Combat
Introduction:Space is a dangerous place. To be able to defend yourself against marauding pilots and alien threats, you need to learn how to fight. This help guide will teach you how.
Basic Commands:
You will need to learn how to use these. Below is a list of starship commands relevant to combat and a brief description on what they do. A more detailed explanation of these commands can be found in the 'Starship Commands' help file.
AUTOMATIC/MANUAL (or AUTO/MAN):
These commands switch from automatic to manual navigation, and vice versa. Pilots who are adept at manual navigation are much better at avoiding being hit by the opposition, and manual navigation is much less awkward to use in a combat situation. For more information on manual navigation, refer to the 'Manual Navigation' help file. This command can only be issued in the ship's control room, along with all other navigation commands.
DAMAGE (or DAM):
This command displays a damage report, telling you which components are damaged and how badly damaged they are. This command can only be accessed from the engineering room. In ships with only a control room and a weapons room, the damage report is accessed from the weapons room only. If your ship has neither, then the damage report can be accessed from the control room. Typing ETA will allow you to see the estimated time remaining on a component repair.
The damage command accepts the following arguments:
DAMAGE - Regular damage listing, as I'm sure you're aware.
DAMAGE CRITICAL - Displays only critically damaged components.
DAMAGE MODERATE - Displays moderately damage components.
DAMAGE CANNONS - Displays only damage to cannons.
DAMAGE TURRETS - Displays only damage to turrets.
DAMAGE OTHER - Displays other components, which should mostly be hull, armor, sensors, etc.
REPAIR (or REP):
This command deploys the ship's repair systems. You must specify a component to be repaired (for example, REPAIR HULL). In the case of cannons and laser turrets, you can either REPAIR CANNON (or indeed, REPAIR TURRET) and you will be prompted for the number of the turret or cannon you wish to repair, or you can specify the full component name, such as REPAIR CANNON 2. Additionally, matching components to repair is similar to matching objects in a room. You can REPAIR OTHER CANNON, REPAIR 3RD CANNON, REPAIR CAN, etc. The repair command can only be issued in the engineering room, with some exceptions (see above, or the Ship Commands guide)
LOCK (or AIM):
This command attempts to lock onto a coordinate, which you must specify (e.g. LOCK 1,1,1) Once a target lock is acquired, you may fire weapons systems (if they are powered up; see Alerts) This command can only be issued from a weapons room, or a control room in single-room ships.
Alerts (GREEN, YELLOW and RED):
These commands change your ships alert status. Green status is the default alert status. In green alert, the weapons are unpowered and the ship's alert status is switched to red only if you are fired upon. Yellow status is the 'caution' status and will immediately switch to red alert if another ship moves adjacent to you, but the weapons remain unpowered. Red alert is the 'combat' status and the weapons are powered up and the bardenium slags used in cannons are charged. You can only fire weapons in red alert status.
CANNON (or CAN):
This command fires all armed, loaded and functional charged bardenium cannons controlled by your weapons room at the locked coordinates. If an object is present at the target coordinates, they will be hit by the slugs of bardenium fired by the cannons, causing a good amount of damage. You can only fire the cannons in red alert and in a weapons room, or a control room in single-room ships. You must also have a set of target coordinates locked (see LOCK) for the cannons to fire at.
LASER (or LAS):
This commands fires all armed and functional laser turrets that are controlled by your weapons room at the locked coordinates. If an object is present at the target coordinates, they will be hit by the laser beams fired by the turrets. The standard, unupgraded models do less damage than charged bardenium cannons, but they use no ammunition and upgraded models may do more damage than regular cannons. You can only fire the turrets in red alert and in a weapons room, or a control room in single-room ships. You must also have a set of target coordinates locked (see LOCK) for the turrets to fire at.
RELOAD (no alias):
This command loads fresh bardenium slags into the cannons, if they have been depleted from earlier firing. You may only use this command in weapons rooms.
SALVO <number of cannons>:
This command allows you to specify how many cannons in the room you wish to fire with the CANNON command.
SELF-DESTRUCT (no alias):
This command triggers an exothermic reaction in the ship's batteries, ensuring the ship's destruction. It can be used by anyone who knows the ship's self-destruct authorisation code (see Ship Commands) and can only be activated in the control room.
Combat Strategy:
Generally, you will want to destroy your opponent's ship, or at least prevent them for firing on you or, if you are of a more malicious disposition, from getting away. To do this, you generally try to get a lock on the ship and then fire cannon or lasers at it.
If you wish to avoid being hit, moving around with manual navigation is a good way to do it. It is more flexible than autopilot and much less easier to predict the course of. A decent tactic in combat is to circle the enemy ship with manual and fire on it as you do so. More exotic techniques may throw an experienced adversary off your trail.
You can purchase a variety of upgrades for your ship which may assist in combat. These range from additional weapons and utilities to increased armour and better sensors. To see a list, see "Tactical Upgrades" below.
Crew:
You will find that, in larger ships, ship functions such as control of weapons and repair systems are spread across different rooms. While you can fly and fight in a multi-room ship solo by moving between rooms, it is much more efficient to gather a crew of other likeminded pilots and post them in the various rooms of the ship.
Tactical Upgrades:
Combat Drones - Self-guided drones that will attack a specified target.
This section will be filled in later, when tactical upgrades that are worthy of note are implemented.
The Focus Command:
The focus command allows you to keep one ship in focus at a time, so that you can see its coordinates and only its coordinates. To use the focus command, you have two options. The first is typing focus alone, which will provide you with a menu of all starships in the sector. The other choice is to type FOCUS [ship name]. Once you have focus on a ship, you can see its coordinates anytime by typing FOCUS again. To release focus, type UNFOCUS or FOCUS [new ship name].
Related Topics: Starship Weapons | Ship Commands