Pilot-Owned Stations

Greetings, pilot. I'm Sagrith Hubri, from the TRI office of Economic Affairs, here to tell you about our DeepSpace Development Program. You may be interested to know that TRI has begun issuing permits and kits allowing pilots to construct privately-owned space stations.

During the initial phase of Reconstruction, TRI incurred significant costs for operation of numerous orbital and deep-space facilities. Although this will continue, TRI is entering a phase of greater economic maturity. Some responsibility for infrastructure costs can now be passed to the wealthier members of the pilot cadre.

The new private stations constructed under this program are expected to provide alternative refitting facilities, markets, and mining bases for squads and other TRI pilots. Prospective station owners should take warning: operation of a station entails very expensive upkeep and maintenance. Failure to support your station by paying these fees will result in the eventual loss of the station and your entire investment.

Construction of a new privately-owned station (POS) is begun by obtaining a BuildKit (station construction kit). These devices are sold in the MODx section of existing station markets. When used, BuildKits rapidly fabricate a core station module with two, four or eight expansion slots, as defined by the type of BuildKit purchased. To construct a station, execute the command /build with a BuildKit in your ship's cargo hold. If you have more than one BuildKit in your hold, one of them will activate at random. A new station owner automatically finds himself docked at his POS when the construction process completes.

Faction treaties prohibit pilots from constructing stations in sectors belonging to another faction, but there are presently no restrictions on placement in neutral sectors, including Hyperial and Amananth territory. TRI issues construction permits with the BuildKits, but must give final approval to the location of any /build operation. No permit will be approved if the resulting POS will be located within 15,000 meters of another object, including asteroids, nor will a permit be approved if the resulting station is near the direct flight path between jumpgates.

Care must be taken in choosing where to place a POS. Each TRI pilot is authorized to own and operate at most one POS. Although they can be upgraded and enhanced with modules, moving a POS is not possible. An undesired POS must be destroyed, which results in the loss of the owner's investment. Elimination of a POS is an intentional act, for which TRI will not provide compensation.

A newly constructed station core has basic market and storage capabilities. A variety of modules may be purchased and equipped on the POS to provide additional capability. Smaller stations may also be upgraded by activation of larger-type BuildKits from within the POS itself. For example, the owner of a 2-point station may dock at his station with a BuildKit-4 in his ship's cargo hold. Using /build in this situation will upgrade the POS from a 2-point to a 4-point station, adding room for two more expansion modules.

All Station MODx are produced by TRI at faction Core stations for general distribution. Each MODx is an automated construction kit which will outfit an empty station expansion slot with the designated module. The following Station MODx are available:

Station MODx

Storage Warehouse Adds 100 units of storage space to the station. Market Warehouse Adds 500 units of market space to the station. Ship Hangar Allows storage of up to four single-pilot vessels. Ore Silo Allows raw ore in a ship's hold to be refined into basic commodities. * Repair Shop Offers armor repair services at the station. * Ammunition Shop Offers rearming services to docked vessels with ammo guns. * Refueling Tank Offers refueling services for afterburners and FlashFires. *

To install a Station MODx, purchase it and transport it to your station. Equip the MODx in any available expansion slot using the Admin Options screen, reached through the POS Options tab (see Owner Interface section, below). The module's features will be immediately available for configuration.

Non-expandable MODx: The symbol * marks MODx that provide a single capability that is not expandable in any way once installed on a POS. There is no benefit to placing more than one of each of these MODx on a POS.

The Ship Configuration screen at a POS operates for a visitor in much the same manner as on a neutral station. However, if a visitor is a member of both the owner's squad and faction, and the owner has placed ships in a Hangar MODx specifically for squad use, then the visitor will be able to exchange ships from the Hangar using the Ship Configuration screen as if purchasing a new ship at a faction station.

A visitor may only purchase commodities and equipment from a POS Market. Selling to a POS Market is not permitted. The exception to this is a POS with an Ore Silo MODx. Ore sold at a POS with an Ore Silo is collected automatically by TRI at the core station of the station owner's faction and processed there.

Visitors at a POS may use the Trade screen regardless of factional political rating.

Clicking the POS Options tab provides docked pilots with access to the station's main visitor interface. Using this screen, any visiting pilot may view the list of modules equipped, make a donation to support upkeep of the station, or choose among several ship replenishment options.

Selecting any of the Station Options checkboxes (Refuel, Repair, Rearm, and Process unrefined Ore) and choosing Accept will perform the selected function or functions on your ship (or its cargo, in the case of ore processing) and pay the station owner the listed amount of credits from your account. If the required module for a given replenishment option is not installed on the station, the readout will display "not available" next to that option, and no checkbox will be displayed.

Above a display of the owner's weekly upkeep cost, visitors may enter an amount of credits to donate in support of the station's maintenance. This donation is simply transferred directly from the visitor's account. The station owner uses the same control to pay the weekly upkeep charges.

The owner's interface for a POS is accessed by choosing first POS Options, then clicking on the Admin Options button near the bottom of the POS Options screen.

Station Options section

Naming the station: This textbox can be used to set the name of the POS, up to 24 alphanumeric characters in length. Inappropriate or offensive names will be met with regulatory action by TRI Officials, up to and including demolition of the station with no compensation to the owner.

