Formulas & Numbers · Big Bang Smugglers

Accurate as of v2.0.18 (August 2026).

Everything on this page is a current season default. Almost every number here is season configuration and can be retuned between seasons — or mid-season by the operators — without a client update. Where a rule is structural rather than tunable, it says so.

If a number here disagrees with what the game shows you, the game is right and this page is stale. Tell us.

Turns

Knob	Default
Turn cap	250
Cycle length	4 hours
Cycle boundaries	00:00, 04:00, 08:00, 12:00, 16:00, 20:00 UTC
Carryover	None, ever — doctrine, not a knob
Provision price	800 cr per turn
Provision ration	5 turns per cycle

Turn costs

Action	Turns
Move to a linked sector	1
Wormhole transit	1
Buy or sell cargo (one leg)	1
Buy or sell contraband	1
Engage in combat	1
Fleet strike	1
Trade with a trader NPC (per deal)	1
Rob a trader NPC	1
Deploy ordnance	1
Attack ordnance	1
Destroy a foreign beacon	1
Lay mines from a planet garrison	1
Active scan	1 per ring (radius 1–3)
Warp jump	`max(1, ceil(hops ÷ warpLevel))`
Tesseract jump	25, flat
Port siege attack	3
Capture or raze a port	1
Claim a planet	1
Build or upgrade a structure	1
Raid or capture a planet	1 each
Port repair	0
Landmark interaction	0
Banking, limpets, beacons, vault, planet storage, claim redemption	0

Warp Optimizer (−1) and the Explorer role (−1 to −3) stack, floor at 1 turn, and never apply to the Tesseract.

The market

Price model

deviation  = (baseline − stock) ÷ baseline                when stock ≤ baseline
           = −(stock − baseline) ÷ (max − baseline)       when stock > baseline
swung      = anchor × (1 + 0.28 × deviation)
pressure   = 1 + min(1.00, unitsTraded × 0.0001)
buy price  = floor(swung × pressure)
sell price = floor(swung ÷ pressure × 0.90)

Knob	Default
Max stock swing	±28%
Sell factor	0.90
Pressure per unit	0.0001
Pressure cap	×2.00
Pressure decay	1,000 units per idle tick
Port fee	1%, both directions
Restock per tick	`ceil(gap to baseline × rate)`

Restock rate: 1.00 at the Stardock and Merchant Exchange, 0.50 at the Pirate Haven, 0.15 everywhere else.

Structural: after every modifier and every rounding step, a port’s sell price is strictly below its buy price for the same player at the same market state. No configuration can invert it.

Anchors and pool depth

Anchor (cr/unit) / maximum stock. Asterisk = buy-only.

Archetype	Fuel	Organics	Equipment
Stardock	125 / 1M	150 / 1M	625 / 1M
Merchant Exchange	110 / 2M	130 / 2M	520 / 2M
Federation Port	150 / 50k	170 / 30k	750 / 40k
Trading Port	115 / 20k	135 / 15k	550 / 18k
Fuel Depot	90 / 80k	215 / 5k*	600 / 10k*
Agricultural Port	160 / 8k*	75 / 60k	850 / 5k*
Tech Port	135 / 5k*	155 / 8k*	375 / 50k
Mining Port	105 / 25k	240 / 2k*	550 / 15k
Research Port	145 / 8k*	185 / 3k*	350 / 30k
Pirate Base	100 / 15k	125 / 12k	500 / 25k
Black Market	80 / 3k	100 / 5k	300 / 15k
Pirate Haven	100 / 60k	125 / 50k	500 / 100k

Starting stock — which is also the baseline the price swings around — is 50% of maximum for commodities the port sells, 25% for buy-only rows.

Taxes

Archetype	Tax
Fuel Depot	1%
Stardock, Trading Port, Mining Port	2%
Tech Port	3%
Agricultural Port	4%
Federation Port	5% (7% for Pirate-aligned players)
Research Port	5%
Merchant Exchange	0.5%
Pirate Base, Black Market, Pirate Haven	0%

A corp-held port charges its members tax × 0.5 and everyone else tax + 1pp. Trader role tiers subtract up to 2pp, floored at 0.

buy total   = subtotal + floor(subtotal × tax) + floor(subtotal × fee)
sell payout = subtotal − floor(subtotal × tax) − floor(subtotal × fee)

Cargo volume

Commodity	Volume
Fuel	1
Organics	1
Equipment	2

Ships

Tier ladder

Tier	Cost	Ladder gate (fraction of the season ladder)	Shields (neutral/pirate)	Shields (Federation)
1	5,000	—	150	165
2	15,000	early (~8%)	225	250
3	40,000	~22%	350	385
4	100,000	~43%	525	580
5	250,000	~two-thirds	800	880

Tier gates are pinned per season as a level and the matching XP total on that season’s curve; the shipyard quotes both and they always agree.

