StarQuest Online — Player Manual (private server edition)

For the revived StarQuest Online server (server package SQO_Complete v48/v49, game client GOLD1.165, launcher v10). Its layout follows the original 2005 Castle Thorn manual, but it describes what this server does.

About the "(new — still being tested)" marks. Everything in this manual has been built and checked by automated tests. Parts marked (new — still being tested) have not yet been confirmed in the real game window. They should work, but if one misbehaves, tell the host what you did and roughly when. Everything without the mark has been seen working in the real client.

Contents

1. Getting Started
2. The Galactic Scene
3. Character Races
4. Occupations and Starting Kits
5. Attributes and Skills
6. Playing the Game
7. Communications and Frequencies
8. Combat, Death and the Law
9. Economy: Money, Shops, Markets and Prestige
10. Crafting, the Chemistry Lab and Repair
11. Mining and Smelting
12. Cargo Transport
13. Starships
14. Capturing a Ship
15. Fleets
16. Colonies, Housing and Deeds
17. Discoveries and Exploration
18. Bounty Hunting
19. Psionics
20. Awards and Decorations
21. Frequency List
22. Glossary - Appendix A — Typed shortcuts (chat commands) - Appendix B — Starship components (original stats)

1. Getting Started

Welcome to the 23rd century

In StarQuest Online you play one person in a busy future galaxy: a Fleet officer, a trader, a miner, a bounty hunter, a smuggler, a colonist or just a citizen trying to get by. The original designers built the stage. On this server the stage has been rebuilt and filled in: AI governments, NPC colonies, space traffic, pirates, native races on generated worlds. What happens next is up to you and the other players.

What you need

• A Windows PC (Windows 10 or 11 works; the game is from 2005 but runs fine with the launcher).
• The original game, installed from starquestonlinesetup.exe (the host can give you a copy). The default install folder is C:\Program Files (x86)\Castle Thorn Software\StarQuest.
• Python 3 from python.org (tick "Add python to PATH" during setup). The launcher is a Python program.
• The client patch folder (client_patch\ from the server package). The host gives it to you, or you already have the whole package.
• The server's address (an IP number such as 203.0.113.25) from the host.

Installation

1. Run starquestonlinesetup.exe and follow the installer. Use the default folder if you can.
2. Install Python 3 (tick "Add python to PATH").
3. Put the client_patch folder anywhere you like (for example on your desktop).

Starting the game: the HD launcher

Always start the game through the HD launcher, sq_hd_launcher_v11.py. It never changes the installed game files. It fixes the old client in memory while it runs: * the game runs at your desktop resolution with a scaled HUD and readable dialogs at 125–200 % Windows scaling, * all five player races appear in Create Character (the stock client shows three), * / chat commands are passed to the server, 3DV terminals open the Galactic Marketplace, * ship consoles open only while you stand at them (this matches the server's rules), * walking, terrain and "On board" fixes, and an F12 screenshot key.

If you are the host, or you have the whole package on your PC, double-click PLAY.bat. It starts the server (if one is not already running) and then the game.

If you join someone else's server, start only the launcher. Open a command window in the client_patch folder and type:

python sq_hd_launcher_v11.py

If the game is not in the default folder, type set SQO_GAME_DIR=D:\Games\StarQuest first, in the same window. Use python sq_hd_launcher_v11.py 1600 1200 for a fixed window size. The host's guide has a ready-made one-click file for this.

The stock client (without the launcher) can still log in, but you get only three races and none of the fixes, and you must type commands with ! instead of / (for example !help).

Automatic updates

You download the player zip once. Every time you start the game with PLAY.bat (or play_linux.sh), the launcher first asks the server in SERVER_IP.txt for its list of game files (http://<server>/update/manifest.json) and fetches only the files that are new or changed - fixes, the manual, the HD textures - straight into your player folder. You see one line: Up to date or Updated N files (a bigger update shows its progress). If the server does not answer within a few seconds, the game simply starts with the files you have ("Update check skipped ... starting the game anyway"). Nothing is deleted, your own PLAY.bat and SERVER_IP.txt are never changed, and your settings in %APPDATA%\SQO are kept. To switch it off, put set "SQO_AUTOUPDATE=0" into PLAY.bat (or SQO_AUTOUPDATE=0 ./play_linux.sh on Linux). If a file could not be replaced ("FAILED ... a file in use?"), close the game and start again.

Display settings (automatic)

The launcher (v11) picks the best display settings for each Windows user on the first start and remembers them. * It looks at the monitor the game opens on (your main monitor): its size, the resolutions your graphics card offers, the refresh rate and the Windows scaling (DPI). * Resolution: the monitor's native resolution if the card offers it at 32-bit color; otherwise the largest 32-bit mode with the same shape (aspect ratio); otherwise the mode Windows already uses, and 1024x768 as the last fallback. The game never switches the screen mode; the choice only limits the size of the 3D view. * HUD scale from the window size and the Windows scaling, HUD font DPI 96 (HUD text stays at its designed size and the HUD scale enlarges it), frame-rate cap = the monitor's refresh rate (30 to 120 fps). Vsync stays off unless you turn it on. * The result is saved in %APPDATA%\SQO\display.json. It is detected again automatically when the monitor size (resolution) or the Windows scaling changes. PLAY.bat --redetect (or python sq_hd_launcher_v11.py --redetect) detects again right away. * To keep your own values, open the file in Notepad, set "auto": false and change the values under "chosen", for example "fps_cap": 60, "hud_scale": "off" or "vsync": true. They are then never replaced (only --redetect replaces them). * SQO_ settings always win: SQO_HUD_SCALE, SQO_FONT_DPI, SQO_FPS_CAP, SQO_VSYNC, SQO_VIEW or a size on the command line override the file. set "SQO_DISPLAY_AUTO=0" turns the automatic settings off (the v10 behavior). If the detection fails for any reason, the launcher also uses the v10 behavior. * python sq_hd_launcher_v11.py --plan shows what was detected, what was chosen and where each value came from (auto, saved, manual or env) without starting the game.

Interface size on big or high-DPI screens (UI scale)

The login box, the avatar selection, Create Character, Vendor, Mission, Schematic, Mail, Hints, the option windows and the message boxes are drawn larger on big or high-DPI screens, together with their text and their artwork. The HUD and chat text is drawn sharp at the HUD scale instead of an enlarged small font. * UI scale ("ui_scale" in display.json, or set "SQO_UI_SCALE=..."): auto = the Windows scaling (1.5 at 150 %), or more on a big screen (screen height / 1080: 1.25 on a 1440-pixel screen, 2 on 4K); or a number such as 1.25, 1.5 or 2; off = the old small size. Whole numbers (2, 3) keep the artwork pixel-exact; other values smooth it. * UI mode ("ui_mode", or set "SQO_UI_MODE=..."): sharp (default) keeps the 3D view and the text sharp and enlarges the windows as described above. stretch lets Windows enlarge the whole game window instead, by the Windows scaling: everything is bigger, including the ship console panels, but everything is blurry (also the 3D view). gdi is the same as stretch with Windows' "System (Enhanced)" scaling (sharper text). off = the 10-21 sizes. * Console panels (set "SQO_UI_CONSOLES=..."): the ship console panels (Helm, Tactical, Engineering, Ops, Comms, CINT, Astrogation, Teleporter, ...) and the Skills, Secondary and Decorations windows are enlarged to the interface size (1.5x at 150 %, also 1.25x or 2x when you pick that size) and drawn sharp: the game draws their pictures, text and lines at the bigger size itself (using 2x versions of the console artwork) instead of stretching a small picture. Buttons, sliders, the panel's own clicks and typing into the text fields work where they are drawn. auto / sharp (default) = this; gdi = the older way: Windows stretches the panels (bigger but a little soft, only when the Windows scaling is above 100 %); off = the old 1:1 size. If anything on a panel looks wrong, the game falls back to the Windows-stretched panels by itself; you can also choose "Enlarged by Windows (softer)" in SQO_settings.bat. SQO_UI_CONSOLE_IDS / SQO_UI_SHARP_IDS (comma lists of window numbers, default 144,132,134,135,140,158,191,237) are for troubleshooting only. * Item windows (set "SQO_UI_ITEMS=..."): the item icons in the Vendor (shop) list, the Trade window and the Teach window are drawn at the interface size from 2x item pictures (sharp, filling their frames) instead of small in the top-left corner, and clicks in the backpack / container windows, on the paper doll and in the Vendor list hit the slot or row under the mouse at every interface size (1.25x, 1.5x, 2x). sharp (default, with the sharp console panels) = this; off = the previous behavior. (New - still being tested.) * The Chat window (channel buttons, text list) and the Server Message box are enlarged the same way, with sharp Windows text (before, parts of them stayed small or were cut off). set "SQO_UI_GDI_IDS=none" turns that off. * Chat lines (set "SQO_CHAT_LINES=16", 10..20): how many lines of channel chat the HUD shows (default 10, as in the original). Lines above 10 are drawn above the chat panel, over the 3D view. You can scroll the chat with its scroll bar as before. For a bigger chat and status text font, use the game's own Font Selection window (Options menu) and pick a larger font family; the original "said :" wording is kept (SQO_SAYS_FIX=1 would change it to "says:"). * HUD size (set "SQO_HUD_SCALE=ui"): the HUD (compass, bars, XP/PP text, hand and inventory slots) at the same size as the windows (the UI scale) instead of filling the 3D view (auto, default). * Window layout on wide screens (set "SQO_LAYOUT=..."): dock (default) moves a window that opens over the 3D view into the free area to the right of it, side by side, and remembers where you put each window (per Windows user and screen size, in %APPDATA%\SQO\ui_layout.json); remember only restores the positions you chose; off leaves all windows where the game puts them. set "SQO_LAYOUT_RESET=1" starts with a fresh layout once (the old one is kept as ui_layout.json.bak). * For troubleshooting: set "SQO_UI_PARTS=dialogs,bitmaps,fonts,hudfont,consoles" lists the parts that are on (leave one out to test without it), set "SQO_UI_FILTER=sharp" or smooth picks how the artwork is enlarged.

Settings window (no editing of PLAY.bat needed)

Double-click SQO_settings.bat (next to PLAY.bat). Pick the interface size, console panel size, HUD size, chat lines, window layout, 3D view shape, frame rate limit, renderer, HD textures, dialog artwork, distant-texture smoothing (mipmaps) and the Astrogation console (new star map or classic) from the lists, press Save, then start the game with PLAY.bat as usual. Reset window layout forgets the window positions the game remembered. All defaults puts every list back to its automatic value. The choices are stored per Windows user in %APPDATA%\SQO\settings.json; a value written in PLAY.bat still wins over the window.

Direct3D 9 mode (optional, still being tested)

set "SQO_D3D9=1" (in PLAY.bat, or before starting the launcher) runs the game's graphics through Direct3D 9: 4x anti-aliasing of the 3D view (SQO_D3D9_MSAA=0/2/4/8) and 16x anisotropic filtering (SQO_D3D9_ANISO=0..16), and smooth distant textures (mipmaps, SQO_D3D9_MIPS=1, see below). If Direct3D 9 cannot start, the game falls back to the normal Direct3D 8 by itself. If a Direct3D 9 start ends with an error within a minute, the next start uses Direct3D 8 and the launcher says so; set "SQO_D3D9=force" tries again. The log is client_patch\clientmods\d3d9wrap\d3d9wrap.log. On Linux, play_linux.sh sets the needed Wine setting itself.

HD textures and smoother graphics (automatic)

Nothing to set: the launcher chooses the texture quality for your PC, protects the game from running out of memory and learns from a session that did. The switches below are only optional overrides. * What you get. The player download contains an HD texture pack, client_patch\texpack_hd2x (308 textures at twice the original resolution: planet ground, building walls and floors, ship hulls and interiors, signs, trees, planets and sky domes; the Temple-class starbase hull up to 4096 pixels), made from the game's own textures with an AI upscaler that keeps the original look. With HD textures the skinned dialogs (login, avatar selection ...) use crisp 2x artwork, and in Direct3D 9 mode (SQO_D3D9=1) distant ground and walls get mipmaps (smaller blended copies: no shimmer or sparkle while you move). * Chosen automatically at every start from your graphics card's video memory, your RAM and whether the 4 GB client runs:

• The launcher window shows the decision, e.g. GRAPHICS: automatic - NVIDIA GeForce ..., 8192 MB video memory (DXGI), 16384 MB RAM, Large-Address-Aware exe -> Full HD textures + mipmaps (level 3 of 3 ...); it is also written to %APPDATA%\SQO\display.json ("graphics").
• No black textures. Every pack file is checked once when the launcher starts (damaged, cut-off or unsupported files are skipped: TEXPACK check: 308 files, 0 bad ...; the result is cached, so later starts are fast). If an HD texture still cannot be loaded or created in the game (a damaged file, a size the card cannot do, out of memory or out of video memory), that one texture is loaded again from the original - automatically, while you play. In Direct3D 9 mode a texture that does not fit is first created without mipmaps, then after freeing video memory, and as a last resort at half size.
• Memory guard. While you play the launcher watches the game's free memory (address space and its largest free block) and, in Direct3D 9 mode, the free video memory. When it runs low (GUARD: LOW memory ...), new textures load the originals and get no mipmaps; when it becomes critical, Direct3D 9 also frees cached video memory at the next map change. It also keeps 128 MB of address space free for the terrain and hands it over right before each terrain load (GUARD: 128 MB terrain reserve ...), so "Memory allocation failure for terrain" should not come back.
• Learns from crashes. If a session ends with an out-of-memory sign (the game's "Memory allocation failure" message, an out-of-memory exit code, a crash right after a texture or terrain load with memory low, or the guard reaching the critical level), the next start uses one level lower and says so, e.g. GRAPHICS: Last session ran out of memory (...) - HD ship skins off this time. After 3 clean sessions (at least 4 minutes each, normal exit) it steps back up one level. Stored in %APPDATA%\SQO\graphics_state.json (delete it to start over).
• Sharp HUD (HD sprites). When the HUD is enlarged (it follows the 3D view size, SQO_HUD_SCALE), its pictures - compass and target ring, chat panel and its GLOBAL / FACTION / FLEET buttons, status bars (hunger, thirst ...), hand and inventory item icons, the round buttons and frames - are drawn from 2x versions (client_patch\texpack_hd2x\sprites, 235 sprite sheets) instead of stretching the small originals, so they stay crisp at 1.5x and more. Sizes, positions and the places you click are exactly as before. This is on with HD texture level 2 or 3 (level 0/1, the memory guard at LOW and HUD scale off use the originals). The launcher window shows HD SPRITES: on ... 235 2x sheets, then HD SPRITES: n of m sheets ... loaded HD ..., k HUD draws used a twin. The sharp ship console panels use the same 2x pictures (15 more console sheets: buttons, switches, thumbnails) and the item windows (176 item picture sheets; 235 sheets in all), also when the HUD itself is not enlarged. set "SQO_HD_SPRITES=0" switches it off (the old stretched HUD), =1 also uses it at texture level 1.
• Optional overrides (settings window HD textures, or set lines in PLAY.bat):
• HD textures: Automatic (recommended), Full HD + mipmaps, HD without the big ship skins, HD without big skins, no mipmaps, Off (= set "SQO_TEXLEVEL=3" / 2 / 1 / 0). A fixed level is not changed by the crash learning.
• set "SQO_TEXPACK=0" original textures; set "SQO_TEXPACK=C:\path\to\folder" your own pack. Dialog artwork / set "SQO_UI_HDART=0" stretched original dialog art. Distant textures / set "SQO_D3D9_MIPS=0" (or =1) mipmaps off (on).
• Safety layers (normally leave them on): SQO_TEXCHECK=0 no start-time file check, SQO_TEXRETRY=0 no reload from the original, SQO_GUARD=0 memory guard watches only, SQO_TERRAIN_RESERVE_MB=0 no terrain reserve, SQO_GFX_LEARN=0 no crash learning, SQO_D3D9_TEXFALLBACK=0 / SQO_D3D9_GUARD=0 the Direct3D 9 parts; thresholds SQO_GUARD_LOW_MB (600), SQO_GUARD_BLOCK_MB (64), SQO_GUARD_CRIT_MB (300), SQO_GUARD_CRIT_BLOCK_MB (40). SQO_VRAM_MB=1024 makes the launcher assume that much video memory.
• Still seeing black textures or memory errors? Send the launcher window text and client_patch\clientmods\d3d9wrap\d3d9wrap.log with a bug report (F9); meanwhile HD textures: Off or set "SQO_D3D9=0" (plain Direct3D 8).

