Progression Path

This is the forward spine of the game: from the opening iron-and-ice colony in Sector Alpha through to the precursor dominion of Sector Epsilon, and then out into the galaxy expansion layer. Each sector teaches a new economy, and each unlock gate is a deliberate teaching wall that forces you to master the system the next sector depends on.

The five home-galaxy sectors form a complete arc: A teaches the loop, B teaches breadth and trade dependency, C teaches expedition risk and the artifact economy, D teaches the energy/passive-income economy, and E teaches automation and is the staging ground for galaxy expansion.

All tuning numbers are first-pass / balance TBD.

At a Glance #

The Gate Spine #

Every gate combines up to three escalating categories — a mega-project milestone, a research branch/tier, and a resource stockpile — each building on the prior gate.

Why each category escalates: mega-project gates guarantee you have the production (and, for the Extractor, passive-income) base the next sector’s economy assumes. Research gates demand a deeper tier of the branch most relevant to what comes next. Epsilon uniquely requires two Tier-5 branches at once — it is a convergence wall, not a single-track gate.

Sector A — Alpha (Safe) #

Fantasy: the first strike of the pick — turning a dead iron-and-ice rock (Alpha-1) into a self-sustaining operation.

Goal: stand up the core loop and prove the colony can feed, defend, and fund itself.

Newly introduced: the whole consumable loop (ice → water → food/grain → meals, the brewery ale chain), the starter raw and refined ladders (iron, copper, ice → steel, fuel, alloys), the full base building set, all four research trees (early tiers), and the first automation tiers (auto_collect, auto_transport, auto_priorities). The first expedition unlocks at 1,000 Refined Iron.

Dominant loop & bottleneck: iron → steel → sell/build, plus food/ale. The bottleneck is single-asteroid scarcity — Alpha-1 is iron + ice only, so copper (and therefore alloys/electronics) needs a second asteroid. This pressure motivates expansion.

Pacing: early game, the first few sessions. This is the tutorial spine (quests q01–q22), which leaves you with a multi-asteroid, logistics-linked Alpha colony — exactly the state the A→B gate assumes. See Core Loop and Onboarding.

Sector B — Beta (Dangerous) #

Fantasy: the first real frontier — a dense, contested field with Pirate Activity and Dense Asteroids. The colony becomes an industry.

Goal: build the full Tier 1→Tier 3 industrial ladder, stand up a defensible multi-asteroid operation, and begin the component economy.

The gate — the Traveling Merchant conduit gate: Beta requires Sector Station Alpha, Void Navigation started, 5,000 Steel, and 20 Polymer Conduit + 20 Clay Conduit, which can only be bought from the Traveling Merchant — they cannot be mined or refined. They are consumed to assemble the void-navigation relay that opens the lane. This forces first contact with the trade meta-layer before you leave the safe sector. (Numbers are intentionally small — the gate is about the act of trading, not a credit sink.)

Newly introduced: the industrial ores (titaniumOre, goldOre, crystalRaw, rareEarthOre, etc.) and their refined forms; the Tier 3 component chains; station specialisations via Runic Engineering / Guild Administration; the Orbital Foundry mega-project is begun here; the Ancient Automaton faction joins, and Pirate Activity doubles raid frequency.

Dominant loop & bottleneck: ore → ingot/refined → Tier 3 part, with the Rare Earth chain (rareEarthOre → concentrate → permanent magnets → servo motor) as the signature throughput bottleneck. Secondary bottleneck: defending wealth against pirate raids.

Pacing: early-to-mid game — the longest “learn the breadth” stretch.

Sector C — Gamma (Ancient Ruins) #

Fantasy: extreme-risk ruins of a dwarven precursor civilisation. The mode shifts from industry to archaeology under fire.

Goal: master expedition risk to harvest the loot-only special resources (rareRelics, exoticMaterials) that only Gamma produces, complete the Tier 4 ladder, and finish the Orbital Foundry.

The gate: Ancestor Lore Tier 3 + Orbital Foundry Phase 3 complete.