Base stats by archetype (T1 → T5)

Archetype	Holds	Fighters	Torpedoes	Hull	Hull ×
Trading / Smuggling / Patrol	60, 90, 140, 210, 320	13, 20, 29, 42, 65	7, 10, 16, 23, 35	80, 120, 180, 272, 400	0.80
War / Raider / Enforcer	25, 35, 50, 75, 110	33, 49, 75, 114, 172	17, 26, 40, 61, 93	125, 187, 281, 425, 625	1.25
Balanced / Corsair / Dreadnought	40, 60, 90, 135, 200	23, 33, 49, 75, 114	12, 17, 26, 40, 61	100, 150, 225, 340, 500	1.00

Tier base hull before the multiplier: [100, 150, 225, 340, 500].

SS Starter: 20 holds, 15 shields, 40 hull, 0 fighters, 0 torpedoes, 0.30 escape.

Escape ratings

Line	Trading role	War role	Balanced role
Neutral	0.30	0.40 (0.30 at T5)	0.50
Federation	0.30	0.40 (0.30 at T5)	0.50
Pirate	0.40	0.50 (0.40 at T5)	0.60

Upgrade caps

Total purchasable gain as a fraction of base:

Archetype	Holds	Shields	Fighters	Torpedoes
Trading / Smuggling / Patrol	+100%	+50%	+100%	+100%
War / Raider / Enforcer	+50%	+50%	+200%	+200%
Balanced / Corsair / Dreadnought	+80%	+50%	+160%	+160%

Holds: gains 30 / 20 / 20 / 15 / 15% of the total at cost multipliers ×8 / 16 / 40 / 100 / 300 of the hull’s hold base cost. Combat stats: cumulative 25 / 45 / 60 / 70 / 80% of the shape at ×8 / 16 / 28 / 44 / 64.

Services

Service	Price
Trade-in	64% of purchase price
Rename	1,000 cr
Restock a fighter	75 cr
Restock a torpedo	150 cr
Repair a shield point	5 cr
Repair a hull point	8 cr
Repair minimum	200 cr
Limpet sweep	10,000 cr, charged even when clean

Repair covers shields and hull only. Shields regenerate free to exactly 50% of maximum at each world tick for any ship below 50%. Hull never regenerates.

Drives

Drive	Install	Upgrade	Gates
Warp	15,000	15,000 × level, to L5	Tier 2+ hull, an early ladder gate
StarNav 2002	100,000	100,000 × next level (L5 = 500k)	Per-level ladder gates, mid-early at L1 to ~two-thirds at L5
Tesseract	10,000,000	—	Tier 5 hull, the top gate of the ladder

Whether a season’s ladder reaches the Tesseract’s gate is that season’s tuning: 50-ladder seasons created before the migration cap out below it, and it never unlocks there. New seasons place it near the top of a 100-level ladder. The in-game unlock list is authoritative.

StarNav detail table

Level	1 hop	2 hops	3 hops
1	empty	—	—
2	empty	empty	—
3	POI	empty	empty
4	full	POI	empty
5	full	full	POI

Range is min(level, 3). Cloak reveal at effective StarNav 4; deployables report at StarNav 2.

Tech modules

All modules are level-gated (utility modules early, stealth/faction modules deeper — the shop shows your season’s numbers).

Module	Cost	Effect
Cargo Compressors	8,000	+20% of base holds
Shield Booster	10,000	+15% of base shields
Attack Systems	12,000	+10% attack
Armor Plating	12,000	+10% defense
Combat AI	15,000	+20% fighter effectiveness
Advanced Sensors	15,000	Halves a stealth first strike
Warp Optimizer	18,000	−1 warp turn
Stealth Plating	15,000	−30pp customs scan, +15pp escape, +12pp first strike
Patrol Transponder	20,000	Federation only — no patrol encounters
False Manifest	20,000	Pirate only — one failed scan/day rerolls

