Frontier Gates

What a Frontier Gate is#

Past the Outer Reaches lies the Unbound Reserve: 400 star systems that already exist, with their stars, worlds and sites, but have no gate and do not show on the map. A Frontier Gate opens one of them. The gate is built in a system at the edge of the Outer Reaches, called its anchor, and leads to the new system.

• An opened system is a dead end. It hangs off its anchor with a single gate and never links on, so a gate never sits on anyone's route.
• Vanguard pilots found and own gates. Anyone, free to play or not, can supply materials, and a system the founder opens to everyone never needs a Charter to enter.
• It adds a place, never a better rate. An open system uses the free resources of its band, and no free quest, season or event ever needs a gate.

Founding a gate#

1. Meet the requirements

   You need an active Vanguard Charter, Cartography 60 and Navigation 50.

2. Fly to an anchor

   Go to a system at the edge of the Outer Reaches. The Frontier Gates window (on the galaxy map's system card, or in the More menu) lists the reserve systems within reach: 90 light-years of a members' anchor, or 200 of a free one. An Open gate needs a free anchor.

3. Charter a system

   Pick one from the list and pay the Frontier Charter, ₡50,000,000. You can found it for your clan: the clan treasury pays and an officer does it.

4. Build it

   Fund and supply the three build stages below. Anyone can help.

5. Open it

   When the last stage is done, open the gate, name the system and set who may come in.

Each anchor takes one gate, and a pilot or a clan builds one gate at a time. The galaxy holds 24 gates in a season, so a gate also needs a free place in that count.

Build stages#

A gate is built in three stages in the anchor system. Each has a bill of credits and materials, and a timer that starts when the bill is complete, so the build takes at least 6 days. The credits and the materials are destroyed: they are a sink, not a payment to anyone.

From the game's own data

• Anyone can deliver. Dock at a station in the anchor system and give materials from your hangar in the Frontier Gates window, or add credits. Every delivery is recorded in the gate's log, and nothing is owed back to the people who give.
• The materials come from free play. Every one can be mined, refined or built by any pilot and bought on the market, so a gate is a big order for the whole economy.
• A stalled site is given up. With no delivery for 21 days, a site is abandoned and the system returns to the reserve. Half of the delivered materials go back to the founder's hangar. Credits do not come back.

Opening the gate#

When the last timer ends, the founder (or an officer of the owning clan) opens the gate. The galaxy gets a 10-minute notice first, then the lane opens and the new system joins the map. The founder's first jump through it earns the Universe First "Frontier opened".

The founder picks the system's access and toll when opening, and can change them later (see below).

Who may jump in#

Open to everyone

Any pilot may jump in. The system uses the free resources and site levels of its band. Needs a free anchor.

Vanguard only

Vanguard Charter pilots may jump in. The system uses the members' resources, never better than free mining in the same band.

Clan and allies

Charter pilots in the owning clan and its listed allied clans may jump in. A members' mode.

• A change of access or toll applies 24 hours after the owner asks, and pilots inside always keep their way out.
• A members' gate never becomes Open later: the free game never depends on a members' door.
• Access is checked on the pilot who jumps, not on the owner. If the owner's Charter lapses, nobody is locked out.

Tolls#

The owner of an Open or Vanguard-only gate may charge a toll to jump in, up to ₡250,000. 70% of every toll goes to the owner and 30% is burned. A toll can change once every 7 days, with 24 hours' notice.

• Leaving is always free. A toll is only ever charged on the way in.
• You see the toll first. It shows on the galaxy map and in the Database, and a jump in waits until you accept the toll.
• Gates are dead ends. A toll can only tax pilots who want that system, never through traffic.

Naming the system#

Names are never typed. The founder picks the system's name from 5 generated names a roll, with 4 rolls a day, built from the same name parts as the rest of the galaxy and never repeating a name in use. Each world gets its own roll. Until the founder picks, the system shows its reserve designation, such as "R-1832". The pick is final, except that a transfer or a re-anchor allows one new pick.

Upkeep, decay and hand-over#

A gate costs ₡40,000,000 a week, paid from the owner's wallet or the clan treasury, with an Autopay switch. Tolls can cover it.

• After 60 days dormant, any pilot who meets the founding requirements can re-anchor the gate by paying the arrears plus ₡200,000,000. Ownership, naming and access rights pass to them.
• The owner can transfer a gate to a clan or another eligible pilot for ₡50,000,000, after a 72-hour cool-off.
• If the founder's Charter lapses, the gate keeps working on its current settings, nobody can change them and upkeep still runs. A clan that owns a gate keeps it if the founder leaves.

Fair play and reporting#

Frontier Gates come with rules that protect every pilot:

• Tolls are capped at ₡250,000 a jump in and can change only once every 7 days, with 24 hours' notice. 70% of a toll goes to the gate's owner and 30% is burned.
• Nobody can be trapped: leaving a Frontier Gate system is always free and always works, even when the owner changes who may enter, stops paying upkeep or the gate goes dormant. A new rule never strands the pilots already inside.
• System and world names come from generated lists. There is no free text, so a gate can never carry an insult or a copied name.
• Staff can revert a name to its reserve designation, freeze a gate's settings, open a gate to everyone its resources allow with no toll, force it dormant or close a site that never opened. Every action is logged with a reason.
• Report an abusive gate owner from their pilot card with Report (reason Other) and name the gate. Staff review every report.

The full rules are in the Terms of Service, and the general promise of the Charter is in Fair play.