Short mid-July dispatch from Command. Since the second-alpha preview I have been wiring the map into something that can host a second colony and a visible footprint in space - not only a prettier homeworld spreadsheet. Here is what is live enough to talk about, what I am testing locally, and where I am deliberately not promising polish yet.
What landed in the last stretch
- Space occupation beacons - research the occupation track, craft a beacon module, park an orbiting fleet on an empty tile, load tier-0 frurozin, and drop a marker that claims a Chebyshev coverage disk.
- Colonisation pipeline in code - colonizer module, scan + occupation gates, six-hour claim timer, blank-slate HQ on a new world. Public reference: /docs/colonization-path.
- Fleet frurozin burns split into ignition, cruise, and brake on the move order; scout discounts and gravity still apply. Reference: /docs/fleet-fuel.
- Hull decay for parked map fleets - 24-hour grace, then integrity drains unless you move or sit under a maintenance factory. Reference: /docs/fleet-decay.
- Matter-state honesty across factory craft, launchpad cargo, colony flow, and phase converters - stacks keep their solid/liquid/gas/plasma identity.
- Unified fleet Transfer into one dialog (orbit / beacon / fleet counterparties), orbit Storage tab, beacons list overlay, and occupation tint disks on the map.
Colonisation - first local tests
I am running the first local colonisation tests now: scan an adjacent unowned world, hold a tile inside your beacon coverage, bring a ship with the colonization module, and confirm the claim. Expect friction - timers, fuel, and gate messaging are still catching up to the fantasy. This is not "colonisation is done"; it is "the path is wired enough to break it on purpose before round two." If you want the ladder before you fly, open /docs/colonization-path.
Star-map UI stays rough (on purpose for now)
Desktop and mobile star-map chrome is still rough. Fleets, beacons, overlays, and planet shells work, but density, thumb reach, and visual hierarchy will keep looking unfinished. I am not planning a polish pass that makes the map feel product-final before alpha round two closes - round two is for proving occupation, colonisation, and shared space, not for pixel-perfect HUD. File Command relay when something is unusable; expect "works, ugly" for a while longer.
Occupation / domination - beacons in space
There is no system flag capture or PvP beacon combat yet. What you can do today is deploy occupation beacons and hold tiles:
- One active beacon is enough - its Chebyshev radius (mk1 = 10 tiles, up to mk5 = 100) paints your occupation. Disks may overlap your own coverage; foreign disks block new deploys that would collide.
- Fuel is tier-0 frurozin loaded at deploy. A full load runs about 90 days, then the beacon goes dormant, releases tiles, and collapses after a 10-day structure timer unless you refuel.
- Anyone orbiting the beacon tile (or adjacent) can transfer frurozin in or out - fuel theft is intentional soft contest while hard attack is still roadmap.
- Colonisation requires your fleet tile inside your occupied set. Claiming space is becoming a prerequisite for planting a second world, not a cosmetic map paint.
- Longer term I still want richer domination - contested systems, pressure on foreign coverage - but alpha honesty first: disks, fuel logistics, and colonize gates. Full write-up: /docs/space-occupation.
Looking at round two
Round two still opens 25 July with the pre-registration wave I announced earlier. The focus for me this week is making colonisation and occupation fail loudly when something is wrong - and keeping frurozin logistics honest - not sanding every star-map control until it shines. Read /docs/space-occupation if you want the numbers; break the live build if you have a seat.
Thank you for the Command relay noise and for staying curious while the map grows teeth. Next posts will say what broke in testing - not only what I intended.
Sebastian "Degola" Lagemann