Feature Spotlight - Trading Port

Fri Apr 12 2019 (Updated: Tue Dec 15 2020) - 2 min read

Hello, Commanders! Alpha 8 relied on heavy usage of freighters throughout the entire game. Alpha 9, however, introduces a new outpost in the Industry tree that allows players to automatically stream resources to another station. We proudly introduce the Trading Port!

As with the Dev Log series, values discussed in this article may change prior to the launch of Alpha 9.

Self-Flying Freighters

This new outpost is a non-unique outpost that takes the Commerce Hub spot in the Industrial building tree. It streams resource generation from one station to another. The outpost only allows one destination station at a time, but a single station can receive multiple streams from different stations at the same time.

Oversized Cargo

As with other outposts, the Trading Port has five (5) levels. Each outpost level allows the use of one freighter to be used to stream resources. Freighter cargo is the same as a standard freighter being deployed from that station, so it is wise to utilize freighter cargo hold expanders on the deploying station. The outpost can be augmented, which adds one extra freighter to be used to stream.

Automation Mechanics

Resource streams do not take any time to set up – once activated, the stream will start instantly and run until manually canceled. For instance, if a station streams 250 metal per hour to a station with 500 metal per hour, then the resulting metal generation would be 750 per hour. Distance is also not taken into consideration, so feel free to ship resources from one side of the galaxy to the other!

All alliance structures except the Dyson Sphere can receive resource streams. This includes the Alliance Capital Station and Forward Operating Bases. We are also introducing an epic and legendary card which enables additional freighters to be used for streaming.

We took the community’s feedback about frequent freighting to heart and implemented resource streams as a way to reduce the effort needed to complete a routine action in the game. We hope that you put this new feature to the test in Alpha 9!