Combat

Constant	Value
Fighter attack / defense weight	2.0 / 1.0
Shield attack / defense weight	0 / 3.0
Torpedo attack / defense weight	5.0 / 0
Base power	hull tier × 100, halved into the sum
Drizzle	×0.98–1.02 per side
Win probability clamp	5% – 95%
Fighter skirmish swing	±30% on fighter share
Torpedo shield penetration	1% per torpedo, max 50%
Stealth first strike	+12pp (−6pp vs Advanced Sensors or sensor edge)
Hull spill multiplier	×1.5
Winner fighter attrition	40%
Winner shield attrition	25%
Torpedo consumption	20% + 50% × attrition
Loser minimum loss rate	50%
Defeat loss rate (sieges, ordnance)	75%
Shield damage reduction	up to 50%, scaling on shields ÷ (shields + 100)
PvP immunity — defender attacked (win or lose), attacker’s loss, any death	2 minutes
Defense contract	4,000 cr / 2 hours, stacking
XP tier multiplier	×0.95 to ×1.20
Faction combat bonus cap	+5%

Escape

chance = 0.25
       + 0.35 × escapeRating
       − 0.15 × attackerFighterShare
       + 0.05  Federation space
       + 0.05–0.08  Corsair retreat signature
       + 0.15  Stealth Plating
       + 0.10  asteroid field
clamped to [5%, 85%]

Region combat modifiers

Region	Effect
`fed_core`	Federation-aligned defenders +10%
`fed_space`	Federation-aligned defenders +5%
`middle`	Attackers +2%
`outer`	Attackers +5%
`outer_rim`	Pirate-aligned +10%

Loot on a PvP win

Winner’s alignment	Credits	Cargo
Federation (≥ +300)	20%	25%
Neutral	25%	30%
Pirate (≤ −300)	35%	40%

Credit cap by hull tier: 5,000 / 15,000 / 40,000 / 100,000 / 200,000. Wallet only — the bank is never looted.

Alignment from combat

Situation	Win	Loss
Attacked a Federation-aligned player	−8	−3
Attacked a neutral player	−2	−1
Fought a Pirate-aligned player	+6	+2
Attacked Federation forces (NPC)	−6	−2
Attacked a neutral trader (NPC)	−1	0
Fought pirate raiders (NPC)	+4	+1
Defended against a pirate and survived	+2 defender	—

Hazards

Hazard	Arrival chance	Damage	In combat
Asteroid field	20%	10–20	+10pp escape, −10% torpedo penetration
Radiation zone	100%	25	−10% shield defense
Minefield	40%	40–60	—
Ion storm	100%	—	−20% to every tech module bonus
Nebula	100%	—	−15% fighter effectiveness

Warp pass-through rolls at 25% of the arrival chance. Wormhole transit is exempt.

Ordnance and limpets

Item	Price	Volume	Sector cap	Your cap	Attack	Defense	Lifetime
Proximity Mine	250	2	100	50	8	0	2%/day decay
Sentry Drone	1,500	8	50	20	5	3	3%/day
Turret	3,000	15	20	8	12	2	3%/day
Sensor Buoy	800	3	10	5	0	1	1%/day
Cloak Field	5,000	10	1	2	0	0	48h
Limpet Tracker	4,000	—	—	10 live	—	—	48h once attached
Navigation Beacon	2,500	—	one per player per sector	—	—	—	—

Mines: 60% to fire per mine, at most 3 per entry, attack × 4–6 damage each. Ordnance attack: power ÷ (power + ordnancePower) ± 20%, clamped 5–95%. No-deploy in fed_core and fed_space.

Other items

Item	Price	Service
Goods Cloaking Device	750	blackmarket
Ship Cloaking Device	2,500	blackmarket
Security Personnel	100	recruitment
Mining Workers	300	recruitment

Per-purchase caps were dropped in v2.0.16 (they never limited anything); a 10,000-unit single-order ceiling remains as a typo guard, not a game rule.

Ship cloak duration: 2 hours, fixed from activation.

Mercenary retinues

Tier	PvE bonus	Hire fee	Wage per tick
Escort Wing	+4%	2,000	250
Veteran Wing	+8%	8,000	750
Elite Wing	+12%	25,000	2,000

One contract at a time; each tier behind its own ladder gate. Wages draw from the wallet each world tick — an uncovered wage deserts before charging. Desertion on PvE defeat; hard cap 12 ticks (48 h). Bonus applies at NPC-opponent sites only — never PvP, never sieges. Hiring: stardock = Federation Auxiliary; pirate bases and the Haven = Cutthroat Company; each line refuses the hostile ±300 bucket.

