Games PC CONQUEST User Manual

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1000 Part No. X05-94983

AN INTRODUCTION TO YOUR FIELD MANUAL

Greetings. The Field Manual you hold in your hand is the latest word on every

ship, building, and technology—friendly or otherwise—that a new commander might run into on the edge of the galaxy. The Terran Navy wants to remind you to think before you speak about the things here discussed, and especially before you hand over your copy to someone else. Much of this information is still unknown to the general public, meaning you shouldn’t give it to the Terran populace. And it’s far too detailed to give to an alien—while many of these details may seem innocuous to you, the decision over which details on our equipment to reveal to our allies rests on much higher shoulders.

In the manual, you’ll learn how to control your vessels, make alliances, and if necessary (and it is often necessary) go to war. We’ve worked extremely hard to provide you with reports on the alien races we’ve encountered, along with detailed descriptions of their materiel. For your enlightenment, we’ve also included a glimpse at how our alien allies see us—it is an eye-opener.

That is all. Use the manual. Don’t sell it or give it away to the enemy. Loose lips sink ships, Gentlemen. Think of your Field Manual as one great big flapping lip.

__________________________ Signature Admiral Len Wolfman

Witnessed by: __________________________

Signature

Foreword

CHAPTER 1—QUICK START 3

Main Menu .................................................................................................. 4

Single Player and Multiplayer .................................................................. 4

The Lay of the Land.................................................................................. 5

Game Parameters ..................................................................................... 8

User Interface .......................................................................................... 10

Game Menu and Options Screen ........................................................ 20

CHAPTER 2—STAKING YOUR CLAIM IN THE GALAXY 22

Building Headquarters ........................................................................... 23

Building Fabricators ................................................................................ 23

Constructing Platforms ......................................................................... 24

Mining Resources .................................................................................... 24

Building and Commanding Ships.......................................................... 25

Exploring and Establishing Supply Lines ............................................. 27

Resupplying and Repairing Units ......................................................... 28

Commanding Fleets ................................................................................ 30

Using Diplomacy ..................................................................................... 31

CHAPTER 3—RESOURCES AND THE ENVIRONMENT 33

Resources ................................................................................................. 34

Command Points .................................................................................... 34

Finding Resources ................................................................................... 35

CHAPTER 4—TERRANS 39

History ...................................................................................................... 40

Technology ............................................................................................... 41

CHAPTER 5—MANTIS 55

History ...................................................................................................... 56

Technology ............................................................................................... 57

CHAPTER 6—CELAREONS 71

History ...................................................................................................... 72

Contents

Technology ............................................................................................... 73

APPENDIX A—UNIVERSAL UPGRADES 86 APPENDIX B—HOTKEYS 87 INDEX 93

CHAPTER 1—QUICK START

To install

1 Insert the Microsoft® Conquest: Frontier Wars™

compact disc into the CD-ROM drive.

2 Click Install, and then follow the instructions on

the screen.

To st ar t

1 Insert the Microsoft Conquest: Frontier Wars

compact disc into the CD-ROM drive.

2 Click Start on the taskbar, point to Programs,

Microsoft Games, and Conquest: Frontier Wars, and then click Conquest: Frontier Wars.

For additional information about installing or starting Conquest: Frontier Wars, see the Readme file on the compact disc.

Quick Start

Main Menu

Opening Movie Plays the opening movie to Conquest: Frontier Wars.

Single Player Begins a single-player game—either the Terran campaign or a Mantis or Celareon training mission, a quick battle, or a game that you previously saved.

Multiplayer Begins a multiplayer game. Options Displays the Options screen, where you can adjust volume,

cursor sensitivity, fog of discovery, and so forth. About Provides brief information about your version of Conquest:

Frontier Wars, including your product identification number. Also credits the team behind the Frontier Wars.

Quit Exits Conquest: Frontier Wars.

Single Player and Multiplayer

Single Player

For a single-player game, you have the following choices. Campaign As a green commander of the Terran Naval Forces, wade

through the missions of intergalactic war in the Terran campaign. Watch your admirals become heroes, and take charge of their destiny. If you want to familiarize yourself with the other races, Mantis and Celareon training is also available here.

Chapter 1

Quick Battle Go head-to-head with the computer with game and map parameters that you determine. You can play as any race: Terran, Mantis, or Celareon. You can also form fleets and command the admirals who lead them.

Load Campaign Saved Game Load and play games you’ve previously saved.

Load Quick Battle Game Load and play quick battles you’ve previously saved.

Multiplayer

Practice your bloodthirsty cunning, honey-tongued diplomacy, and admiral command against the living and breathing over the Internet or LAN.

To create or join a multiplayer game

1 On the main screen, click Multiplayer. 2 Select the type of network connection you want for your

multiplayer game, and then click Next. MSN™ Gaming Zone Connects through the Zone on the

Internet, where you can start or join a game. If you select this connection type, your browser will automatically open and point you to the Zone. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen.

TCP/IP (Local Area Network) Lets you create your own game or join one on a LAN via a TCP/IP connection.

TCP/IP (Internet) Lets you create or join a game on the Internet via a TCP/IP connection.

3 To join an existing game, select a game in the list and then click

Next (LAN), or select Join, type the IP address that is hosting the

game you want to play, and then click OK (Internet). –or– To create a new game, select Create New Game (LAN) or

select the Create option (Internet), and then click Next.

4 If you are creating a game, you can set the parameters of the game

in the Multiplayer Lobby, select Lock Settings, and then wait for other players to join.

–or– If you are joining a game, select Accept when you are satisfied

with the game settings.

Quick Start

The Lay of the Land

Your goal as a commander in the Frontier Wars will be to explore and secure sector after sector of the galaxy. Understanding a few basic concepts right away will allow you to jump immediately into the

Terran campaign or to determine favorable game parameters if you will be playing a multiplayer game or a quick battle.

Sectors, Systems, and Supply Lines

Divided areas of the galaxy are known as sectors—vast in size and light-years from one another. Sectors themselves are composed of multiple systems. Luckily, wormholes connect many systems to one another and can be used as a means of navigating between systems. And recent developments now allow us to use these wormholes more safely by protecting them with Jump Gates, but this provides an all-new challenge. Commanders must now be able to think strategically—and keep their forces supplied—across multiple systems.

When messing around in your home system, unit supply is simple, but once you begin to expand your territory success relies on intact supply lines to ensure that individual ships and fleets have enough supplies on board to perform optimally. System supply refers to whether or not your current system has an uninterrupted supply line to a Headquarters, and this is provided via Jump Gate–protected wormholes. If a Jump Gate on your supply line is destroyed, your supplies are compromised and your fleets are at risk. Get stuck in an ill-supplied remote system, and you could find yourself in an ambush with little means of repelling it.

For information about unit supply, see “Resupplying and Repairing Units,” in Chapter 2. For information about system supply, see “Exploring and Establishing Supply Lines,” in Chapter 2.

Chapter 1

Races

Until recently, the idea of having a section on races in a war manual would have been absurd—but no longer. We’re not alone: There are three major players on the board, and we the Terrans are the newbies.

For the history and details about the units and technology of each race, see Chapters 4 through 6. For an at-hand summary of each race’s technology path, see the Conquest: Frontier Wars Quick Rescue Card.

Terrans

Unless you’ve stolen this manual, most likely Terran means you. The Terrans are a diplomatic race with the intention of exploring the heavens for new life, new worlds, and new technologies. The most balanced of the three races, the Terrans have very capable small, medium, and large ship-to-ship combatants; long-range strike capability; and high-tech special weapons. Ore is the key resource of such an armada, so a top-notch harvesting operation is mandatory.

Mantis

The Mantis are an insect-evolved race that we can best describe as predatory. They’re volatile and expansionist, with a low tolerance for coexistence with other species. The Frontier Wars began, oddly enough, as a civil war on the Mantis homeworld and spilled

over when we got involved. Mantis ships are based on the importance of numbers and rely on swarming tactics and evolution. They lean heavily on light-hulled carriers—so heavily that even scout ships house fighter wings. They search the galaxy for a new homeworld, so the sector you save may be yours.

Celareons

The most mysterious of the three races, the Celareons seem to be an old enemy of the Mantis. Thus, they’re an ally of the Terrans, but there’s no telling if we could count ’em as friends. They appear to be so highly evolved that they may in fact possess no corporeal form, just energy inside armor. Celareon ships are highly advanced, built chiefly for exploration, with defense as the leading design concern. These ships are fast and stealthy, and even their tricks have tricks up their sleeves.

Quick Start

Resources and the Environment

As you lead your fleet across the far-flung reaches, you better make sure you have plenty of resources. The good news is, our harvesting technology is pretty advanced, with Refineries, Harvesters, the Marine Training Facility, and numerous upgrades.

Resources come in three major types: ore, gas, and crew. The environment is full of planets, nebulae, and asteroid fields that contain these resources. And don’t forget that recycling is also important in deep space, so sweep debris fields, too.

Although not a natural resource, command points must also be monitored to keep your operation running. Command points are awarded when you build certain types of platforms, such as Headquarters, and they are required when you build units as a means of commanding those units.

For details about resources and the environment, see Chapter 3. For information about harvesting these resources, see “Mining Resources,” in Chapter 2.

Game Parameters

Because quick battles and multiplayer games are defined by you and (in multiplayer) by your opponents before the game starts, there are options to keep in mind.

Chapter 1

Random Map Generation

The random map generator is a way to play on maps that vary in size and scope. The generator will make intelligent placement of terrain elements, planets, and wormholes. There are several parameters you can set for your map.

Battle Map Indicates a Random battle map. Game Speed Determines how fast your game progresses. With the

default setting, real time equals game time. You can make game time faster or slower than real time by adjusting the slider.

Starting Resources Determines the amount of resources all players start with.

Game Type Shows the game type—destroying all platforms and construction ships is the default objective.

Number of Systems Determines how many systems the sector will have.

Map Size Determines how large the systems in the sector will be. Terrain Determines the density of the terrain throughout the

sector. Visibility Determines what you see—or don’t see—at the begin-

ning of a game. Normal means you will have to explore all territory to see it, Explored means the fog of discovery is lifted but not the fog of war, and All Visible means the fog of both war and discovery is lifted so players can see all.

Starting Base Determines the number and types of platforms and ships you will have at the beginning of a game.

Game Settings

While choosing your map parameters, you will also have the opportunity to decide on some general game settings.

Spectators Allows a player who is defeated to remain an observer of the game as the remaining players battle it out. Spectators cannot communicate with anyone in the game via chat.

Lock Alliances Prevents players from changing alliances in the Diplomacy screen during the game.

Lock Settings (Multiplayer hosts only) Indicates to players the game is ready and prevents players from changing game settings after the game has begun.

Accept (Multiplayer only) Indicates that you accept the settings and are ready to play.

Races

The race you choose to play greatly affects your strategy and the course of your game. For general information about choosing a race for a quick battle or multiplayer game, see “The Lay of the Land,” earlier in this chapter.

Quick Start

User Interface

The Conquest: Frontier Wars game screen has all the controls you need to command your race to victory. The main screen is where you watch the action, navigate, and command first-hand. The resource bar along the top of the game screen and the toolbar along the bottom allow you to keep a close eye on the details of your game and specify what you want your units to do.

Resource Bar

The resource bar provides detail about the resources the player currently has and contains some buttons that do not directly affect ships and units. From left to right, the components of the resource bar are as follows.

Chapter 1

System Supply

Command Points

Ore

System Supply Indicates whether or not the system you are currently in is in supply. A green icon means the system is in supply; a red icon means it is not.

Command Points Displays how many command points you are currently using and how many you have available to use. When more command points are needed, this indicator will flash red.

Ore Displays how much ore you currently have available to use and the maximum you can store.

Gas Displays how much gas you currently have available to use and the maximum you can store.

Crew Displays how much crew you currently have available to use and the maximum you can store.

Diplomacy Opens the Diplomacy screen, where you can change alliances with and give resources to other players.

Gas

Crew

Game Menu

Chat

Diplomacy

Mission Objectives

Chat Displays the Chat screen, which allows communication with all other active players. This does not pause the game.

Game Menu Displays the game menu, where you can save, load, and resign from games as well as access the Options screen.

Mission Objectives Displays the mission objectives when playing the Terran campaign or the Mantis or Celareon training mission.

The Toolbar

The most important controls in the Conquest: Frontier Wars game screen are found on the large toolbar that spans the bottom of the screen.

◆ To minimize/maximize the toolbar, click the Minimize/Maximize

Toolbar button in the lower-right corner of the toolbar, or press

the END key.

Orders Buttons Hot Buttons

Context Window

Stance Buttons System Map

Sector Map

The Context Window

The large box at the left of the toolbar—the context window—will change to reflect information about the unit you currently have selected in the main screen. To the right of this window are selectionspecific orders buttons, which affect the units or groups (ship orders) or platforms (platform orders) you currently have selected. For example, shown in the preceding illustration is a military ship context window for a Corvette and, to its right, the ship’s orders buttons. If nothing is selected, the context window will be empty.

Quick Start

Military Ship Context Window

The military ship context window displays the unit’s name, current/maximum possible hull points, current/ maximum possible supplies, number of kills, and current upgrade level in regard to hull, shield, engine, sensors, weapon, supply, and (for ships that have them) its special weapons.