Memory and stability switches

• 4 GB client. On the first start the launcher makes a Large-Address-Aware copy of your own sqClient.exe (only one header flag differs) in client_patch\clientmods\ (or %LOCALAPPDATA%\SQO\clientmods\) and starts that copy, so the game can use 4 GB of memory instead of 2 GB on 64-bit Windows and Wine. The game folder is not changed. This fixes "Memory allocation failure for terrain", crashes when scanning with the teleporter and textures that break after a long session. If the copy cannot be made or started, the launcher uses your original exe; its window says which one it started (client exe: ...). set "SQO_NO_LAA=1" always uses the original exe.
• With the original 2 GB exe the 3D view is limited to 1600x1200. set "SQO_LOWMEM=1" limits it to 1280x960 (PCs with little memory). set "SQO_VIEW_MAX=1400x1050" sets your own limit and set "SQO_VIEW_MAX=0" removes every limit.
• Ship hulls, the starbase and the space backdrop no longer get cut off when zoomed out (the distance-scaled near plane of SQO_GLOBE_FIX is now off; set "SQO_ZNEAR=1" turns it back on).
• Zooming out on a planet keeps the ground. End and PgDn now stop at the widest view where the ground is still drawn (zoom 40) instead of going on into an empty starfield or a gray cloud layer. set "SQO_SURFACE_ZOOM=orbit" lets you zoom on out to the planet seen from orbit in one clean jump (zoom in again to land back on the ground), set "SQO_SURFACE_ZOOM_MAX=30" sets a lower limit, set "SQO_SURFACE_ZOOM=0" restores the old zoom. Ships, space and buildings are not changed.
• No gray / green flicker after beaming aboard. The client used to skip drawing every second frame in some ship and transporter situations, which shows as flat gray or green frames on today's graphics drivers; every frame is now drawn (set "SQO_FRAMESKIP_FIX=0" restores the old behavior, set "SQO_CAMERA_FIX=0" switches off both camera fixes).
• Double-clicking another player or crew member now selects them instead of opening a second, unusable "Avatar" window (set "SQO_AVATAR_WIN_FIX=0" restores the old behavior).
• Terrain loads that run out of memory now show the game's message without crashing (SQO_TERRAIN_ALLOC_FIX=0, SQO_TERRAIN_PIC_FIX=0 and SQO_TERRAIN_HEIGHT_FIX=0 switch the single checks off; SQO_TERRAIN_FIX=0 all terrain fixes).
• No more old pictures ("burn-in") on the background. The starfield beside the 3D view is kept clean: after a window closes or moves, after you drag the 3D view and every 3 seconds, the launcher repaints it from a clean copy (the 3D view, the game's windows and other programs' windows are left out of that copy, and it is taken again after you log out and back in). set "SQO_REPAINT_FIX=solid" paints the background in one plain color instead (set "SQO_REPAINT_COLOR=102030" picks the color, hex RRGGBB, default black), set "SQO_REPAINT_EVERY=0" turns the 3-second repaint off, set "SQO_REPAINT_FIX=legacy" restores the old behavior and set "SQO_REPAINT_FIX=0" turns the repaint off.

Logging in

1. On the login screen, type the server address the host gave you (for a server on your own PC, 127.0.0.1), plus a user name and password, then press OK. The client remembers the last address.
2. New user name = new account. The first time you log in with a name, the account is created with the password you typed. After that, only that password works. Five wrong passwords in a row lock the account for 15 minutes.
3. Use a password you use nowhere else. The 2005 client sends it unencrypted. The server stores it safely (hashed), but anyone listening on the network could read it.
4. One session per character. Logging the same character in from a second client closes the older session ("Your character has logged in from another client"); its position is saved first, so nothing is lost. A crashed client that still holds the connection is replaced the same way.
5. The welcome line shows the game date and time (GST). StarQuest time runs four times as fast as real time (one game year = three real months); the calendar continues the original timeline (real 1 Oct 2026 = 1 Jan 2228).

Avatar selection and character creation

After logging in you see the Avatar Selection screen: SELECT an existing character, create a NEW one or DELETE one.

Creating a character works as in the original game: 1. Enter a first name (last name optional) and pick race and gender. The Homeworld and Residence boxes are only for show; the server decides where you start (see Races below). 2. Change hair, skin, clothes and face as you like. 3. Roll your attributes one by one (ROLL), then spend the 24 bonus dice on attributes. A new roll replaces the old one only if it is higher. 4. Choose an occupation and a major (see section 4). For your first character, Star Fleet Academy Cadet is a good choice. 5. Press CONTINUE to live through your education. Each press is one year older and adds skills. When CONTINUE grays out (education finished, or age 29), spend the 24 skill bonus dice (1–10 points each; not on skills already at 80 or more). 6. Press PLAY. You can press PLAY earlier, but the character will start weaker.

Skill cap at creation. Skills are capped at 100.0 when the character is saved, even if the creation wizard shows more.

Your first steps

• Terrans start on Terra, on the street outside Fleet Headquarters. Other races start at the GalTrans terminal on their homeworld.
• Go into Fleet HQ, find the Duty Officer and say "Lieutenant, I am reporting for duty" (or "Lt. request assignment"). You are taken to the training ship Pegasus with your first assignment in the Mission window (Ctrl+M). Anyone may do this, civilian or not.
• Your starter ship is already waiting in orbit of your home planet (Terra for Terrans, your race's homeworld for the others). A few seconds after you first enter the world you are told its name, and a charged handcomm tuned to Ship to Shore 829.7 is in your pack. Hold the handcomm, set 829.7, press P1, press TRANSMIT and say " teleport me up" (see section 7, Teleporting to a ship, and section 13, Your starter ship).
• Starting kit (everyone): every new character starts wearing a backpack (press F2 to open it). Inside are your race's handcomm (charged and tuned to Ship to Shore 829.7), a spare powercell for it, three ration bars, a canteen of water, a medkit, your starting money (20,000 credits, or the same value in work units or talons), the title to your starter ship and your occupation's kit. To use anything, drag it from the backpack into a hand: pay vendors with the money in your hand, call your ship with the handcomm in your hand, eat or drink from your hand. When your handcomm runs low, hold it and press reload to swap in the spare powercell. The backpack holds 32 items. Characters made before this change keep everything they have.
• Everything in this manual works through the game's own windows, consoles, items and speech. Typed shortcuts (/help, Appendix A) are optional.

2. The Galactic Scene

The story begins in the early 23rd century in our own Milky Way. On this server the clock runs at real-world speed (in 2005 it ran four times faster).

The galaxy

• About 17,000 star systems and 128,000 planets, placed after real star catalogues. The server generates every planet's atmosphere, climate, resources, hazards, wildlife and ruins the first time it starts. Every solid planet can be landed on; gas giants can only be orbited.
• 300 asteroid belts (Sol's lies at 2.8 AU, between Mars and the gas giants).
• 161 native (NPC) races with homeworlds and colonies spread across about 400 worlds, from stone-age tribes to peoples on the edge of spaceflight.

The five governments

The original game has three great powers, the United Systems Alliance, the Therataan Protectorates and the Klinshaya Empire, bound by the Treaty of Alshaya. The Alliance is a federation of three member governments. On this server each of the five player races has its own AI government with a treasury, a navy, a policy and a leader (the original names and offices; /gov <race> also shows the seat and the history):

Players of Terran, Ryl'Atti and Celay race start in the Alliance faction. Klinshayans start in the Klinshaya Empire and Therataans in the Therataan Protectorates. (The Ryl'Atti Prime Minister's name is not in the archives; the server's "Tor'Vaan" is made up.)

The Treaty of Alshaya and the Demilitarized Zone (new — still being tested)

Signed at Caph in 2193. Caph is the center of the map (sector P0C0S0) and the galactic center is "North". * Alliance space lies north and east of Caph, Therataan space south and east, Klinshaya space north and west, each up to 100 light years above and below the galactic plane. Everything else is Neutral Space. A colony outside its power's space claims only its own sector (10 ly). * A Demilitarized Zone, a 10 ly wide cross through Caph, is closed to warships (any FTL ship with more than 2 weapon systems) and to space stations of every kind. * Fly a warship into the DMZ and Astrogation flashes "WARNING: PRESENCE IN DEMILITARIZED ZONE IS VIOLATION OF TREATY OF ALSHAYA". If you stay, your standing with all three powers falls, the violation is in the Galactic News, and after a few minutes a treaty patrol comes to throw you out. Ships with two weapon systems or fewer may pass. * No station can be built in the DMZ. Antimatter and nuclear attacks on inhabited planets are banned by the treaty. * /treaty explains the treaty, and /treaty here (aboard) tells you whose space you are in.

The hostile powers: XON and Tikopai (new — still being tested)

• The XON (the XON Incursion of 2219-2220, the attack on Konatutzu in 2222) hold a region in neutral space far west of Caph. Their Accumulator cruisers patrol it, and a single Overmind guards their home.
• The Tikopai invaded Tau Ceti in June 2225. Their Remora warships come from neutral space south-west of Caph.
• Both attack ships they meet in their territory, and they raid NPC colonies within reach (the XON about 120 ly from home, the Tikopai about 140 ly, which takes them to the Alliance's Tau Ceti). The race navies answer the colonies' distress calls. /hostiles lists them, and /hostiles here shows how close their territory is.

Aboard your ship (or by handcomm on its frequency) ask the computer: "computer, governments", "computer, diplomacy", "computer, galactic news", "computer, my standing", "computer, pirates", "computer, colonies", "computer, military", "computer, storms". (Shortcuts: /gov, /gov klinshayan.)

Diplomacy

Relations between the five races drift with what happens: border incidents, attacks on colonies and ships, piracy, trade, treaties and embargoes. Wars, peace treaties, trade pacts and embargoes are announced as Galactic News (the NEWS chat channel; big events also pop up on screen). * /diplomacy shows every pair of races, /diplomacy celay one race, /news the latest headlines. * /standing shows your own standing with each race. Attacking a race's ships lowers it; doing missions for that race raises it. At −50, or while your race is at war with them, that race treats you as hostile.

The Rogue Empire and pirates

• The Rogue Empire (the successors of the old Rodomok Empire) is always hostile. Its ships patrol their territory, raid, and are the usual targets of Fleet combat.
• Pirates (always shown red) prey on the border lanes. They rob freighters, raid weakly defended colonies, and sometimes jump players. /pirates lists the known gangs, where they were last seen and the bounty on each.

NPC colonies and traffic

Ships in space (new — still being tested). Space around the inhabited worlds is busy. Open the Short Range Sensors (Helm or Tactical) in orbit and you will see the local traffic right around you at the default magnification: orbital shuttles ferrying people between the spaceport and the stations, and freighters, passenger liners, private yachts, science vessels and mining ships coming and going from other star systems. Every inhabited system also has a patrol ship of its owner race, and the race navies keep warships at their homeworlds. Arriving ships fly in from the edge of your scope; departing ships fly out and drop off your sensors as they jump to hyperspace. Shuttles that land disappear for a minute or two and then come back up.

Orbital Defense Platforms (new — still being tested). Every major government guards its worlds with Orbital Defense Platforms: four over each homeworld (Terra, Rylat, Celay, Therat Prime, Klinshay), two over each market world (Mars, Venus, Mercury, Avalon, Centauria, Xanadu, Therat Minor, Klinzatz) and one to three over every colony, depending on its size; border colonies get two. You see them on your scope when you orbit the planet, named like "ODP Terra-1 'Bulwark'" and labelled with their navy. They fire on pirates, Rogue Empire ships, XON and Tikopai raiders, ships of races their government is at war with, and anyone who shoots at them. Pirate raids on a defended world turn into fights you can watch or join: your own kills still earn the government bounty, but kills made by a platform pay nobody. Hail one with /hail ODP Terra-1 or tell your comms officer "hail Bulwark". A destroyed platform is rebuilt by its government after about an hour (shown UNDER CONSTRUCTION). Attacking a platform makes its government hostile to you. /odp lists the platforms in your system, /odp list <race> a government's platforms.

White and yellow contacts are friendly or neutral; red contacts are hostile (pirates, or ships of a race at war with yours). /traffic lists the ships in or heading for your system, /hail <name> talks to one, /tscan <name> scans it. Pirates raid mostly the frontier colonies and outposts and only occasionally a core world such as Sol (whose asteroid belt draws them); a raiding gang stays a few minutes, and patrols and bounty hunters fight it on your scope. Destroying a pirate ship pays a bounty, but firing on a civilian ship is piracy. Zoom out (MAG−) to see farther: ships at the edge of the traffic lanes show at Mag 1024–2048.

Ships now carry the names of the original setting (new — still being tested): Alliance warships are U.A.S. with their registry (U.A.S. Endeavor BCSS-33, U.A.S. Hector SCSS-150), Klinshayan ships I.K.S. / I.K.V., Therataan warships T.S.S. ... Warrior, Ryl'Atti defense ships R.D.F. (RDSS), civilian ships S.S. (registries CFSS / CVSS). * Each race has 20 NPC colonies (100 in all), each with a few civilian ships and one small warship to start. Threatened colonies buy more warships and even build a military starbase. /colonies, /colony info <name>. * Space traffic: freighters run trade routes (and move market prices a little), liners carry passengers, and yachts, science ships, miners, patrols and NPC bounty hunters fly between the worlds. You see them on your ship's Short Range Sensors, colored by your standing with their race. /traffic, /hail <ship> (the captain answers), /tscan <ship>. * NPC ships fly at your speed. Traffic, pirates, pirate hunters, race fleets, your faction's fleet ships and the tow service all cross hyperspace at the same pace as a player ship (about 1½ minutes per light year at Full; freighters cruise a little slower, about 3 minutes per ly, hunters a little faster). A colony 10 ly away waits about 10 minutes for help; ETAs are shown as "12m 48s". Help that arrives after the raiders have left turns back. * Race navies guard their colonies. When a colony is attacked, the nearest warships jump at emergency speed and more follow, with allied races sending help. /military, /military klinshayan. * Colony taxes (new — still being tested): every colony, including yours, pays tax to its race's government once per game day (one real hour).

The Historical Powers

• Rodomok — the ancient slave empire overthrown by the Klinshaya in 1952. Their homeworld Rodom lies in ruins; Rodom V is a lawless trading stop.
• Alshaya — a vanished race whose ruins (the Egyptian Pyramids on Terra, the Kerik Temple on Ryl, the City of Glass on Therat) can be found and dug up (section 17).
• Tzu — a pre-spaceflight people on Konatutzu II, protected by treaty (/tzu). There is no GalTrans there; you must fly.

3. Character Races

All five races can be chosen in Create Character (with the launcher's race fix). A non-Terran starts on their own homeworld at the GalTrans terminal, in their race's faction, already able to speak Standard (their native language is a separate skill) and with their starting money in the home currency. /race shows what you are.

Race needs * Ryl'Atti must eat twice as often as the others. * Celay must soak once a day: walk into a spaceport pool, stand anywhere on Celay, or use a sink, shower or vanity: the soak happens by itself. A dried-out Celay slowly takes damage (never below 75 % of hit points). /needs shows the timer.

Languages. Everyone speaks Standard by default. Other characters' speech is understandable only if your skill in their language is good enough. The language you speak is changed in the Skills window (in this client version Ctrl+L is "use left-hand item", not the language key from the old manual).

4. Occupations and Starting Kits

The occupation you choose in the wizard sets your early skills and, on this server, your starting kit and faction. You get the kit at your first login, on top of everyone's backpack kit (20,000 credits, handcomm, powercell, food, water and medkit) (section 1; a Fleet cadet's kit handcomm is that one handcomm, not a second) (new — still being tested):

• Education: a Laborer or Colonist year in the wizard adds no skills, so the server adds a Laborer's / Colonist's working years at your first login (characters made earlier get them once at their next login; a chat line lists what you got) (Resource Harvesting, Outdoor Survival, Driving, Fabrication, Engineering, Unarmed, Swimming, Cooking); Businessmen get Diplomacy, Computer, Forgery, Smuggling and Teaching, Security Officers and Bounty Hunters their weapon and tracking skills (never above 80). The wizard only stores the occupation when an education is completed; a character with no education year at all is taken to be a Laborer / Colonist.
• Civilians start in the Independent faction (no Fleet salary). Say "I'd like to join the Alliance" to join later (not while wanted).
• Non-Terran races start in their own race's faction instead.
• /occupation shows your occupation.
• Being a bounty hunter is not tied to the occupation: anyone who qualifies can buy a license (section 18).

5. Attributes and Skills

Attributes

Seven rolled attributes plus hit points, shown in Attributes (Main Menu → View → Attributes):

Attributes grow with use (new — still being tested): mining, fighting and carrying heavy loads build STRENGTH; running and walking build AGILITY; technical, medical and crafting skills build INTELLECT, and so on. Each step is +0.1, up to +10 per attribute ("Your STRENGTH grows to 50.2"). /growth lists your gains.

Skills

Open the Skills window with Ctrl+K. The client has 38 skills, among them Cooking, Hand to Hand (Unarmed / Armed), Marksmanship, the technical skills (Communications Systems, Computer, Electronics, Engineering, Fabrication, Reverse Engineering, Science, Medical, Surgery, Teleporter, Deflector Shield, Starship Sensors, Fusion, Hyperdrive, Life Support), the five languages, Swimming, Teaching, Driving, Resource Harvesting (the manual's "Mining"), Outdoor Survival, Tracking, Forgery, Smuggling, Stealing, Diplomacy, Astrogation, Starship Weaponry, Combat Tactics and Sabotage.

• Skills improve by use, by lessons (another player, or the Fleet Instructor at Fleet HQ: "teach me ", 100 cr), and by Train Skill.
• Skills go to 120. Every point above 100 is a 1.5 % bonus to what the skill does (×1.30 at 120): hit chance, damage and range, crafting, healing, scans, teaching, prices, piloting, transporter and comms range, repairs. Values over 100 show correctly in the Skills window.
• Skill cap (host option). By default every skill can reach 120, and Lock Skill stops a skill from rising. A host can switch to the original rules. You then have a total skill cap of 550.0 points. Your Skills window counts these points itself in "Skill Cap: 500.0 / x": each skill above 50 adds what is above 50, and above 100 that part counts twice. The client always prints 500.0 there. Once you reach the cap, every new gain lowers your highest unlocked skill. Lock up to 5 skills to protect them: the four Lock Skill slots plus your native language, which is always locked. Locked skills still rise but never drop. Train Skill then costs 100 XP and gives +1.0 at low skill, down to +0.1 at 100 and above. /skillcap shows your total and your locks.

Experience: physical and mental XP

The Skills window shows Physical, Mental and Total Experience (the HUD shows XP too). * Physical XP comes from combat, boarding actions, mining, physical skills (Hand to Hand, Marksmanship, Driving, Resource Harvesting, Survival, Swimming, Tracking, Stealing) and standing watch on a warship. * Mental XP comes from missions, starship missions, discoveries, crafting, technical skills, piloting, teaching and psionics. (Which skill earns which kind of XP is new — still being tested.)

