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

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