Sectors
Sectors are the economic and infrastructural units of a holding. Where a building implies a single structure, a sector implies a dedicated zone of a planetary or orbital body committed to a function — mining regions, industrial districts, population centers, orbital platforms.
This page captures design directions and tensions around how sectors work within the broader economy.
Goal
Define a development layer that:
- scales with holding commitment (claims to colonies)
- makes stellar object quality matter economically
- forces meaningful trade-offs rather than building everything everywhere
- integrates naturally with resources, specialists, and holding types
Core Problem
Holdings need an internal economy that rewards investment without making every object economically identical. The existing holding progression (Claim → Frontier → Colony) defines what a holding can do. Sectors define what a holding actually does.
The challenge is making sector development feel like genuine strategic choices, not just a time queue to fill.
Working Directions
Sector Categories
Two categories of sectors are under consideration: scalable sectors and foundational investments.
Scalable sectors develop over time. Each level costs more and produces more. They represent ongoing commitment.
| Sector | Function |
|---|---|
| Extraction | Produces raw resources from the object's composition |
| Logistics Hub | Moves resources into and out of the holding |
| Processing Complex | Converts raw resources into industrial-tier materials |
| Population Sector | Grows and sustains civilian population (Colony only) |
| Orbital Platform | Enables space-based operations, repair, shipyard access |
| Defense Grid | Fortifications, planetary guns, garrison support |
Foundational investments are one-time. They unlock capabilities or raise the ceiling on what a holding can develop.
| Investment | Effect |
|---|---|
| Survey Beacon | Reveals full resource composition of the object |
| Settlement Charter | Enables Population District development |
| Deep Extraction License | Unlocks access to subsurface and exotic-tier resources |
| Orbital Station | Prerequisite for Orbital Platform sector |
| Heavy Industry Foundation | Unlocks Processing Complex development |
Sector Capacity
Holdings have a finite number of sector slots. Slot count varies by object type and holding tier, and each slot can have its own Slot Class.
A rough working direction:
- Asteroid Belt (Claim): 2–3 slots
- Moon (Frontier): 4–6 slots
- Planet (Colony-eligible): 8–12 slots
The important distinction is that slots are no longer just anonymous capacity. A holding can have a mix of Prime, Standard, and Marginal slots, or some equivalent class system.
This prevents every holding from becoming fully self-sufficient and forces specialization in two ways:
- limited slot count constrains breadth
- slot-class distribution constrains where high-value sectors make sense
Two holdings with the same number of slots can therefore still develop very differently.
Resource Occurrence Modifier
Each stellar object has a resource composition profile with occurrence ratings per resource type.
Occurrence acts as a multiplier on extraction sector output. A planet with high Structural Materials occurrence produces significantly more per extraction sector level than a low-occurrence object at the same level.
This means:
- high-occurrence objects are economically valuable and worth developing
- low-occurrence objects can still produce, but development investment returns less
- no amount of sector investment fully compensates for poor occurrence
- scouting and object valuation are meaningful before committing
Processing Dependency
Industrial-tier and exotic-tier resources cannot be produced by Extraction alone. They require a Processing Complex.
Players must choose:
- develop Processing locally (occupies one of the holding's limited slots and may want a high-class slot, making the holding more self-contained)
- ship raw materials to a different holding with processing capacity (requires logistics investment and creates supply chain vulnerability)
This creates meaningful trade flow within and between empires and makes logistics infrastructure strategically important.
Specialists
Specialists are assigned to specific sector types and boost their efficiency. A Mining Specialist in an Extraction sector might increase output by a flat percentage or unlock a special production behavior.
Specialists are a scarce resource. Assigning one to a high-occurrence extraction planet is a stronger choice than distributing them evenly. This rewards deliberate holding prioritization.
Slot Class could reinforce this further. A specialist assigned to a Prime extraction slot on a high-occurrence object is a much stronger commitment than assigning that same specialist to a marginal support sector.
The interaction between specialists and sectors is not yet fully defined.
Saturation
High-occurrence objects return more yield per extraction sector level. Slot Class determines how efficiently a holding can convert that natural potential into actual production.
Low-occurrence objects hit a practical ceiling even at high development levels — you cannot extract resources that are not there. Likewise, a holding with mostly low-class slots may never convert a strong occurrence profile into its full possible output.
This creates a hard economic argument for scouting before developing and makes object quality a lasting strategic factor, not just an early-game concern.
Capture Value
Sector development does not disappear when a holding changes hands. The infrastructure persists. A fully developed extraction holding is therefore a military target, not just because of current output but because of the investment embedded in it.
This is intentional. Developed holdings should feel worth fighting over.
Open Questions
- What are the exact slot counts and Slot Class distributions per object type and holding tier?
- Which sector types are locked to specific holding tiers (e.g., Population District only at Colony)?
- Should foundational investments consume sector slots, or are they outside the slot economy?
- Should foundational investments improve Slot Class, add slots, or mostly unlock new sector families?
- How do specialists interact with sector levels — additive bonus, multiplicative, or unlock-based?
- Should some sector combinations produce synergy bonuses, or is that too complex?
- Can sectors be downgraded or removed, or are they permanent commitments once built?
- Does occurrence affect all tiers of a resource type, or only the specific tier it applies to?
- What are the exact energy consumption rates per sector type per level?