Frontier Expeditions
Frontier is a turn-based exploration game available through the Frontier screen. Open Frontier at the bottom of the right-side menu on desktop/tablet, or from the Launch tab's activity links on mobile. The desktop/tablet view fills the available pane, with scrolling to reach all expedition content. It is separate from Exploration fleet missions, but uses real ships from your currently selected station. Selected ships are unavailable elsewhere until the expedition ends. Surviving ships return; destroyed ships are lost.
Unlock Frontier
Complete Frontier Exploration level 1 in the Discovery research category to unlock expeditions, discoveries, contracts and Frontier rankings in your current galaxy. Queuing or partially funding a level is not enough. The research screen shows the current price, including other-domain tier surcharges. Frontier Logistics is a different technology and does not unlock this mode.
Before completion, Frontier shows a link to Research instead of expedition content. If you already have a squad exploring, Recall existing squad returns its survivors and banks any carried rewards using the usual recall rules. You cannot advance the expedition or launch another until unlocked.
Repeatable Discovery research
Frontier Exploration is repeatable. Uncharted routes can extend up to 10 sectors, with the actual new route rolling from five to that maximum. Contract and mining-site missions start with one sector at research level 1; later levels add a tiered, rounded extra-sector bonus, with milestones at levels 5/10/15. Active runs retain their launch-time route length. Longer contracts do not add fuel, hull or cargo: watch your reserves and return odds.
These ten upgrades and the separate discovery and mission-reward researches improve Frontier. Percentage bonuses use Research Constellation tiers: each fifth completed level adds another initial bonus before 1% per-level compounding. Caps and whole-number rounding still apply. The Research screen shows current and next bonuses and the RP quote.
| Research | Starting modifier | Maximum modifier | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frontier Salvage | +10% | +100% | Encounter salvage Credits, before the expedition cargo limit |
| Frontier Pathfinding | -5% | -50% | Encounter risk after squad agility |
| Expedition Bulkheads | +10% | +100% | Each expedition ship's hull |
| Expedition Shielding | +10% | +100% | Each expedition ship's shield reserve |
| Field Restoration | +10% | +100% | Hull restored by repair signals |
| Deep Range Reserves | +10% | +100% | Starting and maximum fuel |
| Survey Hold Expansion | +10% | +100% | The expedition's Credit cargo limit |
| Expedition Turnaround | -5% | -50% | Supply cooldown between launches, not the daily launch limit |
| Expedition Provisioning | -5% | -50% | Supply Credit cost at launch |
| Discovery Analysis | +10% | +100% | Newly found contract bonuses and mining-site yields |
Expedition Discovery Chance raises the base 35% chance of finding a discovery after successful Uncharted extraction, while Expedition Mission Level independently sets the maximum level of new discoveries. A new discovery rolls uniformly from level 1 through that completed raw research level; level 0 cannot create a discovery. A higher discovered level increases the attached modifier values by 10% per level after the first. System, Galaxy and Wormhole rarity is rolled separately and further multiplies those values; it is not a guaranteed outcome of higher mission-level research.
Separate Mining Site, Survey Beacon, Shielded Vault and Safe Passage Rewards researches improve newly discovered rewards of their own mission type. Every completed five-level tier in one of these reward researches also raises the RP cost of the other mission reward types and Expedition Discovery Chance. It does not add this special coupling to Expedition Mission Level. General other-domain tier costs still apply.
Bonuses are saved when a mission launches. Research purchased afterward applies to your next expedition; discoveries retain the quality of the expedition that found them. Added quantities round down; remaining risk, waits and costs round up. Small fuel reserves may need multiple levels before a whole extra fuel unit appears. Already-safe signals remain safe and positive risk never becomes zero. Hull and shield upgrades affect Frontier only, not ordinary fleet combat. Repairs cannot revive lost ships. Existing expeditions without saved research keep their original rules, including normal ship losses and proportional loss of carried Credits. No upgrade bypasses the unlock, daily limit or ship custody.