Orders Buttons

The military ship orders buttons, to the right of the context window, are as follows.

Stop Cancels the last order. Patrol Orders the selected unit to patrol an area you

specify. Select the unit, click the Patrol button, and then click the location you want the unit to patrol.

Escort/Defend Orders the selected unit to escort the unit you specify. Select the unit, click the Escort/Defend button, and then click the unit to escort

Chapter 1

Special Allows you to use a unit’s special weapon when that weapon has been researched and the unit is selected alone. You can also use an available special weapon for a group of selected ships if that group is all of the same type (for example, only Battleships are selected). The Cloaking ability, however, can be activated for all Infiltrators and Missile Cruisers selected as part of a group. Select the unit, and then click its special weapon button.

Ship Stance Buttons

A military ship’s stance reflects its attitude toward arriving nonfriendly units. To set the stance of a ship, select it, and then click the stance button you want to apply to that ship.

Attack Orders the ship to attack any enemy in its sensor range.

Stand Ground Orders the ship to remain in place and defend its exact location.

Defend Orders the ship to stay and defend its immediate area.

Idle Orders the ship to “sleep,” ignoring all activity and posing no threat to enemy ships.

Fabricator Context Window

The Fabricator context window appears when you select a Fabricator. It displays the Fabricator’s current/maximum possible hull points. It has multiple tabs that together contain all of the platforms that can be built in the game as they are researched: the Main Platform tab, the Research tab, and the Defense tab. The Stats tab shows the level of current upgrades for the construction ship.

A platform button that has a green border around it means that you already have a least one platform of that type built. If a button is grayed out, you have not yet met the technology prerequisite for building that platform.

Orders Buttons

The Fabricator orders buttons, to the right of the context window, are as follows.

Stop Cancels the last order. Salvage Salvages a platform and recycles its ore and gas.

Select a Fabricator, click the Salvage button, and then click the platform you want to salvage when the cursor becomes a dollar sign. Ships cannot be salvaged (although the Mantis are known to have this technology).

Quick Start

Repair Repairs a platform to its full hull strength. Select a Fabricator, click the Repair button, and then click the platform you want to repair when the cursor becomes a wrench. Ships are repaired at the Repair Platform.

Harvester Context Window

The Harvester context window shows the selected Harvester’s current/maximum possible hull points and how much ore and gas the Harvester is carrying/the maximum possible it can carry. It also displays the current Harvester upgrade levels.

Orders Buttons

The Harvester’s orders buttons—Stop and Patrol—work like those for military ships.

Supplyship Context Window

The Supplyship context window shows the selected Supplyship’s current/maximum possible hull points as well as its current/maximum possible supplies and current upgrade level.

Chapter 1

Orders Buttons

The Supplyship’s orders buttons Stop and Patrol work like those for military ships. In addition, it has orders buttons specific to its supply function.

Auto-Supply On Orders a Supplyship to resupply any ship within its supply radius in need of supplies.

Auto-Supply Off Orders a Supplyship to not resupply ships.

Full Auto-Supply Orders a Supplyship to resupply itself at the nearest Headquarters, Supply Platform, or Repair Platform whenever necessary and then return to its preassigned location.

Group Ship Context Window

The group ship context window shows an iconic representation of each ship selected in a group. The red bar above each ship indicates its hull level. If a ship’s hull is more than 50% intact, the ship icon is green; if less than 50%, the icon is yellow; and if near 0, the icon is red. The blue bar below each military ship indicates its supply state. To see a particular ship’s stats, click its icon here in the group ship context window to display its individual context window.

Orders Buttons

When a group is selected and at least one military ship is in that group, the military ship’s orders buttons will override the orders buttons of other ship types in the group selection.

Admiral Context Window

In quick battles and multiplayer games, the admiral context window appears whenever a fleet admiral or a fleet is selected. It always includes three tabs along the top of the window: Fleet Commands, Group, and Admiral Statistics.

Quick Start

Fleet Commands Tab

The Fleet Commands tab, in the top row of buttons, contains all the commands a quick battle or multiplayer admiral can give to a fleet.

Group Tab

Fleet Commands Tab

Admiral Statistics Tab

Fleet Commands

Special Weapons

Chapter 1

Terran

Mantis

Celareon

Form Fleet To form a fleet, select the fleet admiral and all the units you want in a fleet, and then click the Form Fleet button. A ship may only be in one fleet at a time. To select this fleet, click the ship that the admiral is on, press the fleet’s corresponding function key (F1–F6), or click the Fleets hot button to cycle through all your fleets.

Disband Fleet To disband a fleet, select it, and then click the Disband Fleet button. The fleet is immediately disbanded and the fleet admiral returns to his individual ship.

Repair Fleet To repair an entire fleet, select it, and then click the Repair Fleet button. The fleet immediately goes to the nearest Repair Platform, and all damaged units are repaired.

Resupply Fleet To resupply an entire fleet, select it, and then click the Resupply Fleet button. The fleet immediately goes to the nearest Headquarters or Supply Platform, and all units are resupplied.

Transfer Admiral To transfer an admiral to another ship without disbanding the fleet, select the fleet, click the Trans- fer Admiral button, and then click the ship you want him to board when the cursor becomes a flag.

Troopship Assault To assault an enemy with a Troopship in a fleet, select the fleet, click the Troopship Assault button, and then right-click the target when the cursor becomes an orange, partial crosshairs icon.

The buttons below the preceding command buttons correspond to the special weapons and/or abilities available to the fleet. If a ship has a special weapon and is a member of the fleet, then its corresponding special weapon button will be highlighted. Clicking a special weapon button is the equivalent of clicking that individual ship’s special weapon button. If multiple ships have the same special weapon, the admiral decides which is the best ship to execute the special weapon command and will allocate that ship to perform the action. The exception to this rule is the Cloaking special ability, which cloaks all Infiltrators and Missile Cruisers at once.

The bottom row of buttons will display the Terran, Mantis, or Celareon special weapons in a fleet. A player can have ships of all three races in a fleet, thus he can still get to all their special weapons with these buttons.

Group Tab

When the Group tab is selected, the admiral context window becomes a group ships context window for the selected fleet (see “Group Ship Context Window,” earlier in this section).

Admiral Statistics Tab

When the Admiral Statistics tab is selected, the admiral context window shows the statistics of the admiral, similar to the Stats tab for any military ship context window.

Platform Context Window

The platform context window shows the name of the selected platform, its current/maximum possible hull points, buttons that allow either the building of units or the researching of technology,

Quick Start

and a queue (of up to 15 items) to show what is being built or researched and in what order. To remove an item from this queue, click it.

Items that cannot be built or researched yet will appear grayed out. Status text on the main screen will indicate the prerequisite that needs to be met in order to build or research that item.

Orders Buttons

Stop Cancels the last order. Rally Point Sets up a point at which all ships built at the

selected platform will meet. Select the platform, click the Rally Point button, and then click the desired location on the screen. To see where any given platform’s rally point is, select the platform and note the location of the blinking yellow locator on both the main screen and the system map.

Hot Buttons

The buttons to the right of the context window and orders buttons are your hot buttons—a quick means of cycling through specific platforms and ships so you can keep them active.

Research Platforms Cycles through all platforms that offer upgrades. Each platform is selected and shown in the context window. To center that platform on your main screen, click the triangle to the right of that platform’s name in the context window.

Chapter 1

Shipyards Cycles through all shipyards and Headquarters. Each platform is selected and shown in the context window. To center that platform in your main screen, click the up arrow to the right of that platform’s name in the context window.

Idle Nonmilitary Ships Cycles through all idle Fabricators, Harvesters, and Supplyships. Each ship is selected, shown in the context window, and centered on your main screen.

Fleets (Quick battles and multiplayer games only) Cycles through all fleets. Each fleet is selected, shown in the context window, and centered on your main screen.

Maps

System Map

The two maps on the right side of your toolbar are the system map and the sector map. Use them to quickly survey your fleets and the terrain and to facilitate orders. For color detail on the maps, see the Quick Rescue Card.

Sector Map

The System Map

The system map shows the system you’re currently looking at in the main screen. Undiscovered areas are shown as black. As you send ships out to explore the system, the fog of war is lifted and the planets and terrain appear on the map. All buildings and units in the system are distinguished on the map by each player’s unique color.

Once you’ve selected a unit on the main screen, you can select its target destination on the system map just as you would in the main screen—by right-clicking where you want it to go. To set waypoints, hold down the SHIFT key and right-click waypoints to create a complete path for your unit to travel.

The Sector Map

The sector map shows the entire sector in which you’re playing. It shows all systems you’ve traveled to and allows you to quickly send ships to those sectors.

Quick Start

Systems you own and that are in supply appear blue, while neutral systems appear gray or black. A white circle will appear around the system you’re currently viewing in the main screen. If you are involved in a battle, the system where it is occurring will have a flashing red ring around it.

You can also tell at a glance whether your systems have intact supply lines (where all wormholes between systems have a Jump Gate). If not, the out-of-supply system and its connector line will appear yellow.

Lines that simply end in space indicate that you’ve discovered a wormhole but haven’t explored the system on the other side. When you enter the new system, it will appear on the sector map.

Clicking a system on the sector map displays that system in your main screen and the system map. You can also select units you want to transport to another system and then right-click that system in the sector map to send them there automatically.

Game Menu and Options Screen

Saving, Loading, and Exiting

You can access the game menu and Options screen by pressing F9 at any time during gameplay.

Chapter 1

◆ To save a game, click Save, type a name for the game (or click

the name of an existing saved game to replace it), and then click Save.

◆ To load a saved game, click the name of the game you want to

load, and then click Load.

◆ To exit a game without saving it, click Resign, and then click

Continue in the Score screen to return to the main menu.

◆ To change player, graphics, and sounds settings, click Options to

display the Options screen.

Options Screen

◆ To change individual player game settings, click the Player tab.

Here you can adjust your cursor sensitivity, game speed, and scroll rate. You can also disable status text and information boxes that appear when you roll over UI elements in the game screen, as well as disable the rotation of your sector map when you rotate your game view. Finally, you can even change the game’s left-click/rightclick model if you prefer.

◆ To change graphics settings, click the Graphics tab.

Here you can select your 3D device and game resolution. Increasing your gamma correction will brighten your game screen, and turning off other graphics options may increase your game’s performance.

◆ To change sounds settings, click the Sounds tab.

Here you can turn on or off various game sounds, as well as adjust their volume.

Quick Start

CHAPTER 2—STAKING

YOUR CLAIM IN THE GALAXY

You’re at a disadvantage if you’re trying to fight a war far from your homeworld, so it’s vital to put down stakes the moment you arrive. It would be nice to have resources and defenses you can rely on before the battles come. Here are the basics to staking your claim.

Chapter 2

Building Headquarters

You need a home base, and the only place for it is on a planet. Headquarters are a means of resupplying wanting ships with ammo. They also provide command points and allow you to build Fabricators and Supplyships.

Often you’ll begin with a Headquarters, but if you need a new one you’ll build it with a Fabricator on any planet.

◆ To build a Headquarters,

select a Fabricator, click the Main Platform tab in the Fabricator context window, click the Headquarters button, and then click available slots (shown in green) on a planet.

Building Fabricators

The Fabricator is the ship you need to build before you can build anything else—as new platforms become available, your Fabricator context window will highlight their corresponding buttons.

◆ To build a Fabricator,

click a Headquarters, and then click the Fabricator button in the Headquarters context window.

For more information, see “Fabricator Context Window,” in Chapter 1.

Staking Your Claim

Constructing Platforms

You have two kinds of units: platforms and ships. Platforms are nonmobile units that affect your fleet by performing some useful function, such as mining resources on a planet (Refinery), providing command points (LR Sensor Tower), resupplying ships (Supply Platform), or defending territory (Laser Turret). Most platforms must be built on a planet, but some must be placed in space—namely, defense turrets such as the Ion Cannon.

Platforms that recruit crew (Marine Training Facility and Naval Academy) must be built on an earth or swamp planet, which generates crew. Fabricators can build any platform.

◆ To build the Refinery

platform, select a Fabricator, click the Main Platform tab, click the Refinery button, and then click available slots (shown in green) on a planet.

For more information, see “Platform Context Window,” in Chapter 1.

Chapter 2

Mining Resources

Once you have a Refinery, it will drill into a planet and start harvesting the resources on that planet. With that operation under way, you’ll want to harvest resources off-planet as well, because valuable ore and gas can be found in phenomena such as nebulae and asteroid fields. You can also recycle

ore from the debris fields left by destroyed units. Build a Harvester at the Refinery to harvest these off-planet resources.

◆ To mine off-planet resources, click a Harvester, and then right-

click the Harvester’s target when the cursor becomes a pick-andshovel icon.

Look for bright spots scattered through nebulae, shiny nuggets in asteroid fields, and floating metal in space.

For more information, see “Harvester Context Window,” in Chapter

1. For details about finding resources, see Chapter 3.

Building and Commanding Ships

Building

As nifty as Fabricators and Harvesters are, a fleet of them won’t do you much good. You need some real fighting ships, and to build ships you need shipyards. The first shipyard to become available will be the Light Shipyard, which builds smaller ships, followed by the Heavy Shipyard, which builds larger ships. Once your harvesting operation has begun, build a Light Shipyard, and start building your fighters.

