Index

Getting Started

Using Your Characters

Giving Your Crew Orders

Moving Within Your Ship

Using Ship Parts

Alarms

Combat

Getting Started

The game is played two-ways: manipulating your character via your Web Browser, and giving orders to your Crews to follow while you are not logged in, also done using your web browser. Messages sent to your characters within the game can also be sent to your real email address. This means that the game is a hybrid between turn-based, play-by-mail, and real-time. Play takes place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Your character and crew will be able to move around your ship, using a browser. There are special screens to move within your ship, and special screens to give orders or to send and receive communications. All characters belong to crews, and all crews belong to factions. Factions make up civilizations. Each civilization will have a basic culture type, such as Red-neck, Naval, Organized Crime, Insect-like, etc, that control the language, official titles of leaders, expressions, etc. Each civilization also has a civilization type, such as militaristic, trading block, etc.

You can customize the graphics and sound. There are various sets of graphics and sounds that you can select, some of which will be slower to download than others.

Good luck!

How to Play

Your Character:

All Players within the game interact using one or more characters (or avatars, as they are sometimes known). It is possible to have several characters within one ship, or to have several characters within multiple ships. Characters lead crews, and it is possible to have your characters give orders to various crews. It is also possible to move within your ship using your character (see Moving wthin Ships below), send messages to other characters (see Communications below), or to use equipment with your character (see Using Ship Parts below).

Species, Civilizations, and Culture Types:

All characters have various characteristics and traits, including species. The species type will determine many basic traits, including the strength of the character, the loyalty, the ability to lead and inspire, and the ability to have psychic skills. There are many types of species in the universe, and each type of species can have many different types of cultures.

Hiveling- Hivelings are strong, work in groups, and are very loyal. Their social structures are very rigid. Some have strong psychic abilities. These creatures spend their lives gathering parts to add to their vast ships and immense bases.

Dwari - Dwari are small, but clever. They are fantastic traders, and often work in large conglomerates or corporations. They would usually rather avoid a fight, but they will defend their interests, especially if those involve trade. Their outposts are usually geared towards commerce.

Gorgan - These fearsome warriors are feared throughout known space. They are strong, aggressive, and clanish. They often have strong navies, and a military structure is common. Expect to see plenty of armed fortresses where-ever you find gorgans.

Human - Of all the space-faring species, humans are perhaps the most diverse. They have many types of cultures, from loose bands of red-necks to large-scale fleets, complete with large space-ports and bases.

Ships:

There are an infinate variety of ships, as each ship is made up of parts, such as scanners, lasers, hulls, etc. It is possible to add and remove parts from your ship, or to combine parts on one ship with those of another, and certain rules of physics do apply, including momentum, mass, and velocity. Each culture uses various standard types of ships.

Objects:

Just as ships are made up of parts, so too are all the elements of the universe. This means that planets have oceans, mountain ranges, forests, etc. All objects within the game have several characteristics, including visible, infrared, and ultraviolet signatures, mass, and even psychic readings! The signatures can change based on use (for example, ship engines are much brighter if they are being used).

Economy

Ships and cities have various cargos, and the worth of these cargo items will change, depending on the culture and location. You can of your items within your cargo bays, and ships will try to figure out which destinations offer the best prices for their goods. To make a trade offer, view your ship's communications , then hit the button. To accept or reject a trade offer, view your ship's communications , select the message, then hit the or button. Be careful - certain cargo items are banned in various locations, and patrolling ships will enforce this. Of course, these illegal items are worth more...

Giving Orders to your Crews

Your characters and crews are able to respond to events, even while you are not playing. You are able to give orders to your characters' crews. Orders tell your crew how to react to various situations, such as arriving at their destination, detecting an unknown object, or being attacked. Orders are a combination of a manuever and an event. To change your ship's orders,click on , then . You will then be able to select from various types of missions outlined here:

Patrol- Go to the given co-ordinate, and stay there for a given amount of time. While at this location, scan for enemy ships and contraband items.