Trader NPC interactions

Knob	Default
Buy price	standard anchor × 1.35 (guild band applies)
Sell price	standard anchor × 0.65
Deals per trader per player	3
Manifest depth (T1/T2/T3 cap per commodity)	20 / 60 / 150
Contraband carry chance	0 core → 35% `outer_rim`, priced fence × 1.25
Named (merchant prince) multiplier	×5 manifest and loot, once per season
Rob yield chance	`clamp(winProb − 0.15, 0.05, 0.90)`
Rob cargo band (T1/T2/T3)	5–15 / 15–40 / 40–100 units of one commodity
Rob consequences	−10 alignment, +5 × tier Syndicate, −25 Guild
Rob heat regions	`fed_core`, `fed_space`, `inner` → Federation bounty counter (princes ×2)

Factions and standing

Knob	Default
Membership	±500
Elite content	±750
PvP classification / NPC aggression / docking	±300
Alignment bounds	±1,000
Member-tier standing	1,000
Standing decay	1% per day
Guild price band	−10% on buys, saturating at 1,000 standing
Alignment price band	−20% friendly buys / +50% hostile buys at ±1,000

The benefit curve

\|Alignment\|	Benefit
500	2%
600	3%
750	4%
900	5%

Used identically for the combat bonus, the own-faction service discount, and the standing card.

Rank ladders

Thresholds 0 / 1,000 / 2,500 / 5,000 / 10,000.

Faction	Ranks
Federation	Cadet, Lieutenant, Commander, Captain, Admiral
Syndicate	Crew, Quartermaster, First Mate, Captain, Pirate Lord
Merchant Guild	Peddler, Broker, Trader, Merchant, Magnate

Alignment tiers

Paragon ≥900 · Hero ≥750 · Champion ≥600 · Ally ≥500 · Law-Leaning >250 · True Neutral −250…250 · Chaos-Leaning <−250 · Rogue <−500 · Villain <−600 · Terror <−750 · Scourge ≤−900.

Standing movement

Deed	Standing
Kill an enemy-faction NPC	+15 × tier
Kill your own faction’s NPC	−15 × tier
Capture a port in enemy space	+100
Attack a faction’s port	−15
Honest trade leg	+1 Merchant Guild
Faction daily mission	+100
Elite faction arc	+400

Alignment movement outside combat

Deed	Alignment
Pass a customs scan clean	+2
Survive a pirate attacker	+2
Claim a planet in aligned territory	±250
Siege an underworld port	+10
Siege a neutral port	−10
Bribe a patrol	−2
Rob a trader NPC	−10 (plus +5 × tier Syndicate, −25 Guild standing)
Caught in a customs scan	−5
Contraband sale detected	−25
Siege a Federation-aligned port	−25
Daily missions	±5 to ±15
Faction missions	±25 daily, ±30 elite arc

Mission alignment rewards are capped at ±30 by validation.

Smuggling

Contraband	Rides on	Buy	Max/txn	Sell ×	Risk
Illicit Organics	organics	30	80	×2.0	low
Stolen Equipment	equipment	40	50	×2.0	medium
Black Tech	equipment	150	10	×3.5	high

Region	Premium	Sale detection
`fed_core`	×1.50	22%
`fed_space`	×1.40	18%
`inner`	×1.25	12%
`middle`	×1.15	8%
`outer`	×1.00	4%
`outer_rim`	×1.00	1%

Fence price: flat ×1.20 of the local sell price, no detection roll.

scan chance = 0.75 − 0.50 (goods cloak) − 0.30 (stealth plating)
                   − smuggler role (max 0.08)
floored at 0.05

Knob	Default
Scan cooldown	30 minutes
Seizure fine	10% of street value
Sale-detection fine	50% of the sale, min 500 cr, capped at wallet
Bribe	25% of street value, clamped 500–25,000
Pirate-line hidden holds	25%
Hidden compartments	+15% (T3), +25% (T4), +60% (epic)

Bounties

Knob	Default
Player-posted bounty	500 – 100,000 cr
Posting fee	+10%
Player bounty expiry	7 days
Faction bounty	`min(500 × tierMult × sqrt(kills), 500,000)`
Tier multipliers	×1, ×2, ×4, ×8, ×16
Faction bounty expiry	never