Compare your best mission
Open Rankings → Frontier to see the top 100 commanders in your galaxy. Each player appears once, using their successfully extracted mission with the highest completed sector depth. Ties use the Credits banked from that mission; equal runs retain the earliest record. Failed, active and zero-depth runs do not qualify. The squad column shows a ship icon for each ship launched, including duplicates and losses, matching Tactical Squad. Older records without artwork show ship names instead. Credits are the final extraction payout after losses, not lifetime earnings or profit after the launch fee. Older runs without squad records say Not recorded rather than inventing a fleet.
Prepare an expedition
Each launch has a base cost of 25 galaxy Credits for supplies, reduced by Expedition Provisioning. You can have one active expedition per galaxy, with a base 10 minutes between launches, reduced by Expedition Turnaround, and at most six launches in a rolling 24 hours. Contract expeditions use the same limits. The displayed cooldown includes both supply recovery and the daily limit.
Build a squad of one to five owned ships. You may take multiple ships of the same type, up to the quantity available on the selected world. Switch worlds to choose a different local fleet; a squad cannot mix ships from different worlds. Ships already away, in storage or in another commander's custody are not selectable.
Available quantities appear at the bottom-right of each ship icon. Choose Mission at the top of the right-hand briefing: Uncharted space, or an available contract or mining site. In 3.0.5, Launch expedition sits beside Mission at the top of the details panel. Select a squad and check the launch cost before pressing it. There are no separate discovery or market panes.
Ship specialties affect your expedition: Small Cargo adds 10% Credit salvage per ship and Large Cargo adds 20% per ship. These bonuses add and are locked at launch; other ship types help through their roles, shielding and navigation, not an automatic payout multiplier. Contract and temporary scanner bonuses remain separate. Normal cargo limits still apply.
During missions, blue bars show remaining shields and green bars show hull, without numerical combat stats. Shields absorb hits before hull and do not recharge during the run. Repairs heal surviving hull, never resurrect destroyed ships. Internal navigation still affects risk/fuel. The most common ship role sets your route; tied roles use the first tied role in your squad order.
| Role | Ships | Expedition specialty |
|---|---|---|
| Scout | Wayfinder, espionage probe, light fighter | Find one-use contracts with special bonuses and effects |
| Salvager | Recycler, small cargo, large cargo, reaper, colony ship | Find debris and resource mining sites |
| Armored | Heavy fighter, cruiser, battleship, battlecruiser, bomber, destroyer, deathstar | Stronger shields and hull for dangerous signals; no automatic payout multiplier |
| Ship | Expedition specialty |
|---|---|
| Espionage probe | Reduces combat chance by 8 points per probe |
| Wayfinder | Navigation agility lowers encounter risk |
| Light fighter | Scout escort with shields and hull |
| Small cargo | +10% Credit salvage per ship |
| Large cargo | +20% Credit salvage per ship |
| Recycler | +20% recovered mining-site resources per ship |
| Reaper, colony ship | Salvage support and protection |
| Heavy fighter, cruiser, battleship, battlecruiser, bomber, destroyer, deathstar | Armored protection through hull and shields |
Explore or extract
Every sector offers three new signals: a modest salvage opportunity, a richer but more dangerous find, and a support encounter. In 3.0.5, at the first sector, base Credit finds are 1,000–2,000 for modest salvage, 3,000–5,500 for dangerous signals and 2,000–4,000 for an unmapped cache. These are 100 times the earlier finds; launch fees and material finds do not change. Later sectors increase base finds before saved bonuses and the cargo limit apply. The risk percentage is the chance of taking damage, not a promise of profit. Dangerous encounters can also consume an extra unit of fuel when things go wrong.
Signals are ordered from lowest risk on the left to highest risk on the right. On narrow screens, that same order runs from top to bottom. Press 1, 2 or 3 to choose in that order. Shortcuts are inactive while typing or using a menu. Press Esc to recall your squad, then Enter for Yes or Esc for No. Clicking Recall squad asks the same confirmation.
