1. The three views: universe, sector, world

The universe: a grid of sectors.

The universe is a grid of sectors, and it shows at a glance which parts of the galaxy are colonised and which are empty. It is where you look for somewhere to expand, and for somebody to raid.

A sector: the worlds around one star.

A sector holds a number of worlds in orbit around a star – yours, other commanders', and unclaimed ones. Sectors are addressed by three coordinates, written X:Y:Z, and a world's full address adds its orbital slot.

A world, drawn in 3D and turned with the camera.

A world is where you actually play. It is drawn in real 3D and you turn it with the camera; your structures stand on the surface as buildings that grow with their level.

The universe view carries a sector finder: type a set of coordinates and the map goes there, whether or not your sensors reach that far. Beyond your range you arrive and find nothing – range decides what you can see in a sector, never whether you may go and look.

Distance is not decoration. Crossing from one sector to another costs substantially more flight time than moving within one, and flight time is counted in sectors traversed rather than in raw distance. A neighbour is a genuinely different proposition from somebody four sectors away.