Bureaucracy- Go to a major base owned by your faction to be promoted or demoted.

Trade- Trade legal, non-contraband items with a base or merchant ship.

Smuggle- Trade any type of item with a base or merchant ship, including illegal items.

Conquer- Go to a base and gain control.

Raiding- Go to an enemy or neutral base and steal items.

Negotiate- Improve relations between two factions to create an alliance or to end a war.

Explore- Go to the given co-ordinate, and scan at long range.

Research- Deploy a probe at a selected planet.

You are also able to tell your crew which part of the ship to control under which circumstances:

- Control this object at the present time. To use equipment, you must be controlling it.

- Discontinue control over this object.

- Set present location as crew's battlestation. This means that the crew will move to this part and control it when under attack or attacking other ships.

- Set the present location as the crew's default cruising location. The crew will control this part during all normal times (non-combat and non-offtime).

- Set the present location as the location where the crew will go to relax.

Alarm Indicators

Throughout your ship you will find various types of alarm indicators. These will show you warnings about communications, combat, or serious damage.

Your combat alarm will display the present status of the ship according to the following rules:

- Ship under attack or attacking other ships

- Enemy or target detected

- No enemies detected

Your damage alarm will display the present status of your ship's equipment according to the following rules:

- Lack of functional life support, engines, or scanners

- Broken equipment

- All equipment functional

Your communications alarm will indicate the fact that there are message waiting to be acknowledged, and how serious the messages are. Clicking on your messages alarm will take you to the Communications Area. Messages can include probe results, trade offers, surrender offers, etc. The indicator can be in one of the following states:

- Distress message or surrender offer or demand received

- Communications received, such as a trade offer, probe results, greeting, etc.

- No messages received

Communications

To look at messages for your character, click on the communications indicator . This will then display all messages for your character. Click on any message to see the details. When viewing a message, you can , , or hit to acknowledge the message and make it go away. To send a new message, click on the button. You are able to send many different types of messages, including trade offers, greetings, distress calls, surrender offers, repair requests, etc. All messages sent to your character may also be emailed to your real email address.

Combat

Combat within the game closely reflects real life. Weapon accuracy and effectiveness diminishes over distance. When objects are hit, it is possible for nearby attached objects to be damaged as well. If an object is destroyed, objects attached to the destoyed object may float free or also be destroyed. Crews within damaged areas are injured or even killed. There are secondary explosions. Once a certain amount of damage is done to a peice of equipment, it will need to be repaired before it can be used again.

To better understand combat, look at the following topics:

Weapons

Distorter

Scanner

Moving Within Your Ship

Your character will always be in a part of a ship. To move to another area of a ship, hit the button. This will show you your present location, plus a list of all nearby locations. Select another location by clicking one item in the list of nearby objects. The present location will change to the new location, and the list of nearby objects will be updated. Once the desired location is shown, hit the button to see a detailed screen of your present location.

Using Ship Parts

All types of equipment have various accuracies to different signatures. How accurate the equipment use is will depend on the crew manning the equipment, the sensor readings taken of the target, and the equipment itself. Using equipment will increase the ships signature, so it is often wise to avoid use if possible. To use a part with your browser, first move your character and crew to the proper area (see Movement within the Ship), and then man the object (see Orders).

There are many different types of ship parts, but they fall under the following catagories:

Scanners

Weapons

Lifesupport, including Bridge

Distorters

Cargo Bays and Cargo, including Setting Prices

Manufacturing/Construction Devices

Transporters

Medical Units

Scanners:

Scanners enable you to sense nearby objects. Without sensors, you are effectively blind. Scanners pick up on various signatures, including mass, visible, infrared, ultraviolet signatures. Some sorts of scanners can even detect psychic signatures! All scanner readings can be used by other parts of the ship. It is possible to use various types of distorting devices to minimize or hide your own signatures. Using your scanners makes your own signature very strong, so use them cautiously!

