Factions on Big Bang Smugglers

The Galaxy & Territory

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

How a galaxy is built

Every season generates a brand-new galaxy from a seed, in seven deterministic passes: topology, ports, planets, hazards, wormholes, named NPCs, landmarks. Nothing is hand-placed and nothing repeats between seasons.

Sector count is free-form per season — the default is 500, the admissible range is 20 to 65,536. The old game’s four fixed sizes are gone.

Default densities: 15% of sectors have a port, 10% a planet, 6% a hazard. Three landmarks and twelve named NPCs per galaxy — five pirates, five Federation officers, and two merchant princes.

Factions, Alignment & Standing

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

There are two numbers, they are not the same thing, and confusing them will cost you money.

Alignment is which side you’re on. One score, ranging from −1,000 (Syndicate) to +1,000 (Federation), zero at the start.

Standing is what a side owes you. Three separate scores — Federation, Syndicate and Merchant Guild — earned by service and decaying 1% every day.

You can be a Federation Admiral by standing and a Scourge by alignment. They move independently.

v2.3.0 — You Asked, We Built It

Tue, 22 Sep 2026 20:00:00 +0000

Most of this release came straight from the Discord. Thank you to everyone who reported, tested and argued about it.

Planets

Auto-collect. Each production cycle’s output now goes straight into your planet’s storage, up to its cap. No more flying around every cycle to press Collect. If a planet’s storage fills up, the planet screen and your “while you were away” summary tell you so.
Planet XP. Building structures now earns experience. The amount scales with the structure and the level you reach: a level-1 warehouse pays 60 XP, and a level-5 citadel pays 900. Colonizing pays 1 XP per worker.
Fixed: missions that asked you to upgrade a planet could never complete.
Fixed: leaving a season now releases your planets for others to claim.
Fixed: collecting right after a cycle boundary could skip a cycle’s production.

Mines

Each captain can now deploy up to 500 mines across the galaxy, up from 50.
Sectors where you own a planet allow 50 extra.

Smuggling rebalance

Market-priced contraband. Black Market prices now follow the local market instead of a flat rate. Selling back to the same fence earns a modest, safe profit. The big money is still in lawful space, at real risk.
100 per purchase. You can buy up to 100 units of any contraband type in one purchase.
Hidden compartments stay hidden. When a patrol catches you over your hidden allowance, it now takes only the overflow. The fine is based on what that cargo cost you.
NPC traders now charge more than a Black Market for contraband, never less.

Alignment

Jettison workers is live. Dump mining workers from your hold for −10 alignment each. It’s the fast road toward the pirate side.

Combat

Defenders loot. Beat someone who attacked you and you take a cut of their wallet. Banked credits stay safe.
Bounties pay both ways. If a wanted captain attacks you and loses, you collect their bounty.
No self-sieges. Corps can’t siege their own ports.
No sieges under immunity. Captains under immunity can’t siege ports or plant limpets.
Cloaks break when you act. Sieges, raids, Black Market deals, banking and ship purchases now drop your cloak.
Fixed: equipped hull plating was increasing hull damage instead of reducing it.
Fixed: mines could hit your replacement ship right after a fatal ambush.

Warps charge their full cost up front. If you’re stopped partway, the turns for the hops you didn’t fly come back.
Fixed: warp interrupts with no contact.
Fixed: arriving hidden after a wormhole jump while landed on a planet.
Warp exploration now counts toward missions and goals.

Fixes you reported

Corp bank. Deposits and withdrawals now show up instantly for the whole crew.
Tavern intel. Results no longer run off the screen.
Buying a ship. Hulls with bonus cargo space no longer destroy cargo that would have fit.
Prices you’re shown now match what you’re charged, including StarNav and drive faction discounts, trade fees, and the port price board.
Screens now show real numbers. Wormhole destinations are real, ambush recaps no longer invent “50% even odds”, and planet production rates are correct.
Corps. Rosters update live, and you no longer appear offline while connected.

Under the hood

Security hardening around docking and port services.
Console improvements: bulk bans, and version updates from the Broadcast desk.
Cleanup: idle, never-played seats now free themselves.
Many smaller consistency and race-condition fixes.

v2.0.9 — Retinues and Trader Encounters

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Changelog for v2.0.9.

