Tutorial Lessons

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Crashtest Mike's Flight School of Excellence!

In order to receive your Pardus Piloting and Survival License, you have to complete some easy lessons in this training simulator which your brain has been connected to. In this environment you are absolutely safe, and no mistakes can be made.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME COLLECTING MORE THAN YOU NEED HERE FOR THE LESSONS - YOUR SHIP, RANK, RESOURCES, ETC. WILL BE RESET AFTER YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE SIMULATION!

If you are ready, press the arrow on the bottom and I will guide you step by step.

Good luck!

LESSON 1

- Nav Page & Infoboxes -
The page you are viewing at the moment is the Navigation Screen. Here most of the action - movement, combat, trade, etc. - is carried out. If you ever get lost, click on the button on the top left of your screen, and you will come back here.

The Galactic News Network (GNN) has compiled an extensive library for all space adventurers, to help them in their aim of exploring the mysteries of the universe.
In many places you can see so-called 'Infoboxes' containing the essential snippets from GNN's universal library. See if you can find all six here on the Nav screen and study them well! Without these you will never make it.
(Hint: Status window on top left)

If you are sure you understood all of them, proceed. If not, ask for help in the Help Chat.

ToDo:

• Find and study all Infoboxes on the Nav Screen.

LESSON 2

- Overview -
You have now access to the overview screen by clicking the button in the top menu.
That screen itself is divided into subscreens via tabs. The most important ones in the beginning are Ship and Stats. Note in the first one, that there is no drive or any equipment whatsoever installed on your ship.
We will change this in the next lesson.

ToDo:

• Have a look at the overview screen. You can find many infoboxes there.

LESSON 3

- Navigation & Harvesting -
I have installed a few pieces of equipment on your ship - you can see them in the Ship-tab of the overview screen:

Nuclear Drive:
This is the standard ship drive. It enables you to move on the space chart.

Fuel Scoop:
A fuel scoop is a MUST on every ship! With it you can collect hydrogen fuel from space.

Auto Refueler:
A useful tool that automatically pumps fuel from your cargo hold (the window above this one) into your engine's tank once it gets empty (see the Fuel Gauge). You may also manually fill up your tank by using the Fill up tank button on the left-hand side of the screen should you ever find yourself without this piece of equipment.

I have also transferred 10 tons of fuel into your cargo hold. You are now able to move around! This is possible by left-clicking on the desired destination field on the space chart.
Always watch the remaining fuel in your cargo hold - if you run out of it and your tank is empty you can get stranded very easily!

I want you to explore the sector a bit, collect fuel and fill your cargo space with it. To collect fuel, find a spot of space (black, only stars) with enough field resources left (see Status window on the top left) and simply click on Collect fuel in the Commands window on the left. If you unintentionally harvest something else, drop it with the Drop button on the bottom of your cargo display.

Remember to always watch your APs and fuel left when roaming space!

ToDo:

• Explore the sector a bit.
• Collect fuel until your cargo hold is filled with it (and only it).

LESSON 4

- First Profit -
Very good. I have filled up your APs to the max. (I will do this in all subsequent lessons from now on, so don't be surprised.)

Now come back to Nubuun Station. (In case you lost your orientation: it can be found at Nubuun [3,12].)

After you arrived, sell most, but not all, of your harvested fuel. To do this, enter the starbase and press Trade with starbase. On your left side, enter the amount of fuel you want to sell and click the Transfer button. Congratulations, you made your first profit!

If you have at least 1000 credits now, proceed to the next lesson. If not, harvest and sell more resources until you have made 1000 credits. Try nebula gas too!

(Perhaps you have already found the Class I Planet Nubia. You can try trading there too, however in this simulation I only own Nubuun Base and only have control over its prices, so profits might not be as good at the planet.)

ToDo:

• Fly back to the starbase.
• Sell collected resources until you have made at least 1000 credits.

LESSON 5

- Ore Mining -
Now that you have made a bit of money it is time to buy some ship equipment.
Purchase a mining laser in the starbase: When you have entered it, click Ship equipment and then the Weapons tab. Buy a 10 MW Mining laser for 1000 credits.

Mining lasers are very weak and almost only used for mining ore. For fighting, Impulse or Particle lasers are better suited. (We will cover fighting in another lesson.)

