Starports

Starports are the most advanced facilities in the galaxy. They are where you bank your credits, repair and upgrade your ship, buy new vessels, take on missions, hire crew, and stock up on equipment. Every starport has six places inside, each run by someone with a story and an agenda.

Finding Starports

Starports appear as points of interest on the Nav screen when you are in a sector that has one. There are two factions operating starports, and they are nothing alike in temperament, though they offer exactly the same services.

Federation Starports

Federation starports sit in the first five percent of sectors, deep in core space where the law has teeth and the facilities are maintained. The Federation runs these like corporate campuses. Everything is labeled, everything is audited, and the staff will answer your questions with a smile that does not quite reach their eyes.

Captains who operate in federation space rely on these ports for the stability they provide. Clean fuel, certified repairs, ships with documentation. Whether you find that reassuring or suffocating depends on what you are hauling.

Pirate Havens

Pirate havens sit in the outer rim and deep pirate territory, in sectors where nobody is checking credentials and the concept of a maintenance schedule is theoretical. These ports are run by people who found a need and filled it, no questions asked. The services are the same as any federation starport. The ambiance is considerably different.

If you are operating with a negative alignment score and a hold full of contraband, the haven is the only place that will let you dock without incident.

The Six Places

Every starport, federation or pirate, has six facilities. The names change. The services do not.

Banking

Federation Reserve Bank The Reserve Bank occupies the cleanest corner of every federation starport, which is saying something given how clean federation starports already are. Marble-effect panels, a queue system that actually works, and tellers who have never once dropped a credit. Your funds are safe here in a way that nowhere else in the galaxy can guarantee.

The Vault The Vault does not advertise. There is no sign out front, just a reinforced door and the understanding that you knock twice. The quartermaster sees the books and nobody else does. What goes in stays in, which is why it has been operating in the same location for eleven years without being raided. Your plunder is safe here because the people running the place have a vested interest in everyone believing that it is.

What banking does: Deposit credits to protect them from loss. Withdraw when you need them. Your bank balance is separate from the credits on your ship and significantly harder to take from you.

Shipyard

TriStar Shipyard and Maintenance Bay TriStar runs the largest certified shipyard network in federation space. The bays are clean, the diagnostic equipment is current, and the technicians are licensed. When a TriStar yard tells you your ship is repaired, it is repaired. Their warp drive installation team has a waiting list that would surprise you, which is why it pays to have a relationship with the scheduler.

Blackheart Shipbreakers Blackheart does not ask what happened to your ship and you do not need to explain. They have seen worse. The tools are salvaged, the techs are self-taught, and the repair bay smells like someone burned something they should not have. It works anyway. Modifications done here tend to be creative in ways that the federation would not certify, and creative in ways that captains in difficult situations find useful.

What the shipyard does:

• Rename your ship for 1,000 credits. A small luxury, but yours.
• Repair hull, shields, and torpedoes to full. Costs scale with damage.
• Install a warp drive for 50,000 credits. Required for warp travel.
• Upgrade your warp drive through five levels for 15,000 credits per level. Each upgrade improves range and efficiency.
• Upgrade weapons systems. Fighters and torpedoes both. Each upgrade adds capacity at an exponentially increasing cost.
• Upgrade cargo holds. More space for more goods. Exponential cost, high return if you are a trader.

Ship Sales

Nebula Ship Sales and Acquisitions Nebula has been in the ship business long enough that half the vessels currently running federation routes passed through one of their lots at some point. New ships, refurbished ships, trade-ins welcomed. The sales floor is organized by class with clear pricing and no pressure. They will buy your old ship without making you feel bad about what condition it is in, which is a small kindness that adds up over time.

Prize Vessels and Salvage The inventory here changes constantly and the provenance of any given vessel is best left unexamined. Ships come in from captures, from salvage, from deals that went sideways for someone else. They are cleaned up, the more obvious damage is addressed, and they are priced to move. Trade-ins are accepted and the transaction will not appear anywhere official. Some of the best ships in pirate space started here.

What ship sales does: Browse the full catalog of vessels available to your faction. Each ship shows its stats and XP requirement. Pay the price, trade in your old ship, and fly out in something better. Any cargo that does not fit in the new ship does not make the trip.

See the Ships Guide for full details on every vessel available.

Missions

Federation Contract Office The Contract Office handles official mission postings on behalf of federation interests. Trading runs that need a reliable captain, patrol requests, diplomatic deliveries. The work is legitimate, the rewards are posted upfront, and completing contracts builds your standing in federation space. The office manager posts new contracts on a regular cycle and the board is worth checking every time you dock.

The Bounty Board The Board is a corkboard, literally, near the entrance of every pirate haven. Jobs are posted on paper, payment is on completion, and the person who posted the job is not always someone you will ever meet. Raids, courier runs, and things described in sufficiently vague language that you can decide for yourself how you feel about them. The rewards tend to be better than federation contracts for the same reason the risk tends to be higher.

What missions do: Accept one active mission at a time. Complete the objective for credits and XP. Abandon a mission if it stops working for you at no penalty. See the Missions Guide for full details.

Recruitment

Vanguard Colonial Recruitment Vanguard runs the official personnel placement service for federation planetary operations. Workers are vetted, trained, and placed with a guarantee of basic competence. Fighters come with combat certifications. The prices reflect the overhead of running a legitimate operation, which is to say they are not cheap, which is also to say you know what you are getting.

Crimson Crew Recruitment The Crimson office does not vet anyone. Loyalty is optional and skills are demonstrated on arrival or not at all. What they have is availability. If you need fighters quickly or workers who will not ask questions about where they are deploying, the Crimson office will have someone for you by the time you finish your drink. Prices are competitive because the competition includes everyone who was looking for work when you walked in.

What recruitment does:

• Fighters cost 500 credits each. They go into combat on your behalf and on behalf of your planet garrison.
• Workers cost 300 credits each. Deploy them to planets to increase population and production output.

Tactical Supply

CoreStar Tactical Supply CoreStar sells certified deployable equipment for territorial operations. Navigation beacons and proximity mines, documented and tested. The staff can walk you through deployment procedures and troubleshoot equipment issues without charging extra for the conversation. Everything ships with documentation, which matters if you ever need to prove you purchased it legally.

Black Market Supply The back room at every pirate haven, accessible through the supply counter if you know the word, which everyone does because it is always the same word. Equipment here does not come with documentation, which is fine because nobody is asking for it. Beacons, mines, and occasionally things that are not on the federation approved list. Functional, unmarked, and priced for captains who are not planning to file reports.

What tactical supply does:

• Navigation Beacons cost 2,500 credits each. Deploy them in sectors to mark territory and aid navigation.
• Proximity Mines cost 5,000 credits each. Deploy them for area defense. See Beacons and Mines for full details.

Using Starports

Navigate to a sector with a starport and open the starport from the sector view. You will see the directory of all six places. Tap any place to open its full interface. Services take effect immediately and your stats update in real time.

Tips

• Bank excess credits before heading into dangerous territory. Credits in the bank cannot be taken from you.
• Repair at starports before long runs. Starport repair is full and reliable.
• Upgrade cargo holds early if you are trading. The return on investment is fast.
• Warp drive is required before you can warp. Install it as soon as you can afford the 50,000 credits.
• Check the mission board every time you dock. New contracts appear regularly and the XP adds up.
• Both factions offer identical services. The only thing that changes is the name on the door and the person behind it.