Intro: Space
How to survive when traversing The Void
Space is mostly empty and mostly harmless, until it is not. Follow this and the worst day you have out there will be a boring one.
Know your zones
Space is not one place. Three kinds of it, and the difference between the second and the third is everything you are carrying.
| Zone | Can be shot | Can be looted |
|---|---|---|
| Non-PvP, safe | No | No |
| PvP, not lootable | Yes | No |
| PvP, lootable | Yes | Yes |
Most of space is the middle row: you can be shot, but what you carry stays yours. The game warns you the moment you approach a line, so read the warnings rather than flying through them.
Safe. Nothing can touch you.
PvP. Your loot is still yours.
Lootable. Know this one on sight.Lootable space is the one to know before you fly, not after. The map has every lootable zone on it.
What can you actually lose?
Less than most people fear. If you get looted, only two inventory tabs are at risk: Resources and Materials. Everything in your other tabs stays with you.
Which is exactly why the prime directive is what it is. Fly with those two tabs empty and there is nothing to take, however badly the fight goes.
The rules
None of these are clever. They are the nine things that separate people who get home from people who tell stories about not getting home.
- Rule 1
Do not fly with loot
The prime directive. No loot means you cannot be looted. If your hold is empty, a pirate who catches you gets nothing for it, and every rule below is a distant second to this one.
- Rule 2
Pack the essentials
Never undock without fuel, a repair kit and welding wire. Running dry in transit turns you into a sitting duck, or worse, gets you looted and stranded at Athena SS.
- Rule 3
Never fly A to B
Pirates camp the obvious lanes. The direct routes between planets carry the most traffic, so that is exactly where they wait. Break the line: climb, dive, or drift off the beaten path before you set course. Space is enormous, and a small deviation at the start is the difference between a looting and a dull, safe trip.
- Rule 4
Read the room
Most pirates lurk at space stations, waiting for someone to spawn so they can lock on the instant you appear. Check your surroundings before you move. Pull a false start: move, then watch who moves with you.
- Rule 5
Show your teeth
Carry a weapon and let it be seen. Loosing off a few shots tells a watching pirate you are not a soft target, which is often enough to make them hold out for easier prey.
- Rule 6
Travel in numbers
A lone ship is a target. If you can wait five minutes to launch alongside another ship, and that means a second ship rather than a passenger, do it.
- Rule 7
Strip the UI
Hide your interface while travelling. You want a clean, unobstructed view of everything around you.
- Rule 8
Leave a margin
Pull your UI in slightly from the screen edges. Player icons are far easier to spot in that clear border than buried in the middle of your HUD.
- Rule 9
Bind align horizontal
It is easy to lose your bearings out there. Put align horizontal on a hotkey or your UI. One press to level out can save you the moment you get disoriented.