Now you will have to find some asteroid fields and mine ore. Hint: Fly north, then east.

Mine and sell until you have gathered 18000 credits.
As you can see, my starbase pays more for ore than for fuel; though this may not be the case in all places outside the simulator, so always be careful and watch commodity prices before performing trades.

ToDo:

• Buy a Mining Laser.
• Mine ore.
• Sell collected resources until you have made at least 18000 credits.

LESSON 6

- Making Friends -
Before we move on to the next lesson and invest your hard-earned money, let me first show you some diplomacy basics and how communication between pilots works. This will be very important outside the simulator, as having established friendships can be quite beneficial.

I have sent you a message. You can view it if you click : 1 at the top right, or by clicking the new button in the top menu.
Reply to my message.

After that I will set you as friend. Do the same with me in the Diplomacy screen (my name: Crashtest Mike).

ToDo:

• Reply to my message.
• Add me to your Friends list.

LESSON 7

- Intersectoral Travel -
Now that you are on my Friends list, you may pass my Military Outposts (MOs) at the south east of Nubuun. MOs can be used to set up blockades against foes or to collect passing tolls.

But first, fly back to the base if you are not already there and sell your mining laser. As you get back 50% of the buy-price when selling equipment, you should have at least 18000+500=18500 credits now.
With this money, buy a Titanium Armor -the cheapest one- and a 1 MW Impulse Laser.

If you have done that, jump through the Wormhole (WH) behind my MOs to enter the small sector SQ 2-474.

Be very careful there!
This sector is infested by pirates which often ambush on energy tiles only, while cloaked! This means that you cannot see them on the space chart, unless you enter their field.

Navigate very carefully and in little steps to the bottom of this sector, and avoid entering energy fields as well as you can!
(In general, pirates like to hang out around WHs and ambush for their prey there. Cloaking is easiest in energy. Keep this in mind.)
In case you get killed, you will restart at your homeworld Nubia, with one piece of equipment and 1000 APs lost. In that case you would have to earn money again to buy the lost equipment back.

Once you have made it to the bottom of SQ 2-474, jump through the WH there to enter the sector Lambda Quodanis and set course to the nearest planet Quodanis.

ToDo:

• Sell your mining laser.
• Buy the cheapest armor and impulse laser.
• Jump to SQ 2-474 and pass it - avoid all energy fields!
• Jump to Lambda Quodanis and fly to its planet.

LESSON 8

- Fighting -
Nice trip, wasn't it?

Ok, before we start this lesson, let me tell you something important about your vessel and wormholes.

In combat, there are 3 layers of protection:

1) Shields:
Are maintained by shield generators. They recharge automatically when your APs regenerate.

2) Armor:
Comes in various strengths. Armors with higher strength are expensive, but also more durable and require more damage to remove one armor point.

3) Hull:
Once shields and armor are depleted, hull -the ship's structure- is the only thing between the pilot and hot steaming laser plasma.

Hull and armor points are set numbers, only dependant on shiptype.

Wormholes possess the annoying characteristic of having subspace annomalies inside. Depending on your maneuver skill you can automatically avoid them during jumps, but if you get damaged, it will always be hull points! So, never perform WH jumps with damaged hull!

You can repair hull and armor on planets and starbases in the Repair tab after clicking Ship equipment, and recharge your shield in energy wells.

Well, that was enough theory.. let's have some fun!
I want you to kill 2 Space Maggots and one Young Space Dragon.
They can all be found here in Lambda Quodanis.
Attack carefully and don't shrink from retreating if your situation gets critical. You can always fly back to the planet and repair. If you run out of money, harvest and sell some resources.

Maggots feast on rocks and can usually be found around asteroids. Space dragons like to hide in energy corners.
Let's get it on!

ToDo:

• Kill 2 Space Maggots.
• Kill 1 Young Space Dragon.

LESSON 9

- Maps -
Hell yeah, those creatures are history!
Have a look at the Stats tab of the overview screen again. Notice how your stats went up?
But that's not the only thing: You also get Experience Points with all actions you perform. Killing opponents earns the most though. Experience is mostly needed for Standard ships and buildings, something we will cover later.

I have told my assistant Paranoid Floyd to add you to his friends list; you will be able to pass his MOs from now on.

