Starquest Online New Player Guide (Warning Great Wall of Text)

TruthXHurts

A New Player Guide



This guide is based on my own experiences in SQO, what I’ve picked up from asking questions in the forums, what I’ve discussed with other players in game, and spending a lot of time researching the game material provided online by the developers. Any mistakes contained in this guide are my own, and if anything is blatantly wrong, tell me and I’ll fix it. This guide is primarily about how to do things from the civilian perspective, but much of it may also be helpful to Fleet characters, as well.



As I see it, the player base is small, because there is a very steep learning curve to become proficient in the basic game mechanics. Hopefully this guide will help new players enjoy the game and help build the player base by reducing attrition. 



I know this is supposed to be an MMO, but the player base is so small right now, new players are better off treating it like a multi-player Sim game. Don't rely on other people to entertain you, make things happen. Set goals for your character, and work towards them. If you can hook up with some other players, go for it, but be prepared to do things on your own, when they’re not logged on. I’m typically independent minded, and like to make my own way in the world. That’s not to say that I always solo, I generally become a member of a faction or guild, in all of the MMO’s that I’ve been in. I just like to be setup to do my own thing, when nobody else is around. With that said, my goals for my characters in SQO were first to buy a ship, do some exploration, run some cargo and maybe setup some colonies. It's a start, but I'm still learning. 



The Basics:



A Persistent World – StarQuest Online is a persistent world. Changes to the game world continue whether or not you are logged into your account. Your character Avatar continues to exist in the game world, whether you are logged into your account or not. This is different from other MMORPGs. In other games, if you log out, your avatar disappears. In SQO, your character Avatar can still be affected by events in the game world, whether you are logged into your account or not. This makes it important to find a safe place to leave your character Avatar, while you are logged out.



Apartments are available on core worlds in apartment buildings. The rent is 1Cr/day. To rent an apartment you need to have credits deposited in the ATM. Go into the building and find an empty apartment. Left click on the lock panel next to the door, and if the apartment is available, it will say “for rent” at the top of the lock interface screen. Enter a new lock code, and the apartment is yours. You will need to enter the door code, each time you want to enter the apartment, so write down the code, or use a number that you will remember. Make sure you note the location of the apartment, so you will remember how to get back to it. If you have more than one Avatar, (Alts) they can use the same apartment, or if you have trusted friends that you game with, they can use the apartment, if you share the door code with them.



All of the apartments on Terra and Centauria are currently rented. Some may be available on Xanadu or Avalon.



In the event that your Avatar is attacked, while you are logged out, the game mechanics will allow it to auto-defend itself, using whatever weapons and skills that are available to the Avatar.



Your Avatar display – Clicking on the small green button next to your health bar will allow you to cycle through the Avatar display modes. The default shows your experience levels. The next one shows your physical condition, including thirst, hunger, sleep, hygiene, bathroom and temperature status bars. If these become red, you will take stun damage, and certain conditions may prove fatal. The third option displays your psionic abilities.



Avatar Movement – To move, right click on the ground where you want to move to. Use the mouse wheel to rotate your camera angle to view what you’re doing. You can zoom out with the page down button, and zoom in with the page up button. If you’re trying to maneuver in tight quarters, like boarding a shuttle, or using the airlocks in a dome, click on the view menu at the top of the screen and uncheck isometric. This will put you in top-down view and allow you to move close enough to the doors to use them. When you go back to isometric view, click on the ring in the bottom right hand corner of the view window, and you’ll be able to use the mouse wheel again.



To move up and down stairways and ladders, move close to the top or bottom of the stairway or right click on the ladder. Press ctrl and the up or down arrow key for the direction that you want to move.



New viewing options have been added to the game. Instead of the default isometric point of view, you can change the camera angle by holding down the shift key and holding down the left mouse button to drag the camera angle POV where you want it. Pressing the home key restores the default POV.



The game controls can be modified in the "Customize Controls" screen in the game options, ingame.



Using things – You open and close doors by left clicking on them. If you’re in top down view, you can still open the door by left clicking where the door should be, relative to your character.



