FIRST THINGS FIRST - FUEL



Fuel is the currency of the game.

Fuel is needed for everything!

You need fuel to move, you need fuel to attack,
and you buy and sell ship improvements with fuel.

Fuel is VERY IMPORTANT!



OBJECTIVE

Your objective is to explore, trade, grow and win battles.

Basically your goal is to become the most powerful base ship the galaxy has ever seen!

To do that you must explore the stars, find planets, make profitable trades, buy ship improvements,
go on star quests and engage in exciting real-time combat.




YOUR SHIP



The screen shot above shows your ships main bridge.

The button bar on the bottom is your MAIN MENU and you control your ship by clicking one of the buttons.

A mouse over each button will show what they do.

The sides show the condition of your ship.( * see note below)

It shows how many of each type of weapon you have, it also shows
your shields condition, your crew efficiency (i.e. crew eff), your hull,
your armor, your fuel and how many turns you have.

Your base ship hosts an impressive arsenol of weapons, the 3 main weapons are as follows:

1.) BEAMS
2.) MISSILES
3.) FIGHTERS

Missiles require missile silos to launch, the number in brackets next to your missiles is the number of missile silos
you have on your ship.

Likewise, fighters require fighter bays to launch, the number in brackets next to your fighters is the number of
fighter bays you have.

When you run out of turns, you can vote to get more but when those are used up you have to wait until the next day
when your turns get replenished and you can vote for more turns again.

To get even more turns you can upgrade your account to a premium GOLD account for a $5 donation.
(donating also gives you access to special weapons and systems)

*Note: Only players who donate will have a right side status display, other players will see ads in this area.



MOVING YOUR SHIP



- to move your ship click the STAR MAP button on the button bar at the bottom of the screen

- move your Base Ship on the STAR MAP using the Up, Down, Left and Right arrows shown on the Star Map.

        

  (the  is your Base Ship)

- each move costs 25 fuel and 1 turn.

- click the Star map icon and then the right arrow on the star map to move your ship one
quadrant to the right.


STAR MAP



- grey - unexplored star

- colored - explored star

- color shows star type:

 - very stable star - safe star - no combat

 - stable star

 - unstable star

 - very unstable

 - unexplored

 black hole - may effect crew - may teleport your ship!

 pulsar - may effects crew


If the star has a planet an Icon will be shown:

 - Mining planet

 - Trade Post

 - Shipyard and Trade Post

 - Capital, Shipyard and Trade Post


 - your Base Ship

wasd keys will scroll the star map and does not move your ship.
(c key - centers the star map around your ship)

A mouse over will show info about the star/planet showing if it has a trade post, shipyard, etc.

A good commander will use the Star Map and this MOUSE OVER feature to plan his trips well because
mouse over will tell you if there are any NPCs, what the planet is trading, what they want, etc, etc.

On the Star Map a mouse over is a base ship commander's best source of information.


PLANETS

At Planets you can:

MINE Commodities,

OR

1.) TRADE - if there is a TRADE POST - Trade commodities and goods (trade for fuel).
2.) GROW - if there is a SHIPYARD - Buy/sell ship improvements (buy with fuel).
3.) QUEST - if there is a CAPITAL - Recieve a quest.


ZONES

As you move to the right on the star map Quests and NPCs (i.e. non-player characters or aliens) will be more challenging.

Every 20 quadrants to the right represents the next zone.

Suggest players start in the first zone until they build up (i.e. stay within the
first 20 quadrants to the right).

Higher Tech Levels are available at some of the ship yards as you venture out more to the right.

Zones boundaries are shown on the star map by a slight change in background color - darker black
to lighter black.




TACTICAL



The Tactical Display is a very important screen, from the tactical you can do the following:

1.) Attack NPCs.

2.) Trade with the planet - access the trading post.

3.) Mine commodities and fuel from the planet.

4.) Shipyard access.

5.) Capital (quest access).

6.) Interact with other players currently at that planet.

7.) Complete tasks for your Quest.

To access the tactical display click the TACTICAL button on the main button bar.

The tactical display will show other options.
If there is a planet in your quadrant it will show:

[ MINE ] OR [ TRADE POST ]

and may show either or both of these options:

[ SHIPYARD ]

[ CAPITAL ]

To mine, access the trade post, access the shipyard or access the capital simply click one of the options.

If there are other players in your quadrant it will show a list of these players.

If there are Aliens it will show a list of these aliens and an option to attack them

[ ATTACK NPCs]

It will also show if you are blocked by the NPCs. Some NPCs and players will block access to the planet and
you must attack them - you can always try to escape but you must enage in combat before the block will
be removed.