Before you do this, look at the new Map tab in the overview screen. I have installed a software upgrade -the Map Pack II- on your ship which enables you to see adjacent sectors and approximate positions of wormholes. You should be able to see the whole cluster now.

A Cluster is a set of about 20 sectors belonging together. Note that outside the simulator, clusters are a lot bigger. Luckily, there are adventurous pilots who have explored most parts of the universe and created public maps, free for everyone. You can find them in the Player Tools and Maps Forum.

In this lesson, all you need to do is to familiarize yourself with the map, and to enter a new sector. Feel free to roam around - maybe you can find all the wormholes marked in the map?

ToDo:

• Look at Overview -> Map.
• Enter a new sector.
• Remember: You can find detailed maps in the Player Tools and Maps Forum.

LESSON 10

- Pardus Economy -
Business is currently booming in all parts of the universe. To be able to survive, you will have to understand some economy basics before we can finish our simulation, since resource mining will not get you far - resources are a lot scarcer outside the simulator!

As you have already experienced, there are planets and starbases. Nubuun Base was a private one, controlled by a pilot. There prices were set up by myself and 'flat'; this means that you always got the same amount of credits for selling the same types of resources.
In completely public places however -planets, and non-pilot-controlled starbases-, prices are entirely depending on current stock. For example, if a planet has no energy in stock, it will pay the base maximum of 120 credits for one ton. As soon as you sell this one ton, price for energy will go down, coinciding with the dwindling demand.
These 'base values' are the same in the whole universe, for each commodity.

A popular trade technique is the so-called Food-Water-Energy Run (FWE-Run):
Class M Planets -the light blue and most common ones- produce food and water, and consume energy. They are only able to produce and grow if they have enough energy in stock, which is consumed every 3 hours. On the other hand there are starbases, which produce energy, but need food and water.
The logical conclusion to this is: Buy food and water from Class M Planets for low prices, sell it for high prices at starbases. There buy energy for low prices, and sell it at the planet for a lot of money. Rinse and repeat, until sell-prices and profits drop too low.
You can find a good example for the FWE-Run here at the bottom: FWE-Run example.

Now, I want you to find a Class M Planet where food and water are in stock. Buy food and water there. Then, fly to a non-pilot-controlled starbase, sell the food and water, and buy energy there. Now sell the energy to a Class M Planet.
You can find non-pilot-controlled starbases here:

• Arfeq [18,14]
• Xahn [18,8]

If you did this, you made one FWE-Run, and hopefully some profit! You can check all your trade transactions in Overview -> Logs -> Commodities Trade.

ToDo:

• Buy food and water (at least one ton of each) on a Class M Planet.
• Sell food and water (at least one ton of each) to a non-pilot-controlled starbase.
• Buy energy (at least one ton) on a non-pilot-controlled starbase.
• Sell energy (at least one ton) to a Class M Planet.

LESSON 11

- Factions & Jobs -
There are 3 Factions in Pardus:

 Federation  :
Consists mostly of Humans and Rashkir.
Speciality: Ship design.
Bases:

• Fainin [10,12]
• Diso [18,5]
• Arfeq [13,4]
• Xahn [18,8]

 Empire  :
Consists mostly of Ska'ari and Keldon.
Speciality: Weapons.
Bases:

• Fainin [4,10]
• Diso [17,10]
• Arfeq [18,14]
• Xahn [9,21]

 Union  :
Consists mostly of Rashkir and Keldon.
Speciality: Defensive and Special Equipment.
Bases: None here.

Most pilots choose to join one, since being a faction's member yields certain benefits, such as additional ships or equipment and protection in faction territory. I now want you to join a faction, by landing on one of their planets or starbases, and clicking the faction's name.

If you did that, open a Bulletin Board. There jobs are listed by your faction first (but only if that planet or starbase is controlled by it!), and below them private ones.
If you complete faction jobs, you not only earn some money and experience, but also faction Rank. The higher your rank is, the better ships or technology you can purchase from your faction. You also earn reputation from your faction, which shows how trustworthy you are to them.

Private missions are like faction ones, but instead of rank and reputation for one faction, you earn Competency and (less) reputation for all factions.