Pressing the control (ctrl) button will display the hotspots for usable items. To pick something up, hold down ctrl, and double click the items hotspot. The left mouse button puts it into your left hand. The right mouse button puts it into your right hand. To drop something you’re holding, hold down ctrl, and double click where you want to drop it. The left mouse button drops what is in your left hand. The right mouse button drops what is in your right hand. Pressing ctrl+S will switch hands. 



To use things like the ATM machines, sales displays in the Shopmart, drinking fountains, etc, move close to the item, and double-click its hotspot. The ATM machines and sales displays will open an interface window to use them. 



To buy from the vendors, you have to be holding money in one of your hands. Select the item in the interface, and click on purchase. The item you bought will be placed in your empty hand. To sell an item, hold it in your hand, and find an entry for that item in the vendor interface. Select the item and a sell button will appear. Click on sell, and the item count in the vendor will increase, and you will receive money in your hand. Vendor buy prices are lower than vendor sale prices.



Double clicking on dressers, lockers, and other storage units will open them, and allow you to access the contents. There is a row of buttons in the upper left corner of storage container windows. Wearable containers, like backpacks and shoulder bags have an arrow pointing up. Pressing this button will remove the item and place it in your hand. The square box button will auto arrange the contents of the container.



Clicking on the drinking fountain will take a drink, and reduce your thirst status bar. You can fill a canteen, by holding it in your hand and clicking on the water fountain.



To use the toilet and bed, first right click on them, and you will sit or lay down. Press enter to use the item. The toilet clears your bathroom status bar. The bed will reduce your sleep status bar but may take time to work, depending on how full your status bar is. 



Starship station consoles, Colony desks, and lab stations are accessed by sitting in the chair and pressing enter to open an interface window. 



To eat, hold a food item in your hand, and press ctrl+L if it’s in your left hand, or ctrl+R if it is in your right hand. Eating reduces your hunger status bar.



To bathe, your Avatar must be nude, including backpacks and holstered or sheathed weapons. Press F1 to open your Avatar window. Pick up each of your clothing items from your Avatar (ctrl + double click) and drop them into a backpack, dresser, or other storage unit. Backpacks and shoulder bags are equipped by clicking on your character avatar and unequipped by clicking the remove arrow in the backpack or shoulder bag window. Move into the bathtub or shower, press enter, and your hygiene status bar will be reduced. If you fail to bathe, you can become infected, and pass the infection to your crew.



The Avatar window also allows you to change clothes, equip backpacks, shoulder bags, different shoes, hats and jackets, and put on EV Suits and helmets.



If you have a handgun in your right hand, you can holster it by pressing ctrl+H. If you have a melee weapon in you hand, you can draw or sheathe it by pressing ctrl+D. This may not work with all weapons, and two-handed weapons may not be sheathed or holstered.



Interacting with NPC’s – You interact with NPC’s by talking to them. Click in the main view window to select it, and type what you want to say. The NPC’s react to key words in the conversation. Left clicking an NPC will display their name. To buy from a vendor, named Stan, type Stan buy, and an interface window will open. All NPCs will react to name where am I? Name what are you? Any salesperson will react to name buy, or name sell.



Public Transportation – To use the shuttle and NPC spaceship system, go to the spaceport. To view the destination schedule, stand close to the display board, and double click it. A window will open with the schedule. To travel, buy a ticket for your destination from the ticket agent vendor. Hold the ticket in your hand and walk into the back of the spaceport building and stand on one of the teleport pads with an operator. Watch the dialog that the operator speaks, and you will be able to determine the teleport destination. You will be teleported to the orbital transfer station (OTS). If you are at Terra, some of the shuttles dock at the Seattle OTS and some dock at the Melbourne OTS. You can transfer between the OTS by using the central teleport pad on the OTS. Pay attention to where the operator says the teleport destination is. Make sure you are in the correct OTS, and stay in the central hub until the display shows that your shuttle is docked, then move to the appropriate docking port. There are power walkways along the sides of the corridors to allow you to move faster. When you get to the shuttle, walk down the boarding ramp onto the shuttle. You may need to use the top down view to maneuver onto the shuttle. Use the same procedure to exit when you arrive at your destination. 



