Advancement

Currency

There are several currencies in the game that can be used to purchase ships and equipment: Credits, Galactic Standards, Loyalty Vouchers and Artifacts.

Credits

Credits are the main in-game currency, and are earned through combat. PvP will give some credits, and PvE will give a lot. Credits are used to buy non-Premium ships. They are also used to buy mk 1 and upgrade mk1 equipment to mk 2 equipment. Credits can also be purchased with Galactic Standards.

Galactic Standards

Galactic Standards (GS) are purchased with real life money. They are used to buy Premium ships and upgrade equipment to mk 3. A small number of Galactic Standards can be obtained by completing in-game polls and special events.

Loyalty Vouchers

Loyalty vouchers are earned by completing contracts for your chosen subfaction. Loyalty vouchers are used to upgrade equipment to mk 3, but the vouchers must be of the right faction for the piece of equipment.

Artifacts

Artifacts are earned by looting. When you find a purple upgrade kit, you can choose to salvage it for artifacts (you receive a small number if you salvage it yourself, or more if you pay GS). You can also sometimes find artifacts themselves as loot. Artifacts are used to: A)upgrade equipment to the most powerful level - mk 4 or B)donate to your Corporation to be refined into Iridium.

Ships and Synergy

The main type of advancement through the game is buying and upgrading ships. Non-Premium ships (or "Credit ships") are bought with Credits. Before you can buy a ship you must earn enough synergy with one of its prerequisite ships to unlock it. Premium ships are bought with Galactic Standards and do not require a specific prerequisite, though you can only buy Premium ships up to 3 ranks higher than the highest rank ship you currently own.

Once you own a ship, you can upgrade it by earning Synergy. Synergy is a measure of your proficiency in a particular ship. By flying a ship you will earn synergy points for that ship. When you gain enough synergy points, you can spend it in the ship fitting screen to level up that ship. In addition to synergy with a particular ship you will also earn a small amount of "free" synergy, that can be used to level up any ship.

The higher your level in a ship, the better it will perform, gaining a small increase in statistics across the board and some bonuses. Once you gain maximum synergy level in a ship the spare synergy can be transferred to another ship by paying Galactic Standards. Gaining maximum synergy with a ship will also add one to your "Fleet Strength", which will increase all future synergy gain by 1%.

Rank

Rank is gained with factions by buying their ships. Your rank with each faction is simply the highest rank ship you own of theirs. The higher your rank with a faction, the more contracts their subfactions will offer you. Gaining rank also unlocks new implants.

Equipment

Equipment is initially bought at mk 1 with credits. Mk 1 equipment can be upgraded to mk 2 either with credits or by using a mk 2 upgrade kit, which can sometimes be found when looting. Mk 2 equipment can be upgraded to mk 3 either by paying the right type of loyalty vouchers, or by paying Galactic Standards. Mk 3 equipment can be upgraded to mk 4 either by spending Artifacts, which are found by looting, or by using a mk 4 upgrade kit, which are also only found from looting.

<--! Progression in the game

The aim of the game in its basic form is achieving higher ranks of ships with the highest module levels possible

The start

In the beginning the player is given rank one ships from each faction from which he/she can start their progression. From that point on each succeeding rank in every faction gives out a reward to the player reaching a certain rank.

First steps

Newcomers will have to play against bots (also called CO-OP mode) and have an option to be recruited by a player with more experience (which is optional) for the sake of learning more about the game. The recruit status lasts up until the player reaches rank 4 and the mentoring status is over, after that the player will face off other players in PvP instead of AI. On rank 5 the player will unlock the Workshop (where the ship parts, materials and modules are made) and on rank 6 the Undock option leading to the Open Space mode of the game, also known as free roam.

• • even though it’s written pvp, it will be co-op until the player is ready, after the player unlocks the true pvp, co-op is only available in its designated mode

Getting familiar

Once the basics are done and the main modes are unlocked, there are other options to unlock. The ships tree won’t allow direct progress only in one branch, there are requirements that need to be fulfilled before a player can continue the ranking up progress and they are shown on each rank. The crew settings/implants are unlocked with each achieved rank on any given faction. There are 4 crews, the first one will be completely unlocked by reaching rank 15 in any of the given factions with an extra crew from that faction, the other two crews are unlocked by reaching rank 15 in the remaining factions.

• • keep in mind that the rank of a ship correlates with the implants, rank 8 ship can’t use the rank 9 implant, only rank 8 and lover, same applies to every ship in the game
  • only rank 15 implants can be applied to every ship rank, other implants can’t
  • crews can be assigned to any and every ship slot available to the players choosing

With unlocking ranks, implants and crews, on rank 12, of any given faction, the player will unlock the fourth ship slot giving him the option to take one extra ship into battle. The tasks tab will change as the player progresses in the game.

Advanced yet casual As far as the base modes go, PvP mode is switched into CO-OP until the player is ready to face the other players (changes into regular PvP by reaching rank 4), PvE is unlocked from the very start and CO-OP (after finishing the PvP requirements) is available to ship ranks from 1 to 12. PvP, PvE and CO-OP maps are unlocked with each passing rank of any given faction. Open Space mode has 3 types of sectors, rank 1, 7 and 10 sectors. If a player wants to roam freely in the free roam, he/she must at least own a rank 10 ship of any faction. Naturally, with each rank, the player unlocks more sectors and by reaching rank 10, he/she completely unlocks the Open Space mode together with additional missions and quests. As for the other modes, the player can participate in Star Conflict Leagues after reaching rank 11 as well as the full range of Special Operations. The tournament is available at ranks 7-9 while the Sector Conquest may wary in terms of tiers (7-9, 10-12 and 13-15). Just business After unlocking everything, there are a few gems in the game worth noticing. Once the player unlocks all 4 crews, the setups and ship builds truly come to a whole new level and there are 4 crews to choose from, one for each ship slot. After reaching rank 14 in any faction, the player gets access to Special Project ships of that faction. Those ships are unique and meant to suit the player’s needs in any and every way possible.

Modules

The modules in the game share the same system of progressing. Each module requires a specific voucher type to be upgraded. Once the module research reaches Mk4, if there is an option for further upgrading, Mk5 upgrade can be only manufactured in the Workshop tab.

Ships

Other than the Special Project ships, there are ships that fulfill different roles in the game. The first destroyers can be obtained on rank 8 and the purpose they have in the game is similar to the Special Project ones but is more oriented on a group play rather than individual. On the other side, there are premium ships with various bonus stats and special modules and can be obtained gradually gathering parts from PvP and PvE modes. -->