Gameplay
Players will begin the game with a small station and a few Workers. The station will have adequate systems to support these Workers, with leftover resources to support an additional 2-3. The station will also have systems to enable it to function as a refueling station, with ships arriving to buy fuel and haulers arriving to sell fuel, giving a small but steady income to the player; a small amount of money will already be available.
The station itself consists of tiles on the game grid (the grid itself is not visible). Players can spend money to "purchase" additional tiles, which must be adjacent either to existing or "pending" tiles. Once purchased, the new tiles are initially in a "pending" state and a task is created to actually construct it. Workers will periodically check for tasks and take an available one, and they will then move toward the tile location and construct the tile; in addition to the time for the task to be picked up and the time for the Worker to walk to the location, the construction itself also takes time to complete.
Walls, doors, and similar constructions are built on tile edges. Since edges are in effect shared by adjacent tiles, tiles on both sides of an edge will present the edge's feature. While the initial station will begin fully enclosed (TBD: what about facilities for ships to dock?), newly-built tiles will not automatically gain enclosing walls; additional tasks must be ordered to build them. Workers cannot move through walls, even to construct tiles on the other side, so players must provide a means by which workers can reach such new construction, by either building a door to serve as an airlock into space, or removing a wall.
Players will also construct new systems, such as fusion reactors and hydroponic farms, which again cost money and create tasks for Workers to execute. Similarly, systems, doors, walls, and even tiles can be deconstructed; while this generally does not cost money, it does require an available Worker to take the task and time.
Through expanding their station and building new systems, players will develop their station and manage the various resources. As their station grows they will attract new business and even tourism, and will need to plan further growth to capitalize on new opportunities.
Secondary platforms
Players will be able to construct "umbilicals", systems that can extend into space. Workers can move along them (provided they have sufficient protection for the vacuum of space), and build tiles on the other end, allowing players to construct a network of separate platforms. Umbilicals provide two-way conduits for power, life support, etc., provided those systems are able to reach them.
Should an umbilical become severed, resources can no longer flow across them; if the platforms on either side are adequately staffed and self sufficient, however, players need not be in any rush to repair them.
Players will also have the ability to construct the necessary infrastructure and vehicles to create a transportation network allowing aliens to more freely move between platforms; only workers are able to use the umbilicals directly to move from one to another, and again only if they are able to bring their own life support with them.