Quick tips
- Start on the star map, then pick a system, a planet and a city. Every map is the game's own: the charts from your nav console, and city streets rebuilt tile for tile from the disk.
- To go back up a level, use the back button above the map, press Esc, or right-click the map. The click you hear is the game's own, played from its sound data.
- On a planet map, the white city has the starport. Without a ground scanner it's the only place the SunDog can land.
- In a city, the letters mark the buildings that matter: D depot, E trade center, T tube, B bank, F bar, H hotel, S parts, G guns, M teleport, P car park. L is where the SunDog lands.
- City layouts never change between games, and planets and cities are always in the same places. The star map shifts a little in each new game.
Hidden ratings
Twelve star systems, eighteen planets and 57 cities. Each system carries three hidden ratings from 1 to 15. The game never shows them, but they decide prices, pirates and bounties.
Where to go
- Glory has the most law (15): the fewest pirates, and bounties for the ones you kill.
- Lawless systems (Enlie, Woremed) mean frequent pirates and no bounties, but more loot.
- Jadul is the richest system (wealth 14): everything sells dearer there. Enlie is the poorest (wealth 4).
- Sosai has the most tech (15): tech goods are cheap there, and so are fuel and repairs. Sell tech goods in low-tech systems.
Law
How safe the system is. Low law means more pirate attacks and no bounties for kills. High law also tows your pod faster and adds a little to fuel prices.
Wealth
Scales every price in the system, from about a third cheaper at wealth 1 to about 38% dearer at 15. It also scales pirate bounties.
Tech
Tech goods are nine trade cargoes: chronographs, silichips, biochips, cadcams, synthesizers, sunsuns, comgear, nullgravs and droids. They're worth twice as much in a tech-1 system and 43% less in a tech-15 one. High tech also means cheaper fuel, repairs and teleports, and fewer street dealers. Shop items and ship parts ignore tech.
| System | Planets | Law | Wealth | Tech | Pirate attack per check |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jondd | Jondd, Heavy | 12 | 8 | 14 | |
| Ferr | Ferr, Ferrwerk, Snowball | 8 | 9 | 13 | |
| Enlie | Enliah | 1 | 4 | 7 | |
| Hepa | Hepah | 9 | 8 | 11 | |
| Shoot | Shoot | 10 | 7 | 7 | |
| KalManDaa | Kala | 14 | 8 | 10 | |
| Glory | Glory I, Glory II, Glory III | 15 | 13 | 8 | |
| Sosai | Vahevela | 6 | 12 | 15 | |
| Lafser | Tcana | 4 | 6 | 9 | |
| Woremed | W'orrad | 1 | 8 | 6 | |
| New Shoot | Hell, New Shoot | 12 | 5 | 12 | |
| Jadul | Krakorum | 13 | 14 | 14 |
"Pirate attack per check" is the chance of an encounter on each ship-update tick while you fly between planets carrying cargo, with the system's pirate cooldown at zero. See Pirates.