Boarding from stations is fairly straight forward, but I have had a difficult time trying to get back onto the shuttle on Mars. Your best bet to get on board is to be standing close to the end of the tunnel, with your ticket in your hand, and try to walk on when the boarding tunnel extends. Even so, I’ve had to wait through 4 cycles of the shuttle runs before I could get on.



There is a shuttle system on Terra that has regularly scheduled flights on a circuit around the planet. To use the shuttle, move onto the center of the shuttle landing pad, and wait for the shuttle to land. When the shuttle lands, press the left arrow key to board the shuttle. If you are boarded, you will hear a click, and you will move with the shuttle when it launches and moves to it's next destination. The shuttle currently flies to Geneva, North Africa, Madagascar, South America, and Australia. To get off of the shuttle at your destination, right click on the ground next to the shuttle pad, when the shuttle lands.



There is also a shuttle pad on Centauria, but I've never checked to see if you can board it, or where it goes.



Skills – To use a skill, press ctrl+K to open the skill window. Left click to select the item to use a skill on, and double click the skill in the skill window. For example, to repair a computer, open the skill window, left click on the computer, and then double click on your skill. If the skill level is high enough, you will see a success message displayed in the view window. If your skill level is too low, it will display that you failed. 



When you use a skill, even failures generate experience, and help to improve the skill. If you want to improve a skill level, you need to use the skill, even if you’re getting failures. The skill level will go up, success or failure, as long as you use the skill.



You can use experience to improve skill, as well. Select the skill to train, and click on the train button. Training costs 100 XP, and the amount of the increase depends on how high your skill level is. At low levels, your skill may improve by 1, at higher levels, it may advance by 0.1.



From my experience, to be marginally useful, most skills need to be in at least the 40-50 range. Success is possible at lower levels, while regular success is often achieved at 60+, and some skills require higher levels.



Resource Harvesting (Mining) – Several new resources have been added to the game. These include hydrocarbon deposits which yield plastic ingots and wood from trees that yield boards. 



It is possible to mine on Terra, but Terra is somewhat “mined out” and has low yields. Mars and Mercury are supposed to have better ore yields. To mine, you will need to buy and equip a sonic pick for planetary mining. You can mine anywhere there is rock. Hold the pick in your right hand, move close to a rock, and double click on your mining skill. If you are successful, the view window will display success and you will have Ore in your left hand. Drop the ore in your back pack and repeat. When you drop the ore, click on the same ore hotspot in your backpack and the ore will stack. A stack of ore only counts as one item for your inventory count in the backpack. You can hold the pick in either hand, but I find it easier to left click to drop ore into the stack. When the rock is mined out, move to a new location.



Quality levels have been added for resources. When you stack your ore, pay attention to the quality level of the ore. You can check the quality level by dropping the ore in your backpack. If you click on it, or pick it back up, the quality level will display in the view window. When you stack ore, the entire stack will change to the lowest quality level in the stack. If you have better ore, keep it in a separate stack from the lower grade ore.



To refine ore into metal, you will need a hand smelter. Hold the smelter in your right hand, and pick up some ore in your left hand. Press ctrl+R to use the smelter. Smelting ore uses the mining skill. If you are successful, you will have metal ingots in your left hand. It takes 10 ore to make 1 metal ingot. If your mining skill is low, don’t try and do all of your ore in one batch. If you get a fail, some of the ore will be ruined and lost. Processing smaller batches will also provide experience and help to improve your mining skill.



Early in my career, I mined 5500 ore in about 6 hours one night on Mars, and raised my mining skill from 46 to 88.5.



Plastic ingots are harvested by using a hydrocarbon extractor, instead of a sonic pick. Hydrocarbon deposits look similar to rocks, but are black or mottled gray and black deposits. You can also scan for hydrocarbon deposits with a hand scanner.



Boards are harvested by using a sonic axe. Move next to a tree, double click the resource harvesting skill, and you will get boards if you are successful. 



Combat – Your Avatars defense state is displayed in the large lozenge shaped button in the upper right corner of the view window, next to your health bar. The defense state can be changed by pressing the tab key, or clicking on the button. Green is you peaceful defense state for interacting in a peaceful manner. Yellow is a defensive state that activates defensive equipment and allows your Avatar to defend when attacked. Red is combat mode, and allows you to attack.



