OUT TO THE BLACK

Out to the Black is a persistent-world multiplayer space game. There are no matches, no lobbies — the galaxy is always running. Sign in with Google, choose a faction, and you're flying.

Your ship spawns near your faction's home sector. You start at Level 1 with basic stats. Everything you do — destroying enemies, mining asteroids, surviving — earns XP. Level up to spend ability points on your ship's stats.

The galaxy is roughly 22,000 × 22,000 units of open space filled with drifting asteroids, gravity wells, wormholes, and other players. There is no safe zone. Every encounter is real.

Movement

• Q + E — Forward thrust (both engines)
• Q — Left engine (thrust + rotate right)
• E — Right engine (thrust + rotate left)
• A + D — Reverse thrust (both rear engines)
• A — Left rear (rotate left)
• D — Right rear (rotate right)
• ↑ ↓ ← → — Arrow key shortcuts for engine combos

Combat & Interaction

• Space — Fire current weapon
• W — Cycle weapon mode (Bullet → Harpoon → Mining Laser)
• S — Toggle Stay navigation (hold position)
• F — Toggle fullscreen

Camera

The camera zooms out automatically when you thrust forward, giving you a wider view of incoming threats. It smoothly returns to normal when you stop thrusting.

Choose your faction on each respawn. Each faction has a home sector, unique ship names, and a special harpoon ability.

• CONCORDIUM — The law. Home sector: North. Harpoon ability: ARREST — lock down an enemy ship's engine and weapons for 7 seconds. A police strobe warns them it's coming.
• UNBOUND — The free traders. Home sector: East. Harpoon ability: LOOT — drain an enemy's stored materials at 10% of their cargo capacity per second. Take their hard-earned resources.
• BONE COLLECTORS — The swarm. Home sector: South. Harpoon ability: EAT (bot-only) — drain an enemy's health directly, bypassing shields. What they take, they absorb.
• OUTLAWS — No allegiance. Home sector: West. Harpoon ability: LOOT — same as Unbound. No teammates, no backup, no rules. Everyone is your enemy. Everyone is your target.

Same-faction ships pass through each other. Different-faction ships collide. Ram your enemies; don't ram your teammates.

Weapons

• Bullets — Your primary weapon. Fires projectiles that damage ships and asteroids. Upgrade Weapon Damage and Bullet Speed for more punch.
• Harpoon — Fires a rope that attaches to ships or asteroids. Tow asteroids to mine them, drag enemies into danger, or trigger your faction's special ability (EAT / LOOT / ARREST).
• Mining Laser — A continuous beam that damages asteroids and drops fuel + material items. Aim at a rock and hold fire. The beam locks on when you're pointed at a target.

Shields & Survival

• Shields regenerate from fuel. No fuel = no shields = you're paper.
• A massive hit triggers a 5-second shield reboot. Disengage during the red flicker.
• Fuel at zero drains engine AND shield. After 5 seconds, it starts eating hull.
• Asteroid damage = mass × relative speed. Slow down through big rock fields.

Hit List

The top scorer becomes the Hit List Target. A gold ring marks their position on the galaxy map. Killing the target earns double XP. Being the target means every ship in the galaxy wants you dead.

• Mining drops both materials and fuel. A mining run doubles as a fuel station.
• Larger asteroids (higher tier) yield more resources per hit.
• The white-outlined arrow on your HUD points to the largest unclaimed tier-5+ asteroid in your view — your highest-value mining target.
• Materials are used for building structures. Fuel keeps your shields up and engines running.
• When you die, you drop 50% of your fuel and 50% of your materials at your death location.

How to Build

• Harpoon a tier 1+ asteroid (radius ≥ 25).
• The BUILD button flashes green. Click it to open the Build Screen.
• Select a structure (ANTI-AIR is the first available).
• The asteroid is now claimed by your faction. It tints to your team color.

Structures

• ANTI-AIR — A turret with a rotating barrel. Scans a 180° arc, aims at non-friendly ships within range, and fires a dotted-line beam. Damages enemies automatically. Your first line of defense.

More structures are planned: BASE (material storage + fuel conversion), MINE (efficient resource extraction), FACTORY (drones and support ships), FENCE (barriers between claimed rocks), and SHIELD (asteroid force field).

Command Points

Each structure costs Command Points. You start with 1 CP max and gain +1 per level point spent on Command. Destroying structures refunds CP. Switching factions destroys all your structures from the old faction.

Claim Rules

• Unclaimed asteroids: anyone can build on them. First builder claims.
• Same-team asteroids: your teammates can add structures too.
• Enemy-claimed asteroids: you see MALFUNCTION. You can't build, but you can destroy their structures with weapons.
• Outlaw claims: only the individual builder can add more. No team sharing.
• All structures destroyed = asteroid reverts to unclaimed.
• Max structures per asteroid = its tier level.

Your ship has an AI autopilot system. Open the Navigation screen to configure it:

Navigation Modes

• Stay — Hold your current position. Fight gravity to stay put.
• Run Away — Flee from nearby threats. Prioritizes enemy ships, falls back to asteroid avoidance. Blends in a pull toward your home sector.
• Go — Fly toward whatever your behavior targets. Brakes inside 350 units and lets the behavior layer take over.

Behavior Modes

• Mine — Lock onto the nearest asteroid and fire the mining laser. Auto-aims when in Stay or Go; passive fire in manual flight.
• Shoot — Target the hit-list player or nearest enemy. Fires bullets when aimed and in range.
• Patrol — Roam a wide area (±2000 units) around your faction's home sector. Engages any intruder within 1600 units.
• Defend — Guard a tight area (±500 units) around your home sector. Same intruder engagement as Patrol, but stays close.
• Build — Navigate to the nearest tier 2+ asteroid, auto-fire harpoon, and open the Build Screen when attached.

EVADE activates automatically when your shields drop to zero — your ship rotates away from the nearest threat with a bob-and-weave maneuver. Manual flight input cancels most AI modes.

• Gravity Storms — The galaxy cycles through gravity phases every ~90 seconds: normal (1x), strengthened (2x), storm (3x), and weakened (0.5x). At 3x, wormholes and massive rocks pull hard — watch for the red storm icon and event feed warning.
• Blood Moon Purge — Every ~15 minutes, a purge event activates. The event bar pulses red. Retreat to low-density space and survive until it ends.
• Asteroid Fragmentation — Large asteroids can fragment into smaller pieces when hit. The debris inherits velocity and spreads outward. Claimed asteroids are protected from fragmentation.

Everything earns XP: destroying enemies, mining, surviving, killing the hit-list target (2x). Level up to earn ability points. Open the Stats screen to spend them on:

• Health — Max HP and HP regeneration rate
• Shield — Max shield and shield regeneration rate
• Fuel — Max fuel capacity and fuel efficiency
• Engine — Max engine power and anti-force (resistance to gravity)
• Storage — Max material capacity and harvest efficiency
• Weapon Damage — Bullet damage output
• Bullet Speed — Projectile velocity
• Command — Max Command Points (controls how many structures you can build)

Pro tip: Pick rate over max when you can't decide. Rate compounds every tick; max is just a bigger bucket.