Empathy Field

A screenshot of the Empathy Field star system. This screen depicts some of the various planets and Empathy Field's station in orbit around around this system's sun.

Empathy Field is a W3 unique star system that spawns on the edge of W2 space in the EarthForce layer. It is a rather unique galaxy in that it contains cosmic interference that disables the use of engines, meaning a pilot must rely entirely on tractor beams or Warp Devices in order to navigate their ship through this sector. Players cannot enter if they have an engine equipped, and must enter Empathy Field without one.

Three planets (with one moon) orbit a single sun, all within three asteroid belts. The two outer asteroid rings move much quicker, are more densely packed, and do not drop anything. Within the middle ring's asteroids are Metals and the occasional Diamond Heart, which must be converted to Carbon Hearts in the AI base's trade bay before they decay. The Carbon Hearts can then be used to train the Tractor Subskills up to level 14 - at the cost of 1 Carbon Heart per level.

Mining Diamond Hearts within the middle asteroid ring.

Both Diamond and Carbon Hearts prevent you from leaving Empathy Field and decay at the end of each universe, so they must be mined and used entirely within the system.

Strategy Tips

At the minimum, you'll need a tractor beam and/or Brake-type Warp Device, and a mining weapon to break asteroids with (and maybe a backup plan in case you end up flinging yourself out into the void.)

• A Brake-type Warp Device such as a Particle Brake or Singularity Brake will greatly assist in navigating Empathy Field, as they enable you to jump directly onto your selected target and reset your speed to 0. However, the after-effects of a Brake will negate weapon use with a -100% Damage debuff (among others) for four minutes, so you will have to wait for it to cool off before you can start mining the asteroids.
• To navigate into Empathy Field itself without an engine, another player can help by tractoring you to the Empathy Field wormhole. If the system adjacent to Empathy Field has an AI base, you can dock in there to unequip your engine to shorten the time you'll spend without an engine.
• Send a bot into Empathy Field (bots can exit/enter Empathy Field with an engine already equipped) and hitch a ride on the bot with a tractor beam. (Note that bots cannot be set up within Empathy Field itself, as the galaxy will prevent you from equipping an engine)
• If you have bots kept in V Formation, you can tractor off of them to navigate towards the Empathy Field wormhole & within the system.
• Once you're inside the system, the asteroid field acts as a great anchor point to tractor yourself around, so you can use the asteroids and planets to move around with.
• Although it's generally advised to train Tractoring and its subskills up to level 10 at Deflector, you can also train Tractoring itself at Empathy Field for no additional cost by flying in with a pod and docking into the base.

Skills

• Tractoring: Max Level 10.
• Tractor Power: Max Level 14, 1 Carbon Hearts per level required.
• Tractor Range: Max Level 14, 1 Carbon Hearts per level required.
• Tractor Efficiency: Max Level 14, 1 Carbon Hearts per level required.
• Station Tweaking: Max Level 6, 1 Arcadian Crest per level required.

Trivia

• Historically, Carbon Hearts were extracted directly from the planets in the system. If a single team or player got to the system first, they could hold a monopoly on the commodity (and tractoring subskills by extension) - unless they were attacked. Being an engine-less system, an assault would've been an incredible headache for defenders and attackers alike.
• Although you can still lay bases in Empathy Field, you can't do much with them as the planets do not contain Carbon Hearts anymore.