To attack, double click to target your opponent, and tab to condition red. Clicking on the target will attack. SQO is an open competitive environment, and you will attack whatever you have targeted, without regard for friend or foe, if you click on them. If you have no weapon equipped, you will use your unarmed hand to hand skill, if you have a melee weapon equipped, you will use your armed hand to hand skill, and if you have a ranged weapon equipped, you will use your marksmanship skill.



Hand to hand combat and weapons set on stun do stun damage, and knock out the target when their stun hit points are gone. Continuing to do stun damage, past the targets stun level will cause physical damage and can kill the target.

If an Avatar dies, there is a timer that allows for the use of medical technology to try and revive the Avatar. At the end of the timer (I believe the timer is set for 30 minutes), the Avatar disappears and is cloned in the medical building on Terra. Any gear that is still equipped on the Avatar, at the time of cloning is lost. Other PC Avatars that have access to the corpse during the timer window may loot/salvage gear from the corpse. This allows your friends to retrieve your gear, or other less friendly Avatars to profit from your death.



Equipment – Equipment and tools are used by holding the item in your hand and pressing ctrl+L for left hand, or ctrl+R for right hand.



Energy weapons, personal shields, hand scanners, and hand communicators, etc require power cells to function. To install a power cell, hold the equipment in your right hand, and the power cell in your left hand. Press ctrl+C to install the power cell. A power cell can be removed by holding the equipment in your right hand, and pressing ctrl+C to remove the power cell into your left hand.



Depleted power cells can be recharged by dropping them in a charging unit.



Disruptor weapons have four settings ranging from light stun, heavy stun, light disrupt, through heavy disrupt. The higher the setting, the more energy required per shot. When a disruptor is equipped, the setting options and current power level is displayed in the upper right corner of the view window below the health bar.



Laser swords and personal shields come on when you enter yellow or red combat modes. The power cell energy level is displayed in the upper right corner of the view window below the health bar.



To use a hand scanner, hold it in your hand and press ctrl+L for left hand, or ctrl+R for right hand. An interface window will open, with options for using the scanner.



To use a hand comm, hold it in your hand and press ctrl+L for left hand, or ctrl+R for right hand. An interface window will open, displaying a keypad and channel indicator. Use the key pad by clicking on the keys to enter a channel frequency. You can enter 3 preset channels by keying in a channel and clicking on a preset button to enter the channel in memory.



To send a message, set the correct channel, click the lozenge shaped button so it turns blue, click in the view window to select it, and type your message. The message will be heard by anybody with an active hand comm set to that channel.



The default ship to shore frequency is 829.7, and can be used to send messages to a ship you own or are a member of the crew of. “Ship Name” lower shields, will cause the ship to lower shields. “Ship Name” port me, will cause the ship to teleport you aboard, if the correct conditions are set up on the ship. “Ship Name” raise shields, will cause the ship to raise shields. “Ship Name” port me proximity override, will cause the ship to port you to the teleporter pad in the ship, in the event that you are stuck and cannot move.



Starship Hand Comm Commands:



<Shipname> come in

<Shipname> port me 

<Shipname> port me Proximity Override

<Shipname> raise shields 

<Shipname> lower shields 

<Shipname> engage sublight engines (1/2 Speed, Repeat the message again to go to Full Speed and repeat it again to go to Flank)

<Shipname> stop all engines





Making Money:



As I said at the beginning, my initial goal was to buy a ship. I’ve only been playing for a couple of weeks, and about a week and a half into the game, I bought a Duchess Class starship. As I see it, you basically have three options to get to the point where you can buy a starship. 



First, you can join an existing crew of established players, and receive a share of the profits from running cargo and other adventures. This option provides experienced players to train you how to interact with the game world and gets you involved in the player culture. The downside is conflict in schedules and a relatively small player base. When you’re new, the crew may not necessarily trust you, until you’ve proven yourself trustworthy. This means that if they’re busy, or don’t log on at the same times as you, there may be long stretches of nothing to do because you’re locked out of important systems on the ship.



Second, you can play the casino and try and win enough cash to buy a ship. If you go broke, you can always mine for a new stake. The “I won the ship in a poker game” scenario. Possible, but long and boring, unless you’re really into poker machines.



