X-WarsResurrection
ClearanceStart

Early stage · Logistics

Transport routes

Give a courier fleet a standing lane between two of your endpoints. Cargo loads and unloads on a schedule while you stay on the map - early alpha, expect problems.

Early-stage - problems expected

Transport routes are live enough to learn from, not finished doctrine. Couriers may stall, stock hints can lag, and launchpad or capacity edges can surprise you. Treat broken loops as alpha signal - report them on Command relay - not as a polished logistics sim.

A transport route binds one owned courier fleet to a pair of waypoints. The fleet runs the lane: arrive, wait or check thresholds, load or unload configured cargo, then move to the other end.

This is the first automation layer for supply and trade on the star map. The same endpoints you already manage by hand - colonies, orbit stock, parked fleets, occupation beacons - can sit on a route instead of a click queue.

Numbers and fuel burns still follow live fleet move rules. Routes do not invent a free conveyor; they schedule work a commander already could do manually.

How a route runs

Create a draft from the Routes overlay on the map, then activate once a courier and cargo lines are set.

  • Two waypoints

    Pick waypoint 1 and waypoint 2 from endpoints you own. The courier shuttles that pair until you pause, edit, or delete the route.

  • Cargo lines

    Each line names a stack the courier can carry, plus an action at each end (load, unload, or nothing). Threshold waits until enough stock exists; wait holds for a set number of hours before acting.

  • Courier fleet

    Activation binds one fleet as the dedicated courier for that route. Storage bays decide which matter classes appear in the cargo picker. Cruise speed trades time for frurozin.

  • Planet handoffs

    Planet endpoints can target orbit stock or surface stock via launchpad. Surface load and deliver need a launchpad; orbit-only lanes skip the pad when stock already sits in orbital factories.

What can sit on a lane

Any owned endpoint the overlay lists can be a waypoint - the fantasy is the same chain of supply that later trade and interdiction will threaten.

  • Planets

    Colonies you own. Use planet or orbit stock on that side so a route can feed the surface or top up orbital factories.

  • Fleets

    Parked fleets with holds - useful for staging fuel or materials away from home without babysitting every transfer.

  • Beacons

    Occupation beacons with their own tanks and stock. A lane can keep a forward disk alive while you scout the next claim.

Two waypoints for now

v1 routes are deliberately a pair. That keeps the phase machine readable while alpha catches edge cases. Longer chains - a courier following multiple waypoints down a route - stay on the roadmap until two-stop lanes feel trustworthy.

Where lanes are headed

Yellow means honest ambition, not live systems. These ideas shape why routes exist beyond a convenience click.

  • Standing automation

    Richer doctrine so transport and trade keep feeding fleets, beacons, and planets without turning every cycle into busywork.

  • Stealth and espionage

    Race-flavoured stealth components so ships can run quiet - and espionage tools that can still detect cloaked fleets or hulls.

  • Plunder and interdiction

    Fleets that can be stopped or plundered in flight, so a fat courier lane becomes contested Hard Fun instead of a free belt.

  • Multi-waypoint routes

    Couriers that follow more than two stops along a planned path once the two-waypoint proof holds.

Fuel and paint still matter

A route only moves what your courier can carry and afford to burn. Occupation disks still decide which tiles feel like yours.

Fleet fuel consumption →Space occupation →Command dispatch on routes →

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