The Arkship Terminal loop: unlock, accept a random mission, complete it, collect Prestige, level up
The Credits Rolled And Then Nothing Happened
For most of the game’s life, finishing the campaign was the end. You launched the Arkship, watched the sequence, and were left staring at a fully built station with no reason to log back in. The most common complaint in late-game reviews was some version of “the endgame is an idle simulator.”
v1.1.2.0 changes that. Once you complete the campaign, the Arkship Terminal becomes an active mission board, and those missions feed a brand-new progression track. This guide walks through the loop end to end.
Launch the Arkship and finish the campaign to unlock the mission board. The terminal then offers randomly generated missions. Completing one awards Station Prestige Points, which raise your Station Prestige Level. Every new level grants random rewards, including new Decoration Elements, Tech Points, and more. The loop is optional and endless, which is exactly the point – it gives a finished station a reason to keep running.
How To Unlock The Mission Board
The gate is the campaign itself, not a station level or a research node.
- Progress your station and the campaign far enough to build and launch the Arkship.
- Complete the campaign that follows the launch.
- Open the Arkship Terminal. It now offers missions in addition to its previous functions.
If the board is empty, you have not crossed the campaign finish line yet. There is no shortcut and no tech that unlocks it early – it is deliberately positioned as post-campaign content. Players who rushed the campaign should look at the station level progression guide to make sure the supporting systems are in place before they commit to the endgame.
What The Missions Actually Are
The terminal generates missions randomly. Two players running the same save state will not see the same list, and the list refreshes over time.
Because the system is random by design, the mission types rotate, but the shape is consistent: you are given an objective, you complete it using the station and fleet you already built, and you return to the terminal for the payout. That is the entire contract.
The exact mission categories, difficulty tiers, and reward tables are still being tuned on the beta branch. Expect the list to expand and the payouts to shift before the stable release. Treat the structure below as the reliable part and the numbers as provisional.
The Reward Currency: Prestige Points
Every completed mission pays Station Prestige Points. Think of Prestige as a second currency that only the endgame touches – it does not buy normal building materials and it does not replace Tech Points or credits in the main economy.
Prestige Points accumulate into a Prestige Level track. Hit the threshold, level up, and the game rolls you a reward. This is a classic long-tail progression design: the first few levels come quickly, then the curve flattens and the rewards become the reason to keep accepting missions.
What You Get For Levelling Up
Reaching a new Station Prestige Level grants random rewards. The announcement confirms at least three categories:
| Reward type | What it is | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Decoration Elements | New cosmetic station pieces | Finally a use for a finished, stable base |
| Tech Points | Research currency | Reinvests into the wider tech tree |
| Additional random rewards | Further payouts rolled on level-up | Keeps the loop rewarding |
The Decoration Elements are the headline for a lot of players. Until now, a completed station had almost nothing to spend effort on cosmetically. Prestige rewards give the endgame an aesthetic and a scoreboard, which is a very different feeling from the pre-1.1.2.0 “the game is over” wall.
A Practical Endgame Routine
Once the loop is live, a sensible session looks like this:
- Check the terminal first. Missions can expire or rotate, so read the board before you do anything else.
- Pick missions that reuse what you already run. Your goal is throughput on objectives, not new construction. Missions that lean on existing production lines finish themselves.
- Let passive production carry the load. The best missions are the ones a healthy automated production line completes while you are busy elsewhere.
- Bank the Prestige and level up. Do not hoard missions you can complete; the payout is the point.
- Spend rewards deliberately. Drop Decoration Elements into a dedicated showcase area, and put Tech Points back into research rather than letting them sit.
This routine is deliberately low-effort. The design intent is an idle-friendly endgame, so leaning on automation is the intended play, not a cheese.
Why The Loop Exists
Reading the September 4 “Quick Update” announcement alongside this patch makes the intent clear: the developers described a “brand new system where players can complete missions to earn new station parts, resource nodes and other rewards from the Arkship Terminal.” The wording hints at resource nodes as a future reward category too, which would tie Prestige directly back into production.
That direction matters. If missions can eventually feed resources and parts back into your factory, the endgame stops being a dead end and becomes a second growth curve. We will update this guide with confirmed reward tables as the beta matures.
Pairs With
The mission loop is not a replacement for the systems that got you here. Keep your logistics healthy using the lessons in the late-game logistics balance guide.
Missions also mean the station has to survive longer unattended sessions, so shore up your defenses using the remote outpost defense guide.
For the reward track itself, continue with the Prestige Level Guide.
Arkship Terminal missions are the endgame the game always needed. Finish the campaign, accept random missions from the terminal, and convert completions into Prestige Points and Prestige Levels. Lean on automation so missions complete while you do other things, and treat Decoration Elements and Tech Points as the real reward. It is simple, it is optional, and it is the first real reason to keep a finished station running.