Train Skill: in the Skills window, select a skill (yellow box) and click the yellow Train Skill button. The XP comes from the matching pool (physical or mental):

Only skills above zero can be trained. Lock Skill (the red button) stops a skill from changing. Total Experience never goes down when you spend XP. /xp shows your pools, /xp cost <skill> the price of the next step.

6. Playing the Game

The Main View and the HUD

The Main View is your 3D view of the world. The HUD (top right) shows: * Language you are speaking. * Hit point bar: red = physical damage, yellow = stun, gray = the level at which you black out. * XP and PP (prestige: "PP : now / earned", section 9). * Battle button: green = unready, yellow = defensive, red = battle mode. TAB cycles the three. * HUD mode button (right end of the hit point bar): cycles the main, attribute and psionics pages.

The tracker (bottom right) shows the camera (green ball) and your facing (blue arrow). Click the blue ring to move the camera. Its top is north on a planet and aft on a ship.

Mouse controls (all confirmed in the real game, live pass 18)

• Keys: Ctrl, Shift and Alt only count while you are actually holding them, so none of them stays stuck after Alt+Tab.
• Money in your backpack: payments the server takes for you (company deposits, ship purchases, repairs, colonies, fleets) also use the money inside the backpack you are wearing; shop vendors and bank machines still take the money in your hand.
• Turbolifts: after a /deck or /station ride you can walk off the lift pad straight away.

Mouse pointer. SQO uses its own small sci-fi pointers (arrow, hand, wait ring, target ring, crosshair). To get the original pointers back, add set SQO_CURSOR=0 to SQO_settings.bat.

Keyboard controls

Change any key in Options → Customize Controls. Extra bindings can go in keys.txt next to PLAY.bat (e.g. F10 = Attributes Window; binding F6, F7, F8 or F9 to something else switches that key off). Do not bind plain letters; they type into chat.

Picking up and dropping

Ctrl + double-click with the hand you want (left mouse = left hand, right mouse = right hand). Loose world objects such as the apple outside Fleet HQ can be picked up too; they come back after 30 minutes. Terminals and fixtures say "You can't pick that up." Dropped items stay where you put them until someone picks them up — also on ship decks and in storage rooms: each item lies on the deck and at the spot where you stood when you dropped it.

Dropping items. An item you drop lands at your feet. If something already lies there, it goes to the nearest free tile next to you, so items never pile up and each one can be picked up separately.

Storage furniture (new — still being tested)

Double-click a locker, cabinet, dresser, bookshelf, stasis box or charging station to open its window. Drag an item from your hand into the window to store it, and drag an item out to take it. A storage locker holds 32 items and a charging station 9; when it is full you see "The container is full !". Furniture in your home or on your ship can only be used by you and your co-owners. Public lockers (Fleet HQ reception, Terra Starbase transporter room) give every player a private compartment. Contents are kept when you log out and when the server restarts.

Speaking

Just type and press Enter. Your words float over your head in the language you are speaking and appear in the chat log at the bottom left ("You said : ..."; others see " said : ...", as in the original game; set "SQO_SAYS_FIX=1" before PLAY.bat switches to "You say: ..." / "says: ..."). Only people near you hear them: within 10 m (10 tiles) and on the same deck — not the whole map, deck or ship — on planets and aboard ships, also after you walked away from where you logged in, and also when an NPC, your crew or the ship's computer answers you. If someone near you does not see your words, press F9 right after: the report lists every line the server sent to or received from you (positions, decks, who was out of earshot), which tells the host where it got lost.

System messages ([SQ] …, command replies, radio and channel notices) appear as white System lines in the HUD chat panel (F6 / View > Chat); the bottom-left text panel shows only what is said around you.

When you change decks, the first thing you say may make your avatar flicker once for the people near you and arrive about 2 seconds late. NPCs answer only when you call them by name or title (for example 'Guard, where am I?' or 'Lt., I am reporting for duty'); everyone near you hears their answers. If you are alone with an NPC, it also answers plain questions. After F9 you describe the bug in the SQO Bug Reporter window; your chat lines stay normal speech.

Carrying someone

Ctrl + double-click an NPC with both hands free to pick them up. You can carry one person at a time. Put them down with the normal drop click on the ground, or say "put him down" / "put her down" / "drop the body".

Walking and getting unstuck (new — still being tested)

Click anywhere you can reach; doors on the way open by themselves and crew no longer block you. If you are ever stuck (in a seat, a wall, after a lift ride) type /unstuck – you step onto the nearest clear floor of your deck. If that does not help, /unstuck hard reloads the deck at that spot. /path shows what the game thinks of the spot you stand on.

Doors

Doors close by themselves about 8 seconds after they were opened (not while someone stands in the doorway).

F11 – Crew list (new — still being tested)

Press F11 in game to open a small window with your ship's crew (name, rank, post, deck, status) next to the game window. Pick a crewman, then click an order: Report, Man station (helm, tactical, engineering, science, comms, ship ops, transporter), Man astrogation, Man security, Report to sickbay, Follow me, Return to post, Damage control, Doctor to bridge, Red/Yellow alert, Stand down, Dismissed (they go to the galley), Hail. By voice you can also post a crewman to the computer or the command chair. Crew walk to their posts. Ranks are shortened (Capt, Cdr, Lt, Ens …); select a crewman to see his full rank and status. Drag an edge to make the window smaller (it never gets bigger than its default size). Or type any order in the text line and press Enter.

Orders go over comms. Aboard the ship they go by intraship. Away from it you need a switched-on handcomm tuned to your ship's frequency (/hc freq <frequency>, shown in the window) and within range, or you must be aboard another ship or a starbase in the same star system (its comm console relays). The window tells you when there is no link and why. Answers appear in the window and in your chat panel.

Only the owner, the captain and crew with access in the ship's computer can see the list and give orders. F11 or Esc closes the window. It is a separate window, so play windowed or borderless. Without the SQO launcher, F11 prints the crew list in the chat (/cc <number> opens comm to a crewman). /crewpad connects the window if F11 does not. Ctrl+F11 is unchanged.

Terminals – buttons for every command (new — still being tested)

You never have to type a command. Click a person (a shop keeper, the bank teller, the GalTrans agent, a bartender, a mission officer, the bounty broker, a minister, the duty officer, a police officer, any local) and a terminal window opens next to the game with everything you can do there as buttons. Ship and station consoles keep their own game panels (no pop-up there). Click yourself (or type /terminal) for your Personal datapad: who and where, inventory, skills and experience, contacts and chat, your house, items, field work, travel and cars, combat, your ships and handcomm, the galaxy, help. The Datapad button in any terminal switches to it.

• The buttons are grouped on tabs. A button with … asks for a value first (an amount, a name, a skill from a list). A button in “quotes” is said aloud to the person you clicked (or given as an order at a ship console), like a line you type.
• People also have a Talk tab with their topics (the GalTrans agent lists every destination). When they ask you something, answer with Yes or No on the same tab.
• Shops and mission offices have Open the shop / Mission list buttons for their usual windows.
• The answers show in the terminal and, as always, in the game.
• The line at the bottom takes anything you would type in the chat: a /command or something to say.
• Stay close: a person's buttons work only near them. The window says so if you walk away.
• Esc or the X hides the window; the next click brings it back. /terminal auto off stops terminals opening by themselves (/terminal auto on again). It is a separate window, so play windowed or borderless. It needs the SQO launcher (PLAY.bat); without it the game tells you once, and the chat commands of Appendix A still work.

Chat channels: F6 / F7 / F8

To talk to people who are not near you, press a chat key first, then type the line and press Enter:

• The key opens the chat panel on that channel and the panel says which one is active (">> [Global] ... type your line and press Enter"). Only the next line goes there; after that Enter speaks aloud again. To keep talking on the channel shown in the panel, use Shift+Enter.
• Lines on a channel carry its tag: [Global] Alice Nova: hello. Players whose chat panel shows another channel (or is closed) see the line over their own head, so nobody misses it.
• Commands (/who …) still work while a chat key is armed. Clicking a tab in the chat panel only shows that channel; the line you type after a click is said aloud.
• Without the launcher (stock client) the panel tabs and Shift+Enter work, the F-keys do not.

Reporting bugs (F9)

Something looks wrong? Press F9 right when it happens. A small window, the SQO Bug Reporter, opens on top of the game:

1. What kind of problem? Pick one: Crash / freeze, Graphics, Chat, Ship, Items or Other.
2. Description (required). Write a few words: what happened, what you expected instead, what you were doing just before, and whether it happens again if you repeat it. Send stays gray until there is a description.
3. Screenshot. The reporter took a picture of the game window the moment you pressed the key (before the window opened); you see a small preview. Untick Include the screenshot if you do not want to send it.
4. Attach a file... (optional): a picture, a short video clip or a log, up to 8 MB.
5. Press Send (or Ctrl+Enter). The window answers "Report #71 sent - thank you!" - that number is your report. The same message pops up next to the clock.

At the same moment F9 also asks the game server for a snapshot: where you are (planet, map, position, ship and deck), what is around you, what you carry, your money and the last things the server did for you. Over your head you see "Bug #71 saved (where you are and what you carry). Describe it in the SQO Bug Reporter window ...". The server joins the snapshot and your description into one report. Your next chat line is no longer taken as the description - type it in the window.

• Ctrl+F9 opens the reporter anywhere - also on the login screen, when you are not connected, or when F9 does not reach the server. A click on the SQO Bug Reporter icon next to the clock does the same; right-click it for Send saved reports now, Open the bug report folder and Close the bug reporter.
• When the game crashes, the reporter opens by itself: "The game crashed (0xc0000005 access violation in kxDLL.DLL+0x1a2b3)". Please add what you were doing and press Send. The crash details (where in the game's code it broke, a small crash dump, your PC's graphics info and the game logs) were already saved - even if you just close the window, the crash report is still sent.
• Server down or no internet? The report is saved on your PC (%APPDATA%\SQO\bug_queue) and sent by itself the next time you start the game. The window tells you when this happened.
• Without the window you can still type /bug the lift door does not open in chat (right after F9 this becomes the description of that F9 report), or say report a bug: the lift door does not open.
• One in-game snapshot every 20 seconds, at most 15 per day per player; the reporter sends at most 10 reports in 10 minutes.
• What is sent: your account name and character slot, the server address, the time, Windows version, graphics card and driver, memory, screen size, the game's log lines and patch versions, your graphics settings, the screenshot / crash dump / file if included, and a random id of this PC (made up by the reporter, not linked to anything else). Never your password.
• Your screenshots also stay on your PC in Screenshots\bugs.
• No window appears? The reporter needs Python's tcl/tk part (ticked by default in the python.org installer). Without it the report opens in Notepad: fill it in, save, close Notepad - it is sent. SQO_BUGTOOL=0 in PLAY.bat turns the reporter off (F9 then only takes the server snapshot and a screenshot, as before); SQO_BUGSHOT=0 turns all bug reporting off.

Life-form scan

On a planet (or a deck) say "scan for life forms" (or /lifescan): you get the life signs within 50 m — players, people and NPCs, creatures — the nearest ones with distance and direction, and the planet's native lifeforms your ship has catalogued (a ship in orbit scans those: "science, scan the planet").

Life in the cities (new — still being tested)

The spaceports and capitals are inhabited: Terra's Seattle Space Port, the Farsoom City dome on Mars, Toliman, Kullon on Rylat, ShinepjeNe on Celay, the City of Glass on Therat Prime, the Imperial compound on Klinshay, Rodom V, Manara and the other colonies all have their own named locals of the local race. Citizens go shopping, stop at the bank and the GalTrans terminal, sit in the parks and fill the bar in the evening; you will see small groups chatting, guards on patrol, dockworkers hauling cargo, mechanics at the shipyard and street vendors selling food. At night (22:00–06:00 Galactic Standard Time, which runs four times faster than real time) most citizens go home, and in the morning they come back.

Locals answer only when you address them by first or last name ("Hello Ada", "Ada, where is the bank?"), or with "Excuse me…" / "Guard…" when you are not talking to another player; once one is talking to you, you can keep going without the name for about half a minute. Ask the way to any place, for rumors, for work (they send you to the local mission officer) or for the time; street vendors sell snacks when you ask what they sell. Now and then you overhear a short remark, but locals never butt into conversations between players. /life shows the clock and how many locals are out, /life here who is around, /life who <name> a short profile.

Needs and health (new — still being tested)

Needs. Your hand scanner's Medical Scan shows hunger (STRVN), thirst (DHDRN), fatigue, temperature, hygiene and bathroom (WASTE). A full canteen holds 5 drinks (bottles 2, a cup or glass 1). Hold it in a hand and press Ctrl+R or Ctrl+L, or type /drink. To refill it, hold it and click a drinking fountain, sink or wash basin; aboard a ship you can also use /stores refill. Drinking and eating fill your bladder. Use a toilet (click it, press Enter) before the bar turns red, or you will have an accident and need a wash. A shower or bath (click, Enter) cleans you.

Health. People in towns no longer carry diseases; only animals and creatures do. Shops. Shopkeepers, clerks and bar staff stay at their counters day and night.

Speaking with NPCs

NPCs answer when they hear their name or title. Click an NPC once to see who it is; double-click opens its avatar window (not in battle mode!). Titles and the manual's abbreviations work:

If you say no name at all, the nearest NPC (within a few meters) answers. /pop lists the NPCs where you are.

Magic words

Some NPCs react to set phrases:

Your own company (civilian houses, new — still being tested)

Every civilian (Miner/Laborer, Colonist, Businessman, Merchant, Medical, Scholar, Security Officer, Bounty Hunter) starts as the Founder of their own company, e.g. Diggs Enterprises (Klinshayans: House Diggs). It is a sub-faction of your race's government (Terrans, Ryl'Atti and Celay: the United Systems Alliance; Therataan: the Therataan Protectorates; Klinshayans: the Klinshaya Empire), so diplomacy, law and the F8 faction channel follow your government. Star Fleet and Marine characters serve their military faction instead. It shows in the Factions window under "Personal:".

• /house or /house info [name]; /house list (companies under your government); /house members.
• /house rename <name> (or the Factions window's rename button).
• /house invite <name> - the invitee answers /house accept / /house decline or ACCEPT/DECLINE in the Factions window. /house kick <name>, /house leave.
• /house rank <name> <n> (Associate, Member, Senior Member, Partner), /house title <name> <text>, /house officer <name> <1-5|off> (Directors may invite and remove members), /house leader <name> (hand over).
• /house deposit <credits> (anyone; money from your hands, pockets or bank - not from inside the backpack), /house withdraw <credits> (leader), /house treasury.
• /hs <text> talks to your company, or press F8 twice (three times if you belong to a colony) for the [House] tab.
• Members of one company cannot attack each other (a /duel is allowed). Your company title (e.g. "Founder of Diggs Enterprises") is shown to other players before your name. The leader and Directors command the company fleet with /fleet ...; /house fund fleet <credits> pays into its fleet fund.
• Joining another company closes your own if you are its only member (its treasury is paid to you). Leaving or being removed starts a new company of your own. /house disband closes it, /house found [name] starts a new one.

Every civilian has a house. Every civilian character starts as Founder of their own company under their race's faction. This includes businessmen, security officers, medics and scholars who did not graduate. Star Fleet and Marine graduates do not get one.

House ships from the Factions window. On your house's Starships page, select a ship and use the add / remove button to register or unregister it as a house ship. The same rules apply as for /house ship add|remove.

Faction ranks

Each faction has 16 ranks. You see them in the Factions window, in promotion messages and on officer posts. The top rank is the faction leader, and the five below it are the officer posts: * Alliance Star Fleet: Recruit, Crewman, Able Crewman, Petty Officer, Chief Petty Officer, Ensign, Lieutenant (junior grade), Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander, Commander, Captain, Commodore, Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral, Admiral, Fleet Admiral. * Alliance Marines (Marine characters): Recruit, Private, Corporal, Sergeant, Gunnery Sergeant, Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier General, Major General, Lieutenant General, General, Commandant. * Klinshaya Empire: Third Claw, Second Claw, First Claw, Third Talon, Second Talon, First Talon, Third Fang, Second Fang, First Fang, High Fang, Ship Underlord, Ship Lord, Ship Overlord, Fleet Underlord, Fleet Lord, Fleet Overlord. * Therataan Protectorates: Novice, Acolyte, Lector, Deacon, Ante Deacon, Ante Consul, Consul, Praetor, Ante Prelate, Prelate, Ante Hierarch, Hierarch, Ante Exarch, Exarch, Seer, Arch Seer. Only Acolyte, Lector, Deacon and Ante Deacon are from the original archives. The rest are made up in the same style, and the head of state stays the High Seer.

Titles shown over heads

The client draws no rank over other characters' heads. The GM title and ship fame suffixes appear with names. Your NPC crew are promoted over time (Crewman → Able Crewman → Petty Officer → … → Lieutenant) and the ship channel announces it.

Getting around

• GalTrans terminals at each spaceport sell tickets to other worlds (hostile factions are refused).
• Air Tram and hovercars (/car rent, Driving skill) on some planets.
• Turbolifts inside every ship and station deck plan (Pegasus, Icarus, StarHawk, ... or /deck n, where n is the deck number the lift panel shows: decks are counted from the top of the ship, so the bridge is usually deck 1). Step on the lift, pick a deck, then walk out through the door. Every stop always has a car: when you ride to another deck, the car parked there takes your car's old place, so no deck is left empty and no car waits for you to leave before it "goes home". If no car waits on your deck, stand at the lift door for a moment and one is sent. If you ever stand in the lift shaft unable to move (the "You can't get there from here" trap), wait about 3 seconds: you are put on the landing outside the door. If you logged out in a shaft, you log back in on that landing.
• Your own ship (section 13).

ATMs and the bank

Double-click an ATM, or talk to a bank teller, to deposit and withdraw. /bank shows your accounts. What is in the bank is safe when you die.

