One machine is the server. It runs the simulation and serves the console pages, and
every station is drawn in a browser. Its own window is a menu between missions and the
Main Viewer during one. Everyone else, including the person running the server, plays
through a browser.
1. Start the server
Launch Horizons on the host machine. When it is up, its window shows the main menu
with the address it is serving on in the bottom‑left corner, under Console
Stations — a local address like http://192.168.1.20:1864. (The
text‑only server, HydraCon, prints the same address.) Write that down; it is what
everyone else types.
The menu's STATIONS button opens the station list in your browser.
SETTINGS holds the server's name, the Headless switch,
which keeps the window to a status page instead of the Main Viewer, and a few lobby
timeouts; its Network section shows the server's local and public addresses and its
port. Host Timeout and Host Request Timeout only matter to modules whose lobby lets a
player run the pre‑flight; in the standard game the Game Master does that.
The server serves two things on one port: the console pages over HTTP, and the live
game connection over a WebSocket, both on 1864. That port must be
reachable from every player's browser. Port 1866 serves the same two
over HTTPS, used when a client connects securely. See Hosting Over The Internet when
players are not on your network.
2. Open the Game Master console
On the host machine, press STATIONS, or open a browser to
http://localhost:1864/. You get a page headed STATION
SELECTION listing every station this server can serve, grouped as Main,
Secondary, Admin and Hydra Studio.
Pick Game Master, under Admin. That is your seat: it is where you
choose a mission, start and stop it, and reach into the running simulation. Keep it open
for the whole session. (The game window's own MISSIONS button offers the
same mission list, assignments and launch without the rest, for a session nobody is
running live.)
3. Choose a mission
The GM console opens on its mission list. Selecting a mission does not start it —
it stages it. The Assignments panel beside the list fills in with its
player vessels, and the Mission Details tab on the right with its
briefing, its options and the LAUNCH button.
Read the options. Missions can expose their own settings here, and some change
the shape of the session substantially — whether consoles work independently or
have to finish together, how difficulty is scaled, which faction you fly for, even which
map it is played on. They are set before launch, not during.
4. Let the crew connect
Players go to http://your-server-address:1864/ in a browser and choose
a station from the same list you saw — see Joining A Session. As they arrive
they appear in the player list on the left, and the server seats each of them on one of
the mission's ships. Staging a mission spreads the players already connected across its
ships, filling each ship's roles before anyone doubles up; anyone who connects after
that goes on the first ship with room. The Assignments panel shows every ship, who is
aboard and how many of its roles are filled.
Rearrange the crew there before launch. Drag a player onto another ship to move
them, or click the X beside a name to take them off. Click a ship's class, or its
faction badge, to change it; the lists offer only what the mission allows for that ship.
Drag a bot from the Bots list onto a ship to put an AI pilot aboard: it
has the con whenever no player does. RESET lets go of every pick and
seats everyone again the way the mission first had them.
A mission with more than one player vessel is the normal case, not an exotic one.
Check the assignment before you launch: a console bound to the wrong vessel is the
single most common cause of "my panel does nothing". Only ships with someone aboard, a
player or a bot, launch; if nobody is seated anywhere, the first ship launches on its
own.
5. Launch
Press LAUNCH. The server builds the map, spawns the vessels, and
every connected console switches from its waiting state to live. Consoles that join
after launch still work; they bind on arrival.
Some missions wait to start until every seated player's console has finished
loading. The server stops waiting after the Players Ready Timeout in the
game window's settings, 30 seconds unless you change it, and starts without the
consoles that have not reported.
Once running, the GM console gains the controls you use during play — save,
pause, end, spawning, object editing, comms. Those are covered in
Running A Session As Game Master.
What to try first
If you are on your own and just want to see the game move, take
Flight and one other console in a second browser window. Flight
alone can fly, set waypoints and look out of the viewport, which is enough to tell
whether your setup works. Add Tactical when you want something to shoot at.
If something is wrong
- The station list is empty or the page will not load. The web port
(1864) is not reachable. Check the address, then the host firewall.
- The page loads but the console never goes live. The page arrived
but its live connection did not. That connection uses the same port as the page, so
this is rarely a port forward; look for security software or a network proxy that lets
web pages through but blocks WebSocket connections.
- A console is live but its panels are blank. It is probably not bound
to a vessel. Check the pre‑flight assignments, or the Player Vessels list on the
GM console.
