What changed

2026-10-02

• The standings now open on this month. Every calendar month is a season, and its boards count only what you did in it: credits earned, systems surveyed, licences earned and cargo moved.
• Everybody starts each month level. What you were given when you made your pilot does not count, so nobody ranks just for signing up.
• The hall of fame keeps every month's top three on all four boards. A season ends at midnight UTC on the 1st, and nothing you own is reset when it does.
• All time is still there, one link along, exactly as it was.

2026-10-02

• Cover on a ship with a mining laser now costs twice the premium. The belt is where ships die: across thirty simulated months of play, four hulls in five lost were miners', and their cover was paying back more than it cost.
• The payout is the same as ever, and so is cover on a ship without a laser. A miner's second ship, flown on a trade route with no laser fitted, pays a trader's rate.
• Fit a laser to a ship you have already insured this week and the yard re-rates the week for the days left. The receipt says how much.
• The price on the ship screen says when it is a mining laser's rate, so a doubled number is never a surprise.

2026-10-01

• Every gas draw now runs through an intake ring. Six valves sit round it, and the rig draws at full rate only when all six point to open.
• Tap a valve to turn it a quarter. The valves are geared together, so a turn drags the ones beside it as well. A broken gear has slipped and turns nothing, so the obvious answer is rarely the short one.
• Open it at par — the fewest turns it can be done in — and the draw takes 75% of its time. Every turn past par gives a little of that back.
• It never changes how much gas you draw or the fuel it burns — only how long it takes. Rather not? Leave the ring alone and Run the rig takes exactly as long as it always has.
• A new ring every draw.

2026-10-01

• Lying in wait on the rim now has a shape. The twenty minutes are four watches, and the screen says which one you are on.
• It never tells you how the fight will go, or who is out there. You find that out when it is over, the same as before.

2026-10-01 · from the signal board — FAXTORIAL · 0 paid

• Every batch at the smelter now has a charge to plan. Tap Plan beside a recipe: the charge's assay is three bars — sulphur, silica, phosphorus — and it pours when all three are at the line.
• The tray holds four fluxes, and each one strips something and most put something else back. Lime takes sulphur out and leaves silica behind, so the obvious answer is rarely the cheap one.
• Pour it at par — the fewest charges it can be done in — and the batch takes 75% of its time. Every charge past par gives a little of that back.
• Then watch it: the smelter shows the flux going into the melt while it works.
• It never changes what comes out — only how long it takes. Rather not? Run is still one press, and takes exactly as long as it always has.
• A new charge every run.