- Each decision advances one sector and normally spends one fuel.
- Repairs restore up to 25 total hull across surviving ships.
- Fuel finds add three fuel, up to a tank limit of 12.
- The first hardware upgrade reduces later damage by 10, with a minimum of five damage when hit. Later scanners add 10 percentage points to the run's salvage bonus, up to 100%, before the launch-time squad bonus.
- Your choices and progress save after every decision. Leaving the page does not end the run.
Recall squad ends your expedition and moves recovered salvage into your galaxy Credit wallet. Reaching your run's final sector with hull remaining automatically extracts. In 3.0.5, new expeditions have a 100,000-Credit cargo limit before Survey Hold Expansion (up to +100%). Existing active runs retain their launch-time limit and already carried Credits. Recall before the first signal to return your ships, but receive no reward or discovery and do not recover the launch fee.
Successful extraction grants one owned, single-use Tactical consumable; its effect is chosen from the Tactical Squad catalog.
Losing a ship does not end the mission while other ships survive. Each destroyed ship loses its equal share of the currently carried, unbanked Credits, based on the number of ships alive immediately before the hit. Losing one of five ships loses 20%; a later loss from four survivors loses 25% of the remaining hold. Credit losses round down to whole Credits and happen before that signal's new salvage is collected. Already-destroyed ships are not charged again, and Credits already in your wallet are untouched. The flight recorder reports each loss.
If all ships are destroyed, or fuel runs out before the final sector, the expedition fails. You lose the launch supplies and all unbanked salvage. Any surviving ships return to their homeworlds; destroyed ships do not. If a homeworld is no longer yours, survivors return to another owned world. Already-owned discoveries are unaffected. Temporary upgrades never carry over into a new run. A contract used to launch a failed expedition is still spent.
Tip: A valuable hold is a reason to leave, not a reason to risk one more signal.
Discoveries
Successful standard expeditions secure a role-specific discovery after at least one signal. Scout routes find one-use destinations with a salvage bonus and an extra shield, safer approach or larger reward multiplier. Contract route length starts at one sector at Frontier Exploration level 1; completed levels extend it by the displayed tiered, rounded bonus, fixed at launch. You can recall early after a signal. Deeper exploration increases the base bonus from 15% at sector one to 50% at sector eight.
Salvager routes find mining-site coordinates with debris plus raw metal, crystal and deuterium. These are instanced deep-space Frontier coordinates, not occupied planet slots on the galaxy map. Launch the site with a new squad and complete its encounter to deliver the listed resources to a surviving ship's return world. The site is one-use; it is consumed on launch, even if you recall or fail. Resource amounts appear on the site's discovery description.
Armored routes can also recover contracts. Contracts and mining sites do not generate further discoveries, preventing an endless chain of one-use rewards. Older discoveries can still be used, with their existing bonus applied to a one-time encounter.
Choose an unlisted discovery using Mission, then select your squad and launch. The normal launch fee and cooldown apply. You can instead list an unused contract or mining site in the Exchange auction: bidders commit galaxy Credits, a higher bid replaces the prior hold, and the timed winner receives the one-use discovery after settlement. A listed discovery cannot launch until its listing is withdrawn; using one consumes it even if you recall or fail. Frontier itself has no trading controls.
Discoveries and runs remain inside their galaxy. You can hold up to 100 unused discoveries, including listings; an active expedition reserves a slot for its eventual discovery. Use discoveries to make room. Frontier actions are unavailable during vacation mode.
Flight recorder and results
The flight recorder puts the newest event first, with dates and times in your device's local timezone. Older records without a saved timestamp show Earlier. Mission completion opens a summary of ships returned, ships lost, loot actually banked, and contracts or sites found. Failed missions show no banked loot. Use Mission summary to reopen the latest result; Enter or Esc closes it.