Tavern retinues

Taverns at stardocks and pirate havens hire retinues on contract. Three tiers, each raising your combat power against NPCs.
Wages are drawn from your wallet every cycle. Miss a payment or lose a fight and the retinue deserts. Contracts run 48 hours maximum.
Federation Auxiliary and Cutthroat Company are available at opposite ends of the standing range.
Retinues apply against NPCs only. Player-versus-player combat and planet sieges are unaffected.

NPC trader encounters

Merchant ships encountered in space can be traded with: three deals each, priced against the live market anchors.
Traders deeper toward the rim may carry contraband, available above level 3.
Traders can also be robbed. Yield chance is derived from the same combat model as a real fight; resistance means a real fight.
Robbery costs alignment and guild standing, raises pirate standing, and in lawful space accumulates Federation heat until patrols engage on sight.
Two named merchant princes added to the galaxy roster.

Planetary minelaying

Planet owners with barracks can convert garrison fighters into mines in the planet’s own sector.
The mines are ordinary mines: they trigger on entry, decay, spare corp-mates, and can be destroyed.
Conversion is one-way, and the fighters spent are no longer available for siege defense.

Corp banners

Corporations can carry a Federation, Independent or Pirate banner, with membership tolerance, leader-set changes, and port-holding restricted by faction.
Disabled this season; enables at a season boundary.

Fixes

The Tesseract drive required level 100 while the season maximum is 50, making it unobtainable. It now requires level 40, matching its progression gate.
Internal: migration ordering guard.

Android: version 2.0.9 is live on Google Play. Web players are already on it.

v2.0.8 — Standing Restored

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Changelog for v2.0.8.

Standing

Clean customs scans now award standing, with an on-screen confirmation.
Daily, seasonal and ad-hoc missions carry standing rewards (lawful positive, underworld negative).
Surviving a pirate ambush awards defensive standing.
Warp arrivals surface patrol inspections; previously the contact expired unused.

World tick

The four-hour cycle ran twice per boundary. Port upkeep, delinquency accrual and market restock were applied twice each cycle; now applied once. The backup trigger remains in place.

Trading and ships

Cargo could not be sold while carrying contraband of the same commodity.
Ship capacity upgrades (holds, shields, fighters, torpedoes) were unreachable from the starport.
Hull repair was unavailable when shields were full; repair results now report actual restoration.
Ship rename reported failure on success.
Restock, rename and upgrade prices now come from the server catalog.
Repairs no longer refill fighters and torpedoes; munitions come from restock.

Planets and stations

Planet ownership checks failed for all owners; owner-only features were unreachable.
Garrison staffing, starbase construction and trading posts were not connected to the current backend.
Trading post income was accruing with no way to collect it.
Planet rename and corp-internal deed transfer added.

Combat

Defense contracts no longer permit attacking while protected.
A lost fleet strike no longer overwrites a purchased contract.
Fleet kills apply the same alignment, statistics and immunity consequences as solo kills.
Respawn protection applies after every death.
Named NPCs retain damage between engagements and regenerate over time.
Losing an engagement no longer awards experience.

Progression

Player level is derived from the season curve at every write path.
Mission completions count toward the missions leaderboard.
Event progress accrues without opening the Events screen.
Maximum-tier scanners reported empty sectors.
Starting sector is marked visited on join.
Provisions charge only for turns delivered; cloaks last a fixed duration.

Other

Economy pricing corrections.
Security hardening across the API and live connections.
Leaderboards no longer expose exact player balances.

Migrations: galaxy tick boundary claims, ban revocation notifications.

v1.14.4 -- Combat, Intel, and Sector Stability

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 22:01:00 -0400

v1.14.4 is a bugfix release focused on keeping moment-to-moment sector play cleaner and more predictable.

This update fixes sector traffic clustering, duplicate pirate encounters after wins, overlapping combat result screens, broken Sector Intelligence reveals, missing Federation reputation gains, stat cap mismatches in the shipyard, and missing player and ship detail in sector presence displays.

Sector Traffic Cleanup

Federation patrol ships now distribute correctly instead of crowding into a single sector.

v1.13.0 — Progression, Combat, and QoL

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 17:15:00 -0400

v1.13.0 is a quality-of-life release focused on progression clarity, cleaner combat feedback, and fewer frustrating edge cases in trading, movement, and corporation flows.

Cargo Hold Milestones

Cargo hold upgrades now use a clearer five-tier milestone system.

This makes ship progression easier to understand at a glance and gives hold growth a more structured sense of advancement instead of feeling like a flat list of incremental purchases.