Staking Your Claim

◆ To build a Corvette, click a Light Shipyard, and then click the

Corvette button. To build more than one, click the button for each Corvette you

want.

Selecting

Selecting a ship is as easy as clicking it, but you likely will want to move them in groups, too.

◆ To select multiple ships, drag the cursor around them, or hold

down SHIFT while clicking each ship you want in the group.

◆ To select all ships of the same type shown in the main screen,

double-click one of them.

◆ To assign a group of ships to a control group, select the group, and

then hold down CTRL while pressing a number key 0–9. When you want to select that control group, press the number

key you assigned them to.

Commanding

Navigating and attacking are both carried out by right-clicking the destination and target, respectively.

◆ To move a ship or group, select it, and then right-click its destina-

tion.

◆ To set a specific path for a ship using waypoints, select it, and then

hold down SHIFT while right-clicking each waypoint you want the ship to visit, with the final waypoint being its final destination.

◆ To attack an enemy, select the ship or group you want to attack

with, and then right-click the target when the cursor becomes a red crosshair icon.

Chapter 2

◆ To attack an ally without officially changing your alliance, select the

ship or group you want to attack with, hold down the CTRL key, and then right-click the target.

The toolbar at the bottom of the game screen offers many more options for commanding your military ships. For more information, see “Military Ship Context Window,” in Chapter 1.

Exploring and

Establishing Supply Lines

Once you’re well apportioned—preferably with a Headquarters, a Fabricator, a productive Refinery, and a passel of fighting ships—it’s time to explore outside your home system. You move to different systems throughout the sector via wormholes.

◆ To navigate to another system, select a ship or group, and then

right-click a wormhole. Before right-clicking the wormhole, you can check the ship’s

destination system by noting the white-highlighted path on the sector map in the toolbar. To change your own view to that system, click the wormhole on the main screen, or click the system on the sector map.

Once you’ve begun exploring a new system, you must establish an intact supply line to it that is connected to a sector with a Headquarters. This is done by building a Jump Gate around the wormhole.

◆ To build a Jump Gate, select a Fabricator, click the Defense tab in

the Fabricator context window, click the Jump Gate button, and then click the wormhole.

The Jump Gate will allow only friendly traffic through the wormhole, and your supply line will remain intact.

Check your system map often to make sure your territory is always in supply—yellow sectors and connector lines indicate that your overall sector supply is in jeopardy. Rigorously defend your Jump Gates, noting that they can be destroyed from either side of the wormhole, and do not neglect to rebuild them if they are destroyed.

Staking Your Claim

Resupplying and Repairing Units

Without necessary supplies and repairs, platforms and ships cannot function, and your race will slowly—or perhaps quickly—die.

Resupplying

A unit’s supply status can be checked one of several ways:

• When a turret platform or individual military ship is selected, its current/maximum possible supplies are shown in its context window.

• When a military ship is selected as part of a group, the blue supply bar below its corresponding icon in the group ship context window indicates its current supply status.

• When you roll your cursor over a turret platform or individual military ship in the main screen, its blue supply bar is shown. To make a quick general appraisal of unit supply on a group of turret platforms and ships in the main screen, drag your cursor around the group—but don’t release the mouse button; the supply bars for all units will appear.

Turret platforms and ships can be resupplied with a Headquarters, Supply Platform, Repair Platform, or Supplyship. The resupply radii of these units are shown when you roll your cursor over them. Note that the resupply radius of Supply Platforms, Repair Platforms, and Supplyships is much greater than that of Headquarters.

Chapter 2

If you do not build a turret platform within the resupply radius of a Headquarters, Supply Platform, or Repair Platform, then you will have to monitor its supplies carefully and manually resupply it when necessary with a Supplyship.

◆ To resupply a turret platform, select a Supplyship, and then right-

click a location on the main screen that will place the platform within the ship’s resupply radius.

◆ To resupply a ship, select it, and then right-click a location on the

main screen that will place it within the resupply radius of a Headquarters, Supply Platform, Repair Platform, or Supplyship.

For additional information about Supplyship orders, see “Supplyship Context Window,” in Chapter 1.

Repairing

You must also repair units as they are damaged or they will eventually be destroyed. A unit’s health is indicated by its hull level. Checking a unit’s hull level is similar to checking its supply status.

• When any platform or individual ship is selected, its current/ maximum possible hull points are shown in its context window.

• When a ship is selected as part of a group, the red hull bar above its corresponding icon in the group ship context window indicates its current hull level. If a ship’s hull is more than 50% intact, the ship icon is green; if less than 50%, the icon is yellow; and if near 0, the icon is red.

• When you roll your cursor over any platform or individual ship in the main screen, its hull bar is shown. If a ship’s hull is more than 50% intact, the bar is green; if less than 50%, the bar is yellow; and if near 0, the bar is red. To make a quick general appraisal of unit health on a group of platforms and ships in the main screen, drag your cursor around the group—but don’t release the mouse button; the hull bars for all units will appear.

To repair a unit, you must have a Repair Platform and, to repair a platform, a Fabricator. Keep in mind that when you repair a unit, resources will be deducted from your holdings, based on how much repair work has to be done.

◆ To repair a platform, select a Fabricator, click the Repair button,

and then click the platform when the cursor becomes a wrench icon.

◆ To repair a ship, select it, and then right-click a Repair Platform.

Staking Your Claim

Chapter 2

Commanding Fleets

In quick battles and multiplayer games, it helps to delegate your command to intelligent officers who don’t have to be constantly monitored. Fleet admirals are officers who control a group of ships of your choosing. From their admiral vessel, they keep your fleets in line, choose the best targets, and intelligently size up a command’s likelihood of success. Each of your six admirals, however, will make different decisions based on his or her personality, experience, and strengths and weaknesses. This individuality is also reflected in the valuable bonuses each admiral provides to the entire fleet as a whole.

To establish a fleet

1 To create a fleet admiral, click the Naval Academy, and then click

the button of the fleet admiral you want.

2 After the admiral reports to duty, select the admiral and the ships

you want in that admiral’s fleet, and then click the Form Fleet button in the admiral context window.

The admiral will board the largest ship in the group. The function key that appears above each member of the fleet is the fleet’s selection key.

3 To select the entire fleet, press the fleet’s corresponding function

key (F1–F6), click the ship the admiral is on, or click the Fleets hot button until the fleet is selected.

For all the controls available for commanding fleets, see “Admiral Context Window,” in Chapter 1. Even if a fleet is carrying out a fleet command, you can give specific orders to an individual fleet ship, but to remove a ship from a fleet you must either disband the fleet or recreate the fleet without that ship.

Always keep an eye on the hull level of the ship the admiral is aboard. If an admiral’s ship is grievously damaged, transfer him or her to another ship by using the Transfer Admiral button in the admiral context window. If the admiral’s ship is destroyed, he or she will bail and then board another ship in the fleet, as long as one is available.

Using Diplomacy

Diplomacy is a function that allows you to make and change alliances and share resources with your allies during a quick battle or a multiplayer game.

◆ To access the Diplomacy screen, click the Diplomacy button in

the resource bar, or press ALT+D.

Staking Your Claim

Changing Alliances

Alliances are a way to determine how readily your ships and fleets attack opponents. Enemies will attack one another automatically; allies will not. If you consider someone an ally and they fail to return that respect, your ships will not attack, but theirs will attack yours. The Stance column lets you know where you stand.

Each player (except yourself) has two hand indicators in the Allied column. The hand on the left indicates your stance toward the player in that row, and the second that player’s stance toward you. A white hand indicates ally and a gray hand enemy.

◆ To change your stance toward a player, click that player’s box in

the Allied column.

Gifting Resources

When an ally is in need, you can gift resources to that ally in the Diplomacy screen.

◆ To give resources to an ally, click the box in the appropriate

resource column in that ally’s row (click repeatedly until the amount gifted is satisfactory), and then click OK to send the gift and return to the game.

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 3—RESOURCES

AND THE ENVIRONMENT

As in any war, resources are absolutely vital to keep your fleet up and running. These resources are found throughout the environment of the sector. The environment hosts terrain that also can enhance your fleet in one way or another, but there is a downside—best summarized by a reportedly Celareon adage, “Environment is a nice way of saying space that can hurt you.”

Staking Your Claim

Resources

The three resources that matter—ore, gas, and crew—allow you to pay your way to winning the Frontier Wars. Everything you build and research costs resources, so setting up your harvesting operation at the start of the game and then monitoring your resource bar at the top of the screen are mandatory.

Ore

Ore is smelted to make the metals you need to build ships, platforms, and weaponry. It is found on earth planets and moons and in asteroid and debris fields. The hardware-happy Terrans have the greatest need for ore.

Gas

Gas is harvested from earth planets, gas giants, and nebulae and is used to produce fuel for your propulsion systems. Among the three races, the technology-driven Celareons are the most reliant on gas.

Crew

Crew—the men and women who will do or die at your command—exist only on earth and swamp planets and are “harvested” by building a Marine Training Facility or Naval Academy to recruit them. Both platforms will automatically recruit crew from planets. You need crew to run your ships. The carrier-reliant Mantis, who burn through drones like jet fuel, have the greatest need for crew.

Chapter 3

Command Points

As you expand your base with Headquarters and LR Sensor Towers, you will accumulate command points, which mark the ability to command a ship. Some ships and platforms require more command points to construct them than others. You will have to be aware at all times of how many command points you can afford to spend.

Finding Resources

Planets

Planets are a frequently occurring phenomenon formed by the collision of materials as they follow the rotation of stars and the galaxy itself. Different planets provide different amounts and types of resources. Before or after building on a planet, you can check the types and amount of resources it holds by moving your cursor over it. The planet’s popup shows how much of each resource is currently on the planet, how much was originally available, and the rate at which each resource is being harvested if a Refinery is on the planet.

Earth Planets

We call these lovely M-Class planets earth because of their Terranfriendly environments and also because we’re unusually Terracentric. Earth planets yield all three kinds of resources.

Moons

Dead, dead, dead in terms of anything useful except keeping the tides in line on nearby planets and coughing up impressive amounts of ore.

Resources and Environment

Gas Giants

If you can’t figure out that what you find on a gas planet is chiefly gas, then maybe you’re out of your league.

Swamp Planets

Similar to earth planets but wetter and more dense in atmosphere, swamp planets provide exceptional crew.

Asteroids and Nebulae

Chapter 3

Asteroids and nebulae yield useful ore and gas, respectively (you won’t find crew hanging around on an asteroid, and even if crewmen were floating in a nebula you probably couldn’t use them). But be careful around these fields, as they also have many dangers.

Asteroid Fields

Navigating through rocks the size of your ship is tricky business. Navigation systems and pilots are smart enough not to collide with them, but an asteroid field will slow down your ships considerably.

Nebulae

Nebulae can have various effects, so be careful.

Helios Nebula

These soft-yellow, cloudlike nebulae are so helium-rich that ship attacks within the nebulae cause much greater damage than normal.

Lithium Nebula

This misty-green nebula is ugly, but all it does is slow you down while offering gas for your Harvester.

Hyades Nebula

This red, sulfurous, hellish cloud yields much harvestable gas but will slowly destroy your ships if you leave them inside it too long.

Celsius Nebula

These frozen, waterlogged nebulae are to ships what being dropped in a river is to pistols. You’ll suddenly find your supplies locked up and nonresponsive, leaving you unable to lay mines or launch fighter wings, much less use special weapons.

Cygnus Nebula

An oozing, off-orange slushy in space, enhanced with gas, this nebula actually speeds you up rather than slowing you down.

Ion Nebula

Perhaps the prettiest, this bluish, lightning-laced nebula will play havoc with your shields, rendering ships woefully underdefended.

Resources and Environment

Debris Fields

We believe in recycling in the Terran Navy, especially since any ship blown up in space, friend or foe, will leave copious amounts of useful material to harvest. Your Harvesters are smart enough to leave the soft tissue floating in the heavens and only bring home what you can smelt. Careful, though—moving through debris fields means slowing down enough so that ships can navigate properly.

Antimatter

The rainbow-colored antimatter ribbon and its cousin, in the form of yellow clouds, are anomalies lovely to look at but utterly impassable to ships.

Black Holes

Chapter 3

The black hole is like a wormhole gone bad. If you should ever come across one, watch out—its incredible gravitational field will begin to suck ships in, and the ability to escape is directly proportional to the size and strength of the ship in jeopardy. Since black holes are formed by the energy of an imploded star, if your ship doesn’t escape it will be tugged and crushed as it’s sucked into the depths of the phenomenon. If it survives—and many ships won’t—there’s no telling where the lost ship will wind up.

CHAPTER 4—TERRANS

What makes the Terrans special is their glorious need to strive, that cosmic-dwarf complex that makes them overachieve rather than perish on a harsh planet. With nothing but their colossal brains they have conquered a disastrously hostile environment, so much so that they now take that victory for granted. Especially remarkable is the wondrous variety among the Terrans, the infinite dreams and imaginations among those teeming billions of brains housed in vulnerable flesh. They are walking contradiction: dreamers and cynics, poets and tax collectors, warriors and peacekeepers. They may not look it, but they are a formidable enemy for the rest of the galaxy.

