Trading & Economy

The economy in Interstellar War is player-driven. Everything from raw minerals to finished warships flows through the market. Understanding the economy is key to funding your operations.

Credits

Credits (CR) are the universal currency:

• Earned from NPC kills, player bounties, and market sales
• Spent on ships, repairs, modules, production jobs, and market purchases
• New players start with 2,000 CR

The Market

The player market operates at starbases. Players can post buy orders and sell orders for items and ships.

Selling Items

1. Navigate to the Market section at a starbase
2. Select an item from your inventory
3. Set your price per unit and quantity
4. The item is listed for other players to buy

Buying Items

1. Browse the market by category
2. Find a sell order you want to purchase
3. Buy at the listed price

Market Categories

Items are organised into hierarchical groups:

• Modules — weapons, shields, engines, reactors, etc.
• Ships — complete hulls for sale
• Materials — raw and refined minerals
• Components — crafted parts used in production

Mining

Minerals are the foundation of the production chain. To mine:

1. Fit a Miner module (type 8) to your ship
2. Fly to a planet with mineral deposits
3. Activate the miner module to begin extraction
4. Minerals are deposited into your ship's cargo

Different planets have different mineral types and quantities.

Refining

Raw minerals need to be refined before they can be used in production:

1. Dock at a starbase with raw minerals in your cargo
2. Open the Production interface
3. Select a refining recipe — input raw minerals, output refined materials
4. Pay the credit cost and wait for the job to complete

Production Jobs

Production happens at starbases with limited job slots:

Aspect	Detail
Max slots	17 per starbase
Job time	Scales with quantity and recipe complexity
Credit cost	Upfront payment required
Skill requirement	Engineering level must meet recipe threshold

Crafting

Refined materials can be crafted into finished goods:

Raw Minerals → Refining → Refined Materials → Components → Ships / Modules

Higher-tier items require more complex recipes with rarer materials and higher engineering skill.

Item Storage

Items are stored at specific locations:

• Starbase inventory — items stored at a particular starbase
• Ship cargo — items loaded onto your ship (limited by cargo capacity)
• Jettison — drop items into space as a container for later retrieval

Cargo Management

Ships have limited cargo space. To manage:

• Load items from starbase to ship before departing
• Unload items from ship to starbase when docked
• Jettison cargo in emergencies (creates a salvageable container in space)

Faction Tax

Your faction takes a tax cut from certain earnings. This tax funds the faction treasury, used for faction-wide operations. The exact rate is set by faction leadership through the voting system and can change over time — check your faction settings for the current value.

Economy Tips

• Mine early — raw minerals are always in demand
• Check market prices — don't sell below what you can get
• Production is profitable — refining and crafting add significant value
• Location matters — items only exist at the starbase where they're stored
• Diversify income — don't rely solely on combat or solely on mining