Finally, there is fabrication. Money is easy to make, by crafting and selling the stuff in the shopmart. First, you need to find an apartment, to use as a secure base. As I said above, the apartments cost 1Cr/day, and the money is deducted from your bank account, so deposit some cash into an atm. Seattle and Centauria are filled up, so you'll need to look for an apartment on Avalon or Xanadu. To avoid the cost of buying a ticket to fly there, set the appropriate planet as your residence home world when you roll your character.



Next, buy a couple of lockers to store supplies in. If you're short of cash, you can mine and sell the ore, or make a couple of alts and pool your resources, besides you'll need to roll a character to specialize in fabrication. 



You'll need a character with high Reverse Engineering and Fabrication skills. When you roll the character, go to college and do 2 years of science, 2 years of engineering, and engineering for grad school. Finish your career with Merchant Marine service, to pick up ship skills. Put as many bonus rolls into Reverse engineering and Fabrication Technology, until you max them out. You can get them up to 80+ during character creation. Put the rest of your rolls wherever you like. If you intend to be able to fly starships, you'll want your Astrogation, fusion technology, and hyperdrive technology at least 40+ during character creation, and having a high resource gathering skill is important now too.



You should have a hand comm in your backpack with your starting gear. If not, then buy one. Hold it in your hand, and double click Reverse Engineering. When your skill is high enough, you'll get a schematic. If you get a fail, keep clicking until you get a success. Remember, even failures will improve your skill and generate experience. 



When you get a schematic, put it in the locker and double click it to open it. A screen will open, showing what parts and tools that you need to build that item. You can buy small amounts of metal ingots and trycene crystals at the assay office in the spaceport, and electronics components in the shopmart, along with all of the required construction tools. 



I skipped the basic gear, and worked on building up my skills up to do personal shields and Laser Swords. You'll need 95 Reverse Engineering skill to make the schematics, 80 Fabrication Technology to build Personal Shields and 95 Fabrication Technology to build Laser Swords. Charging stations are another good choice for the first couple of batches. Make a backpack load of whatever you're building, and go sell it at the shopmart. At typical current prices, figure about 5-6 batches of Laser Swords or charging stations and you'll have enough cash to buy a Duchess Class starship. 



If you get bored clicking on the skill to level it up, try building some easier gear first. It’ll improve your Fabrication Technology skill, but you'll still need to get to 95 Reverse Engineering and Fabrication for the high dollar stuff. 



After you sell a couple of batches at the Shopmart, move up to electronics fabricators. They require more resources, but yield higher profits, as well.



The guy in the corner of the Spaceport bar sells Duchess Class Starships and Merchant cargo run contracts. To learn the basics of ship operation, roll a fleet character and run the ship operation tutorial. All other starship classes are now player constructed, so when you want a better ship, you'll have to make a deal with somebody in the game that sells ships.



Typical Starship Prices:



Duchess from NPC 1.3 million credits

Kennav 10 million credits basic and around 15 million credits for upgraded 

Icarus 50 million credits Basic 60+ million credits upgraded 

Atlas 100 million credits basic 110+ million credits upgraded 



These aren’t set in stone but its a rough average of what people sell them for. You're more likely to find somebody that will build one for you for a fee, if you supply the materials, than being able to buy one for a strictly credits transaction, unless you're buying a Duchess from an NPC.



Basic Duchess Class Starship Operations:



Never move your ship in a Core World system with shields up!!

repeat,

Never move your ship in a Core World system with shields up!!



If you fly your ship with shields up in a core world system, it will be attacked and destroyed by automated NPC's. Core World Systems are Sol, Alpha Centauri, Tau Ceti, & I believe Procyon.



With that said, always keep your shields up, unless you are moving in a core world system. 



Keeping your shields up will prevent other players from teleporting onto your ship and killing you or stealing your stuff. It is possible to teleport through shields, but it takes powerful sensors, weak shields, and high teleporter skill. Keeping your shields raised will prevent most people from being able to sneak onto your ship.



If your ship is moving, it's very hard to teleport onto the ship, so if you're moving, it's usually safe to drop your shields in a core world system. The times that you're most vulnerable are when you dock, because you have to lower shields to start the docking sequence, and when you lower shields to port onto or off of the ship. You can have your shields up while you're docked. You can raise shields as soon as you hear the docking acknowledgment message, while the ship is still moving. You don't have to wait until you're docked to raise your shields.