— Translated from Celareon Magistrate

Elan’s “Thoughts on the Terran”

Resources and Environment

History

It is ironic that the prevailing sentient organism from Terra, a planet no less than three-quarters covered in water, would be a warmblooded land mammal. The dominant creatures we call Terrans are soft-bodied, finely furred, live-young–bearing creatures who, like their planet, consist mostly of water. Their chief manner of locomotion is a precarious, inefficient bob from one of two lower appendages to the other. They possess no protective shell and go into a mild coma approximately every twenty-four hours.

This lack of any natural defense against a hostile and largely uninhabitable (for them) environment has only aided their adaptation of intelligence. Hence, their fragility has become their strength: Not only do these weak, flightless, bipedal creatures boast a life span of a shocking 100 to 120 years, but constantly improving technology has made those lives all the more sturdy. A dense, nearimpenetrable, top-mounted cranium houses the only truly impressive organ the Terrans possess: their large and heavily folded brain, rivaled only by the all-mind energy-being Celareons.

It took thousands of years for the Terrans to finally bring the small portion of Earth on which they could survive under the rule of one government. The main impediment, of course, was once more the adaptive intelligence and imagination of the species, which habituates men to imagining the more and better, regardless of the circumstances.

Chapter 4

Since the earliest Terrans developed their first machine—the lever—the keys to human technology are two prevailing and counterbalancing precepts: imagination and functionality. “Does it work? Can it work better?” A man sees that he cannot survive bitter cold, and yet he suffers winters. Whereas other species would adapt hard shells or thick fur coats, man has adapted intelligence to lead him to take a fur coat from a bear. The drive to make things that work and work better has led him to remain both a constant dreamer and a thorough moderate, so that even today his ships are functional, utilitarian, and even-keeled. If they are beautiful, it is because beauty was a feature someone thought would be useful.

Technology

The most balanced of the three races, the Terrans have very capable small, medium, and large ship-to-ship combatants, long-range strike capability, and high-tech special weapons.

Platforms

Headquarters

Your home away from home and your single most important—and most expensive—platform, the Headquarters is the base of all supply: both system and unit. You must be able to trace a viable supply line (via Jump Gates) from a system with an HQ to other systems for them to be in supply. Units low on ammunition can fly within the resupply radius of an HQ to resupply, and defense platforms built within that resupply radius will also be taken care of.

HQs provide Fabricators and, after a Supply Platform is built, Supplyships. Com-

mand points awarded.

Terrans

Refinery

Build a Refinery on a planet, moon, or gas giant from which you want to harvest ore and gas automatically. To mine resources off-planet, you’ll need to build a Harvester here. A Refinery offers harvesting, supply, and resupply upgrades. It is also the starting point for all ship creation. Requires: Headquarters.

Marine Training Facility

As a new home for all your green troops, the Marine Training Facility will automatically recruit crew from earth and swamp planets. It offers Troopship upgrades and is the starting point for all personnel and fleet upgrades. Requires: Headquarters.

Chapter 4

LR Sensor Tower

A valuable asset, the LR Sensor Tower scans a very large radius, clearing the fog of war from your maps. It also offers upgrades that increase the sensor range of your other units.

Requires: Headquarters. Command points awarded.

Laser Turret

The Laser Turret does damage about equivalent to the Corvette’s laser, but this platform is very useful for defending any given area— you can place it anywhere in space. Make sure, however, you build it within the

resupply radius of an HQ or Supply Platform. Requires: Headquarters.

Light Shipyard

The Light Shipyard is the first gunshipbuilding platform that will become available to you. Here you can build all your smaller ships: Corvettes, Missile Cruisers, Troopships, and Infiltrators. Requires: Refinery.

Jump Gate

Wormholes by nature allow easy access between systems, so it’s important to build Jump Gates around wormholes along your supply line. A Jump Gate effectively locks out unfriendly traffic, allowing you to shore up your held positions—that is, until someone destroys it, which is possible from either side of the wormhole. Requires: Refinery.

Terrans

Naval Academy

The source of leaders you’ll need as you expand your fleet is found at the Naval Academy. It not only automatically recruits new crew from planets at a higher rate than the Marine Training Facility but, in quick battles and multiplayer games, can train and provide up to six unique Terran admirals, each of whom will command and upgrade their entire fleet. Requires: Marine Training Facility.

Supply Platform

The Supply Platform serves as a secondary base for resupplying units at your forward bases— with a much larger resupply radius than that of an HQ. It is also mandatory for building Repair Platforms. Requires: Refinery.

Chapter 4

Repair Platform

The Repair Platform, as its name suggests, repairs ships as well as resupplies both ships and defense platforms. Requires: Supply Platform.

Squadron Hangar

The Squadron Hangar is the home of fighter-based units and platforms, providing significant upgrades for your fighters. Requires: Naval Academy.

Ballistics Lab

The Ballistics Lab is where the guys in white coats come up with new destructive implements— here you can research Cloaking for Infiltrators and Missile Cruisers, as well as upgrade weapons and missiles. Requires: Light Shipyard.

Space Station

The Space Station, a fighter defense platform, houses a single wing of short-range fighters. The station can be placed anywhere in space. Requires: Squadron Hangar.

Terrans

Advanced Hull Factory

At the Advanced Hull Factory, you can research stronger hulls for your ships—useful considering the pounding Terran ships take from Mantis fighters. Requires: Ballistics Lab.

Heavy Shipyard

The Heavy Shipyard is where you build the heavy hitters of the fleet, the medium to large ships: Battleships, Fleet Carriers, Lancer Cruisers, and Dreadnoughts. Take advantage of it, because you aren’t going to win this war with Corvettes. Requires: Advanced Hull Factory.

Chapter 4

Propulsion Lab

The Propulsion Lab gives you access to better engines for your ships. Requires: Advanced Hull Factory.

AWS Research Lab

These guys make the white coats at the Ballistics Lab look like pikers— the AWS Research Lab provides strange and exotic technology, including items on loan from our rebel allies inside the Mantis Empire. The special weapons you can find here are the Tempest Charge, Probe, Vampire Arc, and Aegis Shield (all described in “Upgrades and Special Weapons” later in this chapter). Requires: Heavy Shipyard.

Displacement Lab

The Displacement Lab provides upgrades for your ship shields—especially useful for lighter-hulled ships. Requires: Advanced Hull Factory.

Ion Cannon

A heavy turret gun, the free-floating Ion Cannon delivers a massive wallop wherever you deem. Requires: AWS Research Lab.

Terrans

Ships

Fabricator

The Fabricator is your most important nonmilitary ship. Fabricators build platforms—any available platform—on any planet, moon, or gas giant, as well as Jump Gates and defense platforms in space such as the Laser Turret. They can also repair and salvage platforms. Re- quires: Headquarters.

Supplyship

As its name suggests, the Supplyship resupplies ships and platforms that are within its resupply radius. Requires: Head- quarters; Supply Platform.

Chapter 4

Harvester

The Harvester is essentially a cargo ship that gathers gas from nebulae and ore from asteroid and debris fields—in other words, any resources not on a planetary surface. Requires: Refinery.

Admiral

In quick battles and multiplayer games, the admiral is the ship that leads its assigned fleet, generating bonuses for all ships in that fleet. You essentially command your admirals. In the missions, your admirals serve as the heroes of the Frontier Wars. Requires: Naval Academy.

Admiral Halsey

Halsey’s job is to lead Earth’s military forces into the new frontier. Halsey has a true appreciation for the benefits of peacetime, but if there will be victory against aggressors from beyond the stars, Halsey will be at the heart of that victory. Bonuses: Battleships; Fleet Carriers; Dreadnoughts; supplies; shields.

Admiral Hawkes

This curious Briton was the first to lead an expeditionary force into uncharted space—it was Hawkes’ science vessel, Andromeda, that waded into the middle of a Mantis civil war and began our involvement with the Frontier Wars. Through capture, torture, rescue, and maneuver, Hawkes remains unflappable. Bonuses: Missile Cruisers; ship speed; vs. Mantis ships.

Admiral Takei

Takei is a tactical genius from a long line of precisely that, all the way back to his admiral ancestor in Earth’s so-called “Second World War.” If it weren’t for Halsey’s own great leadership qualities, Takei would almost surely be running the Terran Navy. Bonuses: Fleet Carriers; sensors; fighter upgrades.

Admiral Steele

As the first Texan to make admiral in the new Terran Navy, Steele’s goal is to show the enemy the true meaning of “getting the boot.” Steele was raised in a strict military family where his mama’s motto was, “Treat people with decency, until such time when they need a good ole kick in the ass.” Charming. Bonuses: Battleships; damage; vs. Celareon ships.

Terrans

Admiral Smirnoff

This prestigious Russian was one of the trickiest and most challenging instructors the academy ever saw, and in wartime Smirnoff brings those skills to bear. But there is something questionable about him. He’s a very capable commander, but you should watch him. Bonuses: Dreadnoughts; vs. platforms; vs. Terran ships.

Admiral Benson

The youngest admiral in the Terran Navy, Benson first saw active duty at the beginning of the Frontier Wars. Before that, she was the highest-rated cadet ever to graduate from the Terran Naval Academy. She’s hoping her whole career won’t be spent fighting this war. She has bigger plans for Terra. Bonuses: Lancer Cruisers; evasive tactics; range.

Corvette

A fearless workhorse, the Corvette is small, fast, and good for scouting new systems. Lightly armored, it possesses a flak cannon that is ideal for defending against carrier fighters. Although a small, hard target for bigger ships, it should not be relied on to win battles. Requires: Light Shipyard.

Chapter 4

Missile Cruiser

With its upgradeable missiles researched at the Ballistics Lab, the medium-armored, lightly hulled Missile Cruiser is excellent for attacks against heavily armored, larger ships and platforms. Its other

special upgrade (also at the Ballistics Lab) is its cloaking ability, used at the expense of supplies. Requires: Light Shipyard; Ballistics Lab.

Troopship

Ramming into enemy platforms and offloading marauding Marines, the Troopship is invaluable for invasions—it can take over any enemy construction ship, harvesting ship, or platform that is equivalent to its base

or upgrade level. A Troopship that has not been upgraded, for example, can take over an unarmored or light-armored unit; a Troopship at a level 1 or 2 upgrade can take over a medium- or heavy-armored unit, respectively; and a level 4 Troopship can take over a Headquarters, Mantis Cocoon, or Celareon Acropolis. A Troopship cannot take over a gunship, other Troopship, its alien equivalent (the Mantis Leech and the Celareon Legionnaire), or enemy Jump Gate. These expensive ships are lightly armored, though, so be careful. Requires: Light Shipyard; Marine Training Facility.

Infiltrator

Even smaller than the Corvette, the Infiltrator has one purpose: deep scouting in hairy territory. With no weapons at all, the Infiltrator must rely on its impressive speed, long-range cloak-piercing sensors, and its own cloaking (researched at the Ballistics Lab) and ping abilities to get the information you want and make it back alive. When you turn on the Infiltrator’s ping (by clicking the Ping button in its context window), all enemy ships in the system will be momentarily exposed in the system map, but at the cost of supplies and a brief exposure of your own Infiltrator to other players. Requires: Light Shipyard; LR Sensor Tower.

Terrans

Battleship

The mainstay of the Terran fleet, the medium-sized, heavily armored Battleship carries two laser bolt– firing, doublebarreled turret guns that do excellent damage to larger ships. Even better is its special weapon—on loan from our rebel Mantis allies—the Tempest Charge. Requires: Heavy Shipyard.

Fleet Carrier

Launching two wings of fighters, the medium-sized, lightly armored Fleet Carrier is excellent for longrange attacks, but its thinnish hull means long range is your best bet. Its special weapon is the Probe, which when launched lifts the fog of war wherever it goes for the short time it remains active. Requires: Heavy Shipyard; Squadron Hangar.

Chapter 4

Lancer Cruiser

The medium-sized Lancer Cruiser takes a very steady commander: Although its lightning-like arcs are spectacular, they’ll damage any nearby ship, friend or foe, as they dance from one ship to the next. The Lancer’s special weapon is the Vampire Arc,

which actually depletes the supplies of enemy ships. Requires: Heavy Shipyard; Naval Academy; Displacement Lab; Propulsion Lab.

Dreadnought

The biggest and most powerful ship in the Terran fleet, the Dreadnought is a massive, heavily armored monster that does tremendous damage with its three triple-barrel laser cannons. The Dreadnought’s special weapon is the Aegis Shield, which pumps up the Dreadnought shield to temporary near-invulnerability. Requires: Heavy Shipyard; Propulsion Lab; AWS Research Lab.

Terrans

Upgrades and Special Weapons

General Upgrades

Terran ships and weapons share numerous universal upgrades with the Mantis and Celareons. For a description of these upgrades, see Appendix A.

Special Upgrades and Weapons

Special upgrades and weapons specific to the Terrans are as follows.

Chapter 4

Ore 1–2 Improves ore harvesting. Affects: Refineries. Requires: Refinery.

Gas 1–2 Improves gas harvesting. Affects: Refineries. Requires: Refinery.

Missile Pack 1–2

Provides more missiles.

Affects: Missile Cruisers. Requires: Ballistics Lab.

Fighter Wing 1–3

Provides additional wings of fighters. Affects: fighters. Requires: Squadron Hangar.

