Galaxy Map · Overlays

Galactic structure at a glance

• Bulge — the bright, dense core. About one system in ten lies within 6,000 LY of the centre.
• Four spiral arms — spirals that wind out from the bulge and carry most of the stars: more than four systems in five.
• Halo — a thin, even scatter of stars across the whole disk that fills the gaps between the arms.
• Rim — the disk is 45,000 LY in radius. The arms and the halo thin out toward it, and a few stragglers lie beyond it.

Star colours

Star colours follow six spectral classes, O, A, F, G, K and M: bright blue O-types are rare, and dim orange and red K and M stars make up about three in five of all stars. Brightness scales with rank — lower-rank stars are larger and labeled at high zoom.

Influence overlays

• Yours — claimed systems are rendered in cyan, with a Voronoi-like influence halo that fades out toward the edges.
• NPC — the thirteen empires hold their space in their own colour, and a diamond marks each imperial capital. Their systems carry real garrisons — spy first, then strike. Their borders never move.
• Other players — claimed systems by other players use their faction-derived colour.
• Unclaimed — neutral stars use plain stellar colours with no halo.

Beacons

• Capital beacon — your homeworld.
• Surveyed beacon — stars you've surveyed, and your own systems: a solid star in its own colour, a little brighter at the core, with a soft glow.
• Charted beacon — stars you've discovered but not surveyed: an open dot, a thin ring in the star's colour with no glow.

Fleet markers

Animated fleet icons appear on top of the map for moving fleets. Their shape and colour come from the fleet's role (war / science / trade / industrial) so you can spot threats and traders at a glance.

Hyperlanes

Hyperlane edges fade in as you zoom closer. They are the roads fleets fly: a fleet moves lane by lane, and the router picks the route with the fewest hops, not the shortest distance. A jump between two warp gates counts as a single hop however long it is, so long hauls tend to ride the gate network.

A lane between two charted systems is a thin grey-blue line; one you have not explored is dashed. Between two systems you have surveyed or hold, it becomes a fine white line over a soft teal glow, so the space you know stands out.