Hidden numbers
System ratings
Every system has a law, wealth and tech rating from 1 to 15 that the game never shows. They drive pirates, prices and bounties; the Atlas lists them all.
Your real Luck
The attributes window shows "current / normal" for everything except Luck, whose current value shows as ??. Worth knowing, because every check halves it.
The fruit machine
Each reel is a random 0–1999, minus up to your Luck (counted as 5 to 100). Lower numbers are the rarer symbols, so Luck moves results from the comet toward the UFO jackpot, and it isn't used up. Even at Luck 100 the machine pays back only about 97%. Play it on the Ground page.
A new map every game
The names and ratings stay, but the systems are scattered anew. Woremed is always at the centre, and Enlie is always exactly 9 units from its nearest neighbour.
Lore vs code
Long-standing player knowledge, checked against what the game actually does.
| Players said | The code says | |
|---|---|---|
| Pirates attack between planets and warp points | Agrees: only while flying in-system; Enlie is the exception. | confirmed |
| No cargo, no pirates; cryogens don't count | Agrees: holds must carry type 2–30, so fuel and cryogens don't count. | confirmed |
| Low law means more attacks (Woremed bad, Glory good) | Agrees: the odds are (18 − law) ÷ 18, with Woremed at 1 and Glory at 15. | confirmed |
| Destroying or chasing off pirates builds reputation | Half right: only destroying one raises the cooldown, and jettisoning cargo resets it. | corrected |
| Bounties up to 5,000 Cr in a number of systems | Close: most systems that pay top out at 5–6,000 Cr. Glory and Jadul reach 8,000, and lawless systems never pay. | corrected |
| Dextboost and Charmer raise a stat to 100 for a short while | Agrees: the stat then drifts back 5 points an hour. | confirmed |
| Peptab restores rest | It also sets Strength to 100. | corrected |
| Beer adds nourish and costs rest | It also costs Intelligence, Dexterity and Charisma. | corrected |
| Take plenty of Luck | Luck halves on every check, so it runs out fast. | corrected |
| Planets move during the game | So does the whole star map: systems are scattered anew in each game. | confirmed |
| Claiming no cash fools muggers about 2/3 of the time | It's Charisma + 40, and it always works with exactly 0 cash. If it fails, they search you; it doesn't start a fight. | corrected |
| The programmer on the street gives 250,000 Cr | It's 10,000 Cr, from any of six developers, and only if you answer "yes". | corrected |
| You can only run from muggers with a shield | Anyone can walk out of the fight area. | corrected |
| A scattergun has 7 shots | It has 7 charges, each lasting 4 shots. | corrected |
| A shield takes 7 hits | Agrees: 7 charges, each absorbing a whole hit. | confirmed |
| Sleep only in the ship, pod or a hotel | Agrees, and the world map is safe too. Elsewhere the theft rate depends on law. | confirmed |
| Autoslew is Apple II only | Agrees: the Apple II v2.0 item list has the autoslew between the concentrator and the cloaker. On the ST that slot holds the decloaker, and there's no auto-aim code. | confirmed |