Setting access permissions: Clicking on the arrow will toggle the Access mode of the POS. Available options are "Invite only", "Squad", or "Public" access.
If the POS is set to "Invite only", only the invite list functions, as all other pilots are banned from docking by default.
If the POS is set for "Squad" use, both the invite and ban lists are used. All members of the owner's squad are permitted to dock by default. The invite list will function to invite pilots from outside the squad, while the ban list can be used to prevent a squadmate from docking.
If the POS is set to "Public", only the ban list functions, as all other pilots are permitted to dock by default.

The lists are edited by entering a pilot name, then clicking the Ban or Invite button as appropriate. The lists are viewed by first clearing the callsign textbox by clicking in it, then clicking either the Ban or Invite button to view that list. Note that if either list is inactivated by the station's access mode, the list remains stored and will activate if the mode is changed back to one where the list is useful. Example: Several pilots are banned from a Public station. The owner changes the station's access mode to Invite Only for a while, causing all pilots to be banned by default, and invites several friends instead. The owner later changes POS access back to Public. All old entries made previously in the ban list will again have an effect.

Pilots concerned with clandestine communications should note that when docked at a POS, the F3 channel acts as a private chat channel with invite/ban functionality provided by station itself!

Destroying the station: If, for whatever reason, the owner wishes to eliminate his POS, this button is available. This is a voluntary act, and recompense for loss of investment will not be provided by TRI. All pilots docked at the station, including the owner, will be forced to depart via escape pod to a TRI station belonging to their respective factions, although no deaths will be logged to their pilot records.

Module Options section

Adding a Module: Any Station MODx in the owner's cargo may be installed on the POS by using the station configuration controls on the right side of the screen. The arrow buttons beside the module's picture scroll through the available Station MODx in cargo. Pressing the blue arrow button at the slot's upper left corner will install the displayed MODx. Pressing the red "X" will destroy the installed module to free the slot. Station MODx cannot be uninstalled.

Module Setup: Once a module is installed, the owner may configure any settings peculiar to that module using the module buttons in the lower half of the Admin Options screen,

Other controls and options

Market controls: The owner of a station can move things in and out of the POS market using the normal market interface. The owner neither pays nor receives credits for transactions with his own market, he simply moves commodities and equipment in or out. By default, a POS market uses TRI base prices for all commodities and equipment. The owner may set custom prices for up to one hundred (100) types of goods using the /setprice command. To set the price for Matter Converters at the station to c800000, the owner would enter /setprice Matter Converters 800000. Be certain to enter the name correctly, though the command is not case-sensitive. An acknowledgement message will display when the command is used correctly. The /noprice command is used to cancel an existing custom price for a specific type of goods. "/noprice FlashFire" would nullify any custom price previously set for FlashFires, causing the market to again use the TRI base price.

Storage controls: Only the owner of a POS may access its Storage facility. This is done in the same manner as accessing one's private storage at a faction Depot.

Hangar controls: Hangar modules come outfitted with courtesy shuttles of the owner's faction. Ships are traded into the hangar using the normal Ship Configuration interface. By default, the station owner may use any ship stored in a hangar module. The owner may choose to make a ship in the hangar available to members of his squad, using the Allow Squad Use checkbox. However, the squadmate must also be a member of the owner's faction, or the ship will remain inaccessible.

Finding your POS: A POS is always visible to its owner regardless of radar range, using a private transponder technology similar to that used by TRI Stations on public frequencies. Other pilots will only detect the POS when within radar range. Memorizing rotacol coordinates is thus unnecessary for the owner, but might be a useful strategy for a squad station.

Advertising your POS: The /publish command toggles whether the characteristics of your POS are displayed in the external JOSSH interface. Stations set to "Invite Only" mode will not be displayed on JOSSH regardless of the /publish setting. The central listing of POS in TRI space may be found here.

Upkeep for a POS is extremely expensive. Maintenance, servicing, and TRI tariffs and fees all add up to a significant number of credits per update cycle. It is TRI's expectation and intention that the more expensive POS configurations will be built and maintained by the efforts of squads.

The schedule below lists the weekly upkeep charges for station cores and all station MODx.

Upkeep Schedule by MODx

2-point Station Core c500000 4-point Station Core c2000000 8-point Station Core c6000000 Storage Warehouse c1000000 Market Warehouse c1000000 Ship Hangar c5000000 Ore Silo c500000 Repair Shop c150000 Ammunition Shop c150000 Refueling Tank c150000

Upkeep costs are determined from an assessment of the station type and installed MODx. Example: A 4-point POS with one Market MODx, and Refuel, Rearm, and Repair MODx would cost c3450000 weekly.

Failure to pay upkeep after three full weekly cycles will result in the revocation of the station license and destruction of the POS. This will free the space formerly occupied by the station for possible use by a more fiscally responsible pilot.

Unpaid Upkeep Penalties

100% - 200% Owed: Owner will receive a warning message from TRI every time the owner reports for flight duty [message will be seen every time the player logs into the game]. 200% - 300% Owed: As above, and in addition the station name will be automatically changed to "Condemned" as a visible warning to all visitors and passers-by. The owner will be unable to reset the name to normal until less than 200% of the weekly upkeep cost remains unpaid. Over 300% Owed: If at any point the unpaid upkeep exceeds 300% of the regular weekly fee, the station will be demolished by TRI.

A pilot-owned station's management and placement regulations are tied to a pilot's faction identity. If a pilot changes faction [if the player resets his pilot account], the pilot-owned station will be lost. POS owners should consider carefully before making this decision.