Busy NPCs (new — still being tested)

Shopkeepers, clerks and bar staff work shifts, take breaks and do restock runs; guards walk patrols. If you walk up to a post or call the person, they come straight back ("Coming!"). NPCs also get better with practice: busy vendors give small discounts, guards get tougher, nurses heal more.

7. Communications and Frequencies

The handcomm

New characters get a charged handcomm tuned to Ship to Shore 829.7. More can be bought from an Alliance general vendor (120 cr). Equip it in your left or right hand; CTRL+L / CTRL+R (or a click on it on the paper doll) opens the HandComm screen. Key in the frequency and press P1 to store it; press the big middle button until it turns blue and blinks - that is TRANSMIT - then speak normally.

• /hc status shows your frequency and your ships; /hc freq 829.7 tunes; /hc say <text>, /hc call <name> <text>.
• The handcomm is your only remote link to your ship. On its Ship to Shore frequency, start with the ship's name and say: status report, raise shields / lower shields, teleport me up, red alert / yellow alert / stand down, land / take off (needs a pilot aboard). The crew or the ship's computer answers.
• The handcomm runs on a powercell. Every call uses a little charge and a teleport lock 5; with a dead cell the handcomm is "without power". Recharge it at a charging station, or with a charged powercell of the same make in your pack use Change Clip/Powercell while the handcomm is in your right hand.

Teleporting to a ship

As in the original game, all of these must hold: 1. your handcomm has a charged powercell; 2. it is on the ship's Ship to Shore frequency - usually 829.7, the shared standard; 3. it is actually transmitting (blue button blinking - plain speech does not reach the ship); 4. you are authorized in the ship's computer: the owner and the crew; on the fleet training ship (Pegasus) every Alliance Fleet member. Anyone else hears "access denied - unauthorized"; 5. the ship is within its teleporter range (in orbit of / landed on your planet, or that close to the ship you are on): AMT-A 3000 km, AMT-B 6000 km (Pegasus), AMT-C 8000 km (Icarus, Ticonderoga), AMT-D 12000 km; 6. you name the ship: "U.A.S. Ticonderoga teleport me up", "Ticonderoga teleport me", "Tico port me" - prefixes (U.A.S., I.K.S., S.S., T.S.S.) are optional, a unique start of the name (3 letters are enough, as in the original: "Yor lower shields", "Yor port me") or its initials is enough, and teleport / port / beam / energize all work, with or without "me" / "up". Stuck aboard (a ladder, a locked deck)? "Yor port me proximity override" ports you to the ship's own transporter room.

You do not need to stand on a pad to call your ship by handcomm (also not when you are aboard another ship or a starbase): the ship answers when it is in range, its teleporter has power, the other ship's shields are down (your own ship lowers hers) and no teleporter inhibitor is near you or the arrival point. You materialize on a free pad. While the ship energizes you see the sequence "Negative Energy Field Init ... Event Horizon Quantum Split ... Continuum Transit ... Transit Complete".

Teleporter console (operators): locking a target lists its life signs (players and crew, with deck and tile) in the chat - that is what you aim RECV at. SEND to another ship puts the people on the tile you clicked when it is floor (otherwise on her pads); RECV takes the person at (or nearest to) the locked spot, no pad needed over there. The panel's delay setting works: the panel counts down, then runs its transport sequence, and the transport happens when "Negative Energy Field Init" ends. The ship's teleporters are the real parts: AMT-A..D (Klinshaya KMT, Tikopai TMT); upgrades from the Shipyard Dealers raise the range (A 0.5x, B 1x, C 1.33x, D 2x for ship-to-ship) and lower the tritium per person.

Many ships share 829.7, so the name decides which one answers. If the name fits several ships you are asked for the full name; a name no ship answers to, a ship out of range or one in hyperspace are answered plainly. "beam me up" without a name still works when only one ship you are authorized on is in range (your own ship before the training ship). * "U.A.S. Pegasus, come in" → "Pegasus here. We read you …".

Teleporter console scan (new — still being tested)

When you lock coordinates on the teleporter console, the terrain picture shows the life signs at the locked area as crosses: players, townsfolk and other NPCs on a planet, the crew and people aboard a ship. The chat line lists the nearest ones by name. An active teleporter inhibitor shows as a red ring (12 tiles); nobody can be beamed from or to a spot inside the ring. An inhibitor only works when it is placed on the ground or a deck, or held in a hand. In your backpack, a pocket or any other container it does nothing.

Transporter timing and effect. At the Teleporter console, set the delay and press ENERGIZE. The console counts down "Negative Energy Field Init" (your delay + 1 second), then four more stages of one second each. The people on the pad are transported once, as the console shows "Transit Complete" (your delay + 5 seconds). Handcomm and spoken beams take 2 seconds, with "[Transporter]" stage lines in the chat panel. A person already being energized cannot be energized again until they arrive. When you are energized, a shimmering glow surrounds you and the transporter hums. As the beam takes you, a burst of light sparks around you and onlookers see "shimmers and dematerialises". At the destination you materialize in a shower of sparks with a brief glow, and anyone nearby sees "materialises in a shimmer of light".

Ship-to-shore frequencies

Every ship starts on the standard Ship to Shore frequency 829.7. An owner can give the ship a private frequency, the way a ship could change its comm channel: * /shipfreq shows it; aboard, /shipfreq 345.6 changes it (/shipfreq default goes back to 829.7), or use Ship Computer → Communications → "Ship to Shore" and store a preset. * A private frequency already used by another ship, the standard frequencies and the chat-channel frequencies are refused. * Optional lock: Executive Files → Override Code, then /shipfreq code on. Handcomms must then carry that code (/hc code <n>); strangers get "access denied". * Ships that were on the old per-ship frequencies moved to 829.7 (a frequency an owner had set himself is kept), and handcomms still tuned to an old ship frequency are retuned to 829.7 at login.

Standard frequencies (new — still being tested)

Old tunings (121.5, 100.0, 140.0, 150.0) move to the new numbers automatically. /hc distress sends a distress call.

Comms range

Better comms parts let hails and handcomm calls reach further than your own star system: ACS-A 2, ACS-B 5, ACS-C 7, ACS-D 10 light years (the original component table; Klinshayan KCS and Therataan TCS parts the same by grade) (new — still being tested).

8. Combat, Death and the Law

Fighting

Double-click a target while in battle mode (red). The weapon in your right hand decides how you fight: * No weapon: Hand to Hand (Unarmed), mostly stun damage. * Melee weapon (knife, sword, axe, spear, laser sword, staff): Hand to Hand (Armed). You must be close. The practice longsword only stuns. * Ranged weapon: Marksmanship.

Weapon settings: disruptors show their setting lights and charge at top right: LS light stun, HS heavy stun, LD light disrupt, HD heavy disrupt (click a light to choose). Stun settings only stun; disrupt settings wound. Each step costs more charge per shot (LS 1, HS 2, LD 3, HD 4 of 100) and hits harder (LS 0.6x, HS 1.2x, LD 0.8x, HD 1.4x); a new disruptor starts on HD. The MK87s stunner has LS / HS only. The old MK87a hand disruptor has no record in the 2010 client (no lights, no gauge): carried ones are serviced into the MK87b disruptor pistol automatically, and shops / the Marine kit give the MK87b. /wset 1-4 sets the light of the disruptor in your right hand. The Klinshayan hand plaser needs no ammunition.

Battle modes (TAB): green = peace; yellow = defensive, where you only fight back against someone who attacked you (and take 20 % less damage); red = attack your target.

Target practice. Shooting targets: put one down, go to combat mode red, click it and you fire at it like at any target – ammunition is used, hits depend on your Marksmanship (or melee skill), and every shot trains the skill. Using the target instead is a 'work out' exercise.

Personal shield. Hold it in either hand or wear it on the belt. While charged it absorbs most of every hit (up to 12 points). Change Clip/Powercell (shield in a hand, charged powercell in a pocket or the pack) recharges it; "Personal shield active / off / depleted" reports its state.

Melee range. Unarmed and melee attacks reach only the tiles next to you (about 2 m), so step next to your target. NPC fists and blades reach no farther. Guns keep their ranges.

Government bounties and ship fame (new — still being tested)

Your race's government pays a bounty for every hostile ship your ship destroys or captures: pirates, Rogue Empire warships, XON and Tikopai ships, and warships of any race your government is at war with. The amount depends on the target's size: fighter 1,500 cr, light ship 2,500, cruiser 4,500, heavy warship 8,000, capital ship 15,000 (XON ×1.5, Tikopai ×1.25); the Klinshaya Empire pays in talons and the Therataan Protectorates in work units. The ship's owner receives 40 % (even when offline); the rest is shared by the players aboard. Payment goes into your bank account; if the treasury is short it pays what it can and owes you the rest (IOU), paid automatically later. Each bounty kill also gives the ship fame (4 to 30 points by size), which raises its rank, and everyone aboard gains a little prestige. No bounty or fame for civilian ships (attacking them is piracy), independent bounty hunters, ships of races you are not at war with, target drones, kills by NPC warships or stations, or your own fleet; the same enemy ship pays only once every 30 minutes. /bounties (rates, your payouts and IOUs), /shiphistory (your ship's kill log), /shipfame.

Wounds, mortal wounds and death (new — still being tested)

• When your wounds reach your hit points you fall and are MORTALLY WOUNDED. You bleed for 3 minutes. Another player can save you with a medkit or Medical Technology; a nearby nurse, medic or doctor NPC comes over after about 20 seconds.
• Not saved in time: you die and wake in the Immortrax clinic. Penalty: the credits you carried fall where you died (anyone can pick them up), and you lose 2 % of the XP earned here (at most 25). Your bank account and all other items are safe.
• A huge hit (wounds over 1.5 × hit points) kills at once.
• Repeated stunning can kill: stun past the limit turns into wounds.

Original death rules (host option, new — still being tested)

A host can turn on the original death rules: * When you die, YOU HAVE DIED appears and your body stays where it fell for 30 minutes. A friend with Medical Technology (a medkit helps) can still revive you by using the skill on your body. Anyone can take your gear from the body (/loot <name> lists it, /loot <name> <n|all> takes it). * When the 30 minutes are up you are cloned at the Immortrax clinic. Everything you carried and wore is lost; the bank is safe. You also lose experience: 2 % at the first death, 2 % more for every death after it, at most 20 %. The avatar window shows Deaths : n/p%: how often you were cloned, and the penalty for the next death. (The counter also works with the normal rules.) * The original medical rules come with it. A treatment works with a chance of your Medical Technology % minus 1 % for every hit point the patient is below zero. A medkit in hand adds 20, a ship's medbed 50 and a hospital bed 100. A heavy hit (a quarter of your hit points) or a mortal wound gives you a wound. Each wound takes 10 % off the hit points that can heal. Only Surgery cures a wound, one at a time. The avatar window shows Wounds : n; /deaths shows both.

Healing

• Medkit in a hand + Medical Technology from the Skills window ("Heal on …"), or /medkit (yourself) / /medkit <id>. Heals 15 wounds, more with skill (Surgery for surgery), up to 60.
• Drugs: spray hypo in one hand, vial in the other, then use the hypo. Traumaid, Diplextalase and Hephaestolase heal; Tridrenaline, Chlorpenadol and Calphasine clear stun; Norphine kills pain; antibiotics and antivirals cure disease; Trichloriplex is poison.
• Rest in a bed or chair, or ask the pharmacist or nurse: "heal me".

PvP and safe zones (new — still being tested)

PvP is ON on this server (the host can turn it off). Attacking another player is a crime: * a stun = ASSAULT, a lethal weapon = ATTEMPTED MURDER, a kill = MURDER (police come, and a 500 cr state bounty is posted on the killer). * Attacking a wanted player, or your licensed bounty target, is lawful. * Safe zones, where nobody can attack a player: Fleet HQ, the Med Center clinic, every SpaceDock, starbase and shipyard interior, and the area around each spaceport. /safezone tells you if you are in one.

Duels

Say "I challenge you" next to a player (or with them targeted); they say "I accept". Or use /duel <id>. A duel is no crime and nobody dies; the first one down loses. /duel yield gives up.

Crime and police

• Crimes show on your HUD. Onlookers see them, and the police come for you and shoot.
• If you are knocked out (or killed) with police on you, you are arrested. You are healed and put in a cell, and a Sentence line appears on the HUD. The sentence counts down while you are online. Walking out of the cell puts you back.
• Say "I'll pay my bail" to pay your way out (or "I'll pay my fines" while you are still wanted). /crimes and /wanted show your record. Each criminal tag wears off on its own after your last crime, as in the original: theft 10 min, assault and impersonating an officer 15 min, attempted murder and murder 30 min, piracy 60 min ("Tag expired: THEFT", then "You are no longer wanted").
• Other crimes: theft (/steal on a double-clicked person; get caught and you are wanted), forgery (/forge license or /forge papers), smuggling (stims, illegal weapons and small-arms crates are contraband; customs and patrol ships search, and your Smuggling skill decides whether they find it; black markets pay more). (new — still being tested)
• Firing on civilian ships is PIRACY; destroying one is MURDER. That race's standing drops, its ships turn on you and its merchant guild posts a bounty on you.
• Crimes also cost prestige (section 9).

9. Economy: Money, Shops, Markets and Prestige

Money

• Credits are the Alliance currency. Foreign money: Klinshayan talons, Therataan work units, Tikopaika benn. Alien shops price in their own money.
• Ask "what are the exchange rates?" or say "exchange 1000 credits for talons" to change bank balances (5 % fee).
• Credits you carry are items in your hands or pockets. /bank and the ATM handle your account.

Shops

Walk up to a shopkeeper and say buy (or shop, trade). A shop buys back what it stocks at half price. Shopkeepers stand around each planet's GalTrans arrival point. Highlights on Terra:

Other worlds have their own quartermasters, markets and traders (Klinshay, Therat Prime, Rodom V's black market, Manara's Tikopaika Consul, and colony traders on Mars, Centauria, Rylat, Celay, Xanadu, Avalon and Mercury).

Markets and trade

• Galactic Marketplace: double-click a 3DV terminal (with the launcher) to see prices across the galaxy.
• Bulk cargo is bought and sold at markets with your ship in the system (/market, /cargo; or talk to the market agent: "prices", "routes", "buy 30 ore", "sell all").
• NPC colonies trade too: /npccolony market | buy <good> <tons> | sell <good>.
• Player-to-player: use the trade window to swap items and money safely.

Prestige (PP) and requisitions (new — still being tested)

• Prestige starts equal to your XP and grows with every XP you earn, and with discoveries, paydays, promotions and medals. Crimes cost prestige (assault 25, theft 20, murder 100 …). The HUD shows "PP : now / earned"; /prestige explains it.
• Requisitions: at the Fleet HQ Quartermaster say "Lieutenant, may I requisition a uniform" (or /req). The Requisition window prices uniforms, gear and even ship requisitions (a Starhopper shuttle 500 PP, an F-207 Valkyrie 1500 PP) in prestige. Empty one hand and press Requisition. Faction members only; civilians use the normal credit shop.
• Pay: faction members get paid on payday (/payday, /faction).

10. Crafting, the Chemistry Lab and Repair

Crafting from schematics

1. Buy a blank schematic (Tech Supply) and the item you want to copy. Hold both and use Reverse Engineering to put the recipe on the schematic.
2. Hold the schematic and use it: the Schematic window lists the materials and tools. Drop them in and press CREATE (Fabrication Technology).
3. /recipes lists known recipes. Tools come charged; recharge them at a charging station (double-click it: every powercell and powered item you carry - weapons, handcomm, scanner, shield - is filled to 100 % at once, free, with a beep; a technician at a store charges for the same service).

Schematics and tools (new — still being tested)

Hold the schematic in a hand: double-click that hand in your Avatar window (F1) to open the Schematic window. A schematic stored in your Backpack or in a locker also works: double-click it there and it moves into your free hand. * Materials: hold the material in your other hand and double-click the row. * Tool steps: hold the tool in your other hand and double-click the step. Either mouse button works. A tool in your Backpack does not count; you must hold it. If you hold the wrong tool, the server tells you which tool the step needs. * Which tool: a plasma welder cuts, shapes and installs; a circuit tracer does the electronics; a molecular bonder seals, shapes and bonds. A cutting step can also be done with a knife. Tools need charge. * COMPLETE: when every row is green, press COMPLETE. The item appears in your other hand and the schematic resets for reuse. A ship-system part can only be COMPLETEd within 6 m of its empty hardpoint.

Chemistry lab (new — still being tested)

At an analysis/synthesizer lab: a raw material in one tray and an empty vial (pharmacy, 5 cr) in another, then HEAT to get a chemical. HEAT again for the next variant. SYNTHESIZE two or three chemicals into a drug (ANALYZE shows what it does). Useless mixes become a "chemical compound" (HEAT it → a trycene crystal). A vial of petroleum (from the hydrocarbon extractor) heats into 2 plastic ingots; beer or wine heats into whiskey.

Medicine and natural drugs (new — still being tested)

The pharmacy drugs (vials from any pharmacist or MedCenter, used with a spray hypo: vial in one hand, hypo in the other, Ctrl-click the patient): Zytral, Calphasine, Trichloriplex, Tridrenaline, Chlorpenadol, Hephaestolase, Anaphagol, Diplextalase, Metasporin, Exacillin, Viralase, Norphine, Dipentasol, Hexapentasol, Traumaid, Aniphisene, and the street drug stim. They are poisons, stimulants, sedatives, radiation treatments, antibiotics, antivirals and stabilizers of different strengths — the Healing section lists the common ones; for the rest, read the label, ask a doctor, or find out. Too much of a stimulant, or two stabilizers in a row, is an overdose. Some drugs are habit-forming: keep taking them and you will crave them, and feel it when you stop.

