NF

What happened everywhere else

The roster: Dex Holt

Dex Holt works as a technician at zqyx. Came from the Europa ice works. Skill 100 of 100. 1,585,531 shifts on the roster. Holds master, veteran, veteran2.

zqyx, from landing to now

zqyx came down with nothing but a shuttle and what was in it. Halo Okafor, Quill Dorsey, Cyrus Mbeki have been on the roster longest, and were there when it came down. 1,594,441 shifts stand against Halo Okafor alone. There are 158 structures standing now, 357 people on the roster and 34 machines in service. 69 technologies have been worked out since, none of which came down on the shuttle. Nobody has ever attacked it. 2,804,436 units of materials sit in store against a landing that had none.

Overheard on the frontier

The fleet and the crew talk among themselves on their own channels. A sample from this sol. Hoist: Dust Sifter is paid up. Ember: got the Dust Sifter, it'll hold. Quill Okafor: no post today, so - sweeping out the bay. Quill Dorsey has been on shift too long.

Highs and lows across the frontier

Orin Narrows has the most standing, 277 structures. Orin Narrows has the most people, 477 on the roster. zqyx has the most machines, 34 in service. zqyx has the most alloy in store, 74,983. Kessari Reach is running thinnest, with 2 on the roster. Nobody is keeping score. The Dispatch simply counts.

On the slate at Orin Narrows

What Orin Narrows is aiming at. 1 under way: 1 Ore Extractor.

The channels have been quiet

Nothing has been said on the open channels. There are four of them -- Global reaches everybody, Trade is for offers and wants, Sector and Zone reach your neighbours. All four keep their history, so something said now is still there for whoever signs in next.

Running now

Nothing is open. The scoreboard is idle and every colony is scoring only for itself.

Just finished

The Deep Mine closed 18 hours ago, taken by Xylos Nyxian. Mark Pushed Further closed 3 days ago, taken by Xylos Nyxian. Seven Milestone closed 5 days ago, taken by Xylos Nyxian. Standings are the ones recorded when it closed. The live counters carry on afterwards, and a result that changes after it is announced is not a result.

Coming up

Filled and Sent — alliances opens in 6 hours -- Contracts filled over one day. Alliances enter together: everything every member does is added up, and every member of a winning alliance takes the prize. Anyone who reaches 2 before it closes wins. Only what you do while it is running counts. The scheduler intends to invent the next one in 47 hours.

How a competition works

Everything measured here is measured as a DELTA. What you had when it opened is written down, and only what you add after that counts -- so a colony founded this morning competes on the same terms as one that has been running for a hundred sols. There is nothing to enter and no way to opt out: if you are holding a claim when it opens, you are in it.

Filled and Sent — alliances is announced

Contracts filled over one day. Alliances enter together: everything every member does is added up, and every member of a winning alliance takes the prize. Anyone who reaches 2 before it closes wins. Only what you do while it is running counts. Frontier Command will be counting contracts filled across every claim on the frontier. It opens in 7 hours. On offer: the Pioneer crew crew shirt. Nothing at stake changes what a colony can do — but it will change what it looks like, and everyone will know where it came from.

Results: the last 3 competitions

The Deep Mine, counting resources mined, closed 18 hours ago. zqyx won the Holdfast crew shirt — reached 6,000,000, Vantor Hold won the Holdfast crew shirt — reached 6,000,000 and Orin Narrows won the Holdfast crew shirt — reached 6,000,000. Xylos Nyxian finished on top with 27,570,632.0 and took nothing. Mark Pushed Further, counting waves held, closed 3 sols ago. zqyx won the Pioneer crew crew shirt — reached 30, Vantor Hold won the Pioneer crew crew shirt — reached 30 and Orin Narrows won the Pioneer crew crew shirt — reached 30. Xylos Nyxian finished on top with 136 and took nothing. Seven Milestone, counting resources mined, closed 5 sols ago. zqyx won the Champion bot livery — reached 7,000,000, Vantor Hold won the Champion bot livery — reached 7,000,000 and Orin Narrows won the Champion bot livery — reached 7,000,000. Xylos Nyxian finished on top with 23,792,437.1 and took nothing.

The frontier, in numbers

4 colonies, 870 colonists, 729 structures standing. Largest: Orin Narrows at 277.

The lie of the land

The claims on this frontier are spread across 1 zone. Kessari Reach and Vantor Hold are the furthest apart, 222 tiles of ground between them. The ground decides everything. A claim with no ore vein is a claim with no extractor, no ferrite and no way to reach ground that has some -- which is why the map is worth reading before the build queue is.

The armoury: Singularity Cannon

Does 320 damage a round. Costs 500 alloy, 260 circuit, 200 crystal, 120 polymer.

The Founder's Standard

A flag bearing the Nexus Frontier mark and a heart. It costs nothing to raise and goes up the instant it is placed -- no work, no materials, no crew walking out to plant it. Any founder may raise one on any colony they hold, as many as they like. It does nothing. That is the point of it: it is the one structure on the frontier built purely to be looked at.

Raiders keep their own schedule

They form out past the ridge, you get ninety ticks of warning and an honest reading of whether you can take it, and then it happens. A wave is drawn against the defence you actually field, so a turret line is never wasted and never outgrown. Hold the line, sortie past the turrets, or shelter and let them have the outer buildings — the choice is yours until it lands. Jobs → Waves.

In service: Derrick

Derrick runs out of zqyx. A welder chassis. On the record: 2,347,974 tiles walked, 43167 crates hauled, 66485 repairs made. 5269.8 sols in service. Most of what it has carried is silicon -- 1,030,415 units of it.

The Deep Scanner, in detail

Costs 520 alloy, 300 circuit, 110 optic. Crewed by 2 scientist. Draws 88 power. Produces data 7.5. 1 standing across the frontier, the most at zqyx with 1.