Every so often a vortex opens somewhere in a contested sector. Nobody announces it: it isn’t on the map or in chat. You find it by its light, a pink spiral visible from far away.
Asleep
As long as nobody touches it, the vortex sleeps. If nobody shoots it within an hour, it closes on its own and another one appears later, in a different sector.
Awake
One shot wakes it. From then on it can no longer be targeted or damaged: what matters is what comes out of it.
- Four waves of altered void creatures, aggressive versions of the five species you already know: first one, then two, then three, then four.
- At the end, a boss: the Primordial Vorax or Xenobor.
Each wave has its own timer: take too long to clear it and the next one comes out anyway.
How you lose
- If 12 minutes pass after the first shot without finishing everything.
- If nobody is nearby for a full minute.
Either way, the vortex swallows whatever creatures are left and closes with no reward.
The reward
If every wave and the boss go down, both factions get paid, each pilot by their share of the damage:
| Resource | Total shared |
|---|---|
| Quasicrystal | 1,500 |
| Energy fragment | 1,200 |
| Nexite | 8,000 |
| Experience | 2,000 |
On top of that, every pilot who gets paid has a 3% chance of a technology blueprint, any one from the catalog. It drops floating on the spot and has to be picked up with the Collector.
Who to bring
Coalition and Axios are paid the same, so the vortex is one of the few places where holding your fire pays off. Nothing guarantees it, though: the other faction is still the other faction.
