading. Dock at a port, buy commodities cheap, sell them expensive at a different port. Prices vary across the galaxy. Every trade nudges that port's prices, so a route that worked once may need to rest before it works again.

2. The Galactic Commodities Exchange. An order book across four exchange hubs. Deposit cargo at a hub, list orders against the book, settle in Stardust. Different mechanic, different market — sometimes the Exchange pays more than ports do, sometimes less.

3. Harvesting. Mine asteroid fields with a Mining Laser; scan planet-bearing systems with a Scanner Array. Yields Raw Minerals and Bio Samples respectively, which trade on the Galactic Commodities Exchange (deposit at any hub).

Your starter grant of credits can be spent in-game on fuel, repairs, and upgrades, but cannot be cashed out. Only credits you earn through play — port trades and bounties — count toward the payout pipeline.

Turns & Fuel

You get 300 turns per day, refreshing at 00:00 UTC. Each warp between sectors costs 1 turn plus a small fuel charge. Combat rounds cost 1 turn each. Mining costs 1 turn + 1 fuel per pass. Scanning costs 1 turn (no fuel). When you're out of turns, come back tomorrow.

Refuel at any port with fuel service — shown on the port description when you dock. Cheapest fuel is usually at Fuel Ore exporter ports.

Ships Break

Pirates lurk in the lanes. If your ship takes enough damage and goes down, you keep your pilot but lose the hull, its cargo, and any upgrades bolted to it. Repair at ports with repair service to avoid the walk home. Warehouse holdings at exchange hubs and any open orders survive a ship loss — they're tied to your pilot, not your hull.

Permadeath mode is optional (set it in Settings). When enabled, a ship loss seals your pilot's chronicle permanently. Any Claim Pillars you deployed remain standing — your sectors stay named under your callsign in the registry forever.

Records

Three utility pages, accessible from the trade console at any port:

• Cargo Manifest — what you're carrying and what it cost. Useful for deciding when to cut losses versus wait for a better sell price.
• Trade Ledger — the history of every port trade you've made, with running profit/loss. Public by default; can be set private via the toggle on the page.
• Market Intel — prices at ports you've docked at, so you can plan routes. The more you explore, the better the data.

The Galaxy & Its Regions

Charted space spans roughly a thousand sectors across four named regions — quadrants the Federation has formally surveyed. Each has its own character, economic profile, and risks.

• The Core — the settled heart of charted space. Federation patrols are visible, prices are honest, and trade is competitive but predictable. Most pilots learn here.
• The Outer Rim — mining belts, refinery worlds, and the working-class spine of the galaxy. Cheap to buy from, produces what the Core consumes.
• The Deep Span — long, sparse transit zones between the inhabited regions. Outposts here pay premium for everything because nothing is close. The trader's sweet spot for selling.
• The Frontier — unmapped, lawless, and rich. Pirate transponders in half the sectors. Pays best, costs the most.

The first time you cross into a new region you'll see a brief regional briefing — every quadrant after that is silent. Travel between quadrants is only possible via gateway warps; standard lanes won't take you across a regional boundary.

Each region is economically distinct. The Outer Rim runs producer-heavy (good buys); the Deep Span and Frontier run consumer-heavy (good sells). Producer/Consumer chips on the trade console show you which side a port is on without doing the math yourself.

The Galactic Commodities Exchange

Eight exchange hubs are scattered across the four regions: Port Kestrel and Kestrel Central Exchange in the Core, Outer Rim Clearing House and Halix Junction in the Outer Rim, Deep Span Mercantile and Yarrow Station in the Deep Span, and Frontier Depot and The Cinder Anchorage in the Frontier. At any of them, you can deposit cargo into a hub warehouse and list buy or sell orders against the order book. Orders settle in Stardust at the price your counterparty matches.

Fees are 0.50% taker (you cross the spread) and 0.25% maker (you rest on the book). Listing an order costs 1 SD upfront. Cross-hub trades incur a 1.5% delivery fee paid by the buyer.