Complete missions until you have gained at least 25% of the progress to the second rank. You can see your progress and currently running jobs in the overview screen.
If you ever fail a faction mission, you lose rank in the amount you would have gained by completing 3 jobs - so only accept missions you are able to fulfill!

Note: It is likely that you will need more than 5000 APs to gain the required rank. In case you run out of APs just come back later, but don't give up - you can do it!

ToDo:

• Join a faction.
• Gain 25% of the progress to the second rank.

LESSON 12

- Buildings -
Buildings are pilot-built and -owned structures which produce commodities out of less valuable ones.
Before creating a building you should have at least spent some tenthousand APs as pilot in the universe, because you have to face some tough questions:

• Will you or others be able to supply your building with upkeep in the area where you plan to raise it?
  
  
• Will you be able to sell your building's products in the area where you plan to raise it, and will you make enough profit?
  
  
• Do you want to supply and maintain the building yourself and generally stay in its proximity, or do you want others to supply it?
  
  
• Do you want low-level buildings which bring lower profit but are easier to maintain, or do you know possible business partners you could join and build up a more profitable economy chain together?
  
  
• Do you have enough money for the building's defences?
  
  
• Do you have enough money for building upgrades?
  
  

As you can see, there are a lot of things to consider: e.g. you should have an idea about the production tree and consumption rates of commodities on planets and starbases, and have an overview of people and buildings in the area you plan the construction.
But: You can't make big mistakes with constructing a low-level building in the proximity of a planet or starbase.
So, let's do that, so you at least know how it works.. maybe you will find friends or join an alliance later where everything is going to get explained to you. There is just no general advise I can give you regarding buildings, except this one: Communicate!
If you see a building and are interested in it just try asking the owner about it. The worst that can happen is that he ignores you or tells you he is not interested.

I have changed your ship to a Rustclaw with standard equipment; you now have enough cargo space for the resources needed for construction.

Your task: Acquire enough resources and construct either a Medical Laboratory on space, a Chemical Laboratory on nebula, or an Asteroid Mine on asteroids (by pressing 'Create building' from the Commands window on a free tile).
Then, gather materials and upgrade production to level 2 by pressing Upgrade building in your building, to increase production.

Note: You need at least 100 Experience Points for your first building.

Hint: You can buy metal in smelting facilities:


ToDo:

• Build either a Medical Laboratory on space, a Chemical Laboratory on nebula, or an Asteroid Mine on asteroids.
• Upgrade production of this building to level 2.

LESSON 13

- I never told you this -
And now for something completely different.

I don't want to lose my instructor's license, but you look like a clever guy/gal; maybe that's something interesting for you:
I have ..heard from ..sources.. that there are 'other' -not perfectly legal- ways to earn money too (and that's a lot of money sometimes), so keep this to yourself.

For example, there are so-called Dark Corners in the Black markets of planets and starbases where body parts are sold. Smugglers who ship this contraband to distant regions can make quite a profit.. or so it is told.

Then there's that huge illegal Slave and Drug Industry. Every week dealers get caught in the black markets, but those who are wise let strawmans sell their goods..

Maybe you have also heard of telerobbing? No? Well, just buy a teleporter and try it out on a weak victim, hehehe..

Of course there's also that whole piracy thing, but usually only those with a lot of good equipment and skills can afford robbing the rich and giving it to .. themselves.

Another option that is not illegal is bounty-hunting, but you should be careful who you choose as target. Jimbo Backstreetjunkie will be a good choice, a leading Don of the biggest Mafiosi-Clan probably not.

Whatever you do, be careful and don't let 'them' catch you.

ToDo:

• Press that arrow - this lesson never happened.

GRADUATION

Congratulations!

You are now a certified Pardus pilot, able to make a profit, roam the universe in any spaceship, and outmaneuver most of its dangers.

Oh, one more thing I totally forgot to tell you:
Never, ever, park your spaceship on open space! Always fly to a planet, starbase, or wormhole, when you have finished business. If possible put your ship in dock there, so no one can even telerob you.

Also, in the real world it is a lot harder to obtain fuel, so watch out for fuel collectors there:

You can always find fuel in the black markets (for a hefty sum though).

Don't hesitate to leave your starting sector and venture into more profit-yielding territories. Good luck, I wish you high profits, and much power and fame! I am sure you will go far.

ToDo:

• Leave the simulator by pressing the arrow below.