0: None
- Quarantined or embargoed system
- System that is actively hostile to off-worlders
1: Unpredictable and rare visits by a far trader
- Example: You never know when a trader will arrive or what they'll have, but when they come, it's an exciting time
- No market for imports or supply of exports
- Low technology base
- Government limits access
2: Regular but infrequent visits by far-traders
- Example: A far-trader routinely visits a world once a year to sell tools for next year's harvest and purchases the surplus of this year's harvest
- Small market for imports and small supply of exports
- Heavily degraded technology
3: Regular, routine visits by far-traders
- Example: anything from twice a year visits to the near-constant presence of one far-trader on planet (but a given trader is never on-planet for more than a week or whatever makes sense)
- Adequate market and supply of exports
- Moderately degraded tech base
4: Constant visits by multiple far-traders
- Robust market and supply
- Mature technology base
5: Routine supply by bulk freighters, supplemented by far-traders
- Multiple planets with specialized economies
- Mandate-era tech level