🚚 The Convoy

From era 12, every three eras, a supply convoy crosses the star system under guard, visible on the Star-system map for most of an era. Every commander chooses: escort it (paid in alloy; its owner's factions warm to you), raid it (your share of the cargo, and a grievance), or let it pass. Pirates and warlords raid; colonists, corporations and scientists escort. The sides meet when the convoy passes the middle of the system, and the stronger side wins.

• Deep space (J) shows the convoy, who is raiding and who is escorting, and the buttons.
• Win a raid and your share comes down in pods on open ground outside the colony. Move a squad onto the pods and hold the site for a minute: an opportunist clan lands to take them.
• Lose the pods and the cargo is theirs. Nobody reaches them in half an era and the sand takes them.