Satellite Sale to Factions

You can deploy your own satellite in a hot border sector, then sell it to a faction who wants the intelligence. If the satellite’s radar sees enemy stations, hostile fleets, or Kha’ak hive structures inside its coverage area — and the buyer faction doesn’t already know about those objects — they’ll pay you for the intel.

This is a player-driven revenue path that turns the mod’s information layer into gameplay. Deploy a network of satellites → sell each to the faction that cares most about what it sees → get paid per confirmed piece of intel.

Access

Right-click your own deployed satellite (Interact_Menu_API) → “Sell to faction…” context menu.

Requirements:

Satellite must be yours ($sat.owner == faction.player)
Satellite must be basic or advanced type — specifically eq_arg_satellite_01_macro (basic, ~30 km radar) or eq_arg_satellite_02_macro (advanced, ~75-200 km radar)
Buyer faction must have rep ≥ +10 with you (player.relationto.{$faction}.uivalue gt +10)
Excluded targets: mines, beacons, probes, laser towers — only satellites

What counts as valuable intel

For each buyer faction, the mod scans everything inside the satellite’s radar radius and asks two questions:

Is this object useful to them? — the object must be an enemy ($faction.relationto.{$obj.owner}.uivalue le -25) OR Kha’ak (always considered a threat by everyone)
Do they already know about it? — the mod runs a faction radar coverage scan. For every object in the satellite’s radar, it checks whether the buyer faction has another satellite / station / ship with radar coverage over the same object. If yes, they already know — no new intel value.

Only new intel on hostile targets counts toward the price.

Compensation table

Prices scale by object type and by how far the object is from the buyer faction’s home space. The idea: intel in your own backyard is critical, intel in enemy space is less relevant, intel deep in unclaimed space is nearly worthless.

Object type	On buyer faction’s own sector	1-hop neutral or enemy	> 1 hop
Vanilla enemy station (relation ≤ −25)	500,000 cr	250,000 cr	0 (free transfer)
Vanilla enemy fleet (L/XL capital OR M-class warship with subordinates)	100,000 cr	50,000 cr	0
Kha’ak hive / outpost	500,000 cr	250,000 cr	0
Kha’ak defence platform	40,000 cr	20,000 cr	0

Multiple objects in one satellite’s radar = sum of individual prices. A well-placed advanced satellite in a hot border sector can see:

1× enemy Xenon station in own sector: 500 k
2× enemy Xenon Ks in own sector: 200 k (2 × 100 k)
3× Kha’ak defence platforms adjacent: 60 k (3 × 20 k)
Total: 760 k cr for one sale

What defines a “fleet”

Not every enemy warship counts — only leaders. Specifically:

L or XL capital ship as flagship — always counts
M-class warship with subordinates.count > 0 — a corvette leading fighters is a fleet leader
M or S warship alone — doesn’t count (it’s just a patrol, not a fleet)

Reward is per leader, not per ship-in-fleet — the intel value is “a coordinated force is here”, not “N ships”.

Preview UI

The context menu shows a preview panel with per-faction breakdown:

Argon Federation: 760,000 cr — 1 enemy station + 2 fleets in own sector
Antigone Republic: 250,000 cr — 1 enemy station 1-hop away
Teladi Company: 0 cr — no valuable objects visible OR they already know
(etc. for every eligible faction with rep ≥ +10)

Live computation — the preview recalculates each time you open the menu (satellite may have gained/lost visibility since deployment).

Snapshot at click — the actual reward is snapshotted at the moment you click “Sell” on a specific faction. If the enemy fleet moves out of the satellite’s radar between preview-open and sell-click, you still get paid for what was there at click-time.

What happens on sale

Money transfers: transfer_money from buyer faction to player (using the snapshotted reward)
Ownership transfers: change_object_owner — the satellite now belongs to the buyer faction
Radar coverage becomes theirs: the buyer faction now has ongoing radar of that area (adding your satellite to their intel network)
You lose the satellite — it’s no longer yours to deploy elsewhere or sell again to another faction

One satellite = one sale. Once transferred, the buyer owns it. If they later lose it to Kha’ak or Xenon aggression, that’s their problem.

Design intent

Reward observation. The mod encourages the player to place satellites in interesting places. This mechanic turns “place satellite in border sector” from pure map-coverage into an income stream.
Faction identity through preference. Argon buys different intel than Teladi. Argon cares about Xenon stations near Argon Prime; Teladi cares about Argon fleets near Teladi space. Your satellite location determines who’s the best buyer.
Player agency in intel economy. Faction radar networks aren’t infinite. You can extend a faction’s awareness by selling them satellites at strategic points — sometimes in exchange for their attention on your enemies.

Example playthrough

You’re patrolling near the Argon-Xenon border. You deploy an advanced satellite in “Silent Witness III” (Argon-owned, hot with Xenon activity).

Open the map → right-click your satellite → Sell to faction…
Preview panel opens:
- Argon Federation: 760,000 cr (1 Xenon station + 2 Xenon Ks visible in own sector)
- Antigone Republic: 250,000 cr (1 Xenon station 1-hop away, they don’t know yet)
- Others: 0 (no new intel or too far)
Click Argon Federation — sell.
+760,000 cr in your wallet.
Satellite is now Argon’s — you see it flip color on the map.
The Argon admiral in Argon Prime (Sarah Kowalski, per current save) now gets updated threat feeds on those Xenon assets. Her next HeroManager tick may commit to a sector reclaim decision using the new intel.

Your intel just influenced faction military behaviour. That’s the whole point.

Configuration

The reward table lives in MlogSatSaleInit init actions in mlog_heroes_satellite_sale.xml. If you want to rebalance (e.g. 10× rewards for a “black market” playthrough), edit the numbers there.

What’s next

Advanced-satellite tier bonus (design pending) — currently basic and advanced pay the same per object, but the advanced radar radius covers ~5-10× the area. Future: advanced satellite reward multiplier for the wider coverage.
Faction-to-faction resale (concept) — buyer faction could later resell the intel to their allies. Not implemented; would need cross-faction rep bookkeeping.
Time-decay on intel value (design open) — currently intel value is snapshot-at-sale. A future feature could decay value if the fleet leaves quickly, encouraging opportunistic timing.

Faction Missions — another player-driven revenue path
Perks system — cash rewards from satellite sales feed hero cash → LEARN progression