Rifts

Rifts are a type of sector that you cannot enter unless you have the Into The Rift DLC, but instead can only be passed through into a normal sector on the other side using Gates or travelled around.
They appear as sectors without the grid pattern seen everywhere else and also have no blur effect on the space background.
Rifts get more common the closer you get to the center of the galaxy.

### Into The Rift DLC

The Into The Rift DLC adds some content to rifts. when in a sector close to a rift, you might see some stations like those above. the Teleporter (left) does not appear in the station list in strategy mode or the map view and has no icon. the Rift Research Center (right) is a normal station like any other, it shows up in station lists, has an icon, and can be directly interacted with.

#### Usage

the Rift Research Center is a consumer station and has a mission board, shop, and other standard things as well as an about page which gives details about rifts. You can buy unique upgrades at their shop providing a wide range of benefits. upon accepting a mission, it will let you interact with the teleporter and start the mission. The teleporter will inform you of a couple things and tell you if your distortion shield is enough.

#### Rift Anomalies

**Subspace Distortion** is a thing only in rifts that tears your ship apart. you will receive a distortion shield upgrade upon accepting the mission. depending on the difficulty of the mission and its depth, you may not have enough protection. if that happens, your ship will start tearing itself apart. more distortion is a faster shred. The rift depth is equal to the level of distortion shield required.

**Teleporter Wormholes** are a funnel of blue particles that teleport you to a matching one. The narrow side of the funnel points to its target.

**Physics Modifiers** change the balance of various things. Often, you'll encounter missions that will increase the damage plasma weapons, slow ship acceleration, lower generator output, make shields not recharge, etc. it can happen that shields will not be able to regen and workers will be less effective when shields are down.

**Other Anomalies** exist other than those detailed above and include things like radiation, mines, acid fog, etc. It will tell you what the modifiers are and what they do on the mission board.

### Inside the Rift

Upon entering the rift, your situation may vary greatly. You will always spawn in a spot with a station to shield you from the environment. This includes any environmental hazards such as acid fog and distortions. You will notice that you can't see everything at once and there are buoys that will guide you along the sector and you can place your own. these are essential for navigation as your target may vanish as you get farther away from it. The map doesn't show everything that exists, only what you can see making navigation even harder.

#### Hazards

(numbered left to right then down like english reads)

Ancient Defense Platforms(1) are highlighed red like an enemy and will shoot any ships that enter their range. This includes Xsotan. The red line coming from it to the ship when you approach means you're a target.

Shockwave Generators (2) look like a glowing point of something. They will shoot a shockwave that will expand and damage ships it encounters. They only shoot a ring, so they are easily evaded by moving.

Radioactive Asteroids (3) are asteroids that glow yellow and damage your ship when you approach.
(numbered left to right then down like english reads)

Gravity wells (4) pose no immediate threat like damage, but will reel you in and shoot you out at multiple kilometers/sec.

Mines (5) will explode and do damage if approached quickly. They have a red glow around them and are easily spotted from a distance

Xsotan Breeders (6) will spawn xsotan if there is too much activity nearby. this includes using lasers and weapons.

#### Other Stuff

**Nano Bot Repair Platforms** will repair your ship and heal broken blocks

##### Escape Methods

Easier missions will have a Rift Ripcord in your inventory that will pull you out of the sector and back to the sector you came from a couple seconds after you activate it.

Harder missions will have a wormhole device that spawns a wormhole a distance away and will let you get back to the starting sector. They look like any other wormhole and a cutscene plays to show you the wormhole

Very hard missions will make you spawn a wormhole device that will generate a wormhole nearby. It is invulnerable but does get pushed by bullets like everything else. Many people hate this because the device will go flying and you need to stay nearby for 2 minutes while all the xsotan try to kill you (pictured below).