Cloaking Makes ships invisible to the enemy, unless that enemy is an Infiltrator, Seeker, or Oracle. Affects: Infiltra- tors; Missile Cruisers. Requires: Ballistics Lab.

Tempest Charge

Causes area-effective damage, particularly against small ships. Affects: Battleships. Requires: AWS Research Lab.

Probe Lifts fog of war and detects cloaked units wherever it goes for a short time. Affects: Fleet Carriers. Requires: AW S Research Lab; Squadron Hangar.

Vampire Arc Depletes the supplies of enemy units. Affects: Lancer Cruisers. Requires: AWS Research Lab; Naval Academy; Displacement Lab; Propulsion Lab.

Aegis Shield Boosts ship shields to temporary near-invulnerability.

Affects: Dreadnoughts. Requires: AWS Research

Lab; Propulsion Lab.

CHAPTER 5—MANTIS

Tellingly, a favorite song among the Mantis spells out the ultimate dream of the race as it pertains to the Frontier Wars. Among other galactic exploits, recently added stanzas foretell of the capture of the planet Terra. The hives fly together, birthing the millions of Mantis who spill across the Terran plain. These brand-new children then seize the nine billion inhabitants of Terra and mechanically grind them into a milky pink paste, which they then feed to the rest of the Mantis Navy, who dance across the planet, drunk on the Terrans’ liquefied carcasses.

Something to keep in mind.

Terrans

Chapter 5

History

We may never find a planet of more unforgivable beauty than Chut, the homeworld of the race known as the Mantis. Terrans visiting Chut would be awestruck by the stunning fields of wheat and grass as far as the eye can see—for seven years at a time, at least. Following that verdant long season is an equally long season of almost unbelievable cold, ice covering the planet in layers miles thick, atmosphere so cold that air-breathers’ lungs would turn stone hard in seconds. This strange phenomenon of seven-year seasons is due to the calamitously wild swing of the planet Chut in its rotation around its sun.

Swarming across these plains in days of old came the Mantis, the gigantic, somewhat narrowly hive-minded insects bearing the powerful exoskeletons necessary to withstand Chut’s unique environment. Like the miniature insects from which they are descended, the Mantis feed well on grain for seven entire years, after which they must hibernate in caves of ice and rock. During this hibernation, once nutrients run out, the Mantis feed upon those who die during the long sleep: Drilling machines reduce the corpses of the Mantis to a liquid mash that allows the rest of the race to survive. In this way they make it through the long, cold winter.

The insectoid Mantis are completely oriented toward the group to which they belong. Mantis politics are extremely complex, but over the years we have developed a basic understanding of how the system works. Modern Mantis are divided into sects arranged by maternal heredity. The sects themselves do not have inherent duties; rather, as powers shift in Mantis politics, the various sects are placed in charge of various more and less important duties. These duties cover just about everything a race might need to survive, from food supply maintenance to ship-building—and even, surprisingly, to humor (Mantis humor has to be heard to be believed, although it will never be understood). The three most important sects are the royal Azkar; the military Malkor, who are in charge of ship-building; and the mystic Kz’ra, whose influence at court with Queen Azkar is not completely understood.

The hive-minded race has produced a very interesting kind of technology that is difficult for an individualist society such as the Terrans to deal with: Everything they build is based upon the precept “numbers upon numbers.”

Technology

Several of the Mantis ships are carriers. If they could, they would build carriers that carry carriers. They don’t care about the individual. Hull defense is almost completely unimportant: Numbers are what count. And as Abraham Lincoln of the Terrans observed, numbers win wars.

Platforms

Cocoon

The main Mantis platform, the Cocoon is the Mantis equivalent of the Terran Headquarters. The Cocoon is the base of all supply: both system and unit. A viable supply line must be traceable (via Jump Gates) from a system with a Cocoon to other systems for them to be in supply. Units low on ammunition can fly within the resupply radius of the Cocoon to resupply, and defense platforms built within that resupply radius will also be resupplied.

Cocoons provide Weavers (the Mantis version of Terran Fabricators) and, after a Collector and Plantation are built, Zoraps as supplyships.

Command points awarded.

Jump Gate

Wormholes by nature allow easy access between systems, so it’s important to build Jump Gates around wormholes along a supply line. A Jump Gate effectively locks out unfriendly traffic, allowing the establishment of held positions—that is, until someone destroys it, which is possible from either side of the wormhole. Requires: Collector.

Mantis

Greater Collector (Evolution)

This evolution of the Collector harvests and recruits faster; it also stores a larger amount of crew. Requires: Collector; Mutation Colony.

Collector

The Mantis resource refinery, the Collector automatically harvests ore and gas from planets, moons, and gas giants and crew from planets. To retrieve resources off-planet, Siphons are built at the Collector and then sent out to harvest. The Collector also offers harvesting, supply, and resupply upgrades and is the starting point for all ship creation. It can evolve into the Greater Collector. Requires: Cocoon.

Chapter 5

Warlord Training Grounds

The Warlord Training Grounds automatically recruits crew from planets and trains and provides up to six Mantis warlords—equivalent to Terran admirals—for quick battles and multiplayer games. Requires: Collector.

Thripid

Essentially a light shipyard, the Thripid builds the first of the Mantis ships: Scout Carriers, Frigates, Khamirs, Hive Carriers, and Seekers. It can evolve into the Niad. Requires: Collector.

Niad (Evolution)

An evolution of the Thripid, the Niad is where the heavier Mantis ships are built: Leeches, Spinelayers, Scarabs, and Tiamats. Requires: Thripid; Warlord Training Grounds.

Eye Stalk

The Eye Stalk provides ships with the vision of the Queen herself, with upgrades for the sensor range of all units as well as a large scan radius to clear the fog of war around it. The Eye Stalk can evolve into the Mutation Colony. Requires: Cocoon.

Command points awarded.

Mantis

Mutation Colony (Evolution)

Fitted with even more effective longrange sensors, this evolution of the Eye Stalk allows research of several special Mantis abilities: Mimic, Repellent Cloud, Gravity Well, and Repulsor Wave (all described in “Upgrades and Special Abilities,” later in this chapter). Requires: Eye Stalk; Niad. Command points awarded.

Plantation

The Mantis Plantation resupplies units at a much greater resupply range than the Cocoon—valuable in the far-flung Frontier Wars. The Plantation can evolve into the Greater Plantation. Requires: Thripid.

Chapter 5

Greater Plantation (Evolution)

The Greater Plantation, an evolution of the Plantation, will repair ships as well as resupply ships and defense platforms. Requires: Plantation.

Blast Furnace

The Blast Furnace has the ability to improve all weapons for the betterment of insectkind, and it can evolve into the Explosives Range. Requires: Thripid.

Dissection Chamber

The Mantis leave nothing to the scavengers. The Dissection Chamber salvages ships for full resource value. Requires: Plantation.

Explosives Range (Evolution)

An evolution of the Blast Furnace, the Explosives Range not only provides an upgrade for all weapons but also upgrades for the Explosive Ram, a special ability of the Khamir. Requires: Blast Furnace; Thripid.

Mantis

Carrion Roost

The Carrion Roost provides upgrades for Mantis fighters, which in the carrier-reliant Mantis fleets are many and diverse. Requires: Warlord Training Grounds.

Plasma Spitter

A defensive turret that can be placed in space but not on planets, the Plasma Spitter fires nasty, medium-sized plasma bolts. It can evolve into either the Plasma Hive or the Voraak Cannon. Requires: Warlord Training Grounds.

Voraak Cannon (Evolution)

An evolution of the Plasma Spitter, the Voraak Cannon fires even nastier, larger plasma bolts than its forebear. Requires: Plasma Spitter; Mutation Colony.

Chapter 5

Plasma Hive (Evolution)

Another evolution of the Plasma Spitter, this free-floating defensive turret still fires plasma bolts, but it also houses one fighter wing. Requires: Plasma Spitter; Carrion Roost.

Fusion Mill (Evolution)

An evolution of the Bio Forge, the Fusion Mill provides upgrades for ship engines and can evolve into the Hybrid Center. Requires: Bio Forge.

Bio Forge

The Bio Forge provides upgrades for ship shields and can evolve into either a Fusion Mill or Carapace Plant. Re- quires: Niad.

Carapace Plant (Evolution)

Another evolution of the Bio Forge, the Carapace Plant offers upgrades for ship hulls. Like the Fusion Mill, the Carapace Plant can evolve into the Hybrid Center. Requires: Bio Forge.

Mantis

Hybrid Center (Evolution)

An evolution of either the Carapace Plant or Fusion Mill, the Hybrid Center gives a Mantis triple threat, with upgrades for shields, engines, and hulls. Requires: Fusion Mill or Carapace Plant.

Ships

Weaver

The equivalent of the Terran Fabricator, the Weaver can build, salvage, and repair any available platform. Requires: Cocoon.

Chapter 5

Zorap

The Mantis supplyship, the Zorap provides supplies to all ships and platforms within its resupply radius. Requires: Cocoon; Collector; Plantation.

Siphon

Built at the Mantis Collector, the Siphon gathers gas from nebulae and ore from asteroid and debris fields. Requires: Collector.

Warlord

A warlord ship is the flagship of a Mantis fleet, commanded by a warlord and providing bonuses to all ships within its assigned fleet. Up to six Mantis warlords are available in quick battles and multiplayer games. Requires: Warlord Training Grounds.

Warlord Mordella

Known to Mantis as “terror from the stars,” Mordella has superior light carrier tactics, which make enemies run in fear. Mordella was appointed protector of the Voraak homeworld and royal guard to the new Queen Ver Lak. Bonuses: Scout Carriers; fighter upgrades; ship speed.

Warlord Azkar

Under Queen Azkar’s leadership, the Mantis Empire reached many galaxies. But the Queen was also a feared warrior before her demise, and so skilled was she in ship command that a clone possessing her abilities and mind still flies as a warlord. This clone is the warlord equivalent of the dead queen (and she makes Ker Tak not a little nervous). Azkar is intent on seeing “her” daughter succeed in overthrowing the disloyal Ver Lak. Bonuses: Scout Carriers; Hive Carriers; Tiamats; fighter upgrades; sensors.

Mantis

Warlord Ver Lak

Evil daughter of Queen Azkar and current ruler of the Mantis Empire—and born one second after her sister Ker Tak—Ver Lak was destined to serve rather than rule. So she conducted a coup, driving Ker Tak off the home planet with the help of Warlord Malkor. When Queen Azkar learned of Ver Lak’s treachery, she ordered her own daughter’s execution. By then, however, Ver Lak had swayed the Royal Guard, and it was the old queen whose green blood spilled. Now Queen Ver Lak is busy fending off her sister’s loyalists and the new enemy, the Terrans. Bonuses: Tiamats; fighter upgrades; supplies; vs. Celareon ships.

Warlord Ker Tak

First born to Queen Azkar and the rightful heir to the throne, Ker Tak was driven from her homeworld before she could take her mother’s ruling seat. Now Ker Tak has traded courtly manners for warlord command and, with Warlord Malkor, leads a fleet of rebel Mantis intent on restoring her to power. If such a noble goal calls for alliance with creatures so nauseating as the Terrans, so be it. Bonuses: Hive Carriers; fighter upgrades; vs. Mantis ships.

Warlord Thripid

Thripid, the weapons-smith for all advanced Mantis technologies, created the Thripid light shipyard. His ability to manipulate new technologies and incorporate them with old ships is legendary. Recently promoted to warlord due to the Frontier Wars, Thripid would rather be tinkering with the latest ion engine drives than battling among the stars. Bonuses: Frigates; range; shields.

Chapter 5

Warlord Malkor

Known to some as General Malkor, this warlord is the leader of the Red Army, the largest segment of the Mantis forces. Malkor is a vicious and cruel warrior nearly unequaled in military ability. When he decided to ally with the lovely Ver Lak, it spelled doom for Queen Azkar and royal daughter Ker Tak. With the queen out of the way, the only things standing in the way of his plans for galaxy conquest are Ker Tak’s forces and the mysterious Terrans. Bonuses: Scarabs; damage; vs. Terran ships.

Frigate

The lightly armored Frigate fires doublestream, medium-sized plasma bolts. The special ability of the Frigate is the Mimic. Requires: Thripid; Blast Furnace.

Scout Carrier

A lightly armored carrier housing one wing of Mantis fighters, the Scout Carrier is good for both scouting and distance attacks. Requires: Thripid.

Khamir

The lightly armored Khamir fires a dangerous, if small, plasma bolt and can use its upgradeable special ability, the Explosive Ram, which allows the Khamir to ram enemy ships. Requires: Thripid; Blast Furnace.

Mantis

Hive Carrier

An impressive, medium-armored carrier housing two fighter wings, the Hive Carrier is excellent for long-distance attacks. The special ability of the Hive Carrier is its highly damaging Repellent Cloud. Requires: Thripid; Carrion Roost.

Seeker

The small and fast Seeker is excellent for scouting, with its long-range, cloak-piercing sensors; however, it lacks weaponry. The Seeker does have ping ability. Click the Ping button in the

Seeker’s context window to expose all enemy ships momentarily in the system map, but note that this ability costs supplies and your own Seeker is briefly exposed to other players. Requires: Thripid; Eye Stalk.

