Galactic News Service
The Galactic News Service (or GNS) is an In Character news system that provides information to the rest of the player base about certain events around the galaxy. Galactic news can be distinguished in two main parts: the GNS Posts and the Flashnews.
GNS Posts
These are posts made by the players themselves. Articles submitted through this method can feature, but are not limited to:
- Changes to a faction leadership.
- Death or attempted assassination of key faction figures.
- Mock military battles or wars.
- In game sporting events.
- Faction productivity changes.
Only factions can post to the GNS, and then only from within a Capital ship or inside a powered facility. It requires a payment of 200,000 credits to submit an article. After submission, the article may be assessed by the current Galactic Government who have the right to approve or reject any article.
Articles may also be hacked into the GNS system. Any player with sufficient permissions to post may attempt to hack a news article into the GNS system and avoid the potential censorship of the current Galactic Government. This will also cost money. The higher the hacker's Computer Operations skill, the greater the chances of success. If successful the post will be published on the GNS. However, a second test is performed to see if their identity can be concealed. If successful their name and location will be omitted from the GNS; otherwise, their location and identity will be published along with it and all members of the Galactic Government with sufficient permissions will also know the hacker's location.
Flashnews
These are short events that are automatically generated by the server when certain things take place. These include:
- Planet Control changes
- Faction leadership changes
- New faction created
- Faction dissolution
