StarDock & Upgrades
StarDocks are your safe harbors. Look for the ⚡ symbol.
What StarDocks Do
- Repair Hull/Recharge Shields to full (free)
- Sell upgrades (permanent ship improvements)
- Buy fighters and mines for sector defense
- Buy Cloak charges for risky chokepoint transit
- Purchase Guild Protection Contract (insurance) — 5% of net worth, lasts 7 days, reduces death penalty from 50% to 5% credit loss
- Intergalactic Bank — park credits safely off your ship (see below)
- Transport colonists to your planets
Intergalactic Bank
Every StarDock has a branch of the StarDock Intergalactic Bank. Use it to keep liquid credits off your hull so a Q-cannon or PvP death cannot loot them.
| Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
| Access | Must be docked at a StarDock |
| What it holds | Credits only (no ore, organics, equipment, or melange) |
| Capacity | No hard balance cap |
| Cost | 2.5% of balance per week (burned as a safety surcharge) |
| Combat | Balance is not taken when your ship is destroyed |
| Galaxies | Separate balance in The Void and The Abyss |
Deposit and withdraw each cost 1 Action Point. Guild Protection still only covers credits left on your ship; banked credits are already safe from death loot.
For planet-side storage (credits + commodities, lootable if the citadel falls), see the Sector Bank on Citadel Level 5+ planets (5,000,000 credit capacity).
Upgrade Categories
| Category | Effect | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Cargo Holds | +cargo capacity | Cargo Holds Mk I (+30) |
| Shields | +shield points | Deflector Shields Mk I (+15) |
| Weapons | +combat damage | Pulse Lasers Mk I (+5) |
| Hull | +max hull | Hull Plating Mk I (+20) |
| Engines | +dodge chance | Ion Engines Mk I (+5%) |
| Fighter Bay | +fighter capacity | Fighter Bay Mk I (+50 slots, 50K cr), Mk II (+150 slots, 150K cr), Mk III (+5% base capacity, minimum +300 slots, 300K cr) |
| Scanner | Reconnaissance | Threat Scanner (25K cr), Holographic Scanner (140K cr) |
Upgrade Tiers
Each category has 3 tiers. You must buy Mk I before Mk II, and so on.
Strategy: Early game, prioritize Cargo Holds (more trade profit) or Shields (survive combat). Late game, max out Weapons and Hull. If you own planets with fighter production, invest in Fighter Bay upgrades to carry larger fleets.
Cloak Charges
Cloak charges cost 40,000 credits each at StarDock. Activating one charge gives your ship up to 3 warps or 10 minutes of cloak, whichever expires first.
Cloak is not guaranteed safety. Hostile mines, Q-cannons, and fighter patrols can still detect you. If they do, cloak breaks and the normal entry defenses resolve.
Proton Torpedoes
Proton Torpedoes cost 80,000 credits at StarDock and use 1 Action Point when fired. Carry one at a time, then select an adjacent warp lane in Sector View and fire it before entering.
A torpedo temporarily suppresses hostile Q-cannon damage and fighter-patrol strength in the target sector. Mines are unaffected, no defender assets are destroyed, and the effect expires after 15 minutes. A second torpedo can raise the suppression effect, but it is capped.
Ship capacity is limited: Scouts carry 3 charges, Merchants carry 2, and Interceptors carry 1.
Photon Missiles
Photon Missiles cost 120,000 credits and ships carry one at a time. Firing one costs 1 Action Point. You can always use one to destroy your own planet, and may destroy an eligible hostile fortified Q-Cannon planet after its siege defenses are exhausted. See the Planets guide for the hostile-destruction requirements and consequences.
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