Natural drugs grow on planets across the galaxy — mosses, fungi, roots, barks, resins, salts and crystals. Each world has its own few, by climate (lush, dry, cold, ocean, hot, volcanic, caves, airless), and some grow on one homeworld only. On a planet's surface, search the ground: the Resource Harvesting skill with empty hands (no pick, no extractor), or /forage. Science Technology helps; the rarest ones need real skill to recognize. Chew a find (use it like food, or /chew) for a mild dose, or take it to a chemistry lab: the find in one tray, an empty vial in another, HEAT → a vial of extract for the spray hypo (a full dose). ANALYZE in the lab shows its chemistry. Pharmacists buy them ("sell herbs").

Labels. Vials all look alike, so write on them: /label <text> with the vial (or anything else) in your hand, /label tray <1-4> <text> for what sits in a lab tray, /labels to read every label you carry and the trays at a lab, /label clear to peel one off. A label stays on the item through trays, pockets and the hypo ("You inject yourself with 'blue batch 3'"), and a fresh extract is labelled with its plant until you change it. The item's own name in the window cannot change.

The ones known so far (35): ashvine, bittermint, blackthorn berries, bloodbloom, bluevein lichen, corelight amber, dreamlotus, dusk orchid, emberleaf resin, frostwort, ghostcap mushroom, glimmer pollen, glowcap mushroom, ironroot, kaffa beans, kelpweave, lumen fern, mistfern, quickwater salts, redcap mushroom, saltbloom crystals, seafoam algae, shiverroot, smokeweed, sporebane fungus, starfruit nectar, stonebeard lichen, stoneheart moss, sunthistle, tarrow root, thornbark, velith moss, venomglass shards, whisperleaf, zanth resin.

Every race reacts differently. Cold-blooded Ryl'Atti with copper blood, aquatic Celay, cold-sensitive Klinshayans with their keen noses, Therataans, Terrans: the same vial can heal one and kill another. The old medical rule stands: sedatives are deadly to a Therataan, and poisons merely put one to sleep. Carrying radioactive ore or elements gives you radiation sickness — the radiation drugs and some plants clear it. Rarely a drug leaves a permanent mark on you. What anything actually does to you is written in your drug journal (/pharma journal) the first time you try it — the manual lists the names, not the effects. Explore, test carefully, keep notes.

Experiments and the medical database (new — still being tested)

Experimental synthesis. At a chemistry lab, put a natural find, an extract, an element ingot, an ore or an earlier experimental vial in a tray together with other ingredients and an empty vial, then press SYNTHESIZE. Instead of a known drug you get a new compound with its own code (EX- and a number). The same recipe always gives the same compound, for everybody on the server, so a good mix can be repeated. Science Technology decides whether the experiment works: below what a compound needs, you may get useless sludge, or the mix may flare up in your face. Pure pharmacy vials and lab chemicals still synthesize the classic way.

Trials. Nobody knows what a new compound does until it is tried. Hold a spray hypo in one hand and the vial in the other, then type /experiment to dose the nearest body, /experiment <id> for the one you Ctrl-clicked, or /experiment me to try it on yourself. A live subject (a person, a crewman, an animal) feels the full effect. A dead body or an animal carcass shows only what the compound does to tissue. Every race and every kind of creature can react differently, so a trial on one tells you little about another.

The medical database. Every compound your ship makes and every trial its people run is filed in the ship's medical database. Read it at the Ship Computer console, in sickbay, at a chemistry lab bench, or anywhere aboard: * /medlab — the compounds on file; /medlab <compound> — one compound, its recipe and what has been observed * /medlab trials — the trial log; /medlab races and /medlab race <race> — what is known per race * /medlab name <text> with the vial in a hand — give a compound your own name (the database and the vial's label use it) * /medlab recipe with the vial in a hand — the ingredients that made it * aboard, say "computer, what do we know about compound"

The Chem Lab console, the Personal datapad (Field page) and medical staff have buttons for all of this. New compounds also go into the ship's discovery log (section 17). What a compound does is never in this manual: run the trials and read the database.

Cooking and furniture

Raw meat cooks at a kitchen unit. Furniture works (new — still being tested): sit or sleep to rest and heal, store items in dressers and lockers, train on exercise machines, recharge at charging stations, post on bulletin boards. Furniture adds comfort to your home or ship (/comfort).

Repair (new — still being tested)

Weapons and tools wear out (/condition). Hold the item plus a circuit tracer (energy weapons, electronics) or a plasma welder (slug guns, blades, tools), then use Electronics or Engineering Technology from the Skills window (or /repair). Or open a weapon/tool shop and type /repair to pay for a full repair. A ruined weapon cannot be fixed.

Ship damage control (new — still being tested)

Repairing with a skill: click the component in the ship first (e.g. a shield generator; the game prints "That is ... (xx%)"), then double-click the matching skill in the Skills window (Deflector Shield Technology for shields, Fusion for reactor / engines / generators, Hyperdrive, Starship Sensors, Communications, Computer, Life Support, Teleporter, Starship Weaponry for weapons and tractors, Engineering for the hull and power plant). Each use is a skill roll: a success repairs part of the damage. Used on a component that is not damaged, it tunes it up ("tweaking") a little each time, up to 120 % efficiency: as in the original game tweaking needs at least 50 in that system's skill, re-tweaking a system that is already above 100 % needs 80, every step above 100 % needs a second skill roll, and shields must be lowered first. The wrong skill says so. Without a clicked component the skill works on the most damaged system it covers. Every attempt answers REPAIR / TWEAK SUCCESSFUL or FAILED, and after an attempt you need about 7 seconds before the next one (the game tells you how long). Working on a system that is switched on is dangerous: there is a high chance it zaps you (damage, a flinch and a zap sound) - switch it off first. Nothing repairs itself: damaged systems stay damaged until somebody repairs them (by skill or by an order to the crew below); only a ship docked at a starbase (or landed) is repaired by the yard crew. Sabotage: click the component, then use the Sabotage skill. A success damages it; once it is at 0 %, another success rips it out of its mounting. A failed attempt zaps you (a few points of damage, with a zap animation and sound). Every attempt says SABOTAGE SUCCESSFUL or FAILED; the ~7 s pause between attempts applies here too. The better your Sabotage skill, the better the chance. Changing power settings never damages anything: a shield turned down only lets more of a hit through, and an overloaded core vents with a warning.

At Engineering or Ship Ops, order repairs ("Repair the life support system", "Repair the comms, Jones"). Teleporter Technology fixes transporters, Life Support Systems Tech fixes life support and Communications Systems Tech fixes comms. Broken life support makes the air thin and cold, a damaged transporter misfires, and broken comms go silent. Short names work ("repair the comms", "the transporter", "life support", "the computer"). Each engineer takes his own damaged system: with two crewmen in Engineering, the second one starts on the next damaged system while the first is busy. /eng dc shows who is repairing what.

11. Mining and Smelting

On foot (new — still being tested)

• Hold a sonic pick and use Resource Harvesting in the Skills window. You may find nothing, one piece of ore, or several. Richer worlds give more; /mine survey tells you what the ground holds.
• Smelting: ore in your left hand, hand smelter in your right, press Ctrl+R (10 ore make 1 metal ingot, as in the original game). At low skill a poor attempt still gives one ingot but wastes up to twice the ore; a really bad one only loses ore. Resource Harvesting improves with practice.
• Keep a hand or a pocket free: with both hands and all pockets full the pick finds nothing to put the ore in, and the server tells you so.
• Hydrocarbon extractor: hold it on a planet and use Resource Harvesting (or /extract) for plastic ingots where there is a deposit; /collect draws gases from the air (see Metals, minerals and the elements below).
• Mining builds STRENGTH. Trycene is only found on hot, airless worlds (class K, e.g. Mercury).

Metals, minerals and the elements (new — still being tested)

The rock of the galaxy holds far more than plain ore. Every rocky world has its own mix of mineral veins: copper, titanium, iron and aluminum on the inhabited core worlds; silver, gold, platinum, the rare earths, uranium and stranger things out among the stars. Geology decides what you find: hot airless rocks, ice worlds, deserts, oceans, volcanic worlds and asteroids all differ. * Prospecting: hold a hand scanner and type /prospect. It lists the minerals of the world you stand on (abundant, common, scarce, traces) and the nearest veins with their coordinates (/where shows yours). Science Technology steadies the readings. * Mining a vein: use the sonic pick exactly as for ore. Harder minerals need more Resource Harvesting: a vein you are not yet skilled for tells you what it is and what skill it needs, so come back later. Your first find of a mineral on a world goes into your ship's Discovery Log. * Smelting: mineral ore in one hand, hand smelter in the other, Ctrl+R. Rarer minerals need more ore per smelt. What a mineral yields, and what else sometimes turns up in the melt, you find out by smelting it; /metals info <mineral> remembers what you have learned. Some minerals are radioactive. * Gases: hold the hydrocarbon extractor outdoors and type /collect to fill gas canisters from the air. What you get depends on the world's atmosphere. * Asteroids: refining asteroid ore at a station sometimes recovers trace metals into your ship's metal hold: /metals hold, /metals withdraw <metal> <amount>. * Selling: every Commodities Agent buys them. Say "assay" to hear what yours are worth there, "sell copper" (any metal, mineral or alloy by name), "sell minerals", "sell alloys", "sell gases" or "sell my metals". Prices follow each world's demand for metals. ("sell ore" and "sell metals" still trade your ship's cargo hold.) /assay prices what you carry anywhere. * Building with them: steel, stainless steel, titanium alloy, duralumin, nickel superalloy, iron, aluminum and titanium count as metal ingots in every schematic. Say "metallurgy" to a Commodities Agent for printed metallurgy schematics (alloys and equipment), then "buy schematic ". Reverse engineering an alloy gives you its schematic too. What goes into each one, you will see on the schematic. * /metals list elements, /metals list ores, /metals list alloys name everything there is to find.

The 118 elements. Every one of them can be found, refined or made somewhere in the galaxy. Where, and how, is for you to discover: Hydrogen (H), Helium (He), Lithium (Li), Beryllium (Be), Boron (B), Carbon (C), Nitrogen (N), Oxygen (O), Fluorine (F), Neon (Ne), Sodium (Na), Magnesium (Mg), Aluminum (Al), Silicon (Si), Phosphorus (P), Sulfur (S), Chlorine (Cl), Argon (Ar), Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca), Scandium (Sc), Titanium (Ti), Vanadium (V), Chromium (Cr), Manganese (Mn), Iron (Fe), Cobalt (Co), Nickel (Ni), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Gallium (Ga), Germanium (Ge), Arsenic (As), Selenium (Se), Bromine (Br), Krypton (Kr), Rubidium (Rb), Strontium (Sr), Yttrium (Y), Zirconium (Zr), Niobium (Nb), Molybdenum (Mo), Technetium (Tc), Ruthenium (Ru), Rhodium (Rh), Palladium (Pd), Silver (Ag), Cadmium (Cd), Indium (In), Tin (Sn), Antimony (Sb), Tellurium (Te), Iodine (I), Xenon (Xe), Caesium (Cs), Barium (Ba), Lanthanum (La), Cerium (Ce), Praseodymium (Pr), Neodymium (Nd), Promethium (Pm), Samarium (Sm), Europium (Eu), Gadolinium (Gd), Terbium (Tb), Dysprosium (Dy), Holmium (Ho), Erbium (Er), Thulium (Tm), Ytterbium (Yb), Lutetium (Lu), Hafnium (Hf), Tantalum (Ta), Tungsten (W), Rhenium (Re), Osmium (Os), Iridium (Ir), Platinum (Pt), Gold (Au), Mercury (Hg), Thallium (Tl), Lead (Pb), Bismuth (Bi), Polonium (Po), Astatine (At), Radon (Rn), Francium (Fr), Radium (Ra), Actinium (Ac), Thorium (Th), Protactinium (Pa), Uranium (U), Neptunium (Np), Plutonium (Pu), Americium (Am), Curium (Cm), Berkelium (Bk), Californium (Cf), Einsteinium (Es), Fermium (Fm), Mendelevium (Md), Nobelium (No), Lawrencium (Lr), Rutherfordium (Rf), Dubnium (Db), Seaborgium (Sg), Bohrium (Bh), Hassium (Hs), Meitnerium (Mt), Darmstadtium (Ds), Roentgenium (Rg), Copernicium (Cn), Nihonium (Nh), Flerovium (Fl), Moscovium (Mc), Livermorium (Lv), Tennessine (Ts), Oganesson (Og).

Minerals known to Alliance geologists: hematite ore, meteoric iron ore, bauxite ore, chalcopyrite ore, sphalerite ore, galena ore, cassiterite ore, pentlandite ore, cobaltite ore, chromite ore, ilmenite ore, rutile sand, pyrolusite ore, molybdenite ore, wolframite ore, vanadinite ore, coltan ore, pyrochlore ore, zircon sand, argentite ore, gold-bearing quartz, calaverite ore, platinum-group nuggets, cinnabar ore, stibnite ore, bismuthinite ore, arsenopyrite ore, spodumene ore, lepidolite ore, pollucite ore, beryl ore, halite (rock salt), sylvite ore, fluorite ore, limestone, dolomite, magnesite ore, celestine ore, barite ore, borax ore, quartz, graphite ore, phosphate rock, native sulfur, germanite ore, greenockite ore, lorandite ore, thortveitite ore, bastnasite ore, monazite sand, xenotime ore, ion-adsorption clay, pitchblende ore, thorite ore, caliche (iodate) ore, bromide salts, helium-3 regolith, water ice, transuranic residue.

Alloys: steel ingots, stainless steel ingots, bronze ingots, brass ingots, titanium alloy ingots, duralumin ingots, nickel superalloy ingots, invar ingots, tungsten carbide, neodymium magnets, superconductor wire, solder, pewter ingots, electrum ingots, sterling silver ingots, white gold ingots, gallium arsenide wafers, staballoy (depleted uranium) ingots, borosilicate glass.

Asteroid mining by starship (new — still being tested)

1. Find a belt: Ship Computer → 1 INTERWEB → 1 Stellar Exploration Database, type ASTEROID (or a system name) and press Enter; or say "computer, asteroid belts"; or type /sed belts / /mine belts. Your ship only knows the belts in its own copy of the database (see Stellar Exploration Database below).
2. Fly there: say "helm, approach the nearest asteroid" (or /mine approach [n]; with nobody at the helm the ship's computer flies her). Or select the asteroid on the Helm scope, lay in a course to it and throttle up: the helm closes to lock range and stops.
3. Scan: /mine scan (or "science, scan the asteroid") within 500,000 km. It shows metal ore, sometimes trycene or antimatter, and how much is left.
4. Mine: you need a working tractor beam in the forward or aft tractor slot. An ATB-3 mining beam (schematic 17154) mines at the full rate, 1 unit every 5 seconds; any other ATB tractor beam (the stock ATB-1, ...) mines at half rate. Within 2 km, lock it on: Ship Ops FWD/AFT LCK on the asteroid's scope row, /mine lock or "ops, lock tractor on the asteroid". Mining runs until the rock is empty, the hold is full or you release the beam. Clear messages tell you what is wrong: "Too far: asteroid 20 is 37 km away - close to 2 km", "No tractor beam fitted", "The tractor beam is offline", "Hold full (100/100 t)".
5. Refine: dock at Terra Starbase, a player starbase/station/dock or an NPC colony starbase. Every 5 seconds one unit becomes 150 metal ingots (ore), 100 trycene crystals (trycene) or 100 antimatter fuel. Unrefined ore also sells at markets.

• Sol's belt is rich in trycene and antimatter, and a pirate hot spot.
• /mine shows your beams (with their mining rate), hold and stores.

Stellar Exploration Database (new — still being tested)

• Every race keeps its own database: Terran, Ryl'Atti, Celay, Therataan and Klinshayan each know the systems they have explored — star class, planets (type, habitability, best resources, hazards, ruins, native races), asteroid belts and their contents, colonies, and discoveries. It grows as that race's science vessels survey new systems and its ships report in.
• Your ship's computer holds its own copy. A new ship knows only the public charts (the five home systems). Searches answer only from your copy; anything else says "No data in this ship's database - dock at a Terran station to update".
• Docking updates it. Dock at a station, starbase, SpaceDock or colony starbase of your ship's race, or of a race allied to it by treaty: "Downloading Terran Stellar Exploration Database... 26 new entries" (a few seconds — undocking early interrupts it). Other races' stations give only their public charts; hostile races refuse the link.
• Exploring pays. Stay about 20 seconds in a system your copy does not have and your sensors chart it; planet scans, asteroid scans and discoveries go in too, at once. At your next own-race or allied station they upload: 25 credits per new entry and 1 prestige per 4.
• Ask the computer: Ship Computer → INTERWEB → Stellar Exploration Database (needs the HD launcher's client fix), or say "computer, search stellar database Procyon", "computer, asteroid belts", "computer, database status" (aboard, on the ship channel or by handcomm), or type /sed <system>, /sed belts, /sed status. Standing on the Ship Computer pad, the answer also appears on the computer's Ship's Log screen.

12. Cargo Transport

Civilian and Fleet ships can take transport jobs: Ship Computer → Request Assignment (Civilian Transport and Colonial Supply missions), and trade bulk cargo between the markets and the NPC colonies.

The cargo types and how long one unit lasts (from the original manual; on this server one unit feeds 100 colonists rather than one, and cargo is counted in tons):

There are also hold-only goods such as small arms (contraband) and trycene ore. Your Ship Computer's Executive Files show the captain's and crew's cut of cargo sales (default 90 % / 10 %; /crew cut).

Making money: cargo hauling, mining, bounty hunting (new — still being tested)

You start with 20,000 credits in your backpack and a starter ship (the Icarus, 80 t cargo hold) in orbit of your home planet. To pay a shopkeeper, take the money out of the backpack (F2) into one hand. The Commodities Agents and contracts also take money straight from your backpack or bank.

