Right. I've been laid up ill, but I'm back at work. Today I wrote a server-side protocol for parsing client data about a ship's changing status. I'll test it tomorrow. There is a real chance it will work on the first try. I also added another timer channel on the client and server for more flexible operation and synchronization.
If everything works tomorrow, I'll need literally one more day to position the ship at any point along its trajectory when data arrives from the server, plus a couple of interface features, and it will be ready. The little ships will be able to fly properly. Until now, the client could retrieve them from the server, but they flew only on the client and were not recorded on the server.
And five to ten surrounding systems to begin with, of course. That part is already technically ready; it's more a creative task.