Chapter 5

Spinelayer

The lightly armored Spinelayer lays mines for enemy ships— but those mines cost resources. Requires: Niad; Explosives Range.

Leech

The Mantis equivalent of the Terran Troopship, the Leech is extremely valuable in wresting power from enemy hands. It can take over a construction ship, a harvesting ship, or any platform

equivalent to its base or upgrade level—thus, a Leech that has not been upgraded can take over an unarmored, light-armored, or medium-armored unit; a level 1 Leech can take over a heavy-armored unit; and a level 2 Leech can take over a Cocoon, Terran Headquarters, or Celareon Acropolis. Note, though, that a Leech cannot take over a gunship, another Leech, its enemy equivalent (the Terran Troopship and Celareon Legionnaire), or an enemy Jump Gate. Requires: Niad; Hybrid Center.

Scarab

The monstrous, heavily armored Scarab is a cruiser with two turrets hurling large plasma bolts at the enemy. Its special ability is the Gravity Well. Requires: Niad; Carapace Plant.

Tiamat

The most visually imposing—and dangerous—carrier in the fleet, the Tiamat is medium-armored and carries three bomber wings. The Tiamat moves slowly but possesses the greatest attack distance of all Mantis ships. Its special ability is the Repulsor Wave. Requires: Niad; Carrion Roost; Bio Forge; Dissection Chamber.

Mantis

Upgrades and Special Abilities

General Upgrades

Mantis ships and weapons share numerous universal upgrades with the Terrans and Celareons. For a description of these upgrades, see Appendix A.

Special Upgrades and Abilities

Special upgrades and abilities specific to the Mantis are as follows.

Explosive Ram 1–2 Increase the Explosive Ram’s damage to enemy ships. Affects: Khamirs. Requires: Explosives Range.

Fighter Wing 1–5 Provides additional wings of fighters. Affects: fighters. Requires: Carrion Roost.

Mimic Enables a Frigate to disguise itself as any ship it targets. Affects: Frigates. Requires: Mutation Colony; Blast Furnace.

Repellent Cloud Releases a gaseous, area-effective cloud that slows down and vigorously damages enemy ships. Affects: Hive Carriers. Requires: Mutation Colony; Carrion Roost.

Chapter 5

Gravity Well Fires a missile that freezes and damages ships in the area. Affects: Scarabs. Requires: Mutation Colony; Carapace Plant.

Repulsor Wave Pushes away all enemy ships past their firing range with a single energy wave. Affects: Tiamats. Requires: Mutation Colony; Carrion Roost; Bio Forge; Dissection Chamber.

CHAPTER 6—CELAREONS

Think of them this way: Our mind, our intelligence, is essentially energy—electromagnetic impulses bouncing around inside a relatively small and unwieldy, although impressively designed, conductor—our brain. The Celareons have been set free from the need for the meat.

—Terran Ambassador Brunvand

Mantis

Chapter 6

History

From the beginning we had no idea what the Celareons looked like inside those metal exoskeletons of theirs, which enveloped the individual beings like thick leaden barrels. Some of the humans suggested that the Celareons might be extremely weak physically, requiring the exoskeletons as much to appear imposing as to keep them ambulatory. They were obviously a very intelligent race, which evolutionarily tended to suggest a biological creature physically ill-equipped to deal with the dangers of its environment. But if the exoskeletons worn by the first Celareon ambassadors were required for the creatures’ survival, then it must be a materially weak race indeed— after all, humans were not exactly well-equipped to deal with their environment either, but they didn’t have to wear a big gray can whenever they went outside.

The Celareons are beings of pure energy. Obviously, they did not evolve that way—or else why would they need ships? And why the exoskeletons? Initially, these were questions that the surviving ambassadors were unwilling to answer, but we now know the Celareon secret: They require exoskeletons because they are born inside magnetic birthing fields and then immediately transferred into the shell that will act as their body for the rest of their lives—although of course they can change their shell at any time circumstances warrant.

So how could these evolutionary freaks have evolved at all? The best we can work out is that, at one time, the Celareons were biological organisms just beginning to emerge from the oceans of Solari. According to Celareon myth, an ancient, now half-forgotten race saw the intellectual potential of the Celareons and decided to send the new race’s evolution on a quantum jump. They developed and gave to the Celareons the first containment fields that would be needed to hold their young and left a pair of ancients in place to oversee the first several generations of what would be their new creation. Once set on their new path in this artificial way, the Celareons developed into the ultra-intelligent creatures that we know today.

Technology

Celareon platforms and ships are built chiefly for exploration, with defense as the leading design concern. Their ships are fast and stealthy and not altogether powerful, since war for the Celareons is an absurd disease of unsociability and rudeness.

Platforms

Acropolis

The Celareon headquarters, the Acropolis is the base of all supply: both system and unit. A viable supply line must be traceable (via Jump Gates) from a system with an Acropolis to other systems for them to be in supply. Units low on ammunition can fly within the resupply radius of the Acropolis to resupply, and defense platforms built within that resupply radius will also be resupplied.

The Acropolis builds Forgers (the Celareon answer to Terran Fabricators) and, after a Eutromil is built, supplyships known as Stratums.

Command points awarded.

Oxidator

The Celareon resource refinery, the Oxidator must be placed on a planet, moon, or gas giant, from which it harvests ore and gas. It can then build Galiot harvesters to retrieve resources from off-planet. The Oxidator also offers harvesting, supply, and resupply upgrades, and it is the starting point for all ship creation. Requires: Acropolis.

Celareons

Jump Gate

Sentinel Tower

Extremely useful, the Sentinel Tower has a large sensor range to clear the fog of war. It can also upgrade the sensor range of other units. Requires: Acropolis.

Command points awarded.

Chapter 6

Pavilion

The Celareon light shipyard, the Pavilion builds the smaller Celareon ships and its takeover ship: Taoses, Oracles, Auroras, Legionnaires, and Polarises. Requires: Oxidator; Sentinel To w e r.

ESP Coil

Don’t let the enemy get the jump on you: Place the ESP Coil turret anywhere in space and watch it shoot a lightning arc at multiple targets. Requires: Sentinel To w e r.

Helion Veil

The Helion Veil provides upgrades for ship shields. Requires: Sentinel To w e r .

Bunker

The Bunker automatically recruits crew from planets and provides the route to your magistrates and special weapons. Requires: Oxidator.

Greater Pavilion

Larger ships are built at the Greater Pavilion, the Celareon heavy shipyard. The medium to large ships available here are the Atlas, Trireme, and Monolith. Requires: Pavilion.

Celareons

Eutromil

The Celareon supply and repair platform, the Eutromil resupplies ships and defense platforms within its effective radius, which is larger than that of the Acropolis. It also repairs ships. Requires: Pavilion.

Proteus

Good for basic spot defense, the Proteus, as an inexpensive defensive missile turret, can be placed anywhere in space. Requires: Pavilion.

Chapter 6

Citadel

The Citadel is the Celareon academy where you train and commission up to six magistrates for quick battles and multiplayer games. The Citadel automatically recruits crew from planets at a higher rate than the Bunker. Requires: Bunker.

Munitions Annex

The Munitions Annex provides upgrades for weapons and the Proteus. Requires: Greater Pavilion.

Xeno Chamber

The technology-savvy Celareons research their special weapons at the Xeno Chamber: Synthesis, Mass Disrupter, Shroud, Destabilizer, and Auger Ray. Requires: Citadel; Greater Pavilion.

Anvil

The Anvil provides upgrades for ship hulls. Requires: Greater Pavilion.

Celareons

Turbine Dock

The Turbine Dock provides upgrades for ship engines. Requires: Greater Pavilion.

Hydrofoil

A little heftier than the Proteus, the Hydrofoil is a flakdefense turret. Requires: Greater Pavilion; Proteus.

Chapter 6

Starburst

Yet another turret, the Starburst laser turret simultaneously fires four beams. Requires: Munitions Annex; Turbine Dock.

Portal

The Portal establishes a one-way wormhole at and to whatever location desired—at a cost. Your Forger is sacrificed upon its completion; you only have a brief time to use it, as indicated by its life bar; and it will suck in everything within a certain radius. Requires: Xeno Chamber.

Ships

Talorean Matrix

The Matrix, an energy ring connecting platforms around a planet, increases those platforms’ shield strength as a whole. Requires: Xeno Chamber; Munitions Annex.

Forger

The equivalent of the Terran Fabricator, the Forger can build, salvage, and repair any available platform. Requires: Acropolis.

Celareons

Stratum

The Celareon supplyship, the Stratum provides supplies to all ships and platforms. Requires: Acropolis; Eutromil.

Galiot

Built at the Celareon Oxidator, the Galiot gathers gas from nebulae and ore from asteroid and debris fields. Requires: Oxidator.

Chapter 6

Magistrate

A magistrate ship is the flagship leading its assigned fleet, generating bonuses for all members in the fleet in quick battles and multiplayer games. Requires: Citadel.

Magistrate Blanus

The brains (and we use the term lightly, since Celareons are energy beings, thus all brains) behind Celareon technologies, Blanus knows his way around a starship. Blanus learned how to harness the volatile Hyades nebulae to his fleet’s advantage. Enemies would be wise to see that they have excellent shielding before going up against Blanus. Bonuses: Triremes; damage; targeting.

Magistrate Elan

Elan is the leader of the Celareon race and ambassador to the Terrans. In a show of good faith, Elan agreed to the Terran–Celareon peace accord. With the strength of unity between Terrans and Celareons, Elan hopes to finally put an end to the Frontier Wars. Bonuses: Mono- liths; Triremes; Polarises; supplies.

Magistrate Vivac

A fearless commander of the Celareon forces, Vivac’s ingenuity and guile in military tactics is second to none. Vivac has been known to agree to ally with Terran forces in order to stop the massive Mantis army. Bonuses: Monoliths; shields; vs. Mantis ships.

Magistrate Joule

The brilliant mind of Joule was awakened for the Frontier Wars. He knows how to get the most from his forces by way of pinpoint accuracy and supply management. Bonuses: Polarises; supplies; targeting; vs. Terran ships.

Magistrate Procyo

Long dormant in the collective consciousness, Procyo was originally awakened to take up the fight against the Mantis. Procyo’s genius with warp drives and fuel usage have gotten him and the Celareon military out of many jams. Bonuses: Taoses; ship speed; range.

Magistrate Natus

Natus is an intelligent but occasionally less-than-honest magistrate among the Celareons. He commands great respect and a certain amount of fear, because his actions are not entirely predictable. Bonuses: Auroras; sensors; vs. Celareon ships.

Celareons

Taos

This lightly armored scout ship seeks information. Its single thin laser won’t win any battles, but it will get the Taos back alive. Its special ability is Synthesis, the ability to merge with another friendly ship and lend its hull points to the other vessel, restoring both hull and supplies up to the Taos’ current level. Requires: Pavilion.

Polaris

A quick fighter armed with a two–laser beam attack, the Polaris special weapon is the excellent-for-big-targets Mass Disrupter. Requires: Pavilion; Citadel.

Aurora

Chapter 6

Also known as the “stealth cruiser,” the Aurora fires one medium laser and has the ability to cloak. Its special ability is the Shroud, which allows it to cloak other friendly units as well as itself. Requires: Pavilion; Helion Veil; Greater Pavilion.

Legionnaire

The Celareon equivalent of the Terran Troopship, the Legionnaire is extremely valuable in wresting power from your enemy’s hands. Although it possesses no armor, the Legionnaire can take over a construction ship, a harvesting ship, or any

platform equivalent to its base or upgrade level—thus, a Legionnaire with no upgrade can take over an unarmored unit. A level 1 Legionnaire can take over a lightarmored unit, a level 2 a medium-armored unit, and up to level 4, which can take over an Acropolis, Terran Headquarters, or Mantis Cocoon. Note, though, that the Legionnaire cannot take over a gunboat, another Legionnaire, its enemy equivalent (the Terran Troopship and Mantis Leech), or an enemy Jump Gate. Requires: Pavilion; Bunker.

Oracle

Small, fast, and excellent for scouting, the Oracle has the ability to cloak and see deep into fogged territory with its longrange cloak-piercing sensors—all of which is good, because the Oracle possesses no weapons. It does, however, have ping ability. Click the Ping button

in the Oracle’s context window to expose all enemy ships momentarily in the system map, but note that this ability costs supplies and your own Oracle is briefly exposed to other players. Requires: Pavilion; Sentinel Tower.

Celareons

Atlas

The lightly armored Atlas lays mines in the path of enemy ships, causing significant supply damage when deployed—but remember that mines will cost you resources. Requires: Greater Pavilion.

Monolith

Trireme

This medium-armored, medium-sized battleship fires large plasma bolts. Its special weapon is the Destabilizer. Requires: Greater Pavilion; Munitions Annex; Turbine Dock.

Chapter 6

The heaviest Celareon ship, the Monolith is one of the few Celareon ships that doesn’t seem better suited to scientific investigation. This heavily armored warship boasts two powerful laser turrets, and its special weapon is the Auger Ray. Requires: Greater Pavilion; Munitions Annex; Turbine Dock; Xeno Chamber.

Upgrades and Special Weapons

General Upgrades

Celareon ships and weapons share numerous universal upgrades with the Terrans and Mantis. For a description of these upgrades, see Appendix A.

