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Crews and the starport.
A ship runs better with a crew, and a station in orbit is where you buy and sell cargo, take bounties and find trade runs.
Crew posts
A ship has four posts. Whoever mans a post gives the ship what that post is good at.
| Post | What it does |
|---|---|
| Helm | Turns the ship and answers the controls quicker. With no one at the wheel, a helmsman holds her steady in space. |
| Gunnery | Tighter shot groups, quicker turret training, quicker reloads. |
| Engineering | Drives burn less fuel, and blocks lost to damage are patched back on. |
| Navigation | A faster Slipstream, so trips take less time, and cheaper jumps and hops. |
You can man a station yourself: the helm, the gunnery and the engineering and navigation consoles. A player at a station counts as skill level 3. A hired hand takes a post when no player does.
Hiring hands
- Hands are found in a village's inn or a station's crew lounge. Each place has four people for hire, and the same four each day.
- Skill runs from Rookie to Ace (levels 1 to 5). Village hands are mostly Rookies and Regulars, now and then Seasoned. Station hands can reach Ace.
- To sign a hand on you pay three days' wages up front.
- Wages per day by skill: Rookie 5, Regular 9, Seasoned 15, Veteran 24, Ace 38 marks.
- A hand unpaid for three days walks off.
- A hand on a post outside their own trade works at 60% of their skill.
- A ship can hold up to eight hands.
Only the ship's owner can hire, post and let go of hands.
Docking
Fly to within about 220 metres of a station, slow to under 45 metres a second, and dock from the helm. A docked ship is held in place. Undock from the same spot and she casts off with a gentle push. A ship in the Slipstream cannot dock.
The station's market
The market buys and sells commodities by the tonne. Prices move with supply and demand: what you take out makes the rest dearer, and what you put in makes it cheaper. The market settles back over a few days.
| Commodity | Kind | Base price (marks a tonne) |
|---|---|---|
| Iron ore | Ore | 18 |
| Copper ore | Ore | 30 |
| Nickel ore | Ore | 46 |
| Titanium ore | Ore | 84 |
| Platinum-group ore | Ore | 340 |
| Carbon | Ore | 26 |
| Comet ice | Volatile | 7 |
| Helium-3 | Volatile | 420 |
| Rocket fuel | Volatile | 42 |
| Fresh water | Volatile | 9 |
| Provisions | Food | 24 |
| Medical supplies | Goods | 88 |
| Machine parts | Tech | 124 |
| Electronics | Tech | 148 |
| Luxury goods | Luxury | 190 |
| Salvage scrap | Salvage | 13 |
| Alien relics | Salvage | 520 |
Each station kind favours different goods: a mining works sells ore and buys food and machine parts; a research station pays well for relics.
The yard
The yard sells fuel by the unit and puts back blocks that damage took from the ship, at 3 marks a block, a little more at the higher-tier stations.
Bounties and runs
- Raider bounties: beat a few raider craft anywhere. About 95 marks for each, more at higher tiers.
- Wanted captains: find and bring down a named captain's ship in space. Their craft is put on you after you cast off. Worth 380 to 760 marks.
- Legends: bring down a legend of the far worlds. Worth 1,100 to 2,400 marks.
- Trade runs: carry so many tonnes of a commodity to another station. They pay more than selling it here, and more the further the route.
You can carry up to three bounties and three runs at once. The board changes each day.
Tips
- Buy machine parts and sell ore where the price is kind to you. Watch the price move as you trade.
- Put a navigator on the post to shorten long trips.
- Take a run to a distant station only when your ship has the fuel for it.
See Pirates and rivals for who will come after you on the way.
← Back to the wiki · Last updated 25 October 2026. Mantlenaut is in alpha, so things change.