Beyond These Stars Scout and Trade Ships

Beyond These Stars uses different ships for different system tasks. Scout ships investigate and interact with discoveries, Trade ships move resources between Kewa and settled planets, and Settlement spaceships establish new planetary settlements. Choose the ship by the action shown in System View rather than expecting one hull to perform every role.

Unlock the transport chain in order

The wider ship system depends on settlement technology and production. The Buildings list places Space Port and Spaceship Builder in the Transport category, while the Settlement Spaceship has its own construction demands. Follow the current technology-tree prerequisites and produce the requested materials before reserving a large footprint.

Build near storage and an accessible workforce. A Space Port uses workers and holds large quantities of resources, so a remote port without nearby homes can remain idle despite a full city elsewhere. Preserve road access and output room around the Spaceship Builder.

Do not spend every Steel, Tool, Electronics, Glass, or Fuel unit on a ship if doing so stops the industries and housing that must support its destination. Maintain a construction buffer and basic settlement reserve first.

Use Scout ships for information and events

System View can contain events, strange objects, worlds, and other points of interest. The official galaxy guide identifies Scout spaceships as one way the Peeps investigate and interact with those elements. Resolve the current prompt in the system layer; the galaxy map itself only brought Kewa to the location.

Save before a story-significant interaction if you want a clean recovery point. Do not assume a Scout will reveal or resolve content that the objective has not yet made available.

Configure Trade ships through Space Ports

Space Ports load Trade ships for movement between settled planets and Kewa. Configure the desired stacks at the source. Once the requested resources are present in the port, loading is immediate according to the official storage guidance. At the destination, the port can temporarily accept unloaded resources even when not configured for them.

Temporary acceptance is not permanent logistics. Leave destination storage and workers ready to clear the port, or the next shipment may arrive into a clogged district. Configure exact imports and exports so abundant local goods do not crowd out a rare material required by Kewa.

Treat the two ports as one chain:

1. The planet produces a surplus and moves it into its Space Port.
2. The Trade ship loads the configured cargo.
3. The destination port receives it.
4. Workers move it into valid storage or the final consumer.
5. Return cargo, if any, supports the outpost’s missing needs.

A ship in motion cannot fix an understaffed source port or a destination with no storage headroom.

Establish outposts without abandoning them

Before launching a Settlement spaceship, inspect the planet’s biome, water, buildable land, and resources. Pack or plan the materials needed to create homes, food, drink, roads, and port infrastructure. The official developer diary describes planets as specialized outposts that reinforce Kewa rather than independent replacements for the main city.

Once established, keep enough residents near essential planet jobs and avoid opening every slot. Outposts can lack resources that feel basic on Kewa, so use Trade ships in both directions. Label the world’s role in your own plan—food, Shell, animal products, or another rare chain—and store its export near the port.

Diagnose a ship or cargo problem

If an interaction is unavailable, confirm Kewa is in the correct system and that you built the right ship type. If a Trade ship waits, inspect source-port filters, actual inventory, workers, road access, and whether the destination is a settled planet with a usable port. If cargo arrives but production remains starved, inspect destination unloading and storage.

When Kewa may leave, finish critical loads before requesting travel. For map layers see Galaxy Map; for settlement setup see Planets and Outposts.

References checked for this route

• Official galaxy page for Scout, Trade, and Settlement ship roles in System View.
• Official Storage page for Space Port loading, configured stacks, and temporary unloading behavior.
• Official Buildings page for Space Port, Spaceship Builder, and Settlement Spaceship scope.
• Developer Diary: Settleable Planets for the outpost model, specialized resources, and Kewa-centered design.