How do you create Hyper Gates?

Go to the ship designer, choose a cargo hull, go to the design category where you find constructor modules... add a hypergate component.

Build the ship, select it, move it to a desired location and select build hypergate.

Repeat, and you will be prompted to connect them.

You need a certain technology, it's a pretty early available orange technology ... or just use the console command "fastunlock" to give yourself all technologies and then test it out.

You need the tech "Spacial Manipulation", which should be found early in the engineering tech tree. That will unlock the Hypergate Component. The ship, Stellar Architect, should be unlocked at that point, or you could design your own ship.

You will then need to build 2 hypergates. Then use one to link to other to create a lane. With three, you could make a triangle, with each hypergate connecting to another hypergate.

Thanks to both Gauntlet and DivineWrath - I think this is another Retribution Bug. The Stellar Architect isn't unlocked in my ship designs but the Hypergate Component is which at least allows me to build a custom design and install Hypergates across my Empire.

Looking to replicate the bug, I've tried a number of game restarts - using both vanilla GalCiv and with GRM 1 for Retribution enabled and the same thing happens. If I trade fro Spacial Manipulation the Stellar Architect doesn't unlock but the Hypergate Component does (which allows me to build Hypergates.  If I research it myself then both the ship and the component unlock.

Thanks once again guys, you were a big help in getting me to figure this one out.

Ah. Knowing that, I can tell you it isn't a bug in retribution, but a bug in whatever shipset you are using. That shipset is missing the definition entries that Retribution added for the ships using hypergate components. It's also likely you are missing the AI designs for Worker ships.

If it is a GRM shipset, it should have had the designs, but if you are using R-1.0 it's possible I missed some. R-1.01 is the latest version of GRM and fixes bugs and anything I missed.

If you are not using a GRM shipset, or another mod/xml shipset... you can try using the fleet editor to fill in the missing entries and that may fix it.

If you can't figure it out by upgrading GRM or using the fleet editor, consider PM-ing me and sending me the shipset files and I'll see if I can fix it directly in the XML for you.

I'm using the standard Terran Resistance from Crusade - tweaked via your Mod to have 4 racial attributes. WIll have another look at the Shipset but I'm sure it has a Stellar Architect model. After all, it unlocks when I research Spacial Manipulation - just not when I traded for it. So to me it definitely suggests some sort of gremlin is in action. 

Further my last, just checked and the Stellar Architect is present in the Shipset - just not unlocking if I trade for the tech, only if I research it myself.

You will then need to build 2 hypergates. Then use one to link to other to create a lane. With three, you could make a triangle, with each hypergate connecting to another hypergate.

How do you make a triangle?

The ai does it but if I move my stellar architect onto the same hex as an existing hypergate it automatically assigns it to protect the hypergate. If I then eject the architect it gets placed in a neighbouring hex. So the best I can do is create a gate next to an existing one. 

Your first hypergate doesn't have anything to connect to when first built, so doesn't bring up the destination screen.  Click on it, it'll give you the option to redirect.  Redirect it to the last gate you built.

Your first hypergate doesn't have anything to connect to when first built, so doesn't bring up the destination screen.  Click on it, it'll give you the option to redirect.  Redirect it to the last gate you built.

Yes, you can redirect your gates to link to any other gate at any time, but when you link to a new one it unlinks the existing one. So you need to use a third architect to create a triangle 

well obviously you'll need 3 gates to create a triangle...  that's the definition of a triangle (3 vertices, 3 lines)

You know, the single best way I have found to build Hypergates:   trade for them.   They are not too expensive on the Diplomacy screen (right next to the ships, if you expand it out).   Then besides getting an Admin point out of the deal, you get a hypergate a long way away.   And right next to their world, so you can send trade ships, or...ships of a more malevolent nature there.

true enough, the AI seems to undervalue hypergates

Do you have a save game?  

This is something which is pretty easy to replicate.  If nobody gets you a save game for this issue, I can start a game for that purpose.

While we are on the topic...  Making an upgraded Architect or Supply from the ship design screen gives it an "intrepid" design, which means it does not have the icon of the basic ship.  This is specifically an issue, because AI does not design ships with Hyperdrive Plus or Warp, since they have the same speed as their older designs (Hyperdrive or Ion).  So it is necessary to create new designs for space-saving purposes.  No save game is needed for this .. just look at any save game you've ever gotten (in which the tech for a smaller, but same-speed, engine has been researched).  It is an issue.

(edit)  for the record, I do, with every ship set, redesign base Ai designed ships to take space-savers (hyperdrive plus, warp) into account.  So the AIs do use my designs, and that's all nice and fine.  But the AI does not do that on its own.  It would be nice if they did.