Star Atlas Reveals the Third Generation of the Ship Configuration System

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Star Atlas

6 min readSep 18, 2023

The new system accompanies the next series of game modules including soon to be released SAGE Labs space strategy economic loop.

The Basics of Ship Configuration

Ship configuration consists of all of the modifiable and static parts that make up each unique ship. These basics are outlined in the Star Atlas Lore Wiki.

The Evolution of the Ship Configuration System

As the game systems continue evolving in lockstep with in-game utility, the way ship configurations work since the early GAO Phase 1 era has evolved significantly. Throughout this whole time, we have iterated and improved the breadth and depth of underlying rule sets and schema for populating a ship’s loadout.

The first major upgrade came with the second generation, Ship Config V2, which saw significant changes to crew, components, and modules. Crew stations and interior elements were also introduced. In releasing the V2 update, we received a lot of feedback from the community, most notable of which was:

Ship descriptions didn’t match configuration.
Make Component Variance Table is counterproductive to Make Bonuses.
Origination pricing wasn’t consistent with manufacturer premia and bonuses.

Regarding point 1, ship configurations have already been adjusted to match ship descriptions in the latest Galactic Marketplace patch. For example, if a description mentioned an oversized weapon, the ship does in fact sport an oversized hardpoint. Other tweaks were made to remove mentions of oversized components and instead mention higher quality components. This segues nicely into the next point.

Regarding point 2, the entire component variance table is being removed. This means all components filling core component slots (but not weapon slots) will be the same class (eg. XX-Small, X-Small, Small, Medium, etc.) as the ship. However, ships will still be able to slot components of varying tiers from Tier 0 to Tier 5. Higher tier components will consume more power, generate more heat, but also have significant performance enhancements.

Another important note is that most of the manufacturer bonuses apply to the component itself now. This means a component with a high manufacturer point value is applied to the ship it is slotted in. If a Pearce warp drive is slotted in a Busan ship, that Busan ship enjoys the Pearce Warp drive bonus. To further make things interesting, there will also be matching bonuses for components matching the ship manufacturer. The details of that system are work in progress, but the intent is to create a significant amount of options and complexity for build crafting.

By default, all ships purchased from the GAO or owned from secondary market transactions prior to a future snapshot will receive core components up to Tier 3, weapons, modules, and a special unannounced mechanic for crew member distribution. A +1 class boost will be given to any currently oversized core component in lieu of removing component variances. The snapshot will be communicated ahead of time. The snapshot date has not been publicized.

Regarding point 3, which is origination pricing and V2 ship stat configs, we are granting buffs to certain ships that were worse off than their intra-class counterparts. These buffs for select ships will come in the form of upgraded components. The following Table outlines the component point upgrades that each respective ship will receive in order to match its V2 performance with its origination price.

Only ships on this list will receive a boost to their component tiers, otherwise, they receive all tier 1 components (and tier 2 for any oversized core components) — unless marked (a) or (b) for an exception.

Ship-specific particularities:

VZUS opod granted a higher tier scanner in lieu of the hull reinforcement from VZUS due to description.
Fimbul BYOS Packlite spent two of its upgrades on two additional cargo modules based on community feedback.

As an example, the Opal JetJet was relatively more expensive than a similarly performant ship like the Pearce X5 (excluding manufacturer bonus). This warranted 16 component upgrades.

To apply the upgrades, we took the following into consideration:

Ship descriptions and existing oversized components.

2. Prioritized components affecting SAGE Labs stats:

Warp drive → Warp Distance
Subwarp drive → Subwarp Speeds
Scanner Array → Scanning cooldown

3. All remaining points were spread across all the core components evenly.

The component upgrades will be reflected in the SAGE Labs stats in the initial release as well as honored pending the snapshot. Snapshot date has not been announced and will be made public in the future.

Ship Pricing in the Future

Although the fundamental ship pricing algorithm has not changed since V2 ship configs have been released, the price of ships will be much more uniform within a single ship class. This is simply due to the nature of V2 configs. The method is straightforward:

Each ship class has a baseline price.
Each ship has a manufacturer premium or discount (depending on the make): The price premium or discount will be reflected in the stats of the ship, i.e. higher priced ships, due to a manufacturer premium, will be relatively more performant than lower priced ships.

For example, suppose a ship has a baseline price of 2000 ATLAS and it gets a 10% manufacturer premium. This ship (and all other ships of its size and manufacturer) would receive a price of 2200 ATLAS origination price.

Ship Configuration Q&A

If ships are receiving Tier 1 components, what are Tier 0 components for?

When a new ship configuration update goes live, components can be removed from ships. This will leave behind a Tier 0 component in the ship that cannot be removed or sold. This means ships will always be flight ready. Tier 0 can easily be replaced with higher quality components of the correct type and class. Also, after the snapshot and airdrop for crew, components, and modules, any future ship will only be for the base hull with Tier 0 core components. Any weapons, crew, modules, or core component upgrades will need to be acquired separately.

Why was component variance removed?

Some ships had oversized/undersized components working against their own specs bonuses. For example, we had some stealthy bounty hunters/data runners with undersized heat sinks which was counterproductive
Accounting for ships with oversized/undersized components where the expectations that those components are 2–3x more/less powerful was challenging if not impossible without collapsing the power spectrum which then devalues larger ships.
The power and heat management system was having a hard time accounting for components that generated/consumed 2–3x more power/heat than the other components in the correct class.
Component tiers accomplishes the same intent without the complications listed above

Ship Core Component Tier Table

The table below lists the core component tiers that will be granted to each ship pending the snapshot. Core components range from Tier 0 to Tier 5.

See the updates soon on labs.staratlas.com.

ABOUT STAR ATLAS

Star Atlas is a next-gen gaming metaverse emerging from the confluence of state-of-the-art blockchain, real-time graphics, multiplayer video games, and decentralized financial technologies.

Using Unreal Engine 5’s Nanite, real-time graphics technology allows for cinematic quality video game visuals. In addition, blockchain technology using the Solana protocol establishes a largely serverless and secured gameplay experience. Non-fungible tokens obtained and traded within Star Atlas create an economy that replicates tangible world assets and ownership. To learn more, visit StarAtlas.com, join a faction at Play.StarAtlas.com, send your spaceships on a deep space mission by enrolling them in a Faction Fleet, harvesting resources with Faction Claims and download the Showroom on your PC. Participate in governance of the Star Atlas DAO. Gather, craft, trade and prosper with the SAGE Labs browser-based game.