Greetings Pioneers, In the last blog we gathered our first raw resources, iron and copper, on Solar Alpha 1. With those safely in our cargo hold, it’s time to return to Babylon 7 and take our next big step forward: unlocking our first permit.
Our contract has been updated: back to Babylon 7 we go. To dock at the station, we simply fly into the hangar bay or press E once you’re in range. An automatically piloted docking sequence begins, this acts as a transition into the Space Station instances.
We use a dynamic docking system that allows the station to accommodate as many ships as needed. When you dock at the station, if all the docks in that section are full, a new one is automatically created. And once a dock is empty, it’s removed to free up space.
We land and disembark. From here, we press P to open the Permits menu.
Progression in SpaceCraft is primarily tied to two systems: Permits and Experience (we’ll explore the latter in a future post). Permits are structured as a tech tree, unlocking one often leads to others, gradually opening up new crafting recipes, modules, and services.
Our first unlock is the Modular Systems permit. It costs 40 credits and gives us access to the blueprints for the Scanalyzer Alpha and Small Cargo Hold. It also grants access to the Shipyard, where we’ll be heading shortly.
To unlock any permit, we simply need to meet its prerequisites and pay the required credits.
With the permit unlocked, our new objective is to craft the Scanalyzer Alpha, a small instrument used to scan and analyze unknown resources. A must-have for any aspiring space explorer.
To get started, we need to reach the Shipyard. Stations like Babylon 7 are made up of multiple areas, and we use the elevator to travel between them. Each location serves a different purpose:
- Some, like the Shipyard, are single-player instances, where you can work on your ship without interruptions.
- Others, like the docks, are instanced by the number of ships, not players, up to five small ships or two large ships can share a dock.
- In the future, certain areas will be fully shared, like the marketplace. And some stations will feature unique floors tied to quests or special mechanics (more on that in a future blog post).
- We take the elevator to the Shipyard, where we’ll begin refining our raw materials.
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Our first stop is the Smelter, where we convert our raw components into usable ingots.
Smelting is a necessary step before crafting modules. It takes 5 seconds per ingot, and each operation comes with a cost. The Company takes a 15% commission based on the market value of the output. It’s not cheap, but it gets the job done.
Some raw components can be used interchangeably. For instance, both Iron Ore and Iron Nuggets produce Iron Ingots, but the ratios and inventory usage aren’t the same:
- 2 Iron Ore (10 Storage Units) = 1 Iron Ingot
- 4 Iron Nuggets (4 Storage Units) = 1 Iron Ingot
Ore is usually faster to mine when looking at output per second, but nuggets offer better inventory space efficiency.
We feed in our 8 Iron Ore and 8 Copper Ore and come out with 4 Iron Ingots and 4 Copper Ingots, just what we need.
Next, we head to the Workshop to begin the crafting process.
The Workshop is where raw ingots are transformed into advanced components, tools, and ship modules. Crafting times vary depending on the recipe:
- Wire from Copper takes 2.5 seconds.
- A Small Module Kit takes 12 seconds.
Like with the Smelter, The Company also takes a commission here, though it’s smaller and scales with the value of the crafted item.
To craft the Scanalyzer Alpha, we need:
- 1 Small Module Kit
- 1 Iron Sheet
- 2 Wire
We start by crafting the Iron Sheet and the Wire, then move on to the Small Module Kit, and finally assemble the Scanalyzer Alpha. As luck would have it, we had enough materials to put it all together, and some leftovers that we could keep or sell to recuperate some of the credits we spent!
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With the Scanalyzer Alpha ready, our contract updates once more: it’s time to install it on our spacecraft. We’ll handle that in the next post, where we’ll dive into ship modification and the basics of outfitting your vessel for the adventures ahead. Until then, safe travels, Pioneers.
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