CREW



Your crew efficiency (Crew Eff) is every important for battles.

If your crew eff drops below 70% it will take longer get your weapons ready.

If your crew eff. is at a 100% your battles will be at 100% efficiency but at 50% your battles
will only be 50% efficiency so to improve crew eff you need to conduct drills.

To improve your crew eff you must order drills. There are 2 drills at present and we are adding more
the time. Except the first drill option the drills are mini-flash games that you can play with-in the
main game.

Select CREW from the button bar and then select [ COMBAT DRILL ] or [ FIGHTER DRILL ].

[ COMBAT DRILL ] will improve your crew eff between 1% and 10% with no mini game to play.

[ FIGHTER DRILL ] will improve your creww eff 10% and you play an arcade style fighter game.

Each drill uses 1 turn.



TECHNOLOGY and IDEAS



In Base Ship Command technology and ideas are very important.

Technology comes in two types:

1.) TECH ENHANCEMENTS

2.) TECH LEVELS

Higher tech levels make your ship perform better and your ship has 4 categories of tech levels (see below).
To progress in the game you need to improve these tech levels.

You can increase your tech levels at the ship yards (see ship yards below) - it costs fuel and spending
ideas can lower the fuel cost.

Tech Enhancements are special computer programs that you create with an idea or a special item that you
purchase (with ideas) at the ship yards. You may use ONE and only one of your tech enhancements in a
battle. The enhancement will give you some advantage in combat - see below.

Ideas are used to aquire tech enhancements and to lower the cost of improving your tech levels.



TECH LEVELS

There are four categories of technology each with 25 levels (i.e. tech levels)

1.) SHIELDS
2.) BEAMS
3.) MISSILES
4.) FIGHTERS

Players start the game at tech level 1 in each of these categories and can find shipyards where
they can purchase tech improvements in one or more of these categories. Tech levels can go up to
25 in any of the 4 categories.

Higher tech shipyards are found further to the right on the star map.

Warning a tech level 2 ship is WAY better than a tech level 1 ship.


IDEAS



Ideas (along with fuel) are rewarded when you complete a quest.

Ideas can be earned by conducted research.

Ideas can used to purchase Tech Enchancements.

Ideas can also be used to lower the price Tech Level improvements.



RESEARCH

Research is used earn to ideas. Ideas can be used to help increase tech levels or to buy tech enhancements.

Research is a guessing game.

Each guess uses 1 turn.

Guess the correct combination of research elements and earn 1 idea.


TECH ENHANCEMENTS




Computer Programs:

Battle Program I          - increase fighter by  25%
Battle Program II         -                      50%
Battle Program III        -                     100%

Targeting Program I       - increase beams by    25%
Targeting Program II      - increase beams by    50%
Targeting Program III     - increase beams by   100%

Evasive Program I         - auto evade chance 50%
Evasive Program II        - auto evade 100%


From Shipyard:

Missile Enhancements I    - increase missiles by 50%
Missile Enhancements II   - increase missiles by 100%

Missile Scrambler I       - decrease enemy missiles by 25%
Missile Scrambler II      - decrease enemy missiles by 50%

Beam Deflector I          - decrease enemy beams by    25%
Beam Deflector II         - decrease enemy beams by    50%



- computer programs and special equipent that can be used in combat to greatly improve your chances
of success.

- tech enhancements can be aquired from clicking the TECHNOLOGY button on the bottom button bar
and cost 1 idea.

- better tech enhancements can be purchased from the shipyards.



COMBAT




To enage in combat you must first go to the TACTICAL display and then you may attack any NPCs present
or any players.

To attack a player click on any players present and then click ATTACK. Player vs Player is
instantanous.

To attack an NPC you click the [ ATTACK NPCs ] control on the tactical display and then
the combat display comes up and if you have any TECH ENHANCEMENTS you can select them from this
display.

Then press the ATTACK button and your BATTLE BRIDGE (i.e. a Flash game) will be loaded.

BATTLE BRIDGE



The new combat system loads your battle bridge (i.e. a flash game).

You will then engage in an exciting real-time combat.

While in the battle bridge you can control your ship with your mouse and key board.


Keyboard:
---------------
arrow up - increase ship speed
arrow down - decrease ship speed

arrow right - turn right
arrow left - turn left

- slow game down
+ speed game up

m scanner map

wsad - scroll screen
c center screen

SPACE fire beams
INSERT fire missile
DEL launch fighters

Mouse:
-----------
- click an icon on the bottom to bring up a set of options.

