Ascension is what raises a whole server's level cap and unlocks the next content tier -- it isn't something an individual player triggers, it happens server-wide once that server's economy and player progression are judged ready. G4 Ascension lifts the Ops cap from 39 to 50; G5 takes it to 60; G6 expands it to 70 and introduces its own Sigma resource economy, ships, missions, and research; G7 raises it again to 80 with late-endgame systems. Timing is rough rather than fixed: G4 tends to land around 6 months after a server opens, G5 around a year, and G6/G7 whenever that specific server's maturity and economy support it -- so two servers of the same age can genuinely be at different Ascension stages.
G6 Ascension adds 10 Operations levels (up to 70), plus a full Sigma resource economy -- Sigma-Parsteel, Sigma-Tritanium, and Sigma-Dilithium -- generated from level 61+ buildings, refined from raw Sigma mined exclusively with G6 survey ships, or claimed through station raiding (also from level 61). You can convert freely between Sigma and standard resources in either direction through a dedicated filter view, though raiding Sigma specifically requires a station's base resources to be depleted first. Six new Faction Ranks unlock 13 new G6 ships, Picard (Epic) and Data (Rare) join as new crew options built around the PvE side of G6, and the update adds 275+ missions, 120 systems, and 68 Combat Tree research nodes -- including a dedicated Hazard Daily Goals branch.
G7 is the next expansion past G6 -- Ops 71-80, its own new ships, deeper research, faction progression, and alliance-driven activities like Open Armadas and the Surge. It keeps using G6's Sigma resource timers rather than replacing them, but layers on its own G7-specific materials: raw and refined Ore/Gas/Crystal at G7 quality, broken and refined ship parts by hull type, and FKR faction-specific ship parts. New ships arrive in a tiered unlock alongside Shipyard level -- Rare at Shipyard 71 (Aphelion), Uncommons at 73 (U.S.S. Socrates, I.K.S. Boreth, Praefortis), more Rares at 76, and Epics including the U.S.S. Enterprise variant at Shipyard 80. Reaching G7 is less a single milestone than the point where several other systems in this guide -- the Veil, Open Armadas, Surges -- all become accessible at once.
Interceptor Barrage, Explorer Barrage, and Battleship Barrage -- the research nodes that boost base damage for each hull type -- each need one Ion Particle to start, and Ion Particles are deliberately scarce. The first comes from completing the mission "Familiar Face" at Ops 42; the second from "A Light in the Darkness" at Ops 47; the third and hardest to pin down only turns up in select Special Event Stores. In practice this means the third Barrage research is opportunistic rather than plannable -- keep an eye on event stores rather than expecting a reliable source.
Void Configurations (formerly called void tokens) are automatic drops from the "Ad Astra Per Aspera" chest once your server ascends into G6 -- you don't obtain them any other way. They gate specific missions on the road to higher level ranges: The Edge of Existence needs just 1 donated, while The Road Least Traveled (the current last level-capped mission in that chain) needs 1,000 collected. If a mission is asking for Void Configurations you don't have, the fix isn't to hunt for them elsewhere -- it's to keep playing until your server's own Ascension state produces more.