Trade runs. Every market planet has a Commodities Agent. Walk up and say "Commodities, prices". Each planet produces some goods cheaply and pays well for others: Terra makes electronics and manufactured goods; Centauria and Celay want them; Mars and Mercury sell ore and metals. 1. Say "buy 80 electronics". With your ship in the same star system the goods go straight into her hold (/cargo shows it); without a ship you can carry 20 t as cargo lots. 2. Go aboard with your handcomm: hold it, set your ship's frequency, press P1 and TRANSMIT " teleport me up". 3. On the Astrogation console or the Helm, pick the destination (for example Alpha Centauri). Fly out past the red gravity-well circle, then press HYPERDRIVE. 4. When you drop out, take standard orbit of the planet and "teleport me down". 5. Tell that planet's Commodities Agent "sell all". Example: 80 t of electronics bought on Terra for about 3,800 cr sells on Centauria for about 8,700 cr. Prices move as you buy and sell, and they recover over time.

Hauling contracts. No money to risk on cargo? Ask any Commodities Agent for "contracts". Each contract lists the cargo, the destination, the freight (your pay), the collateral and the time allowed, for example: "#2 60t electronics to Centauria (Alpha Centauri, 4.39 ly) - freight 2,520 cr, collateral 2,820 cr, 34 min". 1. Say "accept contract 2". You need your ship in this star system with room in the hold, and the collateral; you get the collateral back on delivery. 2. The cargo is loaded straight into your hold and marked as under contract, so nobody will buy it from you. Your contracts show in /contracts, /cargo, the Mission window and the Ship Computer's Current Assignment screen. 3. Fly to the destination, go down and tell its Commodities Agent "deliver". You are paid the freight plus your collateral back, plus experience, prestige and fame for your ship. Long hauls pay much more (Terra to Manara, 77 ly, about 24,000 cr for 120 t).

If you are late or abandon the contract ("abandon contract 2"), you lose the freight but the cargo is yours to sell. If your hull is breached in a fight, the cargo and the collateral are lost. You can hold three contracts at once; the boards change every half hour.

The contract board. Say "contracts" (or "work", "jobs", "hauling") to a Commodities Agent. The agent lists the board in your chat panel, one line per contract, and opens the exchange window in board mode: each row is a contract (goods, tons in the stock column, collateral in the price column). Press Buy to accept it, or say "accept contract N". The Mission window (Ctrl+M) shows the board for ten minutes, and /contracts board reopens the window.

Errands and ship assignments. The Logistics Officers (Terra Fleet HQ, Mars, Klinshay, Therat Prime, Rodom V, Manara) have small courier jobs. Say "Logistics Officer, any assignment?", pick one in the Available Assignments window, and follow the objective (for example, take the GalTrans to Mars and tell the Logistics Chief "dispatch"). On your own ship, open Ship Computer > Current Assignment and say "request assignment" (or type 1 in chat; key 1 on that screen returns to the main menu) to get orders to fly somewhere. The reward goes into the ship's credit account; withdraw it on the Credit and Stores screen.

Mining. Asteroid belts are listed by /mine (Sol's belt is at 2.2-3.3 AU and is rich, but pirates know it). Fly into the belt, approach an asteroid ("helm, approach the nearest asteroid" or /mine approach) and lock a tractor beam on it at Ship Operations. Any tractor beam mines; the ATB-3 mining beam mines twice as fast (1 t every 5 s). Ore goes into your hold. Sell it raw at an exchange (about 20 cr/t on Terra), or refine it: dock at a starbase or station and each ton of mined ore becomes 150 metal ingots in the ship's stores (trycene becomes trycene crystals). Withdraw the ingots on the ship computer's Credit and Stores screen and tell a Commodities Agent "sell the metal ingots". Refined ore pays about five times the raw price (about 100 cr per ton on Terra). On foot, buy a sonic pick (150 cr) and a hand smelter (250 cr) at Tech Supply; see chapter 11.

Bounties. Every pirate and Rogue Empire ship you destroy earns a bounty from your race's government, paid into your bank: 1,500 cr for a fighter up to 15,000 cr for a capital ship, more for XON and Tikopai. Your ship gains fame and you gain prestige. Target the ship on Tactical and fire. /bounties shows the rates and your payouts. Civilian ships are not fair game: attacking one is piracy and puts a bounty on you. For extra pay, visit a Bounty Broker (Farsoom City on Mars, or Xanadu) and ask for "hunting contracts", for example "destroy 2 ships of the Black Talon Syndicate (last seen in ...)". Say "accept hunt 1". Every kill still pays the government bounty, and the last one pays the brokers' bonus (1,500 cr per ship plus a share of the gang's bounty) into your bank. You have two hours per contract; /hunts lists yours.

13. Starships

Your crew (new — still being tested)

Every ship you own comes with a crew; so does the Pegasus. Each crewman has a name, rank, uniform, gear, skills and a personality, and stands at his station: helm, tactical, engineering, operations (who also runs the transporter room), science, comms and astrogation. A doctor is always in sickbay. Small craft carry just a pilot. The crew stays with the ship and is the same every time you log in.

Talk to them by name or rank ("Ensign Kade, report", "Doctor, heal me"), or call whoever is next to you ("Man the tactical station, crewman"). All the bridge orders work: "helm, set course for Alpha Centauri", "engage", "tactical, red alert", ", man the transporter". Also: "crew, report" (roll call), ", follow me" / ", return to your station" / ", dismissed", and small talk such as "who are you?" or "what are you carrying?". Hurt? Go to sickbay - the doctor treats anyone injured who comes to him there - or call the doctor ("doctor, heal me") and he comes to you. A crewman who is lost leaves a vacancy: /crew hire fills vacancies while docked at a starbase, landed or in orbit (250 cr each). /crew report and /crew profile show your crew.

Talking to your crew from the conn (Crew list). Sit at the Helm and press MODE until NavComp shows COMPUTER OVERRIDE, then 1 - Link To Main Computer, 3 - System Files, 2 - Crew Roster (at the Ship Computer console just 3, then 2). The list shows every crewman with rank, name, deck ([D9] = deck 9, [lift], [off] = off duty), post and ONBOARD/ABSENT. Click a crewman's line and press 1 - Order Crew Member: an intraship channel opens ("[Intraship] Bridge to Ensign Kade Morrow." in the chat panel, F6) and the list turns into his orders - Report, Man a station..., Follow me, Damage control, Red alert, Yellow alert, Stand down, Doctor to the bridge, Dismissed (off duty), Type an order... Click an order and press 1; he answers over comms wherever he is on the ship. Click his own line and press 1 to go back. Type an order... sends each line you type to him over intraship (a number picks from the menu, out closes; it closes by itself after 3 minutes). From anywhere aboard: /cc lists your crew with numbers, /cc 3 or /cc doctor opens the channel, /cc off closes it. A hired crewman can be dismissed for good from Man a station... -> Dismiss from service (owner only, press twice).

Starbases and their crews (new — still being tested)

Every government starbase (the Terra Starbase, Starbases Alpha–Eta, and each race's navy starbases at Rylat, Celay, Therat Prime, Klinshay and their colonies) and every SpaceDock has a crew. Dock (Helm, DOCKING mode, Request Docking Approach - granted within 25,000 km of the station; inside that range the helm flies you in at Full sublight. The Terra Starbase is about 39,000 km from Terra orbit - fly toward it first; from 20,000 km the approach takes about 4 seconds. The DOCKING list shows the free ports and Request Docking Approach as the last number (5 with all four ports free) - press that number. Docked ships sit at the starbase's docking ports), then walk through your docking port. The Dock Master waits by the port: say refuel or repair my ship (fuel 5 cr per % of tank, hull 20 cr per %, paid from the credits in your hands, then your bank account), rates, or where is the doctor. Toward the hub you find the Commander (station report), the Shipwright (that race's ships plus ship-part schematics; ships, buy ), the Quartermaster (weapons and gear), the Chandler (powercells, rations, canteens, medkits, tools, trycene), the Barkeep (menu) and the Doctor (heal, or buy for medical supplies). Marines, mechanics and crew walk the decks; Klinshaya and Therataan stations are run by their own people. Government starbases always have power, and the Terra Starbase's point defense fires on raiders attacking ships at its clamps. A station you own gets a basic crew (Dock Master, Chandler, Barkeep, Doctor, guard, mechanic). /starbases list, /starbases here.

The new Astrogation console (star map and SEND TO HELM, new — still being tested)

When you open the Astrogation console aboard a ship, a modern star map now opens on top of it. The original console is still underneath and works as before.

• The map. It shows your ship (green diamond), the stars around you colored by who controls their space (see below), a grid at your ship's height with lines from each star down to it (so you can see what is above or below you), and your current destination with an orange course line. The header shows your galactic position; the bottom line shows your ship, system and whether you are in hyperspace.
• Moving around. Drag with the left mouse button to turn the view, drag with the right button to slide it, and use the mouse wheel to zoom from a single system out to the whole galaxy. Home brings the view back to your ship.
• Finding a star. Click a star, or just start typing its name; the SEARCH box suggests matches and Enter takes the first one. TARGET DETAILS then shows its class, coordinates, distance, the course (in the same "heading d pitch" form as the classic console) and about how long the trip takes at Full.
• A point in deep space. Type three coordinates in the search box (for example 50 3 30 or 51.2x 3.06y 28.3z), or double-click an empty spot on the map to pick the point on the grid under the mouse.
• SEND TO HELM. Press the orange SEND TO HELM button under TARGET DETAILS. It sends exactly what the classic HLM button sends, so the Helm's Destination, Dist and ETA show the new target. The button turns green (ON THE HELM) once the helm has it. The Astrogation console never flies the ship: the pilot still engages at the Helm (or says "helm, engage") with the usual rules - leave the gravity well, half of Full or faster, the hyperdrive spool-up.
• Classic console. CLASSIC (or F10) hides the new map until you open the console again, so you can use the original keypad, waypoint list and display functions. CLOSE closes the console. Drag the top bar of the map to move the console window.
• Controlled space. The map is colored by the powers that hold each region, the same borders the server enforces (Treaty of Alshaya, with Caph at the center): blue United Systems Alliance (north-east of Caph: Sol, Alpha Centauri, Tau Ceti), green Therataan Protectorates (south-east: Therat), red Klinshaya Empire (north-west: Klinshay), yellow the Demilitarized Zone (the 10 ly wide cross through Caph; warships there break the treaty), purple XON and pink Tikopai space (hostile, out in neutral space). Uncolored stars are Neutral Space, and so is everything more than 100 ly above or below the galactic plane. The regions are drawn on the grid at the height of the view; stars keep their owner's color. TARGET DETAILS names the space of the picked star, the bottom line the space your ship is in, and a legend sits on the left. F9 (or the MAP LAYERS box) switches the colors off and back to star classes. Rogue Empire space moves around and is not shown.
• Colonies and starbases. Each of the 100 NPC colonies is marked with a small square and each race navy's military starbase with a diamond, both in the race's color: blue Alliance, cyan Ryl'Atti, silver Celay, green Therataan, red Klinshaya. The original map's Starbases ALPHA to ETA (Alliance Navy, ALPHA is the Terra Starbase in Sol) are labelled even when you zoom out. Pick a star and TARGET DETAILS names its colony (race, industry, planet) and starbase (navy). Under MAP LAYERS on the left you can switch Controlled space (F9), Colonies (F6) and Starbases (F7) on and off by clicking them. Starbases a colony builds for itself during a war are not on the map.
• Choosing. In SQO_settings.bat, "Astrogation console" can be set to the new map with SEND TO HELM (default), the new map read-only, or the classic console only (set "SQO_ASTRO_UI=0" in PLAY.bat does the same). If the new map ever misbehaves, choose the classic console there; the game itself is not affected.
• The map needs Python's tkinter (part of the normal python.org install). Without it the classic console simply stays as it is.

Plotting a course (Astrogation route planner, new — still being tested)

Use the Astrogation console's waypoint list, or the /route commands, to plan multi-stop courses. /route new <name>, then /route add <system> [action] with an action: dock [station] [refuel] [repair] [wait N], orbit <planet> [N], hold N or patrol N (circle the system for N minutes); /route add here uses your current system, /route add point x y z a point in deep space. /route loop on turns a route into a repeating patrol. /route list, show, del <n>, act <n> <action> and drop <name> manage your routes (each ship keeps several); /route stations [system] lists the starbases you can dock at.

When the course is ready, /route send passes it to your helmsman: he confirms on comms and loads the waypoints into Astrogation. Say "helm, engage", press HYPERDRIVE, or ENGAGE on the route target, and he flies every leg himself - out of the gravity well, the jump, the docking approach, refuelling, and on to the next waypoint - even after you log off. Fuel costs 5 cr per % of the tank and hull repair 20 cr per %, paid from the ship owner's bank account; below 15 % fuel he stops to refuel at the nearest friendly starbase. The course halts on red alert, if the ship takes damage, if fuel runs low with no starbase nearby, or if someone takes the helm. "Helm, resume the route" carries on, "helm, all stop" pauses, "helm, report" gives progress, "cancel the route" (or /route cancel) clears it; /route status shows where the course stands. Plotting needs Astrogation access (level 2 or higher) or ownership of the ship. An NPC helmsman also adds a steady speed bonus (about +18 %; Full shows about 0.79c instead of 0.67c).

Getting a ship

• Your starter ship (see below) — every character gets one.
• Training ship Pegasus: report to the Duty Officer (section 1).
• Buy: at a Shipyard Dealer say "show me your ships" (or /shipyard).
• The race rule: you may buy any civilian ship (shuttles, freighters, liners, yachts, explorers, miners) from any race, but only your own race's warships:
• Terrans: Valkyrie, Manning, Ticonderoga, Titan
• Klinshayans: Quen fighter, Raptor, Deathwing
• Therataans: K Type Interceptor, Star Warrior (and the Manning or Raptor as a mid-size warship)
• Ryl'Atti and Celay have no warships of their own and may buy every race's.
• Never for sale: the !Tunurr freighter and the StarHawk (the game cannot draw their interiors yet), the Remora (a Tikopai warship) and the XON Accumulator / Overmind (hostile XON warships).

/ships shows what you may buy; /ships 600 checks one class. * New small starships (new — still being tested): five 3-deck ships, one per race, 65,000 cr each; any race may buy any of them: Hesper (Terran light utility, 120 t cargo), Amath (Ryl'Atti scout, twin-pad transporter, 80 t), Paican (Celay light freighter, mining beam, 160 t), Acolyte (Therataan survey ship, 60 t) and Carrion (Klinshaya patrol ship, torpedo tube, ladders instead of a lift, 40 t). Sold at the Terra yard (Hesper, Amath, Paican), Therat Prime (Acolyte) and Klinshay (Carrion). They have ship titles like every other class ("title to a Hesper class starship"). At Terra the Shipyard Dealer's window is full, so the Hesper, Amath and Paican are sold by Nelson Astronautics, the starship salesman just north of the dealer (say "show me your ships" next to him); Klinshay and Therat Prime list theirs in the dealer's own window. The title goes into your free hand, /boardship <id> boards the ship, and holding the title and pressing Sell in his window sells it back for half. Speech ("buy a hesper") and /buyship hesper still work; /shipinfo shows the class page. Your launcher needs the current player download; without it the ship is invisible and its decks do not load. * Requisition one with prestige, build one at a shipyard, or capture one (section 14). * /sellship <id> at a shipyard sells one back.

Your starter ship

Every character gets one free starter ship, parked in orbit of the planet it starts on, with the stock parts and a little fuel (about a quarter of its tanks; refuel when docked or landed, paid per % of tank). Characters made before this feature get theirs at their next login if they own no ship.

The StarHawk and Tunurr interiors could not be drawn by the game (black decks, "You can't get there from here"), so every race now starts with an Icarus. A StarHawk or Tunurr starter ship handed out earlier is refitted as an Icarus ("'s Icarus"), and anyone who logged out aboard one comes back on the Icarus transporter pad.

• Getting aboard: hold the handcomm you were given (charged, on 829.7), open it (CTRL+L / CTRL+R), press P1, press TRANSMIT and say " teleport me up" (or just "beam me up" while it is the only ship of yours in range). You materialize on the ship's transporter pad.
• /starter shows the ship and its handcomm frequency; /starter beam beams you aboard. A character made before starter ships existed who owns no ship gets one when typing /starter. It is yours like a bought ship: crew it, fly it, sell it at a shipyard. You only ever get one, even if it is sold or lost.

Logging back in. You come back where you logged out, on the same deck. If that spot is no longer floor (or outside the ship), you are put on the nearest floor tile, else on the ship's transporter pad.

