R6.8 is about 4000 words and ~30 renders bigger than the previous one. Then there's the new Android version, the compression, and a few more things!
All of these will happen!
View attachment 5128320
In the short term, dates with the main ladies, and then the proper introduction to the crew and the ship! Long-term, learning all the ropes
(thick, creamy ones) of the spacer craft, and enjoying all kinds of adventures around the galaxy!
Otherwise, Saky is very much correct; there will be a lot of focus on the rest of the station and all it has to offer!
By a render count, it has a few more(from memory ~15, but don't quote me on that), but I would argue that a big chunk of these are simply the chastity variation, which was fairly fast to make!
Yes! Space mapping is always a bit tricky since it is a 3D space, but with how the Union is situated (bordering with the lizard people from one side, Tarnians from the other), the Periphery is actually the majority of their borders, with only a small portion somewhat being controlled (that's the "Shallows" with these ten stations, and "Deep Periphery" where there is even less civilization).
In R11, you'll see a proper 3D map of Despina's route, which will show you a big chunk of the galaxy with all its political entities!
Most of them do, yes! There are exceptions (Xapho, again, and some more outlandish alien species I will be introducing later). What should be noted is that it is still an imperfect technology that demands quite a skill and experience from the ship pilots. Screwing up during the jump can have some pretty awful consequences, one of which is getting slammed into some kind of place like the ship graveyard.
Ginny's operation is pretty cool imo, and you will learn more about it later!