Trading, Wallet, and Upgrade Accuracy

Several economy and upgrade edge cases were cleaned up in this release.

v1.11.1 — Alpha Season Complete

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:00:00 -0400

Big Bang Smugglers v1.11.1 closes out the first alpha season and hands the ship over to beta. Here is what changed.

Season End Recap

When a season ends, you now see a full recap before returning to the lobby. The recap screen shows your final stats — credits, XP, kills, missions completed, planets owned, sectors explored, streak, and more — alongside the top finishers in each category. You can see who walked away as Richest Captain, Top Bounty Hunter, Mission Master, Planet Baron, and more.

v1.10.3 — Scanning, Factions & Pricing

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 19:00:00 -0400

v1.10.3 brings faster scanning, faction-driven economics, and a round of scan reliability fixes.

Instant Scan Sector Results

Sector scans now return results immediately with richer detail. The bridge flow is faster — no waiting, no extra taps. You scan, you see what’s out there.

Faction Reputation Pricing

Your faction standing now directly affects your wallet. Ports controlled by factions you’re aligned with offer discounts on trades and purchases. Hostile factions mark prices up. NPC traders follow the same rules — reputation matters everywhere you spend credits.

v1.10.0 — QoL and Bounty Follow-Up

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 07:30:00 -0400

v1.10.0 is a quality-of-life and progression update that builds on the recent corporation, bounty, and faction systems.

This release improves visibility, tracking, and pricing behavior across several major systems and closes out a few long-running follow-up items.

Tappable Corp Cards on Leaderboards

Corporation cards on the leaderboard are now interactive, making it easier to inspect corporation information from the leaderboard flow instead of treating it as static display data.

Player Platform Tracking and Version Gating

The game now tracks player platform details and supports stronger version-aware behavior.

v1.9.6 — Bounty & NPC Follow-Up Fixes

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 21:50:00 -0400

v1.9.6 is a focused follow-up patch for the new NPC engagement and faction bounty systems.

This release cleans up a few important edge cases found after the broader bounty and interaction overhaul shipped.

Pirates No Longer Spawn in Federation Territory

Pirates were still able to appear in Federation-controlled space under some conditions.

That behavior is now fixed so Federation territory behaves the way the region rules intend.

Sector Validation Added to Remaining NPC Interaction Functions

Four remaining NPC interaction paths were still missing proper sector validation.

v1.9.0 — NPC Engagement & Faction Bounty System

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 12:40:00 -0400

v1.9.0 is a major NPC interaction and bounty system update.

This release changes NPC encounters from simple combat triggers into a more dynamic system with clearer player choice, faction consequences, bounty hunting, wanted status, and smarter interaction flows.

NPC encounters now use a cleaner engagement model with a single Engage button and type-specific options.

This makes encounters easier to understand and puts the costs and consequences up front instead of hiding them behind inconsistent flows.

v1.8.0 — Combat Overhaul

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 21:58:00 -0400

v1.8.0 is a major combat overhaul release.

This update reworks how combat feels across the game. Ship tier still matters, but fighters, torpedoes, shields, stealth, environment, faction behavior, and NPC interactions all matter much more than before.

Combat Formula Rebalance

The underlying combat formulas have been retuned so consumables and loadout decisions are decisive instead of marginal.

This includes:

reduced ship base power dominance
much stronger fighter, torpedo, and shield weighting
shield-based attrition reduction
torpedo shield penetration
fighter superiority shifting win odds before the main combat roll

The result is that stocked ships, better prep, and better tactical choices matter much more.

v1.6.1 — Corp Layout Fix

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 21:00:00 +0000

v1.6.1 is a quick fix for the corporation screens.

The alignment filter buttons on the Corp Browse tab and the alignment selector on the Corp Create tab were overflowing their cards on smaller screens. They now wrap to the next line cleanly.

v1.6.0 — Corporation Overhaul

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 20:00:00 +0000

v1.6.0 is a major overhaul of the corporation system, fixing several long-standing bugs and adding new mechanics for how corps are managed and joined.

Bug Fixes

Corporation names were not appearing on planet info screens or public player profiles due to a data path mismatch. Corp leader status was also not being recognized correctly when managing corp-owned planets, meaning leaders couldn’t perform certain management actions. Both issues are fixed.