You can place and cancel orders from anywhere in the galaxy. Only physical cargo transfer (depositing or withdrawing units) requires you to be docked at the relevant hub. Sell orders have a 60-second rest period before they can be cancelled — anti-spoofing.

Markets have circuit breakers: a more-than-20% price move within an hour pauses trading for 15 minutes. Position limits also apply (default 100,000 units per pilot per market).

Claim Pillars

Every sector other than Port Kestrel itself can have a Claim Pillar deployed in it. A Pillar enters the sector into the Federation registry under your callsign, with a personalized inscription generated for the occasion. Pillars are permanent.

Cost varies by sector: a base of 500 credits, plus modifiers for ports, asteroid fields, planets, hazards, and remittance access. Rich sectors cost more; barren sectors cost less. You can deploy up to 20 Pillars per UTC day. Starter credits work for Pillars — you don't have to wait until you've earned enough to claim cheap sectors.

Pillars survive ship loss and pilot sealing. They're how you make a permanent mark on the galaxy.

Mining & Scanning

Two harvesting activities, gated by sector type and the right equipment in the Shipyard:

• Mining — sectors with asteroid fields. Requires a Mining Laser (Mk I or Mk II). Each pass yields Raw Minerals. Costs 1 turn + 1 fuel per pass. Cap of 20 passes per sector per pilot per day.
• Scanning — sectors with one or more planets. Requires a Scanner Array (Mk I or Mk II). Each pass yields Bio Samples. Costs 1 turn per pass (no fuel). Cap of 15 passes per sector per pilot per day. Sectors with 4+ planets give bonus yield.

Mk II equipment is more expensive but yields more units per pass. Take what you harvest to any Galactic Commodities Exchange hub to deposit and sell.

Sector Beacons

Every sector has a public message board. Pilots can leave short text beacons — route tips, warnings, observations — anchored to the sector they're in. Beacons cost 5 credits to post, max 240 characters, and expire after 7 days. You can remove your own beacons at any time.

Beacons are the simplest way to leave breadcrumbs for other pilots and a courteous way to repay the favor when someone else's beacon helps you.

Adjacent-Sector Scans

The bridge's Warp Lanes panel includes a Scan button next to each warp option. Scanning costs no turns, no fuel, and no credits — but you can scan each specific sector only once per UTC day. A scan reveals the destination's name, whether it has a port, hazard tags, safe-status, and planet count, without committing the warp.

Use scans when you're approaching unfamiliar territory and want to know what you're warping into. Quota resets at 00:00 UTC.

Planets

Most sectors host one or more planets, listed on the Current Sector panel. Each planet has a class (industrial, agricultural, mining, residential, oceanic, volcanic, gas giant, frozen, barren, or shrouded) and a brief flavor description.

Planets are descriptive — they color a sector's character but don't drive prices, can't be claimed, and don't produce goods directly. The economic shape of a sector comes from its port, not its planets. Where planets matter is making the regional character of the four quadrants visible at a glance: Core systems read as settled and lush; Outer Rim systems lean industrial and mined; the Deep Span and Frontier read empty and unforgiving.

The Shipyard

Dock at a port and visit the Shipyard (link in the port trade console) to install upgrades on your current hull. Hull plating adds HP; cargo holds add capacity; fuel tanks add range; weapon racks unlock extra weapon slots; mining and scanning equipment unlock the harvesting loops above. Higher tiers require lower tiers first.

Mods are bolted to your current ship. If that ship is destroyed, the mods go with it. Factor the risk into what you buy.

Cashing Out

Once you've earned some credits through play, head to a port with Remittance Exchange service to convert credits to Stardust. Then submit a withdrawal request on the same page — payouts settle in USDT via FaucetPay, which lets you withdraw on to any FaucetPay-supported chain.

US pilots: FaucetPay does not service US-based users. Your Stardust balance is always safe and will continue to accumulate; additional payout rails for US pilots are on the roadmap.

All withdrawal requests are reviewed by an admin before payout. First cashout requires at least 7 days of pilot history. Daily caps apply.