In our last dev journal, we introduced the Pirate Galleon and hinted at unsubstantiated reports of these fearsome vessels roaming the phaselanes and attacking planets. We advised that a wise admiral should be prepared for anything.

Consider this your preparation.

The Pirate Incursion is a new game event in which a Pirate Galleon will actively target a player's territory, stage a forward operating position on their border, and launch escalating waves of Pirate raiders against their planets. This isn't a bounty raid you can redirect with credits. This is a sustained assault, and it won't stop until you deal with the source.

Anatomy of an Incursion

When a Pirate Incursion triggers, the Galleon takes on the role of Incursion Commander, the beating heart of the entire operation. Here's how it plays out:

Spawning: The Incursion Commander spawns at a Pirate Base belonging to one of the Pirate minor factions on the map. If no valid Pirate Base exists, it will spawn at a star instead. Either way, it arrives ready for a fight.

Staging: The Galleon identifies an unowned gravity well adjacent to one of the target player's planets and travels there to establish a staging point. If no unowned wells are available nearby, it will set up in one of the target's own gravity wells as the Pirates aren't picky about trespassing.

Raiding: Once the Incursion Commander reaches its staging point, it selects the highest-level planet owned by the target player within striking distance and begins calling in waves of Incursion Raiders. These raiders attack into the target gravity well, putting direct pressure on the player's infrastructure and defenses.

Escalation: The Incursion operates on a progression table. As time passes, the composition of each wave intensifies. What starts as probing attacks by light Pirate ships will escalate into increasingly dangerous assault groups the longer the Incursion is left unchecked.

Ending the Incursion

The Incursion continues as long as its Commander is alive and under Pirate control. There are two ways to end it:

Destroy the Galleon: A direct assault on the staging point to eliminate the Commander is the most straightforward solution. No Commander, no Incursion and the raider waves stop immediately. However, once the Pirate Galleon is under attack it may recall raider fleets back to defend their swashbuckling leader so prepare for a tough fight!

Capture the Galleon: As we covered in our previous journal, the Galleon will surrender when beaten below its hull threshold rather than entering a crippled state and running away. A surrendered Galleon can be captured using the new capture system. Successfully capturing the Incursion Commander ends the Incursion just as decisively as destroying it, but now you've got yourself a Pirate Galleon. With Pillage, Twin Ion Bolt, Redline Navigation, and Mag Blast Torpedo Salvo at your disposal, your former problem just became your opponents' new headache.

Importantly, simply forcing the Galleon into its surrender state does not end the Incursion. The raiders keep coming until the Commander is either destroyed or changes ownership. A surrendered Galleon sitting uncaptured on your border will heal slowly and can become an active threat again.

Strategic Implications

The Pirate Incursion system is designed to create moments of tension that ripple across the entire map. When an Incursion lands, the targeted player faces immediate, difficult decisions:

• Do you pull your fleet back from an offensive to deal with the staging point, giving your opponent time to recover?

• Do you trust your defenses to absorb the raids while you finish what you started elsewhere?

• Do you commit to capturing the Galleon, accepting the risk and time investment for a powerful reward?

In multiplayer, these decisions matter even more. Every other player in the game can see that you're under pressure. An Incursion tying down one player's fleet is an opening for everyone else — and a captured Galleon swinging the balance of power is something no neighbor can afford to ignore.

Technical Implementation and Modding

This is a very complex event from a technical angle! Some among you may be asking, “Can I leverage something similar for my mod?“ “How much power do I have in altering this event?“ The answer, my friend, is yes.

The Pirate Incursion event represents the first addition into a brand new engine system, the events system. One may now write their own Lua script, import them from their mod, and have them sit alongside the Pirate Incursion, edit the Incursion, or disable it.

We would love to be very clear on this fact for modders: This is an incredibly powerful system for your mod. You can do an absolute ton that you were not able to before. Next time you want something in your mod (spawning X ships on startup for player Y, for example), consider trying to add it as an event. The possibilities are truly endless, and if you find something that it cannot do, and you want the system to handle, you do know how to get in touch with us via Discord channels.

We're looking forward to seeing how players rise to meet this new challenge. The Pirates have been lurking in the shadows long enough. Now they're kicking down the door.

Stay tuned for more updates as development continues.