Boarding, consoles and moving

• Board your landed ship next to you, or beam up by handcomm. /board from far away is refused.
• Consoles only while you are at them. Stand on the pad in front of a console and press Enter with an empty chat line: Helm, Tactical, Engineering, Communications, Ship Ops, science, ship computer, command chair, transporter, colony, shipyard, chem lab. Step off and the panel closes. /cguard tells you which console you are standing at.
• Helm - sublight: the engine buttons set the throttle: Flank 110, Full 100, 3/4 75, 1/2 50, 1/4 25, Stop 0 and reverse (the + / - keys step it, -40 to 110). Sublight is fast enough to cross a system: from Terra to Mercury (1.4 million km on the scope) takes about 5 minutes at Full. In open space the Velocity box shows the speed as a fraction of light (c, Full = 0.667c); near a planet (in its planet zone) the same number is shown as "kph". At Stop it reads 0.000000c and the ship stands still. Course buttons turn the ship; the scope's north follows your heading.
• INT (intercept): select a planet or contact on the scope and press INT. The helm lays in the course and keeps it on the target; open the throttle and the distance closes. On arrival the ship stops; at a planet she goes into standard orbit.
• Gravity wells: the red circle around the star on the Short Range Sensors is its gravity well (planets have small ones too). The hyperdrive never engages inside a well: the Helm tells you how far out the edge is. Fly out past the red circle at sublight first (from Terra orbit about 1 million km, under 4 minutes at Full).
• Helm - hyperdrive (works as in the original game): pick a destination with the Helm NavComp (STAR SYSTEM list, then Course SET; or the SECTOR keypad). Sectors are the original astrogational coordinates: 1 unit = 1 sector = 10 light years, counted from the Caph system = P0C0S0; P/N = up/down (galactic vertical), C/R = coreward/rimward, S/T = spinward/trailward - e.g. P2R2T3 = 2 sectors up, 2 rimward, 3 trailward; Sol is in sector P0C3T5 (the Astrogation console shows your sector). The Helm's NAV button accepts a course handed over from the Astrogation console (HLM) or Command Intelligence. The ship turns toward the target system and the destination appears on the Astrogation console too; on the Astrogation console HLM sends its system (or a typed galactic point) to the Helm. Outside the well press HYPERDRIVE: the ship must be moving at at least half of sublight Full (throttle 50 or more) - from a standstill the Helm tells you to speed up; with the throttle already high the spool-up waits until you are fast enough (a "helm, engage" order brings the throttle to Full by itself). The PWR lamp blinks for about 5 seconds while the drive spools up, then stays lit when you jump. With no destination the drive engages anyway and flies along your heading. Quantum V ends about 1000 ly from Caph: from 950 ly the helm warns you, and at the boundary the field collapses and drops you into subspace just inside it (in the original lore the ship was destroyed). Logging out does not stop the ship: plot a destination and press HYPERDRIVE, then log off, even while the drive is still spooling up - your ship flies on, drops out at the destination and holds at the edge of its gravity well (a helm docking approach or an intercept to a planet also carries on; the intercept ends in standard orbit). When you log back in you are aboard wherever the ship is now, even after a server restart. A ship with nobody aboard online cannot be damaged in combat while it travels, but it still burns fuel (out of power in hyperspace = drops into subspace). A ship in hyperspace with no destination drops into subspace and stops when the last person aboard logs off; if other crew are still online aboard, the ship carries on under their command. In hyperspace the Velocity box shows hD, and Destination, Dist and ETA count down (hyperspace is twice as fast as in the original game: at Full about 87 seconds per light year, Sol to Alpha Centauri about 6½ minutes; sublight and in-system speeds are unchanged). On arrival you drop out at the edge of the destination star's gravity well, nose toward the star, engines stopped.
• Manual course changes: turning the ship by hand (Helm RCS yaw / pitch arrows, keyboard or joystick steering) after a destination was set changes the course: the destination is dropped (the Helm and Astrogation consoles show none, the RCS lamp reads MAN) and the ship flies the new heading for as long as you like - in hyperspace too. CRS, RVS, INT, TRM and the docking ports return to the automatic course (lamp AUTO).
• Power and speed: the propulsion and the hyperdrive draw power while they are on (Engineering shows it). Less power for propulsion (or the hyperdrive in hyperspace) means proportionally less top speed (half the power = half the speed). Switching the hyperdrive on pulls power from weapons and shields under AUTO allocation, as in the original.
• Flank speed wears the drives: above Full (throttle 101-110) the fusion engines (sublight) or the hyperdrive (hyperspace) take damage, slowly at first and faster the longer you stay at flank - about 2 hours of flank wrecks them (Engineering warns at 25 / 50 / 75 %). Full speed does no harm.
• Hyperspace and subspace: hyperspace is its own space: the scope shows no planets, only other ships in hyperspace near you (you can fight them there). Press HYPERDRIVE in flight (or say "helm, full stop") to drop out early: you land in subspace at your galactic position, not back where you started. Subspace is another empty space with its own contacts; a badly damaged hyperdrive (50 %) throws you into subspace too, and an attacker that was fighting you comes along. From subspace just press HYPERDRIVE again (no gravity well there). Voice orders drive the same mechanics: "helm, set course for ..." plots it, "engage" presses HYPERDRIVE (spool-up included), "orbit Venus" flies an intercept to Venus. While the drive is off, Engineering shows the HyperDrive allocation as 0 % (the lamp); it comes back when the drive is powered. Astrogation skill improves turning, speed, evasion and plot accuracy.
• Long range sensors: the sensor scope (Helm, Tactical, Astrogation) is also your long range sensor - zoom out (Mag up to 512000). Ships in hyperspace or subspace within 5 light years of your system appear on it as moving contacts (their speed reads in hD); that is how hyperspace fights start: spot a ship passing by, engage the hyperdrive and go after it. In hyperspace and subspace you see crewed ships in nearby star systems the same way. Type /lrs for a list: contacts with their distance in ly and, in hyperspace or subspace, the nearest stars.
• NPCs and hyperspace: a ship in hyperspace or subspace has left its system - pirates, traffic, race and faction fleets, starbase and colony defenses there can no longer see, hail, scan or shoot it, mining and tows stop. A Rogue Empire ship can still intercept you in hyperspace or subspace (a rare encounter), and an enemy that knocked out your hyperdrive follows you into subspace. Switches: "hyperdrive" lrs, lrs_ly (5), lrs_scope_units, lrs_subspace, lrs_transit_view, hs_encounters, hs_encounter_check_s, hs_encounter_chance.
• Tactical: lasers, torpedoes, six shields. The power figures show the power each weapon or shield really gets: 0 % when it is switched off, the Engineering allocation when it is on. A weapon or shield switched on needs about 3–4 s to reach full power (a weapon cannot fire before). Torpedo launchers start with 0 ready and load one torpedo every 3 s from the magazine; the ready count is the number on the launcher's row; switched off, the loaded torpedoes go back to the magazine. The Ship Ops tractor beam power bars work the same way. Starship Weaponry sets hit chance; Combat Tactics sets damage.
• Ship Operations: Target Drone Launch puts a practice target drone off your bow (up to 3 at a time, gone after 15 minutes) - lock it on Tactical and shoot it. Tractor beams: power each beam with its POWER button (press again to power it down - that also releases the lock); LCK on a contact locks it, LCK on the same contact again releases it, LCK on another contact switches over. A tractor beam cannot lock a ship whose deflector shields are up, and a towed ship that raises her shields breaks free. Each towed ship is listed once under Embarked Craft.
• Command Intelligence: the internal deck scan and the Engineering system scan step through the decks at 1.5 s per deck (client patch, SQO_SCAN_MS). The targeting scan draws the life forms it can see aboard the target as small crosses (it needs a clear scan: a failed teleporter lock no longer blanks them) and the target ship's model fits its window (SQO_CINT_ZOOM); a ship with her shields up cannot be scanned inside - the scan reads JAMMED and the crew's "scan" report says so.
• Docking: Helm DOCKING mode → "Request Docking Approach". Then walk through your docking port. Clicking the request again (or the radio call) keeps the port you were given ("approach already granted"). "helm, status" says "docked at Terra Starbase, port 1".
• Landing: /land in orbit, /takeoff; or ask your helm.

Transporters

Every ship has a transporter room (the Pegasus's is on deck 3). Stand on the operator pad, pick a planet or ship in the contact list, click a spot ("Coordinates Locked") and press ENERGIZE. * Rules: the ship must be in orbit of (or landed on) the planet; ships must be in the same system and close; shields down on every ship involved (/shields down); transporter power at least 50 %; a little tritium per person. * To beam off a ship or starbase you must stand on a transporter pad (on the Pegasus, deck 3 tile 38,12 or 58,12; on the Icarus deck 7 tile 51,106 or 69,106). The pads show the transporter pad model and you can step on and off them freely. Arrivals always land on a pad. On a planet you need no pad.

Your NPC crew — orders cheat sheet

Hire crew (/crew hire …). They walk to their consoles on every ship you own. Talk to them out loud, on the ship channel (FLEET), on the Communications console "Ship" channel, or by handcomm on the ship's frequency. Address the station or the person, then give the order.

Nobody in that department? The ship's computer answers out loud: "Computer: Nobody is manning the science station." (the same as by handcomm); simple orders such as "helm, approach the asteroid" and "science, scan the asteroid" are then carried out by the computer. An order to a crewman who is aboard but not at his post gets "I'm not at the helm yet, Captain - on my way."

With no player on a console (new — still being tested), a crewman on station raises shields and returns fire when you are shot at, balances power and makes repairs. /orders help lists every order. Self-destruct, ownership and security settings are never done by voice.

Ship supplies: powercells and water (new — still being tested)

Every ship's stores now hold powercells and drinking water besides credits, metal ingots, trycene and electronics. A new ship comes with 10 powercells and water for her crew; /stores (aboard) or /supplies shows what she carries. * Take them out (aboard, crew access): /stores take powercell 3 (charged cells of your race's make; add alliance, klinshaya, therataan or tikopai for another make), /stores take water 2 (fills the empty cups, bottles and canteens you carry, then hands out full canteens), or just say computer, issue 2 powercells / issue water. * Put them back: /stores put powercell [n], /stores put water [n], or say return all powercells. * Recharge every cell and powered item you carry, free, anywhere aboard while the reactor works (or docked): /stores recharge or say recharge my cells. Refill your canteens: /stores refill or fill my canteen - from the water stores, or from the recycler while life support works. Sinks aboard still refill a held canteen too. * Buy for your ship from a starbase Chandler or Dock Master, or a spaceport store that sells powercells: say load 20 powercells onto my ship or /stores buy powercells 20 / /stores buy water 100 (30 cr per cell, 2 cr per litre, from your hands then the bank). It goes into the ship docked at that starbase, or your active ship in that star system (by shuttle).

Ship parts and upgrades (new — still being tested)

• Buy a part schematic from a Shipyard Dealer: reactors, engines, aux generators, shield generators, computers (J-series), sensors, tractor/mining/repair beams (ATB), the AMD-4 mass driver, plus printed blanks for lasers, hyperdrives, life support, comms, fuel tanks and the teleporter. Salvage, missions and captured ships can give schematics too.
• Craft it: hold the schematic, drop the materials in, CREATE. The schematic becomes the part.
• Fit it aboard your own ship - the original rule: fabrication can be done anywhere, but pressing COMPLETE (CREATE) with the finished part in hand installs only within 6 meters of the system's hardpoint, and only when that hardpoint is empty. /hardpoints shows every system's hardpoint (deck, room, tile) and whether it is empty or occupied; /install follows the same rule. First /uninstall <system> at the hardpoint (the same 6 m): it empties the hardpoint and returns the old system to you as a part - stock systems too, so nothing is lost when you upgrade. Hardpoints are the systems' own deck fixtures (the reactor housing, the engine rooms, the shield emitters, the transporter pads ...); on ships whose deck plan has no fixture for a system, the Engineering console stands in. Fuel tanks are exempt. /shipparts lists what is fitted; /shipparts catalog lists models and prices.
• Every part the game knows (new — still being tested): besides the parts above there are the K-1 .. K-6a computers, ATB-7, ASP-4 .. ASP-7 sensors, Plaser MK-1 .. MK-5, AAMT-1 .. 4 missile launchers and the AMR-FS reactor, and the whole Klinshayan (KC, KFE, KAMR, KSG, Laser KL / SKL, Plaser KP, KAMT, KSP, KHD, KTB, KCS, KLS, KMT) and Therataan (TAC/TBC, TFE, TZPR, TSG, Laser R, Plaser R, Mag Pulsar, TAMT, TSP, THD, TTB, TCS, TLS, TMT) series. Alliance yards sell Alliance parts, the Klinshay yard Klinshayan parts and the Therat Prime yard Therataan parts. Lasers hit as hard as the original table says: the SMK small-craft lasers are weaker than a MK-1, plasers are stronger than lasers.
• Stock systems by class (new — still being tested): a ship you own comes with its class's original systems, e.g. a Ticonderoga with a K-4 computer, AMR-I reactor, two AFE-E engines, ASG-I shields, ASP-5 sensors and AHD-F hyperdrive, a Manning with K-4 / AMR-F / AFE-E / ASP-7, an Icarus with J-6 / AMR-D / AFE-D / ASG-B, a Raptor with KC-8 / KAMR-3 / KSG-3, a Star Warrior with the TZPR-A zero point reactor and TSG-A shields. /uninstall at the hardpoint returns the stock system as a part and leaves the hardpoint empty until a new system is fitted there.
• The law on civilian ships: Plaser weapons, AMT missile systems (AAMT / KAMT / TAMT) and sensors above ASP-5 are for military ships only. Fitting one to a civilian hull (freighter, liner, yacht, explorer, miner) is refused.
• /shipinfo [class] shows a class's original data (size, decks, crew, hull, power, weapons), its stock systems, whether its interior works and whether it is for sale; aboard without a class it shows your own ship and its registry. /component <model> shows a part's original stats (computer load CDX, superstructure, power, damage, range).
• Original power and computer figures (new — still being tested): every reactor, engine, generator, shield, weapon, sensor and other system now has the power output or draw and computer capacity or load of the original component table (Appendix B), on stock ships, class fits and fitted parts alike. An AMR-A reactor makes 200, an AMR-J 10,000. Ships need more power than they make when everything is running: the Engineering officer decides what gets it (AUTO, ALERT STATUS or MANUAL allocation).

Shipyards, starbases and ODPs (new — still being tested)

• Fly to a system with a SpaceDock (Sol/Terra, Klinshay, Therat Prime, Manara, Rodom V …), dock, and walk through your docking port onto the Starship Construction Console.
• Say what you want: "what can you build", "build a Starhopper", "build an Alamo ODP", "build an Alpha starbase". Press INITIALIZE, bring the metals, electronics and trycene (in your pockets or ship holds), press INITIALIZE again, and once more to launch it. Short of materials? INITIALIZE tells you what is missing and what it costs at the yard's market; press INITIALIZE a second time within 2 minutes to buy it all (all or nothing; money in hand first, then your bank) and carry on. If you choose nothing, the console copies the ship you docked with, fitted parts included. Military stations follow the race rule.

• Station titles — how to deploy your space station. A Colonial Minister sells Buran space station and Alamo defense platform titles.

  1. Go to the planet: stand on it, or orbit it in your ship. If you have a colony there, the station joins it.
  2. Put the title in your left or right hand (not the backpack).
  3. Type /deed, or say "deploy the station" (Buran) or "deploy the ODP" (Alamo).
  4. Wait about 5 minutes while it is built. /mystations (or say "my stations") and /scope list your stations.

  Double-clicking or "using" the title does nothing in this client; use /deed or the spoken command. A Buran adds an Orbital Commerce Station to your colony; an Alamo adds an Orbital Defense Platform. (Seen working in pass 18; speech deploy in pass 20.)

• Your starbases and ODPs shoot at Rogues and pirates near them and at anyone who attacks them, never at friends. Dock at one for repairs. "repair the station" repairs it fully; upkeep is taken from your bank or colony treasury daily. /mystations.

Race starbases across the galaxy (new — still being tested)

Each of the five races keeps six navy starbases: one at its home system and the rest spread over its territory out to the frontier. Terrans also have Terra Starbase at Sol. They show in Ship Ops and on the scope. Say "helm, dock with the starbase": within 25,000 km the helm flies you in at Full sublight and docks you; farther out you are told to approach first. A race that is hostile to you refuses docking. A destroyed navy starbase is rebuilt after about 6 hours. /stations navy lists them all.

The Alliance starbases of the original map. The Astrogation map labels seven systems "Starbase ALPHA" to "Starbase ETA", and they are there: ALPHA = Terra Starbase (Sol), BETA Tau Ceti, GAMMA Alshain, EPSILON UAC6088, ZETA 43 Beta Comae Berenices, ETA Alpha Cir (Alliance Navy, Alpha Class; dock with "helm, dock with the starbase"). DELTA (UDC1368) has no planet to orbit in this galaxy and is not built. /stations named lists them.

Helm speed readout: Full sublight is two-thirds of light speed (the client's own formula, speed^3 / 1,500,000 c). The Helm Velocity box shows it as 0.666667c in open space; in orbit the same box shows 666.7 kph, which means thousandths of light speed (the client's own unit).

Towing (new — still being tested)

A derelict cannot fly or fight. Lock it with a tractor beam at Ship Ops, or tell your helm "tow the derelict to the nearest SpaceDock". At the SpaceDock the yard takes her over. Press INITIALIZE on the Construction Console to rebuild her; each wrecked system is paid for, and missing materials can be bought (press INITIALIZE twice, as above, or /shipbuild buy).

Ship skills, fame and the discovery log

Your ship builds fame from victories and shows it as a suffix on her name. Her computer keeps a Discovery Log (section 17).

Your ship's crew in the Factions window (new — still being tested)

Open the Factions window while you are aboard a ship you own or command. It shows the ship's own crew, a "Vessel Crew" named after the ship. You are its Captain, or its Owner if you appointed someone else. Its officers are your senior crew and the ship's department heads. On its members page, select a person, then use the buttons: * the leader button makes that person captain; * an officer button makes them Executive Officer, Chief Engineer, Chief Tactical, Chief Medical or Chief of Operations; * the members-page buttons invite a targeted player into your crew or dismiss a crewman; * "Change the name" renames the ship.

Only the owner, the captain and Game Masters can use these buttons. Anyone else gets "You are not authorized to do that!". The ship's regular complement keeps its posts; give them orders by voice or with F11. The captain has the same control as the owner over the Ship Computer, every console and the crew roster. Only the owner can transfer the ship or appoint its captain. Your crew sit at their consoles; if you take a crewman's chair, he waits beside it.