The following buttons appear on your browser when you are in your scanner:

- Press this button to Scan the general area at selected range. Objects detected and identified will depend on distance, whether or not the object was in use, the crew's abilities, and whether or not the object was previously detected.

- Press this button to Scan the presently selected object. This may reveal the parts that make up the parent object. It is possible to then scan these subobjects to reveal even greater details.

- Press this button to Show the detected objects on map. This will only show objects detected by this sensor. To view objects detected by all sensors, go to the bridge, and use the view map button there.

Weapons:

Weapons allow ships to attack other ships. Weapon types have different ranges, and different amounts of damage. To attack an object, it first must be identified by your scanners. You can scan parts of a ship to allow you to target individual areas of a ship. Using a weapon often means that your ship's presence will become known.

The following buttons will appear on your browser when you are in a weapons area:

- Press this button to Attack currently selected target.

- Press this button toView targets on map.

Engines:

Engines provide thrust, which will enable your ship to accelerate and, just as important, decelerate. If your engines stop working, you will not be able to control your movement through space. Once an object is moving, it will not stop moving until an engine is used to decelerate. The fastest way to go from one point to another is to have your engines running at all times, accelerating 1/2 the time, and decelerating the other 1/2. To pilot your ship, you will need to give orders to your crew, and during that process you are able to select a destination. There are two types of destinations- physical points in space, and actual objects, such as ships, bases, or planets.

The following buttons will appear on your Browser when you are in an engine area:

- Press this button to Estimate time until destination is reached.

Transporters:

For items to be moved from one ship to another, it is necessary to have some sort of transportation device, such as a crane, a transporter, etc. Some of these have short ranges, while others will have a longer range. For an item to be transported successfully, it is necessary to have a clear scan of the item, and it is necessary to have a location to place the new item. If an item is transported from an allied ship without permission, it is considered a theft, and patrol ships may attack or pursue.

The following buttons will appear on your browser if you are in a transporting device:

-Press this button to Transport the selected object from the present location to a new location within your ship.

Lifesupport:

For any crew member to live, the ship must have some sort of working life support, including hulls, saucers, etc. If life support is lost, the crews must immediately fix the life support, abandon ship, or die. If the crew is at the bridge, they can view the results of all of the scanners on one map, and have the ability to launch probes at selected targets.

The following buttons will appear on your browser if you are in your ship's bridge:

- Press this button toView the results from all scanners on one map.

- Press this button to Send a probe to the selected target. The results of the probe will arrive via the ship's communications.

Medical Units:

If crew members are injured, it is possible for them to heal if they rest. They are also able to heal even faster if they rest in a medical unit.

Construction Equipment:

It is possible to repair damaged objects. All crews have some ability to repair objects, but if they are using construction equipment, the repairs are faster. If a ship is on a repair mission, it will head to a base, where requests will be made for repairs. It is possible for multiple ships to work on the same object at the same time.

The following buttons appear when you are inside your construction equipment:

- Press this button to Use manufacturing equipment to repair object.

Cargobays and Cargo:

Cargo items can be bought and sold. The prices will depend on the culture and the location. When offers are made, characters can compare the price against the average price for that item type. If a cargo type is declared contraband, the value of this type of cargo will increase, but so will the danger. Ships on patrol will scan your ship, and if contraband items are detected, they will attack.

The following buttons appear on your browser when you are in your cargo bay:

- Sets the price for this type of cargo at this location

- Estimates current average price for this type of cargo

Distorters:

Distorters hide or mask the emissions generated by a ship, its parts, and its cargo. Emissions can be of several types, including infrared, visible, and ultraviolet. Certain items can even have psychic signatures.

The following buttons appear when you are in a distorting device:

- Press this button to Turn on distorting device. This will lower various signatures emitted by the ship.

- Press this button to Turn off distorting device.