Space Encounter
Space encounters are events that can trigger while using a pulse engine within any system.
Space Encounter Types
The game code strictly considers only the following list to be Space Encounters. Each of these encounter types have a chance to be randomly encountered when pulsing through a system and without needing to take any other special actions.
| Image | Name | System types | Relative frequency | Interaction | Rewards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Alien Relic Trader | Inhabited | 2 | Use communicator | Offers to trade away a relic |
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Alien Repairs Request | Inhabited | 4 | Use communicator | Nanites  and increased faction standing |
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Alien Trader | Inhabited | 12 | Use communicator | Provides trading opportunity |
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Anomalous Numbers Station | Any | 1 | Use communicator | Provides a cryptic message |
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Asteroid Larvae | Any | 1 | Fire upon to provoke | None |
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Boardable Derelict Freighter | Any | 1 | Land to board | Can be searched for various loot |
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Child of Helios | Any | 1 | Use communicator | Living Water during Starbirth mission, nothing otherwise |
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Condensed Stellar Ice | Any | 1 | Fire to destroy | Drops Dioxite upon destruction |
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Derelict Freighter | Any | 4 | Fire upon cargo pods | Chromatic Metal |
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Distressed Sentinel Interceptor | Any | 1 | Use communicator | Receive coordinates for crashed Interceptor |
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Dyson Lens | Any | 1 | Fire to destroy | Nanites |
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Emergency Civilisation Shelter Pod | Any | 2 | Use communicator | Provides information regarding their mission |
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Emergency Containment Device | Any | 2 | Fire to destroy | Terrifying Sample |
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Fugitive Starship | Any | Hunt and destroy | Destroy to claim Units | |
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Gaseous Sentience | Any | 1 | Use communicator | Nanites or resources |
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Grave of the Ocean King | Any | 1 | Fly through center | Fossil Sample or Excavated Bones |
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Hazard Containment Field | Any | 1 | Fire to destroy | Provides random Biological Sample |
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Hostile Sub-space Scan | Any | Use communicator | Destroy to gain faction standing | |
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Hyperspace Navigation Station | Any | 1 | Use communicator | Unknown |
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Ironbound Relic | Any | 1 | Fire to destroy | Provides random resources |
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Jettisoned Storage Silo | Any | 1 | Fire to destroy | Resource (varies per encounter) |
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Living Metalloid | Any | 1 | Fire to destroy | Provides random resources |
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Messenger of Atlas | Any | 5 | Use communicator | Gives an Atlas word |
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Pirate-Controlled Monitoring Station | Inhabited | 1 | Fire to destroy | Increased standing after defeating pirates |
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Plasmic Accident | Any | 1 | Fire to destroy | Provides resources upon destruction. |
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Relic Gate | Any | 1 | Fly through center | Travel to a distant region of current galalxy |
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Rogue Black Hole | Any | 1 | Fly through | Long-distance travel |
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Rubble of the First Spawn | Any | 1 | None known | None known |
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Secret Listening Post | Inhabited | 1 | Use communicator | Intercepts a random message from system |
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Station Authority Cargo Scan | Inhabited | Use communicator | ||
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Stellar Intelligence | Any | 1 | Use communicator | Possibly coordinates to an Ancient Ruin |
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Void Egg | Any | 7 | Fire to destroy | A Living Ship upgrade |
Space Combat Events
Several types of space combat events are possible, while not technically considered Space Encounters by the game code, they are effectively additional types of them. Frequency of these events are all affected by an individual player's space combat settings in their Difficulty Settings, therefore different players will only see the same events at the same time if they have identical Difficulty Settings.
Additional information
Most star systems have Recurring Space Encounters which can be reliably found after entering the system and engaging pulse. For example, in the Samnadhr sja'Gulr system, the Grave of the Ocean King rare deep space object will be encountered 45 seconds after entering the system. Similarly in Sudhr-Stjarna ei'Blar, Rogue Black Holes are encountered 2:55 and 6:30 minutes after entering the system. All known recurring space encounters have been listed on their respective system pages.