Special Weapons

Upgrades and special weapons specific to the Celareons are as follows.

Ore 1–3 Improves ore harvesting. Affects: Oxidators. Requires: Oxidator.

Gas 1–3 Improves gas harvesting. Affects: Oxidators. Requires: Oxidator.

Proteus 1–2 Provides extra missiles. Affects: Proteuses. Requires: Munitions Annex.

Synthesis Allows a Taos to merge with a friendly ship and restore the hull and supplies of that ship up to the Taos’ levels. Affects: Taoses. Requires: Xeno Chamber.

Mass Disrupter

Damages larger ships with an energy wave.

Affects: Polarises. Requires:

Xeno Chamber; Citadel.

Shroud Allows the Aurora to cloak a friendly ship as well as itself. Affects: Auroras. Requires: Xeno Chamber; Helion Veil; Greater Pavilion.

Destabilizer Casts a field to paralyze all enemy ships within a considerable range.

Affects: Triremes. Re- quires: Xeno Chamber;

Munitions Annex; Turbine Dock.

Auger Ray Causes massive damage in just seconds while freezing its target during the attack. Affects: Monoliths. Requires: Xeno Chamber; Munitions Annex; Turbine Dock.

Celareons

APPENDIX A—UNIVERSAL

UPGRADES

Universal upgrades are weapon and ship upgrades that apply to all three races. For the specific requirements for these universal upgrades based on race, see the information box that appears in the main screen as you move your cursor over the upgrade buttons. For upgrades and special weaponry particular to each race, see Chapters 4 through 6.

Engine Upgrades

Increase the speed of ships. Levels: Terran, 4; Mantis, 3; Celareon, 5.

Harvester, Siphon, and Galiot Upgrades

Increase the maximum supply limit for harvester ships. Levels: Terran, 2; Mantis, 3; Celareon, 2.

Hull Upgrades Increase ships’ hull points. Levels: Terran, 4; Mantis, 3; Celareon, 5.

Resupply Upgrades

Increase the resupply radius of supply platforms and supplyships. Levels: Terran, 2; Mantis, 3; Celareon, 2.

Sensor Upgrades

Increase the sensor range. Levels: Terran, 2; Mantis, 3; Celareon, 5.

Shield Upgrades

Strengthen the shields of ships. Levels: Terran, 4; Mantis, 3; Celareon, 5.

Supply Upgrades

Increase the amount of supplies ships can carry. Levels: Terran, 4; Mantis, 3; Celareon, 5.

Troopship, Leech, and Legionnaire Upgrades Increase the

ability of takeover ships to take over armored units. Levels: Terran, 3; Mantis, 2; Celareon, 4.

Weapons Upgrades

Increase the damage weapons inflict. Levels: Terran, 4; Mantis, 2; Celareon, 5.

Universal Upgrades

APPENDIX B—HOTKEYS

Primary command hotkeys are located on the back cover of this field manual. This appendix lists the hotkeys for game screens, the interface, and technology.

Game and Interface

To Press

Zoom in/out PLUS SIGN/

MINUS SIGN Toggle zoom HOME Scroll main view Arrow keys Rotate view RIGHT BRACKET/

right/left LEFT BRACKET Rotate to BACKSLASH (\)

default view

Technology—Terrans

Then

To Select press

Build Headquarters Fabricator Q Build Refinery Fabricator X Build Marine Training Fabricator M

Facility Build Supply Platform Fabricator S Build Repair Platform Fabricator E Build Light Shipyard Fabricator L Build Jump Gate Fabricator J Build Naval Academy Fabricator C Build LR Sensor Tower Fabricator T Build Ballistics Lab Fabricator Y Build Squadron Hangar Fabricator G Build Advanced Hull Fabricator U

Factory Build Heavy Shipyard Fabricator H Build Propulsion Lab Fabricator K Build Displacement Lab Fabricator D

To Press

Pause game P Quick save (single player) F7 Quick load (single player) F8 Access game menu F9 or ESC Access Diplomacy screen ALT+D Access Mission Objectives ALT+M

screen

Then

To Select press

Build AWS Fabricator W Research Lab

Build Laser Turret Fabricator Z Build Space Station Fabricator X Build Ion Cannon Fabricator I Build Fabricator Headquarters Q Build Supplyship Headquarters S Build Harvester Refinery H Upgrade Harvesters Refinery U Upgrade Supply Refinery S Upgrade Resupply Refinery T Upgrade Gas Refinery G Upgrade Ore Refinery O Upgrade Troopships Marine Training T

Facility

Build Corvette Light Shipyard C

Hotkeys

To Select press

Then

Build Missile Light Shipyard M Cruiser

Build Troopship Light Shipyard T Build Infiltrator Light Shipyard S Build Battleship Heavy Shipyard T Build Fleet Carrier Heavy Shipyard C Build Lancer Heavy Shipyard L

Cruiser Build Dreadnought Heavy Shipyard D Build Admiral Naval Academy H

Halsey Build Admiral Naval Academy K

Hawkes Build Admiral Naval Academy T

Ta k e i Build Admiral Naval Academy L

Steele Build Admiral Naval Academy S

Smirnoff Build Admiral Naval Academy C

Benson

To Select press

Then

Upgrade Sensors LR Sensor Tower S Upgrade Weapons Ballistics Lab W Upgrade Missile Ballistics Lab M

Packs Research Cloaking Ballistics Lab C Research Fighter Squadron W

Wings Hangar Upgrade Hulls Advanced Hull H

Factory Upgrade Engines Propulsion Lab E Upgrade Shields Displacement S

Lab Research Tempest AWS Research T

Charge Lab Research Probe AWS Research C

Lab Research Vampire AWS Research L

Arc Lab Research Aegis AWS Research D

Shield Lab

Hotkeys

Technology—Mantis

To Select press

Build Cocoon Weaver Q Build Collector Weaver C Build Jump Gate Weaver J Build Warlord Weaver W

Training Grounds Build Thripid Weaver T Build Plantation Weaver O Build Dissection Weaver D

Chamber Build Blast Furnace Weaver X Build Eye Stalk Weaver E

Then

To Select press

Then

Build Bio Forge Weaver G Build Carrion Roost Weaver R Build Plasma Spitter Weaver S Build Weaver Cocoon Q Build Zorap Cocoon Z Build Siphon Collector H Upgrade Siphons Collector or U

Greater Col.

Upgrade Supply Collector or S

Greater Col.

Upgrade Resupply Collector or O

Greater Col.

Then

To Select press

Evolve into Collector G Greater Collector

Build Warlord Warlord Training M Mordella Grounds

Build Warlord Warlord Training Z Azkar Grounds

Build Warlord Warlord Training W Ver Lak Grounds

Build Warlord Warlord Training K Ker Tak Grounds

Build Warlord Warlord Training T Thripid Grounds

Build Warlord Warlord Training X Malkor Grounds

Upgrade Leeches Warlord Training L

Grounds

Build Scout Thripid or Niad C Carrier

Build Frigate Thripid or Niad M Build Khamir Thripid or Niad K Build Hive Thripid or Niad H

Carrier Build Seeker Thripid or Niad S Evolve into Niad Thripid T Build Leech Niad L Build Spinelayer Niad I Build Scarab Niad G Build Tiamat Niad T Upgrade Repair Plantation D Upgrade Weapons Blast Furnace or W

Explosives Range

Evolve into Blast Furnace E Explosives Range

To Select press

Then

Research Explosives E Explosive Ram Range

Upgrade Sensors Eye Stalk S Evolve into Eye Stalk M

Mutation Colony Research Mimic Mutation M

Colony

Research Mutation C Repellent Cloud Colony

Research Mutation G Gravity Well Colony

Research Mutation T Repulsor Wave Colony

Upgrade Shields Bio Forge, S

Fusion Mill, Carapace Plant, or Hybrid Center

Evolve into Bio Forge G Fusion Mill

Evolve into Bio Forge C Carapace Plant

Upgrade Engines Fusion Mill or E

Hybrid Center

Evolve into Fusion Mill or C Hybrid Center Carapace Center

Upgrade Hulls Carapace Plant H

or Hybrid Center Upgrade Fighters Carrion Roost W Evolve into Plasma Spitter V

Voraak Cannon Evolve into Plasma Spitter H

Plasma Hive

Hotkeys

Technology—Celareons

Hotkeys

Then

To Select press

Build Acropolis Forger Q Build Oxidator Forger O Build Jump Gate Forger J Build Pavilion Forger Y Build Greater Pavilion Forger G Build Bunker Forger I Build Citadel Forger C Build Eutromil Forger E Build Sentinel Tower Forger S Build Helion Veil Forger H Build Xeno Chamber Forger X Build Munitions Annex Forger M Build Anvil Forger Z Build Turbine Dock Forger D Build ESP Coil Forger L Build Proteus Forger U Build Hydrofoil Forger K Build Starburst Forger V Build Portal Forger W Build Talorean Matrix Forger T Build Forger Acropolis Q Build Stratum Acropolis S Build Galiot Oxidator H Upgrade Resupply Oxidator E Upgrade Supply Oxidator S Upgrade Galiots Oxidator U Upgrade Gas Oxidator G Upgrade Ore Oxidator O Build Taos Pavilion T Build Polaris Pavilion M Build Aurora Pavilion C Build Legionnaire Pavilion L

Then

To Select press

Build Oracle Pavilion O Build Atlas Greater S

Pavilion

Build Trireme Greater T

Pavilion

Build Monolith Greater M

Pavilion Upgrade Legionnaires Bunker L Upgrade Sensors Sentinel S

To w e r Build Magistrate Blanus Citadel U Build Magistrate Elan Citadel E Build Magistrate Vivac Citadel V Build Magistrate Joule Citadel J Build Magistrate Procyo Citadel Y Build Magistrate Natus Citadel T Upgrade Shields Helion Veil S Research Synthesis Xeno S

Chamber Research Mass Xeno M

Disrupter Chamber Research Destabilizer Xeno D

Chamber Research Shroud Xeno C

Chamber Research Auger Ray Xeno T

Chamber Research Weapons Munitions W

Annex Research Proteus Munitions M

Annex Upgrade Hulls Anvil H Upgrade Engines Turbine E

Dock

Digital Anvil

Producers—Erin & Chris Roberts Line Producer—David Downing Associate Producer—Eric Peterson Lead Programmer—Jason Yenawine Art Director—Sergio Rosas Test Manager—Evan Brandt Programmers—Robert Marr,

Thomas Mauer, Sean Barton, Aaron Hunter

Mission Programmers—Justin Przedwojewski, John Thomas, Jeff Posey

Artists—Drew Mobley, Kyle Anderson, Mike Washburn, Kenneth Perez, David Russ, Rhett Bennett, Mike Dean, John Blood, Whitney Ayres

Design

Senior Designer—Jamie Wiggs Designer—Arvee Garde Mission Design—Jamie Wiggs, Eric

Peterson

Story & Scripts

Jamie Wiggs, Jason Henderson, Chris Roberts

Cinematics

Lead—Dean McCall Cinematic Artists—Mark

Goldsworthy, John Sommer, Steven Stahlberg, Sarma Vanguri, John Ford, Rhett Bennett

Cinematics Coordinator—Tara Thomas

Editors—Curtis Neal, Lara Martine Foss

Audio

Digital Anvil Director of Audio— Martin Galway

Conquest Audio Director—Eric Peterson

Sound Designers—Amy Hughes, T. J. O’Leary

Additional Dialogue Editor—Lara Martine Foss

Music

Original Score composed, arranged & produced by James Hannigan

Test Lead

Scott Pace Testers—James Mitchell, Andrew

Franklin, Jamie Gibbs, Jeff Davis

Digital Anvil Programming Interns

Indravijay Gohil, Michael Dula

Soundelux Showorks

Creative Director & Sound Design Supervisor—Scott Martin

Gershin Sound Designers—Peter Zinda,

Bryan Bowen, Bryan Celano, Dutch Hill, Alan Rankin, Geoff Rubay

Soundelux Project Coordinator— Becky Allen

Sound Design Asset Manager— Glynna Grimala

Casting Director—Carole Ruggier

Voice Over Production Coordinator—Amanda Wyatt

Production Assistant—James Tabb

Credits

Special Thanks

Jared Carr, Gary Gattis, Dan Orzulak, John Moore, Gary Boswood, Jake Rodgers, Pauline Saab, Alex Toader, Brad Doan, Mike Cahill, Buck Wall, and Rob Smith

A HUGE special thanks to all our wives, children, girlfriends, and pets, who endured the long hours and absence of team members with unimaginable grace and dignity.

