Getting Started
Welcome to Big Bang Smugglers. This guide covers everything you need to get through your first session and start earning.
Download & Sign In
- Download Big Bang Smugglers from Google Play
- Sign in with your Google account
- You’ll land on the main screen with no faction to choose and no character to build
You start as a Neutral captain. Faction alignment shifts naturally through play. Trade in Federation space and run Federation missions and you’ll trend toward Federation. Smuggle contraband and fight in pirate territory and you’ll trend toward Pirate.
Join a Season
Big Bang Smugglers is played in seasons. Each season is a time-limited galaxy that all players compete in together. When you first open the app, you’ll see a list of available seasons.
Tap Join on any active season to enter its galaxy. Once you join, you’ll start with:
- 5,000 credits in your wallet
- 250 turns for the day (resets daily at midnight UTC)
- A Frontier Scout starter ship in Sector 0 (Federation Core)
Your Starter Ship
The Frontier Scout is a light exploration vessel. It can trade but it is not built for combat.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Cargo holds | 20 |
| Shields | 15 |
| Fighters | 0 |
| Torpedoes | 0 |
| Escape chance | 30% |
Your first goal is to earn enough to upgrade it or buy a better ship at a Starport.
The Nav Screen
After joining, you land in Sector 0 in Federation Core, the safest part of the galaxy. The Nav screen is where you spend most of your time.
From Nav you can see your current sector and neighboring sectors, view points of interest like ports and planets, move to adjacent sectors, and use your warp drive to jump directly to previously visited sectors.
Each sector move costs 1 turn. Tap a neighboring sector to go there.
Make Your First Trade
Find a port. From the Nav screen, tap any Port icon in your current sector or a nearby sector and open the Trade option.
Buy low. Check what the port is selling. There are three commodities:
- 🛢️ Fuel (1 hold per unit, cheapest)
- 🌾 Organics (1 hold per unit, moderate price)
- ⚙️ Equipment (2 holds per unit, most expensive)
Fill your 20 holds with whatever has the best buy price. With 5,000 cr you can load up on organics or fuel without going broke.
Sell high. Move to a different port type. Specialty ports pay well for commodities they need. An Agricultural port sells organics cheap but pays more for fuel. A Fuel Depot works the opposite way. Find the mismatch and sell for more than you paid.
Each round trip earns profit. As your credits grow you can upgrade your cargo holds and carry more per run.
Turns
You get 250 turns per day, resetting at midnight UTC.
- Moving one sector costs 1 turn
- Warping (once you have a warp drive) costs turns based on distance
- Combat costs 1 turn for the attacker
- Most port actions are free
When you run out of turns you can still trade and use ports. You just cannot move or fight until tomorrow’s reset.
What to Do First
- Explore nearby sectors. Move outward from Sector 0. You need to visit a sector before you can warp to it.
- Find a trade route. Try a few ports, compare buy and sell prices, and pick the best spread.
- Build up credits. Run that route until you can afford a ship upgrade or a better ship at a Starport.
- Find a Starport. Federation Starports have banking, ship sales, missions, tech upgrades, and more.
Next Steps
- Trading & Economy covers how pricing works and how to maximize profit per run
- Galaxy & Territory explains what each sector type means
- Starports covers all available port services
- Tech Upgrades covers permanent ship improvements