Glossary

Short definitions, alphabetical. Each entry links to the page that explains the mechanic properly.

A–C

Alignment. Which side you’re on: one score from −1,000 (Syndicate) to +1,000 (Federation), starting at zero. Sets prices at faction ports, docking rights at the capitals, and which faction hulls you may fly. Factions, Alignment & Standing.

Anchor price. The price a port archetype charges when its stock sits exactly at baseline. Stock deviation and trade pressure move the real price off it. Trading.

Archetype (port). A port’s fixed personality: which commodities it favors, which of the eleven services it runs. Stardock, Merchant Exchange, Federation Port, Trading Port, Fuel Depot, Agricultural Port, Tech Port, Mining Port, Research Port, Pirate Base, Black Market, Pirate Haven. Ports & Services.

Archetype (ship). Trading, War or Balanced: the hull’s balance of holds against combat stats. Combined with a line and a tier it names one of the 45 hulls. Ships.

Bank. Credits that cannot be looted, seized, or spent on most things. Deposit at a banking service. Turns, Credits & Basics.

Bounty claim. The redeemable ticket you earn by beating a captain who carries a faction bounty. Cash it at the issuing registry, in person. Bounties.

Capital. The Stardock (Federation) and the Pirate Haven (Syndicate). The only two docks with a bounty office; each arrests wanted captains at the door. Ports & Services.

Changed in. The release versions listed at the top of every guide page: the builds that altered the rules on that page.

Citadel. The planet structure that multiplies garrison cap, production and defense. Requires Factory and Shield Generator at level 3. Planets.

Cloak. A consumable that hides your ship for a fixed two hours. Breaks the moment you act. Seen through at StarNav 4. Scanners, Cloaks & Intel.

Contraband. Illicit Organics, Stolen Equipment and Black Tech: goods in a separate cargo namespace that only fences and premium sales can move. Smuggling & Contraband.

Corp bank. A corporation’s shared wallet, fed by held-port taxes and member deposits. Corporations & Fleets.

Cost basis. The weighted average you paid for the cargo in your holds. The game’s profit readouts are measured against it. Trading.

Customs scan. A patrol encounter’s search of your holds. Clean scans pay alignment; dirty ones seize the overflow above your hidden allowance. Smuggling & Contraband.

D–L

Defense contract. Purchased PvP immunity, two hours per contract, stacking. Covers NPC ambushes too. Combat.

Epic hull. One of six ships that are never sold, only granted by an epic goal ladder. Dies with the season. Ships.

Escape pod. What happens when your hull reaches zero: a respawn at Sector 0 or, with a starbase, a choice. Combat.

Events. Dated missions: dailies, season arcs, GM drops. No accept step; progress accrues from ordinary play. Missions, Goals & Streaks.

Fence. A blackmarket port that buys and sells contraband with no detection roll. Smuggling & Contraband.

Fleet. Corp members flying together; a fleet strike pools their power against one target. Corporations & Fleets.

Garrison. A planet’s fighters. Staffed with Security Personnel, grown by Barracks, capped by Citadel level. Planets.

Goals. Permanent Bronze / Silver / Gold ladders per category that run all season. Missions, Goals & Streaks.

Hidden holds. The fraction of your cargo volume a customs scan cannot see: 25% on pirate-line hulls, more with hidden-compartment signatures. Smuggling & Contraband.

Hull. Both the ship itself and its structural hit points beneath the shields. Shields spill to hull at ×1.5; zero hull is destruction. Combat.

Immunity (PvP). A window during which you cannot be attacked and cannot act aggressively either. Granted by being attacked, dying, or buying a defense contract. Combat.

Insignia. Earn-only season marks: a ship prefix, an epithet, a named sector. They burn with the season. Progression.

Landmark. One of three generated points of interest per galaxy, worth +100 XP on first visit. Navigation & Travel.

Level ladder. The season’s pinned level curve. Gates are described in this guide by depth (early, mid, late) because the numbers differ per season. Progression.

Limpet tracker. A device planted in a sector that latches silently onto the next foreign ship and reports its position for 48 hours. Ordnance, Limpets & Beacons.

Line. Neutral, Federation or Pirate: the faction flavor of a hull. Federation lines carry +10% shields; pirate lines carry +0.10 escape and hidden holds. Ships.

M–R

Merchant Guild. The third standing faction, replacing 1.x trader reputation. A ±10% price band at neutral ports. Factions, Alignment & Standing.

Prestige. Cross-season tiers earned from lifetime statistics. One of the few things that survives a season end. Seasons.

Pressure (trade). A per-unit multiplier that builds as a port is traded and decays while it idles. Trading.

Raid. An attack on a planet’s garrison for a cut of its storage and the owner’s wallet. Empty the garrison and you can capture it. Planets.

Region. Six distance bands from Sector 0: fed_core, fed_space, inner, middle, outer, outer_rim. Drives spawn rates, smuggling heat and production bonuses. The Galaxy & Territory.

Retinue. Mercenaries hired at a tavern on a 48-hour contract. They fight NPCs alongside you and desert if unpaid. NPCs & Encounters.

Role. A specialization tier earned by volume in one activity (Smuggler, Explorer, and so on), each with a small permanent bonus. Progression.

S–Z

Season. A freshly generated galaxy with a player cap and an end date; the container for everything you own. Seasons.

Sector 0. The Stardock’s sector, the safest place in the galaxy and where every escape pod lands by default. The Galaxy & Territory.

Siege. A corporation’s attack on a port’s garrison, three turns per attempt. Win and capture it, or raze it. Corporations & Fleets.

Standing. What a faction owes you: three separate scores (Federation, Syndicate, Merchant Guild) earned by service and decaying 1% a day. Factions, Alignment & Standing.

Starbase. The capstone planet structure: respawn priority, a private vault, a corp ship pool. 1.5M credits and every structure at level 5. Planets.

StarNav 2002. The passive scanner. Five levels; range caps at three hops and higher levels resolve more detail. Scanners, Cloaks & Intel.

Streak. Consecutive days with at least one turn spent. One missed day is forgiven. The count survives season boundaries. Missions, Goals & Streaks.

Territory. The axis the law cares about, separate from region: Federation territory (no PvP, no deployables), pirate territory (the outermost 8%), and unincorporated space between. The Galaxy & Territory.

Tesseract. The endgame drive: an instant jump to any visited sector for a flat 25 turns. Navigation & Travel.

Tick (world). The fixed four-hour infrastructure schedule: planet production, restock, upkeep, garrison regrowth, ordnance decay. Turns, Credits & Basics.

Trading post. A planet structure that sells stored production to visiting captains and accumulates credits in a robbable till. Planets.

Truce. A protection window after a claim or capture during which the planet or port cannot be attacked. Planets.

Turn. The unit of action. Moving, trading, fighting and deploying each cost one; you get a full allowance every cycle and nothing carries over. Turns, Credits & Basics.

Wallet. Credits on your ship: spendable anywhere, lootable in PvP, seizable at a capital. Turns, Credits & Basics.

Wanted. Carrying a faction warrant. Everyone can see the price, patrols shoot on sight, and the issuing capital arrests you at the dock. Bounties.

Warp drive. Turns hops into jumps: ceil(hops ÷ level) turns to any visited sector along an existing route. Navigation & Travel.

Wormhole. A link that skips distance. Stable transit bypasses mines and hazards; an unstable exit does not. Navigation & Travel.