Fuel, refuelling, flank speed and ECM (new — still being tested)

• Fuel: ships burn tritium (all generators) and antitritium (main reactor) in proportion to the power they use – shields included, so even a parked ship burns fuel. A full tank lasts about 11 hours in hyperspace at Full (about 4 kt per light year) and about 16 hours parked; the starter ship's quarter tank is good for about 2½–3 hours of hyperspace. /eng shows the burn rate and hours left.
• Refuelling: docked at a starbase or SpaceDock (or landed at a spaceport) your tanks fill at 10 % of the tank per minute, paid at the station's fuel price (5 cr per % of tank) from the ship owner's bank account; Engineering reports the start, the end and the cost, or why it stopped (owner can't pay). The Dock Master's 'refuel' fills the tanks at once for the same price.
• Flank: flank speed wears the drives: above Full (throttle 101–110) the fusion engines (sublight) or the hyperdrive (hyperspace) take damage, slowly at first and faster the longer you stay at flank – about 25 % after 35 minutes, 50 % after an hour, wrecked after 2 hours. Engineering warns when you go to flank and at 5 / 25 / 50 / 75 %. Full speed does no harm.
• ECM / FOF: on the Communications console, ECM PWR switches the electronic countermeasures on/off (the button lights). They need a powered, working comm system; their strength comes from your Electronics Technology or Communication Systems Tech (20 % + 0.4 % per skill point, at most 60 %): that share of incoming ship fire is jammed and enemy interior scans of your ship read JAMMED. FOF ID PWR switches your friend-or-foe transponder: while it is on, other ships identify (and can lock) you at any range.
• Alliance law - transponder: inside United Systems Alliance space your FOF ID transponder must be ON (new ships start with it on, and your choice is remembered per ship). With it off, Alliance Traffic Control warns you; after 60 seconds the ship's owner is fined 500 credits from the bank and charged with a TOS VIOLATION, again every 5 minutes while it stays off. The Alliance navy does not open fire over it. /fof (or /law) shows the rule and your ship's transponder; /fof on or /fof off switches it from anywhere aboard.
• Parked ships: a ship you leave in orbit stays where you left it – other captains see it on their scope, can scan it and hail it (its automated beacon answers), but cannot fire on it while nobody is aboard. It is still there after a server restart. /parked lists the parked ships of your system.

SpaceDock, sensors and radio range (new — still being tested)

• Leaving a SpaceDock: the construction booth has no airlock door. Walk into the booth wall, say return to my ship, or call your ship on 829.7 (beam me up); a docked ship ignores the dock's shields. If your ship is no longer docked (after a server restart), return to my ship sends the dock's shuttle.
• Sensors in hyperspace: the scope shows only what is in hyperspace or subspace with you. Ships inside star systems are not on it (/lrs lists them). From inside a system, passing hyperspace ships show an hD speed.
• Radio range: a handcomm reaches the star system you are really in (plus a few light years through your ship's ACS array). Nothing from other systems is heard.

14. Capturing a Ship

No commands needed: everything is done with consoles, weapons and speech. (Steps 1–6 have been seen working in the real game; the derelict ending was seen in pass 18; towing and rebuilding are new — still being tested.)

1. Shoot her shields down: at least the shield facing you (or all of them). She keeps firing, and shields recharge, so be quick.
2. Beam the boarding party over. Boarders stand on your transporter pad; someone at the Transporter console picks her in the contact list and presses ENERGIZE. While her shields are up it says "Negative Lock" and which shield is still up. Or say "transporter room, beam the boarding party over". Range: the console button reaches 8 km; the spoken order reaches 40 km (she circles at about 30 km in a fight).
3. Intruder alert! Her crew are real soldiers. Some hold the bridge, and the rest come running and ride the turbolifts up. Fight them. Nearby Rogue ships may beam more troops in; losing defenders run for the escape pods.
4. Take the bridge: it is yours when none of her crew is alive on the bridge deck and one of you is there. If they get back onto an empty bridge, it is theirs again.
5. Hack her computer: open her Ship Computer (or her Helm console) → Starship Database → Current Assignment. It shows PRESS 1 : HACK COMPUTER with the time and chance. Press 1; if nothing happens, type 1 in chat and press Enter while the screen is open (the client sometimes ignores the key). Stay until the countdown ends. Success: her guns go silent and her shields drop, so the rest of your crew can beam over.
6. Swap her computer core: the same screen offers REMOVE COMPUTER CORE, then INSTALL COMPUTER CORE. You need a J-series computer core (made from a J-1 to J-7 schematic) in a hand or your pack. Once it is in, she is yours: "CAPTURED — the … is now your ship".
7. Malfunctions: while you work there may be fires (say "extinguish the fire"), doors going haywire ("reset the doors") and transporter surges. "Recall the boarding party" beams everyone home.

Failure table. Low skill (Computer Technology, Electronics, Engineering, Reverse Engineering, Sabotage; helpers count half) makes failed removals and installs more likely:

15. Fleets

Your faction's own fleet (faction leaders and officers)

• Build at a SpaceDock: say "fleet, build a manning named Vindicator". It is paid from the fleet treasury ("fleet, fund 50000") or your money, and needs metals, trycene and electronics from the fleet stock (/fleet donate all, or "fleet, take my cargo"). "Fleet: … has been launched" when ready.
• Aboard a ship you bought or captured, "fleet, take this ship" hands her over. "fleet, status" lists everything.
• Orders: /fleet patrol Vindicator Sol, /fleet escort Vindicator (or say "Vindicator, escort me"; she follows you through hyperspace), /fleet mission Vindicator raid|blockade|transport|scout <place>, /fleet recall all. Or just talk: "fleet, patrol Sol", "all ships, recall", "fleet, status". Fleet ships travel at Full hyperspace speed (about 3 minutes per ly); the acknowledgement gives the ETA.
• Fleet ships fight Rogues and, in a war, the enemy's fleet and navy. Raids bring loot, cargo runs bring profit, scouts report back. Each ship costs daily upkeep; keep the treasury funded or the crews desert. Veteran crews (8 victories) and elite crews (15) fight better.
• Blockades: a blockading ship warns enemy ships in orbit ("leave orbit within 30 seconds") and then fires. If an enemy blockade hails you, leave. (new — still being tested)

Serving on a government warship (government service)

Every homeworld has a Fleet recruiting officer (Terra: in front of Fleet HQ; Rylat: Fleet HQ Annex; Therat Prime: Therataan Fleet HQ; Celay: the spaceport; Klinshay: the Imperial Palace). * Say "enlist" (or "enlist tactical", "enlist engineering" …). Only your own race's fleet (or a treaty ally's), with a clean record; never as captain or first officer. * Say "report for duty" and a shuttle puts you aboard a real fleet warship. Stand at your department's console (/station engineering etc.) to stand watch: every 10 minutes on station earns pay, XP and prestige, and watches bring promotions up to Lieutenant Commander. * The NPC captain gives the ship's orders on the ship channel (patrols, colony defense, raids). Manned consoles make her stronger in battle. * Aboard, "request shore leave" is shore leave and "I request a discharge" ends your service; the recruiting officer tells you your record ("status"). Leaving any other way is AWOL; not back within 30 minutes makes you a deserter. (Enlisting, report for duty, watches with pay, captain's orders and shore leave seen working in pass 19.)

16. Colonies, Housing and Deeds

Found your own colony (new — still being tested)

Buy a colonial charter (50,000 cr, from a Colonial Minister or the Tikopaika Consul). Stand on an empty planet with it in your hand and use it, or say "found a colony named New Hope". On your colony, say "build 2 farms", "build a hospital", "colony report". A Buran station over the colony has the Colonial Administration console for taxes and trade. You cannot found a colony where an NPC colony already is. Your colony pays tax to your race's government (/colony govtax).

Supplying your colony. Colonies have no Commodities Agent. Buy cargo at a Commodities Agent on a populated world (it loads into your ship's hold, or into your hands as a cargo lot if you have no ship there), fly to your colony's star system, then stand on the colony or orbit it and type /colony deliver <good> [tons] (e.g. /colony deliver metals 20; leave off the tons to unload all of it). Delivery takes cargo you carry plus the holds of any of your ships in that system. Building facilities uses refined metals and electronics from the colony stock. If a market exists in the same star system, /colony trade <good> import makes the colony buy it automatically from its treasury. Check the stock with /colony info.

NPC colony towns

Land on an NPC colony and its town stands around the GalTrans point: spaceport, militia post, shops, houses, farms and mines. Talk to the Governor ("status", "defense", "taxes", "news", "diplomacy") and the Trader ("buy", "market"). Each race's leader stands by the government building on the homeworld; ask about diplomacy, war or your standing. (Towns drawn in the real game in pass 18; talking to governors is still being tested.)

Housing (new — still being tested)

Click a free apartment door: the server tells you the rent. Say "I'll rent it" to take it; rent is taken from your bank. Lock it and set its code on the door keypad; the household terminal gives the lease up (DEMOLISH twice) or transfers it. (Shortcuts: /lockdoor, /doorcode <n>, /guest add <id>.) Drop furniture inside to place it; it stays.

Deeds, franchises and titles (new — still being tested)

Hold the document and type /deed: * House deeds (log cabin, modern house, pressure dome): click a door first; you own it, no rent. * Vendor shop deed: your own shopkeeper (/stock <price>). ShopMart / MedCenter franchise: a stocked shop that pays you 40 % of sales. * Farm, ranch, fusion plant, hyperwave tower, temple, sanctuary: claim the ground you stand on for a daily income. * Station / defense platform titles (section 13). Space dock titles: you own a system's shipyard dock. * /properties, /deeds, /docks.

17. Discoveries and Exploration

Land anywhere

Every solid planet can be landed on (/land in orbit). Planets without their own map get a matching terrain (ocean, terran, frozen, desert, greenhouse or barren). On arrival you get a one-line survey (/survey repeats it). On worlds with vacuum, toxic air, crushing pressure, extreme heat or cold, or radiation you are hurt every 20 seconds outdoors unless you wear an EV suit or are indoors or shielded. (Seen working on Sol V in pass 18.)

Planet types (from the original manual)

Class A moderate (Terra), B desert, C arctic (Therat), D jungle (Ryl'At), E ocean (Celay, Manara), F volcanic, G high-pressure ocean, H frozen (Pluto), I Martian (Mars), J Venusian (Venus), K dead and airless (Mercury; close-orbit K worlds are the only trycene source), M gas dwarf, R/S/T gas giants (orbit only), X asteroid.

Scanning and samples (new — still being tested)

• Scan a planet: orbit (or land), stand at the Science or Astrogation console and type /scan, or say "science, scan the planet". Keep scanning until the survey is complete (one scan per planet every 2 minutes). Better science skill finds more.
• Away team: /sample (nearest creature) or /sample soil.
• Research: with two medical samples aboard, your doctor or science officer researches them alone and reports new compounds. /research, /compounds, /formula <name> to make your own new drugs.
• Read the log: /discoveries, or "computer, list discoveries".
• First discovery on the server: 250 credits, ship fame and a server-wide announcement.

Native races and first contact

Land on a native world and their village is a short walk away (/natives gives the tile): an elder, a trader, warriors and villagers. The first player to meet a race makes first contact (Galactic News + a discovery + 250 credits). Talk to them ("hello", "who are your people", "goods", "Alshaya", "peace"). Use Diplomacy from the Skills window to improve your standing. Territorial races attack if you come close with low standing; hostile ones attack on sight. /races <name>, /firstcontacts. (First contact and village talk seen in pass 18; the natives still stand stiffly without idle animations.)

Wildlife and hunting

Worlds with life have their own animals ("Snow Cow", "Boor prowler"). Hunt them and butcher with a knife (Outdoor Survival) for meat and hides.

Ruins and lore (new — still being tested)

On Terra, Ryl and Therat, Science Technology from the Skills window points to the Alshaya ruins (Egyptian Pyramids, Kerik Temple, City of Glass). Dig with Science Technology or /excavate.

Radiation storms (new — still being tested)

Storms (/storms, Galactic News) hurt ships without shields and people outdoors on airless worlds. Go indoors, wear an EV suit or raise a psionic Shield.

18. Bounty Hunting

(Broker window seen working; the 2005 manual's license and capture rules are new — still being tested.)

• License: Office of Special Licensing (the Licensing Clerk at Fleet HQ, Terra). Say "license". You need a clean record and at least 50 in Hand to Hand Unarmed, Marksmanship and Tracking; it costs 2500 cr.
• Brokers: Mars and Xanadu spaceports (say "bounty"). There is no broker on Terra, and bounty hunting is illegal on Terra: no payout there, and attacking a target there is an ordinary crime.
• Three kinds of bounty: Terminate (kill), Capture (bring them in alive; killing them fails the job and is MURDER), Dead or Alive.
• Capturing: knock the target out (stun setting or fists), stand next to them and say "you're under arrest" (or /bounty arrest) within 3 minutes. They go to the police and you are paid.
• Payout in cash into your hands or pack (a full pack drops it at your feet).
• Targets show in your Personal Contacts (Ctrl+P); the Tracking skill finds them.
• Pirate bounties: destroy pirate ships with a license to collect (/pirates).

19. Psionics

(Power icons on the HUD work; the 2005 manual's effects are new — still being tested.)

Switch the HUD to the psionics page (the button at the right end of the hit point bar) and click a power, or type /psi <power> (/psi lists, /psi off stops). You need PSI 10 per icon slot; using powers slowly raises PSI.

20. Awards and Decorations

(New — still being tested.) These medals follow the original Star Fleet rules. They are awarded automatically, add prestige, and are never taken away. /awards lists yours.

The Medal of Honor, Starfleet Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, Starfleet Medal, Silver and Bronze Star, Commendation and Achievement Medals, unit citations and war ribbons are given by commanders (faction leaders, using the Factions window "Decorate" button) and GMs. Medals you won under the earlier rules of this server stay yours.

21. Frequency List

22. Glossary

• Alshaya — vanished ancient race; their ruins can be excavated.
• Antimatter / antitritium — fuel and dangerous cargo.
• Avalon — independent Alliance world (Procyon), capital Camelot.
• Avatar — your character in the world.
• Bounty hunter — licensed hunter of criminals (section 18).
• Celay — Tau Ceti IV, homeworld of the Celay.
• Centauria — Alliance colony in Alpha Centauri, capital Toliman.
• Derelict — a wrecked ship that cannot fly or fight; tow it to a SpaceDock.
• Disruptor — energy weapon; stuns on low settings.
• FTL — faster than light.
• GalTrans — the passenger transport terminals at each spaceport.
• GM — Game Master, a server staff member.
• H-factor — measure of hyperspace speed.
• Hotspot — the square you click on an object (hold Ctrl to see them).
• Hyperdrive / hyperspace — how ships cross between stars.
• Klinshay — homeworld of the Klinshaya Empire.
• Manara — a Therataan colony world; home of the Tikopaika Consul.
• NPC — non-player character.
• ODP — orbital defense platform (e.g. Alamo class).
• PP — prestige points.
• Rodom V — lawless trading stop with a black market.
• Rogue Empire — the hostile NPC power.
• Ryl'At (Ryl, Rylat) — Beta Centauri III, homeworld of the Ryl'Atti.
• S.C.U. — standard cargo unit.
• Safe zone — where players cannot attack players.
• SpaceDock — a shipyard station where ships are built, rebuilt and repaired.
• Teleporter / transporter — beams people between ships, stations and planets.
• Trycene — valuable crystal mineral found on hot airless worlds.
• Xanadu — colony world with a bounty broker.

Appendix A — Typed shortcuts (chat commands)

Optional. Every one of these is also a button on a terminal (click a person or yourself - see Terminals in section 6). No part of normal play needs them: everything works through consoles, windows, items, clicks and speech (talking to NPCs, orders to your crew, the ship's computer or your fleet, aloud, on the ship channel or by handcomm). They stay as shortcuts. Type them with /, ! or . in front (with the launcher; the stock client needs !). A line that starts with / but is not a command ("/me waves", "/shrug", "\o/") is simply said aloud. /help lists the basics.

Public servers: test and debug commands (/tp, /planet, /map, /broadcast, /heal, /hurt, /slay, /spawnrogue, /pardon, /jail, /sysdamage, /refuel …) answer "GM only" for ordinary players. Travel by ship, GalTrans and shuttle instead.

Appendix B — Starship components (original stats)

These are the original Alliance component figures, from Castle Thorn's own Starship Components page (captured October 2007). They are what the server uses: the Engineering panel shows a part's PWR as generator output or power draw and its CDX as computer capacity or load. Weapon damage scales with the Damage column (a Laser MK-4 hits four times as hard as a MK-1), and teleporter, sensor and comms ranges follow the range columns. /component <model> shows any row in the game.

How to read the columns

• CDX – computer index: processing power a system uses, or (negative, computers) provides. Keep total load under your computer's capacity; the readout blinks above 75 %.
• SSTRUCT – superstructure the system adds to the ship.
• PWR – power the system needs, or (negative) generates. Reactors, fusion engines and auxiliary generators make power; everything else draws it.
• Max SSTRUCT – the largest superstructure the system can move or affect (engines, hyperdrives, tractor beams, life support).
• Power : shielding / Power : movement – shielding or movement produced per point of power allocated.

Most ships draw more power at full demand than their generators make – shields are by far the hungriest system. That is how the original game was built: the Engineering officer shares the power out (AUTO, ALERT STATUS or MANUAL allocation).

Computers

Backup (aux) computers

Lasers

Plasers

Mass drivers

M/AM missile launchers

Deflector shield generators

Teleporters

Fusion engines

Hyperdrives

Matter/antimatter reactors

Auxiliary fusion generators

Sensors

Communication systems

Tractor beams

Life support systems

Stock fit of the Ticonderoga class heavy cruiser (original databank)

K-4 computer · 4 × Laser MK-3 · 2 × Plaser MK-4 · 3 × AAMT-3 missile launchers · 6 × ASG-I shield generators (one per side) · 2 × AMT-C teleporters · 2 × AFE-E fusion engines · AMR-I reactor · 2 × AFG-F auxiliary generators · AHD-F hyperdrive · ASP-5 sensors · 2 × ATB-6 tractor beams · ACS-B comms · ALS-5 life support. Total superstructure 2,990; total CDX 2,960; power 8,000 + 400 auxiliary; sublight 0.89c flank / 0.67c standard.