The stock drive now thrusts 5g (was 7g), so early careers cost real years: a typical core run ages you ~2.9 instead of ~2.2, and reaching a maxed ship consumes most of a natural lifespan - the Rejuv Course and Redline Coils (which still climb to 55g) earn their price. Contracts beyond your current outfit still roll; that is the point.
The Guild knows Einstein: passenger aging caps are now floored at 110% of the best any maxed ship could physically fly, so no contract is secretly unwinnable. Under honest ramp physics a 3-4g passenger cannot cross 2000 ly in much under 3 ship-years no matter the engine - about one in nine deep cryo contracts was demanding exactly that. The hardest hauls are now barely possible instead of quietly impossible.
The governor now caps sustained pace (beta-gamma, the light-years you cover per ship-year) instead of peak gamma - the watch's perfect autopilot was sustaining gamma 50,000+ across whole deep hauls, making 3,800 ly runs cost under a year of life. Long hauls now age you 2-3 years; Redline Coils raise the pace ceiling; fragile cryo passengers stay deliverable at high coil levels. The Deep Space License now requires coils level 3.
Star map now scales to the core cluster alone. Once the Deep Space License is earned, the 800-2500 ly halo stations no longer crush the cluster to a dot - they pin to the frame edge as square signposts along their true bearing, with routes running off the map toward them.
Deep Space License retuned now that Redline Coils raise thrust: the gate is redline itself - gamma 2,000, the same number the web game paints red. It genuinely requires coils (unreachable without them), plus a long leg, rugged freight, and the fuel to afford it.
Redline Coils now harden your burns as well as raising your top speed - matching the web game's warp burn, where coils are what make redline reachable on a short leg. The top plan rung becomes WARP once coils are fitted, and every contract card now shows the THRUST its ramp will pull. Fixed: starting a new career no longer opens the map on the previous career's row.
Deep Space License is reachable again: the old gamma 25,000 goal was impossible under honest ramp physics (a leg's top gamma is capped by its length), so it is now gamma 700 - a long haul with rugged freight and a tank or drive upgrade. Redline Coils now say what they do: they raise MAX, and pay off on long hauls. How-to-play updated for the speed ladder.
Fix: on short legs the MAX and high fixed-speed plans could collapse to a 0.01c crawl (rounding at the exact ramp-geometry limit). They now correctly fly the fastest physically possible profile.
Speed ladder fixes: top rung renamed MAX (it is the stock governor - Redline Coils raise it), and short legs now clamp speed exactly instead of undershooting, so MAX is never slower than a lower rung.
Pick your cruise speed: Up/Down on the contract card cycles AUTO, fixed speeds, and REDLINE - your gamma is now your call. Drive thrust is capped at 7g, so hard burns take real ramp time. Recovery tow now only offered when you truly can't afford fuel.
Now supports every modern Pebble: Time, Time 2, Pebble 2, Core 2 Duo, Time Round, and Round 2.
Now supports every modern Pebble: Time, Time 2, Pebble 2, Core 2 Duo, Time Round, and Round 2.