When you buy your Duchess Class starship from one of the NPC vendors, you will automatically be teleported on board to the teleporter on the ship. Make sure that you have a hand comm with a power cell installed, before you make the purchase. Note the name of your new ship in the display window. Use the hand comm, and tell the ship to raise shields. (See procedure for using the hand comm, above).



Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the layout of the ship.



(For purposes of this guide, Port is to your left, and starboard is to your right, when you are facing toward the front of the ship. Fore is towards the front of the ship, and aft is towards the back of the ship)



Directly to port of the teleporter station is the access ladder to the cargo deck, and the comm unit and ships computer alcove. The forward hatch leads from the center section of the ship to the bridge. Directly aft of the teleporter/computer area are four crew accommodation compartments, 3 generic rooms, and the common room/head in the fore port side compartment. Aft of the crew section is the engineering section. The airlock/docking port is the small room located in the center aft wall of the engineering section. The half deck cargo bay is located at the bottom of the ladder. There is a security cell in the forward starboard corner of the cargo bay.



Once you've had a chance to explore the ship, go to the ships computer station. sit down, and press enter to access the ships computer console. Access the ships executive functions. Browse through the options and adjust them to your preferences. Write down the ships override code, or change it to a number that you'll remember. You can set access for all of the ships stations from the computer. Setting the access for a station to open means that anybody on the ship can use it. Setting access to fleet, means that anybody in your faction can operate the system. Setting access to crew means that only people that you have added to the crew list will be able to use the station. The default setting for towing is set towing true. This allows other ships to use tractor beams to tow your ship. If you set it to false, then they will not be able to tow your ship.



You can lock all of the doors on the ship, from one side, by entering a lock code in the doors key panel. Write down the lock code for the doors, so you remember how to open the doors.



If you forget the lock code to the doors, you can enter the ship's override code to reset the combination to any of the doors. Click in the override code on the key panel, click the reset button, and the old door code will be cleared. if you want to lock the door again, you'll have to re-enter a new lock code.



The Bridge.



In the center of the bridge are the classic arrangement of the command chair and two control consoles. Arranged around the periphery of the compartment are an additional six support stations.



Command Chair: Located bridge center group, aft of the Helm and Astrogation consoles. If there is a crew on the ship, the Captain sits here. In combat, the ship will receive bonuses based on the captains starship combat operations skill.



Helm: Located center starboard control console. Sitting at this station opens a window that has controls for moving the ship, and controls speed direction and docking, with access to the navigation computer to set a destination to fly to.



Astrogation: Located center port control console. Sitting at this station opens a window that allows access to the astrogation computer to search for various locations and starsystems, and to determine where they are relative to the ship. Also provides basic information about colony systems, and their imports and exports.



Tactical: Located fore port and starboard corner. Identical stations, sitting at either of these stations opens a window that allows control of the ships weapons and shields.



Operations: Located center starboard bulkhead. Sitting at this station opens a window that allows control of the ships tractor beams, cargo control, and on larger ships, shuttle bays.



Engineering: Located aft starboard corner. Sitting at this station opens a window that allows control of the ships engineering and power allocation functions. This screen also shows fuel levels, and has a readout to list the current state of repair of all ships systems, and their location on a schematic of the ship.



Communications: Located aft port corner. Sitting at this station opens a window that allows control of the ships communications. you can set three preset channel at this station, to use for private communications with the ship.



Command Intelligence (CINT): Located center port bulkhead. Sitting at this station opens a window that allows control of the ships sensors to scan planets, asteroids, for life forms, etc and to use the long range sensors to scan for other ships.



Basic safety protocols. (How to avoid being a victim of pirates)



Always keep your shields up.

Set a private preset channel at the communications station.

Set this channel on your hand comm, and any hand comms used by your crew.

Always use the private channel when you raise and lower shields to move onto or off of the ship with the teleporter.

Set a lock code for the airlock and bridge doors.

Set a lock code for at least one of the crew compartments.

Use teleport inhibitors to create a safe room in the locked compartment or the bridge.

