You're never alone in a system with a station. Couriers dart between docks, haulers come and go through the Span gates, barge crews work the belts and ore haulers run their ore home. Station traffic control talks them in and out on the System channel. Busy Core hubs are crowded. Quiet Frontier systems have a ship or two and a lot of empty space.
Everyday traffic sits on the Scope's Traffic tab, not General, so it never buries the ships that matter. See The Scope and brackets.
Who you'll see
| Ship | What it does |
|---|---|
| Shuttle, Hauler | Passengers and freight between stations and the Span gates. |
| Courier | Fast parcel runs from one dock to another. |
| Mining barge | Contract crews working the rocks, beams on, until their holds are full. |
| Ore hauler | Pulls up beside the barges, takes their ore and runs it to the station. |
| Tug | A slow work boat towing a cargo pod. Give it room. |
| Salvager | Picks over the wrecks once a fight is over. It leaves the loot for pilots. |
| Warden patrol | A station's pair of Wardens: out to a gate or belt, a look around, home again. They fight criminals and pirates on the way. |
| Envoy | Now and then, a Charter envoy at a stately pace with four Wardens in formation. Mostly at Core trade hubs. |
The civilians are unarmed, and attacking any of them is an attack under the law like any other. See Conduct and flags.
Raids
Out in the Frontier, Cartel raiders sometimes jump a hauler near a gate. They knock its slip drive out, so it can only run for the station at sublight, and it calls a mayday on the System channel. You can watch, or join in:
- Defend it: shoot the raiders. They carry their usual bounties, and the hauler thanks you on the radio.
- Let it go: the raiders kill it, and some of its ore may survive in the wreck.
Raiders also turn on anyone who shoots them, and on Wardens. In Core space raids are rarer, and the Wardens answer the mayday: a patrol slips in, or the gate guard opens fire.
Runners
A Cartel runner crosses the Frontier from gate to gate with its lights off. It shows on the Scope only within 25 km and never fires, so traffic doesn't run from it. It's fast, and it carries a small bounty. Catch it before it reaches the far gate.
Salvagers
A minute or so after a kill, once the shooting has stopped, a salvage skiff may turn up to cut what's left of the wreck. It doesn't take the loot, so the wreck stays yours to open. If pirates are still around, it waits.