Newly introduced: the Tier 4 assembled goods (components, stationParts, optics, servoMotor, armour plating); rareRelics and exoticMaterials (no recipe — expedition/market only); the artifact / reliquary / relic-forging systems; top combat components gated on expedition success rather than production; boss-tier enemies.

Dominant loop & bottleneck: repeated, well-prepared expeditions into Gamma for relics/exotics, fed back into top-tier components and research. The bottleneck is expedition survivability — danger 1.80 stacked with hazard traits demands mastery of Ale buffs, squad capability, Hospital throughput (fighting Plague Vector), and Void Navigation provisioning.

Pacing: mid game — the “grind the artifact/relic economy” phase that funds the leap to the end game.

Sector D — Delta (Stellar) #

Fantasy: a high-radiation belt wrapped around a harvestable star — the consortium stops scraping rocks and starts tapping a sun.

Goal: convert the empire onto an energy economy (Helium-3, Enriched Fuel) and bring the Stellar Extractor’s passive income online so the late game scales without proportional active play.

The gate: Void Navigation Tier 4 (Deep Space Survey) + Stellar Extractor Phase 3 (Thermal Regulators) + 30,000 Enriched Fuel + 2,000 Exotic Materials. The Extractor must already be tapping a star — you cannot survive Delta’s radiation belt or refuel deep-range expeditions without it.

Newly introduced: helium3 as a primary signature resource and the Enriched Fuel chain as a backbone; the Stellar Extractor centrepiece (passive fuel + exotic-materials income); chain automation (auto_refine) and upgrade suggestions; the energy-weapon tier; the Void Predator and Precursor Guardian factions.

Dominant loop & bottleneck: a passive-income loop layered on production. The bottleneck is Exotic Materials throughput — still only from Gamma/Delta expedition loot and the Extractor’s slow trickle, yet demanded in bulk by the Delta gate and the deepest research. Run an expedition pipeline and push Extractor phases in parallel.

Pacing: mid-to-late game — where offline progression becomes primary (24h→72h cap, passive Extractor income).

Sector E — Epsilon (Dominion) #

Fantasy: the deepest precursor dominion — a graveyard-empire of automated guardians and sealed caches, maximum home-galaxy danger (3.00). Holding ground that was never meant to be held.

Goal: achieve full vertical integration and automation of the older sectors, project an inter-sector runic nexus into hostile space, and prepare the launch pad for galaxy expansion.

The gate: Stellar Extractor Phase 5 (Full Extraction) + Guild Administration Tier 5 + Runic Engineering Tier 5 + 5,000 Rare Relics + 200 Station Parts. The deepest dominion can only be held by an empire that runs its older sectors automatically (ga_09) and can extend a runic nexus across sectors (re_08).

Newly introduced: no new raw ladder — Epsilon is about consuming the special economy at scale and turning out top components and Station Parts in volume; the Galaxy Expansion Project is begun here; the Tier-5 research capstones across every branch; auto_sector (entire sectors run hands-free; offline cap to 72h); all five factions at full strength.

Dominant loop & bottleneck: a self-running empire — automated sectors and Extractor income fund a continuous expedition + manufacturing engine. The bottleneck is capstone convergence: every Tier-5 node has cross-branch prerequisites and enormous costs, so all prior systems must fire simultaneously. Epsilon is the wall that proves the empire is ready for a new galaxy.

Pacing: late / end game — almost entirely offline-and-steer.

What Gates Each Stage (Summary) #

Beyond Epsilon — the Galaxy Layer #

Epsilon flows directly into the galaxy expansion end game. Once you clear the galaxy unlock gate (Dwarf Citadel Phase 3 / Stellar Extractor, Void Navigation T4 + Guild Admin T3, 50,000 Credits + 10,000 Station Parts), a new galaxy is discovered with its own ruleset of modifiers. There is no prestige and no reset — every galaxy you hold remains playable, and the empire only grows.

Related Pages #

• Sectors · Expeditions · Galaxies & Rulesets
• Research Tree · Mega Projects · Stations
• Traveling Merchant · Automation & QoL
• Core Loop · Onboarding