Planets

Knob	Default
Claim cost	150,000 cr
Claim level gate	~a fifth up the season ladder
Claim alignment gate	±100 in aligned territory
Claim alignment reward	±250
Claim truce	12 hours
Capture truce	24 hours
Starting population	50
Base population cap	500 (+250 / Habitat level)
Base storage cap	2,000 (+2,000 / Warehouse level)
Base garrison cap	500 (×2 per Citadel level)
Structure max level	5
Starbase	1,500,000 cr, a past-midpoint ladder gate, all structures at 5
Export rate	30 cr per unit
Minelaying (Barracks 1+)	6 garrison fighters + 150 cr per mine, max 20/order, 1 turn, level-gated
Trading post shelf price	anchor × 0.9, floored 2% above the best local port sell price

Structures

Structure	Base	Multiplier	Ladder gate
Warehouse	5,000	×1.8	—
Habitat	6,000	×1.8	—
Factory	7,500	×1.8	early
Shield Generator	10,000	×2.0	early
Barracks	7,500	×1.9	~a quarter up
Citadel	25,000	×2.0	~a third up + Factory 3 & Shield 3

Level n costs floor(base × multiplier^(n−1)).

Production per tick

output = floor(baseRate
              × (1 + 0.15 × factoryLevel)
              × (0.2 + 0.8 × population ÷ populationCap)
              × regionMultiplier
              × (1 + 0.10 × citadelLevel))

population growth = floor(10 × (1 + 0.10 × habitatLevel)) − floor(population × 1%)

Base rates: fuel 35, organics 25, equipment 13. Region multiplier 1.10 in outer, 1.05 in outer_rim, 1.00 elsewhere. Barracks add 4 garrison fighters per level per tick.

Raids

attackerPower = (fighters × 0.8 × combatAI + shields × 1.2 + torpedoes × 2.0)
                × (1 + siegeBonus)
defenderPower = max(10, garrison × 0.8 × (1 + structureDefense) + structuralDefense)
structureDefense  = (1 + 0.15 × shieldLvl) × (1 + 0.10 × citadelLvl) − 1
structuralDefense = 12 × shieldLvl + 25 × citadelLvl
winChance = attackerPower ÷ (attackerPower + defenderPower) ± 0.02

Outcome	Effect
Win	Garrison → 50%; loot 25% of each stored commodity (holds-capped) + 10% of wallet capped 5,000 cr; you lose `fighters × (1−winProb) × 30%` and `shields × (1−winProb) × 20%`
Loss	Garrison → 80%; all fighters lost; `max(shields, 75% of shields + hull)` damage

Capture requires the garrison at zero.

Port capture

Knob	Default
Siege cost	3 turns, behind the mid-ladder siege gate
Attack cooldown	1 hour
Post-capture truce	24 hours
Corp hold cap	`max(1, members ÷ 3)`
Garrison seed	`stockValue ÷ 100,000`, clamped 30–200
Garrison regrowth	10% of seed per tick
Tax skim to the corp	50% (the rest burns)
Member tax factor	×0.5
Occupation levy	+1pp
Upkeep per tick	`max(500, stockValue × 0.25%)`
Delinquency	reverts after 2 unpaid ticks
Win skim	0.1% of stock value, capped 2,000
Raze loot	10% of stock value, capped 25,000

Never capturable: Stardock, Federation Ports, Pirate Haven, Merchant Exchange.

Progression

level = floor(sqrt(XP ÷ divisor)) + 1        capped at the season's maxLevel
XP for level n = (n − 1)² × divisor

The curve is pinned per season. Pre-migration seasons run a 50-level ladder; every new season runs a 100-level ladder whose divisor is tuned to the season’s length, so each gate lands at the same fraction of the season regardless of pace. Catalog XP gates (ship tiers, drives) are re-derived on the season’s own curve, so level and XP requirements always agree.

Curve validation target: 4,500 XP/day over 12 weeks on the reference ladder.

Level gates, in ladder order

Depth (fraction of the ladder)	Unlocks
first rungs	bounty_post, blackmarket_buy
early (~8%)	ship tier 2, factory, shield, corp_create
~14%	contraband_sell
~18%	planet_claim, fleet_join
~22%	ship tier 3, barracks
~28%	port_siege, fleet_lead
~34%	citadel
~43%	ship tier 4
~51%	starbase_build
~70%	ship tier 5
~80%	tesseract

The in-game unlock list shows your season’s exact levels. Gates fail open: anything not listed is available at level 1.

Exploration XP

10 base, +25 port, +50 planet, +100 landmark, × the galaxy XP multiplier.

