Coronado: a Blueprint for Star Solo Starports

My next update for Star Solo is here – and with it comes Coronado, a Starport to explore within colonized space!

You can check out the most recent version of Star Solo at the link at the bottom of the article. In this article I’ll talk a bit about Starports in Star Solo, what they do for the game now, and what else I would like to add to them in future versions of the game.

A Starport is a Place

Okay yes obviously a starport is a place. But in Star Solo, a starport is the place. It’s the main place you can visit and explore new worlds from.

Starports are basically the main areas of interest for this particular corner of the system. Sure, there are other opportunities outside of the starport. But the starport itself is where most of the action lives.

The starport for any given planet or moon allows you to find jobs, buy and sell cargo, make repairs, etc. But it is also a jumping-off point for exploration. The jobs will send you across the system to new locations.

The starport also gives you a chance to understand a bit what this world is all about. I’ve elected to take the Star Wars approach to worldbuilding – where each world has a very distinctive biome and feel to it. Over time I’ll add locations (like the Gaming Clubs you can currently visit at Travene), which will add more variety to these worlds. But for now, I want each world to have a distinctive feel to it, and starports are my main tool in accomplishing this.

A Starport has Data

Data currently does one thing in Star Solo – it tells you a bit about the world. For example, Coronado’s starport is a starport (as opposed to a spaceport, which would be located on the planet). It has a docking fee of 2 credits per day, a population code of 3 and a security code of 2.

This doesn’t mean much on its own, but when compared to Travene’s Starport (10 credit docking fee, population of 5 and security of 5), a picture begins to emerge of what Coronado is, and what it isn’t.

Eventually, this data is going to have other impacts on the game. For example, certain jobs may be more challenging if the security of the location you are entering is higher. Certain ship upgrades, like passenger cabins, may have a better chance of finding passengers at locations with a higher population.

This data helps add to the detail, and dynamic feel of the game.

Coronado Spaceport Cargo

Cargo is another detail that tells you a bit about the location. Coronado currently has one export – luxury meats. This is a “wild west” style world, and large herbivores roam the grasslands. These meats bring a premium in Travene, where they can afford such meats.

Foodstuffs are the only import, or cargo you can sell currently. This reflects that, despite the luxury prices the beasts on Coronado bring, they still rely on the core worlds for basic necessities. Eventually things like Medicine will be added as well.

Cargo is a nice side-gig for any pilot in Star Solo, helping make trips a little more worth their while when it comes to earning a few more credits.

Coronado Jobs

Jobs are the lifeblood of Star Solo. Each starport, including the Coronado Starport, includes a list of jobs that you can get hired for.

On the surface, jobs are a feature of gameplay. Your character needs money to stay ahead of their debt to keep flying, and jobs are (usually) the most efficient way to earn money.

However, jobs do more than just create a way to keep playing. Jobs also give reasons for your character to visit different locations around the system. For example, Kote is not an economic powerhouse. But a job on Travene can give a player a reason to go to Kote, where they can explore more of the locations of the universe.

Jobs also add to the story and setting of the location. For example, the jobs found at Travene are different in tone, style, and the nature of the job when compared to jobs found on Kote. Additionally, jobs can help move each location track forward or backward, like the Kote Revolution Track.

Jobs on Coronado are gritty and adventurous. Coronado is located in colonized space. While there is an established system of law, it is on the frontier, and the arm of the law doesn’t reach quite as far as it does in central space.

The job above outlines the importance of livestock (which is used for luxury meat) on Coronado, as well as the frail infrastructure of the planet. Despite the importance of luxury meat as an export, there are frequent events of livestock escaping their enclosures, which results in a mad dash of pilots from the Starport to recover as many as possible before the job is done.