- click the Navigation Icon (bridge wheel) to set course or set speed
or evade.

- click the Beams Icon to fire,target and for players with premium accounts
an option to change beams from standard to photonic.Plus an option
to xfer (i.e. transfer) beams to speed.

- click the Missile Icon to fire, target, set how many you fire and for players
with premium accounts an option to select standard or zeon missiles.

- click the Fighters Icon to fire, target. set how many you launch and for players
with premium accounts an option to select standard, sx11 or raiders.

- you can change the target of a weapon by clicking the weapons icon then click
the target button  that pops up or click the target icon for a specific weapon
then select a target either the base ship, CLOSEST missile or CLOSEST fighter

- click enemy base ship for sensor report.

Notes:
-----------
ESCAPE - You can escape by crossing the edge of your scanner map - the edge will appear
as a big red line on the main screen.
(eg. when you start a battle look 3 or 4 screens up to see the red line )

RAIDERS - The NPCs will have a large quantity of a random trade good. When you
launch Raiders they will steal a portion of this cargo.

NOTE that human technology is better than the first Aliens and AIs (i.e. NPCs )
you encounter.

All things being equal your shields are about 50% better than theirs; your fighters
are 33% better, and your missiles are 40% better.



STARTING OVER



Sometimes new commanders will get themselves in to a bad situation and want to start over.

To start over click the SETTINGS button on the bottom buttom bar.

At the bottom of the settings screen is a control to start over

[ START OVER ]

click the control and then click

[YES START OVER]

You will start over with only 5000 fuel at a random location.

Starting over will NOT reset your turns.

Any additions to your ship will be lost when you start over.

Starting over should be used with care and only early in the game.




TRADING POST



The Trading Post is accessed from the Tactical Display.

Trade Posts are an important part of the economy of Base Ship Command and
you will be come very familar with them.

You can sell any commodity you mine at any trading post.

Each Trade post will sell one trade good.

Each Trade post will buy any trade good except the one they sell.

Trading Posts at Capitals will give the best prices other than Trading Posts with HOT TRADES.

HOT TRADES - some trade posts want a certain trade good so much they will pay a large price
for it. Watch for trade posts with HOT TRADES.


Mouse over on the star map will reveal which trade posts have
hot trades and what the hot trade good is.



SHIP YARD



The Ship yard is accessed from the Tactical Display.

From the shipyard you buy more equipment for your ship.

HULL is the most important - because the amount of hull you have
determines the amount of everything else you can have on your ship.

More Hull means you can buy more weapons, more armor and get bigger and stronger.

Missile Silos determine the amount of missiles you can carry and launch.

With each Missile Silo you can carry 100 missiles and launch 1.

Fighter Bays determine the amount of fighters you can carry and launch.

With each Fighter Bay you can carry 25 and launch 5.

You can repair your Shields from the ship yard

You can also purchase special TECH ENHANNCEMENTS from the ship yard.

If a TECH LEVEL upgrade is available you can purchase an upgrade to the TECH LEVEL.



CAPITAL & QUESTS

 

The Capital is accessed from the Tactical Display

You get QUESTs from the Capitals.

Quests will send you to several locations and at each location you will need to battle a powerful NPC.

After you have visited each location and battled each NPC return to any capital to complete the quest
and recieve your rewards.

Rewards for quests are Fuel and Ideas.

TURNS AND TIME



In Base Ship Command you use turns everytime you move, attack, mine, research, and drill.

Each day players will recieve 50 turns but only if your turns are less than 50.
(200 for players with gold accounts).

You can also get more turns each day by voting.

BSC Time is shown as hours:minutes:seconds.

'Next Day:' shows the time remaining until the next day.

BSC Date & Time:	Sep 06 , 2010 15:59:27
Next Day:	8:00:33

EVERY DAY: 50 turns if turns < 50. 500 fuel if fuel < 500.

EVERY MONDAY: Commodities and trade goods are replenished.

EVERY MONTH: Aliens are reseeded. Guild elections resolved.

DONATIONS AND SPECIAL ACCOUNTS



Donate $5 to recieve a GOLD account or donate $15 to recieve a PLATINUM account and a deluxe set of game items will be made available to you.
Plus, for each $5 donation recieve 100 tokens and for a PLATINUM donation of $15 you recieve 400 tokens.
Tokens are used to buy 200 extra turns or 500 extra fuel for each token spent.

After your 1st donation you will have permanant access to special items at the shipyards.
Also after your 1st donation you will permanantly get 200 turns each day (instead of just 50)
and NO MORE ADS!