If possible, scan the ship from another ship to check for gaps in the TP inhibitor pattern. (Note: placing TP inhibitors to close to the teleporter station will prevent you from using the teleporter to teleport on or off of the ship)

Have an alt in an EV suit in your safe room compartment. In the event that your main is killed or kidnapped, they can still access the ship and save your investment.

You have to lower shields to dock, but you can raise shields as soon as you receive the docking acknowledgment hail.



Using the Teleporter 



Sit at the teleporter console and press enter to open the control window.

Click the power button in the upper right corner to power the system.

Click the yellow button on the scanner window to switch from passive scan to active scan. It will turn Green to indicate that you are actively scanning, your ship will ping and the active scan animation will radiate from your ship in the scan display.

Use the magnification buttons on the scan plot until you can see your target. If this is a planet, it will appear as a green dot. You can also select stations and ships.

The scanned object will appear in the center display window.

Use the magnification buttons and double click in the center window to select your teleport coordinates. Lifeforms will appear as white crosses or colored dots, depending upon the magnification.

Use the slider to set the timer on the teleporter. Set it to 15 -30 seconds. This will allow you time to move onto the teleporter pad, before the system activates.

With the coordinates set, use your hand comm to lower your shields.

When the shields are down, the send button will turn green.

Click the green send button, and then right click on the teleport pad to move onto the teleporter.

With your hand comm active, you can type the command for the ship to raise shields. When the teleport animation starts, click enter to send the command to the ship.

You should receive a message from the ship acknowledging the raise shields command. if you don't see the message, resend the command to raise shields.



Moving the ship



Sit at the helm console and press enter to open the helm control window.



In the upper left is the scan plot. The lower left is the RCS Control display, which shows the ship attitude and can be used as manual course controls. The center section is the navigation computer and helm status display. The right side displays have the Hyperspace control button, and the speed control slider. 



In the RCS Control display, are three red buttond, labeled RVS for reverse, INT for intercept, and TRM for trim. The easiest way to set a course when starting out, is to double click an object in the scan plot to select the object, and click the INT button. This will turn your ship to align with the target. Clicking on the ring of any of the three RCS attitude controls will manually adjust the course of your ship.



Click on the throttle slider for the fusion engines to start the ship moving. You can click on one of the preset buttons to set your speed to 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, full, or Flank. Moving at flank speed will do damage to the fusion engines.



The helm status display will read out your ships speed, and your ETA to reach your current target.



Always drop shields before moving the ship in a core world system. If you move with shields up in a core system, you will receive a warning to stop and lower shields for inspection by NPC security forces. If you fail to stop and lower shields, you ship will be destroyed.



Do not fly through the star at the center of the gravity well. Moving too close to the star will kill your crew, and you will lose your ship.



Hyperspace



While sitting at the helm station, zoom out with the scan display, and you will notice a red circle centered on the star in the system. This represents the gravity well of the star. You can only use fusion drives to move inside the gravity well. To use the Hyperdrive, you have to move out of the gravity well of the star.



Set your fusion engines to full ahead.

You need to be moving at least 0.5c to enter hyperspace

When you are out of the gravity well, click the hyperspace button to activate the hyperdrive, and your ship will jump into hyperspace.



Setting a Course to another star



Use the astrogation console to find a star system that you want to travel to. If you know the name of the system that you want to go to, you can skip this step. (Note: due to a bug, you have to have a course set to view the stars in the astrogation screen)



Sit at the helm console, and click the green mode button to set the Nav Comp to destination star system mode.

Click on the letters and numbers in the right side of the window to enter the name of the star that you want to set course to.

When you see the name of the star displayed, select it so that it is displayed inside the red box.

Click the blue button labeled CRS. If your astrogation skill level is high enough, the course will be entered into the navigation computer, your ships attitude will align with the vector to the destination star, and the helm status display will show the destination coordinates and course.



Move out of the gravity well, and activate the hyperdrive. The ETA to the destination system will be displayed. 



When you arrive at your destination, the ship will drop out of hyperspace at the edge of the gravity well of the star, and your ship will stop.



If you make any manual course corrections before entering hyperspace, you will need to reset the course to arrive at your destination.