Roles

Role	Stat	T1–T5	Perk per tier	Cap
Trader	tradesCompleted	15 / 40 / 90 / 175 / 300	−0.4pp tax	−2pp
Smuggler	contrabandSold	25 / 75 / 180 / 350 / 600	−2pp scan	−8pp
Fighter	kills	4 / 12 / 30 / 60 / 110	+1% combat	+5%
Explorer	sectorsExplored	20 / 60 / 140 / 280 / 500	−1/−1/−2/−2/−3 warp turns	−3

Streaks

Day	Credits	XP	Turns
3	1,000	50	—
7	5,000	200	5
14	10,000	500	10
30	25,000	1,000	20

Grace: one missed day forgiven per streak.

Prestige tiers

Titles held	Tier
0 / 1 / 3 / 6 / 9 / 12 / 15	Drifter / Spacer / Voyager / Veteran / Ace / Legend / Mythic

Level ranks: Recruit 1, Cadet 3, Pilot 6, Ensign 10, Lieutenant 15, Commander 21, Captain 28, Fleet Commander 36, Admiral 45.

NPCs

Type	Base rate/move	Blocked in	Max/sector	Loot
Pirate	3.0%	Federation territory	3	500–2,000 cr
Trader	2.0%	—	2	100–500 cr
Patrol	1.5%	Pirate territory	2	none

Region	Pirate	Trader	Patrol
`fed_core`	0	0	×4.0
`fed_space`	0	×0.5	×2.5
`inner`	×0.5	×1.0	×1.5
`middle`	×1.0	×1.2	×1.0
`outer`	×1.5	×0.8	×0.5
`outer_rim`	×2.0	×0.5	0

Loot tier multipliers ×0.75 / ×1.00 / ×1.25 / ×1.50 / ×1.75.

Knob	Default
Transient despawn	2 hours
Wander chance per tick	20%
Named-NPC damage persistence	on
Named-NPC regeneration	25% of spawn strength per tick
Rumor frequency	75% (Saber Quill 25%)
Rumor location fuzz	within 2 hops
Pending encounter TTL	10 minutes
Warp interruption journey cap	30% total
Aggression threshold	±300

Encounter options

Option	Effect
Surrender to a pirate	30% of cargo units; empty holds ⇒ 10% of wallet capped 5,000
Jettison	25% of cargo, guaranteed escape
Jettison contraband	all contraband
Bribe a pirate	500 / 1,500 / 4,000 / 10,000 / 25,000 by tier; 65% base, +15pp if pirate-aligned
Bribe a patrol	60%, 2,000 cr fine on failure
Rob a trader	yield-or-resist — see the trader-interactions table above
Trade with a trader	anchor ×1.35 buy / ×0.65 sell, 3 deals — see above

Pirate ambush chance: 100% against Federation-aligned in pirate territory, 66% elsewhere; 66% / 33% against neutrals; never against pirate-aligned.

The world

Knob	Default
Sectors	500 (range 20 – 65,536)
Port density	15%
Planet density	10%
Hazard density	6%
Landmarks	3, each with a shared 50,000 cr budget, 24h per-player cooldown
Named NPCs	12 (5 pirate, 5 Federation, 2 merchant princes)
Pirate band	outermost 8% of sectors, contiguous
Diagonal link fraction	20%, of which 10% are one-way
Federation highways	`max(2, sectors ÷ 500)`
One-way smuggling routes	`max(2, sectors ÷ 1,000)`
Wormholes	2 core–rim bridges + 3 random, 30% unstable
Unstable scatter chance	20%

Region bands by distance from Sector 0 as a fraction of map radius: fed_core <0.08 · fed_space <0.20 · inner <0.40 · middle <0.65 · outer <0.85 · outer_rim beyond.

Corporations

Knob	Default
Founding cost	50,000 cr (wallet, then bank)
Level gate	early ladder
Member cap	`max(10, seasonPlayerCap ÷ 5)`
Name length	3–50
Bank transaction bounds	1 – 10,000,000
Fleet cap	3 ships
Fleet form / join	mid-ladder gate to lead / an earlier gate to join
Chat message limit	500 characters
Chat cooldown	3s per player, 30/min per corp
Chat retention	500 messages or 14 days, whichever is longer

Policy defaults: storage.view on, storage.deposit on, storage.withdraw off, defenses.view on, defenses.place on, defenses.clear off, planet.build off, bank.spend off.

Social

Knob	Default
Player announcement fee	1,000 cr (pure sink; wallet then bank)
Announcements per cycle	1
Announcement length	3–280 characters, profanity-gated, level-gated
Captain rename cooldown	24 hours
Rename feed story	public, on