¶ Ports
Ports are places where goods are bought and sold for various prices. Players gain money and experience by bargaining with port masters for the best possible price. Ports are ranked from level 1 to level 9. Low level ports sell cheaper goods, while high level ports sell more expensive and more profitable goods. Some ports sell illegal goods too, but these can only be traded by those traders who have joined the UnderGround and are of evil alignment.
In the example shown below, the port is a level 9 port that buys food, slaves (an illegal good), machinery, weapons (an illegal good), and computers (comps) and it sells wood, ore, textiles, circuitry, luxuries, and narcotics (an illegal good). You cannot see illegal goods unless your alignment is below -99. Being evil provides both advantages and disadvantages, such as more goods trade, thus more routes but if you are caught trading an illegal good then you will be fined. An example of being caught is below:
The Federation searched your ship and illegal goods were found!
All illegal goods have been removed from your ship and you have been fined 124,320 credits
A sample port can be found here:
Trading at a port is done by clicking the TRADE button and bargaining with the port master. Tips on trading can be found elsewhere in this manual, or by asking a fellow player who has learned the ropes.
Ports can also be raided by clicking the RAID button, but be warned: ports are heavily defended by laser turrets and thousands of combat drones. Only a fleet of well-armed warships can hope to raid a port successfully, but the payoff is often worth the risk.
See also: Attacking Ports
¶ Planets
Planets are located in the outer galaxies, occasionally in racial galaxies. They are places to park ships, stockpile trade goods, and store cash. A player may take ownership of a planet and set a password so that other players in their alliance cannot take it. Only players from the owner's alliance may land on the planet. All others must attack and destroy a planet's defenses before landing. Once a planet's defenses are destroyed, a player can land and take ownership of the planet.
Planets start out with no buildings at all, but with proper supplies stockpiled, construction of generators, hangars, and turrets can begin. As more buildings are constructed, the planet's defense level increases. Planets begin at level zero and reach a cap based on the type of planet. Each structure increases the planet's level by 0.33.
The construction center shows what projects can be completed and which goods are needed for building each type of defense and the stockpile tab shows what goods are stockpiled on a planet. Once started, it shows when construction will be completed. Only one building can be constructed at a time.
Most planets have a bank vault which can store cash. The vault can be accessed by anyone who is parked on the planet. The vault can also be used to bond cash. A bond cannot be touched once it has started and will pay interest on the principal amount when it comes due. The interest rate is highest when the planet is level 28.67. Arid planets do not have a bank.
Planets can serve as a relatively safe place to park your ship, but no planet is 100% safe and even high level planets can fall to a well organized attacking fleet of warships.
See also: Attacking Planets
¶ Shops
Shops are locations where players can buy and sell different types of items besides trade goods. Many of these items are only available at certain shops.
Ships - racial ships are available only in that race's headquarters sector. Other types of ships can be bought at ship shops scattered across the universe.
Weapons - there are many different shops that sell weapons.
Combat Accessories - this shop exclusively sells mines, combat drones, and scouts
UNO - this shop sells shields, armor, and cargo holds
CIJSD accessory shops will also share this icon.
¶ Warps
While you are exploring the galaxies, you will occasionally come across 
warps. These will take you into a new galaxy. They also cost 5 turns to move through them. Warps always appear in the bottom right hand corner of the move to sector listing.
SMR Manual Link with warp current sector view:
¶ Headquarters
¶ Description
This is a 
Racial Headquarters Location. This is where you start out in the game. Here, you can deputize and collect bounties/war payments. Spend a few minutes exploring what is available in your Racial Government. The next area is the Federal Beacon. Provided that you have met the requirements for protection, no one else will be able to pod your ship at this location. Next up is your racial ship shop. Note that you can only buy racial ships of the race you have chosen. Last but not least is a hardware shop. Here you can buy your shields, armor, cargo holds, scanner, and racial technology (if supported by your current ship).
This will take you to the SMR Manual Current Sector view of a HeadQuarters:
¶ Bounties
What are bounties?
Bounties are a reward for killing a certain player they may be in game currency (credits) or SMR Credits which are the games donation reward credits. There are two types of bounties Federal and Underground. Neutral and positive aligned players are able to collect Federal bounties. Neutral and negative aligned players are able to collect Underground bounties.
Placing a bounty
You can place a bounty by going to a racial head quarters or the Underground head quarters. From here you can place a bounty on another player you can specifiy the amount of in-game currency or SMR Credits you would like to place on the other player. This rarely is used as players earn bounties another way automatically, players that earn kills generate bounties automatically. Someone who kills a lot of traders their race has peace with then they will earn a federal bounty, someone who kills players whose race is a war with their swill receive an Underground bounty.
Claiming a bounty
In order to claim a bounty you simply need to go to a racial or federal Headquarters for a federal bounty or the Underground HQ for an underground bounty. Sometimes you will be unable to collect a bounty because of your alignment. In order to claim a federal bounty, you must have an alignment of -99 or higher. To claim an underground bounty, you need an alignment equal to or below 99.
¶ Banks
Where to find a Bank?
Banks are generally fairly easy to come across. Most racial galaxies will have 1 or 2 banks in them. Often banks are located near Combat Accessory shops in neutral galaxies. If you can't plot to a bank under the plot a course menu then you have not discovered one yet, I would recommend asking someone for the nearest location to you.
What's in the Bank?
Hopefully lots and lots of money. There are 3 types of bank accounts:
- Personal Account (PA): An account that only you can access. It is recommended to keep funds in your personal account only if you are not in an alliance.
- Alliance Account (AA): The alliance account is the main use of the banks, and all money made by members of an alliance is expected to be deposited into the alliance account. When you need to buy something you will take the money from the AA when it is time.
- Anonymous Accounts (anon): These accounts allow you to share money with someone not in your alliance.
¶ Bars
Just like in life outside of SMR, bars in the game sell drinks to players. Be careful though: drink too much and you might pass out! While hanging around at a bar, you can also play some blackjack, but a lottery ticket, customize your ship name, or buy a scout notification system to aid you in hunting. After the first few days of the game, players can also purchase galaxy maps at any bar if they don't feel like exploring everything manually.