Real-Time Corporation Sync

Corporation data now updates in real-time across all screens via a live Firestore listener. Previously, corp membership and role information could be stale until you refreshed. Now your corp status, member list, and recent activity sync instantly without needing to reload.

v1.5.0 — Missions, Goals, Streaks & Faction Bounties

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0000

v1.5.0 is the biggest feature update yet, adding four interconnected systems that give you more reasons to play every day and reward consistent engagement.

Mission Board Overhaul

Missions now come in three flavors. Standard missions are the contracts you already know — trade runs, combat bounties, and exploration tasks. Daily missions are a single shared mission available to all players each day; claim it once and complete it for a bonus reward on top of the normal payout. Event missions appear during special in-game events with a countdown timer showing how long they’re available.

v1.4.4 — Alignment, Level Progression, and Feed Pins

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 21:00:00 +0000

v1.4.4 fixes two progression display bugs and adds pinned feed announcements.

Alignment Was Always Showing as Neutral

Your faction standing in the Ship Stats screen was always displaying as True Neutral regardless of your actual alignment score. The reader was looking at the wrong field in the player record. It now reads correctly — if you’ve been doing good deeds or running contraband, your faction tier will reflect it.

Level Was Stuck at Recruit Level 1

XP was being awarded correctly by trading, exploring, combat, and missions — but your level was only recalculating when you completed a mission. Every other XP source left the level field untouched. Your level will now update immediately after any XP-granting action.

PvP System Overhaul - Sector-Based Combat with Safe Zones

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 12:00:00 +0000

The Problem

PvP combat was broken in subtle ways:

Wrong Location: Battle station was a port service (why would space combat require a port?)
Not Enforced: The pvpEnabled flag was cosmetic - didn’t actually disable PvP
No Safe Zones: New players had no protection, spawned into potential combat immediately

The result? Confusion, frustration, and PvP that felt tacked-on rather than integrated.

The Vision

PvP should be sector-based, not port-based. You’re in space - combat happens anywhere, anytime (when allowed).

Federation Starports: From Menus to Living Spaces

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 12:00:00 +0000

The old starports felt like a vending machine.

Click a tab. Pick a service. Done. Functional? Sure. Immersive? Not even close.

The new starports feel like a place you actually visit.

When you dock now, you see a directory. Six distinct locations. Each with its own name, its own purpose, its own vibe. You’re not navigating menus—you’re walking through a space station.

The Six Locations

🏦 Federation Reserve Bank

Your credits. Secured.

Factions on Big Bang Smugglers

The Galaxy & Territory

How a galaxy is built

Factions, Alignment & Standing

v2.3.0 — You Asked, We Built It

Planets

Mines

Smuggling rebalance

Alignment

Combat

Navigation

Fixes you reported

Under the hood

v2.0.9 — Retinues and Trader Encounters

Tavern retinues

NPC trader encounters

Planetary minelaying

Corp banners

Fixes

v2.0.8 — Standing Restored

Standing

World tick

Trading and ships

Planets and stations

Combat

Progression

Other

v1.14.4 -- Combat, Intel, and Sector Stability

Sector Traffic Cleanup

v1.13.0 — Progression, Combat, and QoL

Cargo Hold Milestones

Trading, Wallet, and Upgrade Accuracy

v1.11.1 — Alpha Season Complete

Season End Recap

v1.10.3 — Scanning, Factions & Pricing

Instant Scan Sector Results

Faction Reputation Pricing

v1.10.0 — QoL and Bounty Follow-Up

Tappable Corp Cards on Leaderboards

Player Platform Tracking and Version Gating

v1.9.6 — Bounty & NPC Follow-Up Fixes

Pirates No Longer Spawn in Federation Territory

Sector Validation Added to Remaining NPC Interaction Functions

v1.9.0 — NPC Engagement & Faction Bounty System

NPC Engage Modal Rework

v1.8.0 — Combat Overhaul

Combat Formula Rebalance

v1.6.1 — Corp Layout Fix

v1.6.0 — Corporation Overhaul

Bug Fixes

Real-Time Corporation Sync

v1.5.0 — Missions, Goals, Streaks & Faction Bounties

Mission Board Overhaul

v1.4.4 — Alignment, Level Progression, and Feed Pins

Alignment Was Always Showing as Neutral

Level Was Stuck at Recruit Level 1

PvP System Overhaul - Sector-Based Combat with Safe Zones

The Problem

The Vision

Federation Starports: From Menus to Living Spaces

The Six Locations

🏦 Federation Reserve Bank