Your first port

A new game starts at 08:00 on an empty plot with 1,830,000 credits on an Earthlike world (2,400,000 on a Frontier world, where building costs 25 % more and crews need supplies). That is enough for a first port of two pads, storage and a power plant, plus about a million to trade with. Nothing works until you build the Port Authority.

1. Place the Port Authority

The Port Authority is free, and you can only have one. It is your headquarters: it runs the port, holds a small mixed store (5,000 units of solids, liquids and gases) and supplies a little power. Every other building requires it, so place it first — somewhere central, because pads, storage and services want to be near each other.

2. Build landing pads

Ships can't come if there is nowhere to land.

• Light Pad (30 × 30 m) — Couriers and Light Haulers.
• Cargo Pad (40 × 40 m) — Tankers, and anything smaller.

A pad serves ships of its own size and smaller. Two pads is a good start: one Cargo Pad and one Light Pad.

3. Add storage

Bought cargo has to go somewhere. A Warehouse holds solids (20,000 units); a Tank Farm holds liquids and gases (10,000 units). Watch which goods the ships bring before you choose — fuel, water and hydrogen need tanks.

4. Make sure you have power

Pads and staffed buildings draw power. Early on, the Port Authority's output covers a pad or two; after that you need a Power Plant (12 units of output). See Power.

5. Open for business

Let time run. Ships arrive, land and offer deals. Accept the profitable ones (see Trading), keep an eye on storage and power, and expand when the pads are always full or ships queue overhead.

A good first hour

1. Port Authority → Cargo Pad → Light Pad → Warehouse.
2. Run time at normal speed and trade with the first ships.
3. Add a Power Plant before a third pad.
4. Add a Tank Farm when liquid deals start looking good.
5. Build a Research Lab once money is flowing steadily.