Sometimes, if you set course while inside the gravity well, you may have to travel a long distance across the system on you current vector, before you can enter hyperspace. It's faster to simply take the fastest route out of the gravity well, jump into hyperspace, and then set your course to the destination system.



Docking



You can dock with stations to load and unload cargo, or refine ore from asteroid mining. 

You can dock with CDF's to refuel or repair.

You can dock with other ships to transfer personel.



To dock, move the ship to within 2 Km of the object that you want to dock with.

Click on the object in the scan display in the helm screen to select the object.



If there is too much "space junk", and you can't read the name of the object that you want to dock with, right click in the scan plot, and a list of the objects in range will be listed. Click on the name of the object to select it. Right clicking a second time will restore the default display mode.



Click the green mode button in the nav comp to select docking mode.

If required, click on the number of the desired docking port of the object in the number pad in the right side of the nav comp window.

Use your hand comm to lower the shields on your ship.

Click on the yellow DOCK button in the RCS Control box on the helm screen.

Once the docking maneuver is started, you can raise your shields.



To refuel or repair at a CDF space dock, you must have credit in your ship account.

You can add funds to the ship credit account at the ships computer. Hold the money in your hand, and select the option to deposit to ships account.



Cargo Missions



To buy a cargo mission, you have to be a member of the ships crew.

You are not automatically added to the crew when you buy the ship.

You can add yourself to the ships crew from the factions screen.

You can only have one active cargo mission for each ship that you own, so only buy one cargo mission. Each time you buy a cargo mission, it overwrites the previous one if it is not complete.

Your cargo hold must be empty to take a new cargo mission.



When you buy the cargo mission, the steps that you need to complete are listed in the current assignment option in the ships computer.

Typically, you need to dock to load the cargo, fly to the destination, and dock to unload the cargo.

If you take a cargo mission to deliver cargo to a colony, this can be any colony that has that cargo set for import. It cannot be in the same star system, it has to be delivered to a different star system.



Cargo pods:

Cargo pods increase your profit from running cargo missions. 



As the cargo is loading, when it is almost full, click the Jettison button and the cargo will be jettisoned as a cargo pod. The cargo will continue loading until the hold is full. When the hold is full, the mission will automatically advance to the next step. 



Undock from the station, move close to your cargo pod, and use your tractor beam to tow the cargo pod.

When you arrive at your target destination, dock with the station to unload the cargo, and you will receive payment for the total amount delivered, including the cargo from the cargo pod.



Money received from running cargo is automatically added to the ships credit account. The crew and captain payments are automatically deposited into the characters bank account.



Upgrading Ships Systems



To install a system, first get the schematic for the new system that you want to put in. Ship's system schematics are available for purchase from Nelson Astronautics on the second floor of the building in Europe on Terra. Systems schematics can also be created by reverse engineering systems, but you'll need about 100 reverse engineering for reactors and engines.



Open the system schematic, and follow the steps until you get to the end and are ready to create the system, just like crafting any other item. Don't click the create button, until you're ready to install the new system.



Go to the existing system, and use sabotage until the system is down to 0.00%. Sabotage it again, and the system will be removed, leaving the open system hardpoint.



Select the hard point, open your prepared system schematic, and click the create button. The new system should be added to the hardpoint.



When you install a new system, it will be at about 40-50% function. You can either use your skill with the system to repair it to full function, or you can dock at a CDF or CCF and the system will be repaired to 100% capacity. Using a CDF or CCF to repair systems costs credits from your ship credit account. Once it's up to 100%, then you can continue to tweak systems to bonus capacity, if desired.



Building the system in the schematic and installing it on the hardpoint use fabrication skill. You'll need 95 Fab to install AMRs and AFEs. ATBs may use lower skill levels. You only need the actual skill with the system to repair and tweak it.



Most systems can only be installed on the hardpoint that is designed to accept it. On a Kennav, you can only install the ATB on the ATB hardpoint in the engineering section, you can't put it on a weapon hardpoint in the front of the ship. Weapon hardpoints are a bit more flexible, as you can install any weapon system on a weapon hardpoint.



Hopefully this is enough to get you started. Beyond this, ask lots of questions in the forums, and read the galactopedia. 





Good Luck!