Microsoft

Program Manager/Producer— Danan Davis

Test Leads—Ken Smith, Jamie Evans Testers—Daland Davis, Chuck Cooper,

Sean Willmore, Morgan Akers, Jason Hendricks, Eric Meldrum, Marty Wright

Hardware Configuration Testers— Harold Ryan, Paul H. Gradwohl, Dan Hitchcock

Multiplayer Test Lead—Scott Gerlach Multiplayer Testers—Brian Kirkness,

Shawn Johnson, Bret Fenton, Michelle Grisim, Joe Kelsay

Network Administrator—Shane Nelson

Core Playtesters—Dennis Stone, Jr., Mike Christensen

Recon Playtester Lead—Douglas Hall

Recon Playtesters—Adam Maloy, Bruce Carr, Erik Davis, Jacob Fulwiler, Mark Shoemaker, Michael Engle, Seth Elder, Bob Church, Brad Catlin

Usability Lead—Kevin Keeker Usability Engineer—Michael Medlock Playtest Lead—Bill Fulton Playtest Specialists—Ramon Romero,

Credits

Jerome Hagen

Editors—Dana Fos, Amy Robison Print Production—Chris Lassen, Chris

Burns, Jeannie Davison

Manual/QRC/CD Art—Mark Forrer Beta Lead—Steve Kastner

Beta Coordinator—Matt Alderman Software Design Engineer Lead—

Michael Lyons Localization Project Manager—

Victoria Olson Localization—Peter Fitzpatrick, Hugh

O’Malley, Robert Lin, Atsushi Miyake, Hiroshi Ogura, Kazuyuki Kumai

Marketing—Peter Parsons, Rick Mehler Product Planner—Jon Kimmich Setup Programmers—Randy

Shedden, Chris Haddan, Melody Litovkin

VP Games Publishing—Ed Fries General Manager—Stuart Moulder Development Manager—Craig Henry Test Manager—Matt Gradwohl User Education Manager—Jo Tyo Group Assistant—Kori Brown Lead Product Planner—Edward

Ventura

Art Director—Douglas Herring Program Manager Lead—Jonathan

Sposato Localization Manager—Yasmine

Nelson Associate Product Unit Manager—

Eric Straub

Creative Director—Jordan Weisman Legal—Jeff Koontz, Sue Stickney Special Thanks—Matt Kowalczyk, Mark

Thomas, Humberto Castaneda, Shannon Loftis

Acropolis (Celareon) 73 Admiral (Terran) 49 admiral context window

admirals

commanding fleets

16, 30 creating 30 statistics 17 transferring 16

Advanced Hull Factory

(Terran) 46

Aegis Shield (Terran) 54 alliances 32 antimatter 38 Anvil (Celareon) 77 asteroids 36 Atlas (Celareon) 84 Attack stance 13 attacking enemies 26 Auger Ray (Celareon)

Aurora (Celareon) 82 auto-supplying 14 AWS Research Lab

(Terran) 47

Ballistics Lab (Terran)

Bio Forge (Mantis) 63 black holes 38 Blast Furnace (Mantis)

building

construction ships 22 Fabricators 22 Headquarters 22 Jump Gates 27

INDEX

building (continued)

platforms 24 ships 25

Bunker (Celareon) 75

campaign, starting

Terran 4

Carapace Plant (Mantis)

Carrion Roost (Mantis)

Celareons

history 72 overview 7

technology 73 chat 11 Citadel (Celareon) 76 Cloaking

Celareon 82, 83

Terran 45, 54 Cocoon (Mantis) 57 Collector (Mantis) 58 command points

current status 10

described 34 commanding

fleets 16, 30

ships 26 construction ships

building 23

context window 13

finding 18

orders buttons 14 context windows

admiral 15

construction ship 13

control groups 15

Fabricator 13

group ships 15

harvester ship 14

military ship 12

context windows

(continued)

overview 12 platform 17 supplyship 14

control groups

assigning 26

orders buttons 15 Corvette (Terran) 50 crew

current status 10

described 34

debris fields 38 Defend stance 13 defending units 12 Destabilizer (Celareon)

85 diplomacy 31 disbanding a fleet 16 Displacement Lab

(Terran) 47 Dissection Chamber

(Mantis) 61 Dreadnought (Terran)

earth planets 35 escorting units 12 ESP Coil (Celareon) 75 Eutromil (Celareon) 76 exploring territory 27 Explosive Ram (Mantis)

70 Explosives Range

(Mantis) 61 Eye Stalk (Mantis) 59

Index

Fabricator (Terran) 48 Fabricators

building 23 context window 13 orders buttons 13

finding

fleets 18 idle nonmilitary ships

18 research platforms 18 resources 35 shipyards 18

Fleet Carrier (Terran)

fleet commands 16 fleets

commanding 30 disbanding 16 establishing 30 finding 18 forming 16 repairing 16 resupplying 16 selecting 16 special weapons 17 Troopship assault 17

Forger (Celareon) 79 forming a fleet 16 Frigate (Mantis) 67 Fusion Mill (Mantis) 63

Galiot (Celareon) 80 game options 8, 21 game settings 8, 21 games

loading 4, 20 multiplayer 5 saving 20 single player 4

gas

current status 10 described 34

gas giants 36 graphics 21 Gravity Well (Mantis) 70 Greater Collector

(Mantis) 58

Greater Pavilion

(Celareon) 75

Greater Plantation

(Mantis) 60

group ships

context window 15 fleets 17 orders buttons 15 special weapons 12

guarding units 12

Harvester (Terran) 48 harvester ships

context window 14 orders buttons 14

Headquarters (Terran)

Headquarters, building a

Heavy Shipyard (Terran)

Helion Veil (Celareon)

Hive Carrier (Mantis)

68 hot buttons 18 hull level, checking 29 Hybrid Center (Mantis)

64 Hydrofoil (Celareon) 78

idle nonmilitary ships,

finding 18 Infiltrator (Terran) 51 installing Conquest:

Frontier Wars 3

Ion Cannon (Terran) 47

Jump Gate

Celareon 74 Mantis 57 Terran 43

Khamir (Mantis) 67

Lancer Cruiser (Terran)

53 Laser Turret (Terran) 43 Leech (Mantis) 69 Legionnaire (Celareon)

83 Light Shipyard (Terran)

43 loading games 4 locking alliances 9 locking game settings 9 LR Sensor Tower

(Terran) 42

Magistrate (Celareon)

80 main menu 4 main screen 10 Mantis

history 56 overview 7

technology 57 map settings 8, 9 maps, system and sector

Marine Training Facility

(Terran) 42

Mass Disrupter

(Celareon) 85

military ships

context window 12

guarding 12

military ships

(continued)

orders buttons 12 patrolling 12 rally points 18 special weapons,

preparing 12 stances 12 statistics 12

Mimic (Mantis) 70 mining resources 24 Missile Cruiser (Terran)

Missile Pack (Terran) 54 Monolith (Celareon) 84 moons 35 moving ships 26 multiplayer games 5, 8 Munitions Annex

(Celareon) 77

Mutation Colony

(Mantis) 60

Naval Academy (Terran)

nebulae 36 Niad (Mantis) 59 nonmilitary ships, finding

idle 18

Oracle (Celareon) 83 options, game 8, 21 orders buttons

construction ships 14 control group 15 group ship 15 harvester ships 14 military ships 12 platforms 18 supplyships 15

ore

current status 10 described 34

Oxidator (Celareon) 73

patrolling territory 12 Pavilion (Celareon) 74 ping

Infiltrator (Terran) 51 Oracle (Celareon) 83

Seeker (Mantis) 68 planets 35 Plantation (Mantis) 60 Plasma Hive (Mantis) 62 Plasma Spitter (Mantis)

platforms

building 23

context window 17

orders buttons 18

rally points 18

repairing 14, 29

resupplying 28

salvaging 13 Polaris (Celareon) 82 Portal (Celareon) 79 Probe (Terran) 54 Propulsion Lab (Terran)

Proteus (Celareon) 76

quick battles

game settings 8

loading 4

starting 4

races

choosing 9

overview 6 rally points, setting 18 random map generation

8 Refinery (Terran) 42 Repair Platform (Terran)

repairing

a fleet 16 platforms 14 units 29

Repellent Cloud (Mantis)

Repulsor Wave (Mantis)

research platforms,

finding 18 resource bar 10 resources

finding 35 gifting 32 overview 8

resupplying

a fleet 16 units 28

salvaging platforms 13 saving games 20 Scarab (Mantis) 69 Scout Carrier (Mantis)

67 sector map 19 sectors, overview 6 Seeker (Mantis) 68 selecting a fleet 16 selecting ships 26 Sentinel Tower

(Celareon) 74 setting rally points 18 settings, game 8, 21 ships

building 25 commanding 26 repairing 28 resupplying 27

selecting 26 shipyards, finding 18 Shroud (Celareon) 85 single-player games 4

Index

Siphon (Mantis) 65 sounds 21 Space Station (Terran)

special weapons

fleets 17 other races 17

preparing to use 12 spectators 9 Spinelayer (Mantis) 68 Squadron Hangar

(Terran) 45 stance buttons 13 Stand Ground stance 13 Starburst (Celareon) 78 starting Conquest:

Frontier Wars 3

statistics

admirals 17

military ships 12 Stratum (Celareon) 80 supply lines

current status 10

establishing 27

overview 6 Supply Platform (Terran)

supply status, checking

28 Supplyship (Terran) 48 supplyships

auto-supplying 14 context window 14

orders buttons 14 swamp planets 36 Synthesis (Celareon) 85 system map 19 system supply

current status 10

establishing 27

overview 6

systems

overview 6 setting number of 9

takeover ships

in fleet 17 Leech (Mantis) 69 Legionnaire

(Celareon) 83

Troopship (Terran)

Talorean Matrix

(Celareon) 79 Taos (Celareon) 82 Tempest Charge (Terran)

54 terrain, setting density 9 Terrans

history 40 overview 7

technology 41 Thripid (Mantis) 59 Tiamat (Mantis) 69 toolbar 11 transferring an admiral

16 Trireme (Celareon) 84 Troopship (Terran) 51 Turbine Dock

(Celareon) 78

Vampire Arc (Terran) 54 visibility, setting 9 Voraak Cannon (Mantis)

Warlord (Mantis) 65 Warlord Training

Grounds (Mantis)

waypoints 26 Weaver (Mantis) 64 wormholes 27

Xeno Chamber

(Celareon) 77

Zorap (Mantis) 64

Microsoft Product Support Services

The services and prices listed here are available in the United States and Canada only. Support outside the United States and Canada may vary. Microsoft’s support services are subject to Microsoft’s thencurrent prices, terms, and conditions, which are subject to change without notice.

Self-Help

Help yourself with Microsoft Personal Online Support—designed specifically for home users and individuals! Go online and get the most up-to-date answers swiftly and easily. You can use simple self-help tools or search a wide variety of technical information. If you still need help, Personal Online Support provides an easy way to submit support incidents directly to Microsoft via the Web. Connect to Personal Online Support at http:// support.microsoft.com/.

Assisted Support

No-Charge Assisted Personal Support: If you acquired this product as a stand-alone retail product, you are eligible for unlimited no-charge assisted Personal Support for this product during regular business hours. You can receive no-charge Personal Support via the Web or the telephone. When submitting incidents, be prepared to provide your Product ID (PID) number. For Applications, the PID is a 20-digit number that you can find by clicking About on the main screen.

Paid Assisted Personal Support: If you need help after hours, or if you have used up or are not eligible for no-charge Personal Support, you can use Pay-PerIncident Support via the Web on Personal Online Support or the telephone. Support fees are billed to your VISA, MasterCard, or American Express card. In the U.S.: $35 U.S. per incident. In Canada: $45 CDN + tax per incident. Both are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays.

Note: If your Microsoft product was preinstalled or distributed with your personal computer or dedicated system (Windows CE–based device), or provided by an Internet Service Provider (ISP), and your PID contains the letters “OEM” after the first five digits, you are welcome to use the many online no-charge self-help or paid assisted support offerings provided by Microsoft. No-charge assisted support for OEM licenses is not provided by Microsoft. Please contact the personal computer manufacturer, device/ system manufacturer, or ISP directly for more information regarding their no-charge and paid offerings for support of your product. Please check the documentation that came with your personal computer or check our list of manufacturer phone numbers at http://support.microsoft.com/support/ webresponse/pid/oem.asp.

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mail-order resellers, and online resellers. Microsoft products preinstalled or distributed with your personal computer or dedicated system (Windows CE-based device), provided by an ISP, or purchased through a volume licensing program such as Select, Open, or License Packs receive all Microsoft support privileges, excluding no-charge assisted support.

Getting Assisted Support

When you contact Product Support Services, you should be at your computer and have the following information at hand:

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• The type of hardware, including network hardware, if applicable.

• The operating system (e.g., DOS, Windows 98, Windows NT, and so on).

• The exact wording of any informational or error messages that appeared on your screen.

• A description of what happened and what you were doing when the problem occurred.

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Via the Web

Web-based support on Microsoft’s Personal Online Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Via the Web, you can submit a no-charge or paid incident to a Microsoft Support Professional any time day or night. You will receive notification from Microsoft that your solution is available and your answers are ready during regular business hours. Connect to Personal Online Support at http:// www.microsoft.com/support.

Via the Phone No-Charge

• In the U.S.: Games & Multimedia: (425) 637-9308. Regular business hours for no-charge assisted Personal Support are 5 AM to 9 PM Pacific time Monday through Friday and 9 AM to 3 PM Pacific time Saturdays, excluding holidays. This number is based in Redmond, Washington, so your phone company may charge you for your call. Contact your long-distance provider for rate information.

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Via the Phone Paid

• In the U.S.: (800) 936-5700. Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays.

• In Canada: (800) 668-7975. 8 AM to 8 PM Eastern

time Monday through Friday only.

Games PC CONQUEST User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual