Gate

A Gate is a connection point between Sectors or between zones of a Cluster. The gate graph is what find_sector reachablefrom= walks; the gate graph is what defines galaxy topology.

Subtypes

The gate datatype has three concrete subtypes, plus the special Trans-Orbital Accelerator flag.

Type	Datatype	Connects	Notes
Jumpgate	gate	Sector ↔ Sector (across cluster boundary in most cases)	The classic gate. .isaccelerator=false.
Accelerator	gate	Sector ↔ Sector	Trans-Orbital Accelerator (Tides of Avarice / Cradle of Humanity). Flagged by .isaccelerator=true. Same datatype, different visual + flavour.
Highway entry	highwayentrygate	Sector position → Highway	One end of a local or super-highway.
Highway exit	highwayexitgate	Highway → Sector position	Other end of a highway.
Jumpbeacon	class.jumpbeacon	Sector ↔ Sector	Player-deployable beacon (Pirate DLC). Treat as a gate when querying connectivity.

All four are class.gate for isclass checks. The aiscripts use them interchangeably for travel — but properties differ.

Properties

gate

Property	Type	Description
.destination	zone	Destination zone (not sector — chain through .destination.sector for sector lookup)
.exit	gate	The matching gate on the other side
.isaccelerator	bool	True for Trans-Orbital Accelerator
.entryhighway	highway	Highway that leads INTO this gate (rare; most gates are highway-independent)
.exithighway	highway	Highway this gate leads INTO
.waitingship	ship	Ship currently reserved at this gate, or null

highwayentrygate

Property	Type	Description
.highway	highway	The highway this gate is the entry of
.destination	zone	Highway destination zone
.exit	highwayexitgate	The corresponding exit gate
.waitingship	ship	Reserved ship if any

highwayexitgate

Property	Type	Description
.highway	highway	The highway this gate is the exit of
.entry	highwayentrygate	The corresponding entry gate

Inherited from object

Common: .sector, .zone, .position, .knownname, .macro. Use these for “where is this gate” queries.

Actions

Gates are not created or destroyed at runtime from scripts — they are static map content defined in maps/.../sectors.xml. All script operations are queries.

Find all gates in a sector

<find_gate name="$Gates"
    space="$Sector"
    multiple="true"/>

space= is required. Without it the action returns 0 results.

Find only active jumpgates (excludes broken/disabled gates)

<find_gate name="$JumpGates"
    space="$OwnSector"
    active="true"
    multiple="true"/>

Vanilla factionlogic.xml:967 uses this to enumerate connectivity for faction logic.

Find gates that lead to a specific destination

<find_gate name="$LocalEntryPoints"
    destination="$Target"
    space="$AdjacentSectors.{$i}"
    multiple="true"/>

destination= filters by the destination space the gate goes to. Vanilla factiongoal_hold_space.xml:152 and factiongoal_invade_space.xml:246 use this for entry-point detection.

Find gates in a whole cluster

<find_gate name="$Gates"
    space="$Cluster"
    multiple="true"/>

Vanilla finalisestations.xml:422, 851 uses cluster scope.

Find gates in the entire galaxy (rare — heavy)

<find_gate groupname="$gates"
    space="player.galaxy"
    multiple="true"/>

Vanilla scenario_tutorials.xml:4520 uses this in a tutorial setup. For real gameplay logic, prefer a narrower scope (cluster or sector).

Common idioms

”Which sector does this gate lead to?”

<set_value name="$nextSector"
    exact="$gate.destination.sector"/>

.destination is a zone, not a sector — chain .sector to get to the sector.

”Is the gate’s destination hostile to me?”

<do_if value="$gate.destination.sector.owner.hasrelation.enemy.{$Faction}">
    <!-- skip this gate when planning travel -->
</do_if>

Pattern from vanilla factionlogic_staticdefense.xml:746. Used heavily for static-defence positioning.

”Find the matching gate on the other side”

<set_value name="$otherSide" exact="$gate.exit"/>

.exit is the gate on the other end of the connection. Use this for two-way travel queries.

”Is anyone already using this gate?”

<do_if value="@$gate.waitingship">
    <write_to_logbook
        text="$gate.knownname + ' busy: '
            + $gate.waitingship.knownname"/>
</do_if>

Useful for traffic-aware spawning.

Libraries

Gate-specific libraries are minimal — most gate logic is inline. The closest helpers:

Library	Purpose	Source line
md.LIB_Generic.FindSectorExitPoints	All active gates leaving a sector	1166
md.LIB_Generic.FindSectorEntryPoints	All active gates entering a sector	1183
md.LIB_Generic.UncoverMap_SectorsAndGates	Reveal sectors + gates on the player map	2056
md.LIB_Generic.CreateShipAtExitGate	Spawn a ship at a gate’s exit-side	1020
md.LIB_Generic.CreateFleetAtExitGate	Spawn a fleet at a gate’s exit-side	889

Events

There is no event_gate_X family. Gate-related events are observed indirectly:

Indirect signal	Where
event_object_changed_sector	Ship crossed a gate (sector boundary)
event_object_destroyed	Gate itself was destroyed (rare; gates are usually invulnerable but moddable)

For “ship X just entered sector Y”, use event_object_changed_sector with a filter on the destination sector — gate is the means, sector boundary is what fires.

Common gotchas

• ⚠ .destination returns a zone, not a sector. Almost every modder use case wants the sector — chain .destination.sector. Vanilla widely uses $gate.destination.sector.owner, $gate.destination.sector.knownname.
• ⚠ find_gate without space= returns 0 results. Even though “find all gates” sounds galaxy-wide. Always supply space= (sector, cluster, or player.galaxy).
• ⚠ active="true" excludes disabled / broken / Xenon-blocked gates. Without it you get the static map; with it you get currently-traversable. For travel logic use active="true". For mapping use it without.
• ⚠ gate datatype and highwayentrygate/highwayexitgate differ in property set. A find_gate returns only gate instances by default. To find highway endpoints you may need find_highway_entry_gate and find_highway_exit_gate (specialised actions).
• ⚠ Jumpbeacon is class.jumpbeacon, not class.gate. isclass.gate returns false for jumpbeacons. For “anything that lets you travel” use isclass.{class.gate} or isclass.{class.jumpbeacon}.
• ⚠ Trans-Orbital Accelerator is just .isaccelerator=true on a normal gate. Same datatype. Treat identically for travel logic; differentiate only for flavour/UI text.
• ⚠ .waitingship may be null even when ships are nearby. It’s only set when a ship has officially reserved the gate (queued for jump). Polling for “is the gate busy” should use proximity, not this.
• ⚠ .exit may be null for one-way gates. Some scripted gates / tutorials use one-way gates. Always null-check.

Examples

Example 1: Find all sectors reachable from the player’s current sector

<find_gate name="$Gates"
    space="player.sector"
    active="true"
    multiple="true"/>

<create_list name="$ReachableSectors"/>

<do_for_each name="$gate" in="$Gates">
    <do_if value="@$gate.destination.sector
        and $ReachableSectors.indexof.{$gate.destination.sector} == 0">
        <append_to_list name="$ReachableSectors"
            exact="$gate.destination.sector"/>
    </do_if>
</do_for_each>

<write_to_logbook
    text="player.sector.knownname + ' reaches '
        + $ReachableSectors.count + ' sectors directly'"/>

Example 2: Pick a random hostile-destination gate to spawn a raider near

<find_gate name="$Gates"
    space="$RaiderSector"
    active="true"
    multiple="true"/>

<create_list name="$HostileGates"/>

<do_for_each name="$gate" in="$Gates">
    <do_if value="@$gate.destination.sector.owner
        and $gate.destination.sector.owner.hasrelation.enemy.{$RaiderFaction}">
        <append_to_list name="$HostileGates" exact="$gate"/>
    </do_if>
</do_for_each>

<do_if value="$HostileGates.count gt 0">
    <set_value name="$spawnNear" exact="$HostileGates.random"/>
</do_if>

Variant of factionlogic_staticdefense.xml:746-756.

Example 3: Spawn a ship coming through a specific gate

<run_actions ref="md.LIB_Generic.CreateShipAtExitGate"
    result="$ship">
    <param name="Gate" value="$myGate"/>
    <param name="Macro" value="$myShipMacro"/>
    <param name="Faction" value="faction.argon"/>
</run_actions>

The library handles the “appearing-out-of-gate” animation and positions the ship correctly on the exit side.

Architectural context

• How the galaxy map graph is defined: Architectural overview Galaxy map data — maps/.../sectors.xml defines gate connections per sector, mapdefaults.xml declares cluster structure.
• How factions reason about gate-based defence: Architectural overview Static defence positioning — factionlogic_staticdefense.xml scores each gate by destination ownership and enemy-relation, places stations / drones at high-priority gates.
• How NPCs use highways for in-cluster travel: Architectural overview Highway pathfinding — local highways (intra-cluster) vs superhighways (inter-cluster), entry/exit gate selection.

Related

• Sector — what gates connect.
• Cluster — usually contains gates and highways.
• Highway — the path entered via highwayentrygate.
• Zone — .destination of a gate is a zone, not a sector.
• Ship — .waitingship reserves a gate.