Starsonata Wiki - User contributions [en]

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-04-12T00:02:42Z

captainGarfield: /* Dungeons */

Yet another player guide by yours truly,captainGarfield.

This guide will be split into two parts: '''Quick Start''' and '''Comprehensive'''. The Quick Start portion will briefly explain the different parts of the game's control setup and how to get going in the world of ''Star Sonata''. The Comprehensive portion is intended to cover nearly every aspect of the game and provide you with the wisdom and knowledge I've gathered in the years I've played. Both parts can be used together or completely separate, and an Index will be provided for those looking for specific information. 

As a disclaimer, I realize this is not the first guide of its kind. I also realize that most other guides were left incomplete, had a bias, or have simply become outdated. In any case, I cannot guarantee that what you find here will always be 100% accurate and be the best source for you to base decisions off of. I am simply offering my opinions in the hope that they may help you to avoid some of the mistakes I have, and learn some of the tricks I've used. 

As I continue to develop this guide, I ask that anyone who happens to read it point out any factual mistakes I might make or give me suggestions. I plan to, once the guide has reached maturity, to actually begin interviewing other players for their input and knowledge on a variety of subjects.

== Part I: Quick Start ==

==== Controls & Interface ====

Before you can even think about playing the game, you need to know your way around it. Here's a quick and dirty introduction to all the different aspects of the interface. Try to keep up, because I'm not gonna waste any time with this section.

The screen is divided up into 4 parts: The Ship Box, Hotbar, Menubar, and Chat Box. Naturally, the game itself is in the center portion, with your ship in the center.

*The Ship Box shows your Shields, Energy, Visibility, and Weapon.
*The Hotbar allows you to bind your most commonly used items to a key on your keyboard.
*The Menubar lets you access all the different windows the game uses to interact with the player.
*The Chat Box lets you communicate with other players and provides key information in a timely fashion.

The Menubar has 10 buttons. From left to right, these are: Help, Warp, Dock, Galaxy Map, Options, Social, Character, Ship, Radar, and Inventory. Clicking any of the first three will cause an action, the others toggle windows. Help opens a browser window to the Star Sonata help page, Warp takes you through wormholes, and Dock allows you to go inside stations.

The Chat Box has 7 tabs. From left to right in the default configuration, these are: Event, All, Galaxy, Trade, Help, Team, and Squad. The order of these tabs can be changed by clicking any one and dragging it. Their uses are:

*Event: Displays any game-related messages, such as kills, actions, and the Message of the Day.
*All: A global chat where any player can talk.
*Galaxy: A local chat where only players in the same galaxy as you can talk.
*Trade: A place to advertise, buy, and sell.
*Help: A place to ask questions not easily answered by the Wiki or appropriate for All chat.
*Team: Lets you talk to other members of your Team in private.
*Squad: Lets you talk to other members of your Squad in private, and displays Squad-related events.

Most of the game involves flying your ship around and shooting at stuff. Before you can shoot at something, you first have to target it. If this weren't necessary, then it'd be impossible to avoid attacking everything from neutral space stations to teammates while fighting! To target something, simply click on it. A new box will appear providing information on the targeted object. You can also sort through the list of targetable objects in the galaxy using the Ctrl, Z, Q, and Tab keys. Using Shift with any of these keys will cycle through the list in reverse.

Here's a list of the most pertinent keys (click to expand):

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" width="500" style="font-size:10pt"
|-
| Key
| Action
| Notes
|-
| Space Bar
| Shoot
| Must have a target!
|-
| W, A, D
| Move forwards and turn
|
|-
| S
| Slows the ship
|
|-
| X
| Target options menu
| Must have a target!
|-
| V
| Autopilot
| Must have a target!
|-
| C
| Scoop
| Need to have a Scoop equipped, and a scoopable item nearby
|-
| Enter
| Chat
|
|-
| U
| Suicide
| Will have to authorize it
|-
| I
| Inventory
|
|-
| R
| Dock
| Must be close enough to a station and moving slow enough
|-
| F
| Warp
| Must be a wormhole nearby
|-
| O
| Game Options
|
|-
| P
| Galaxy Map
|
|-
| E
| Switch weapons
|
|-
| G
| Tractor Beam
| Must have one equipped and a target selected; if no target is selected, the nearest piece of Debris is grabbed
|-
| H
| Hides interface
| Useful for screenshots
|-
| K
| Cloaking Device
| Must have one equipped
|-
| M
| Missions Tab
|
|}

There are a number of windows in the game which you use to interact. I'll briefly go over them here:

==== Welcome to Space ====

At the start of the game, you're going to get a dinky little ship. You'll be in some strange looking place with a lot of green things flying around. This is fine, go ahead and click one. Press the Space Bar to shoot at it, and watch as it explodes. Now you know how to kill things, you bloodthirsty heathen.

Now that you've satisfied your bloodlust, it's time to start getting payed for it. Go to the base (the big thing that doesn't look like a rat, as you probably now know those green things as) and dock in it. You'll get a window with lots of tabs; right now, we only care about the first one. There's a box with some missions in it, double-click one. They're pretty self explanatory, so just do what it says and come back to claim your reward. Keep doing missions, eventually they'll lead you to the Nexus where there's... wait for it... ''more missions!'' Do those, and keep reading when you're done.

===== Briefing: Tactics =====

Star Sonata is, at its core, a top-down shooter. The physics in the game are extremely simple and the game mechanics, for the most part, very straight forward. In every top-down shooter since ''Asteroids'', the player controls a character from a bird's eye view and, well, shoots stuff. In Star Sonata, movement is defined by a few key variables:
* Speed - the max speed of a ship limits how fast it can go. Distance in the game is arbitrary, and 1 speed means you move 1 distance every second.
* Thrust - essentially, this determines how quickly you can get to top speed. Weight affects this greatly - you need more thrust to move more weight.
* Turning - the rate at which you turn. Weight also affects this, and so you need more torque to overcome more weight.
* Weight - every item on a ship has a weight, and this variable is used to determine how the ship handles.

Inertia counts. If a ship starts moving forwards, it will not stop until something forces it to. Explosions matter, too. When something blows up near your ship, it creates a concussion that pushes you away and sometimes jams your engine temporarily. There's also tractors - both yours, and those of players and AI. There's 3 kinds of tractors: push, pull, and hitchhiker. Each will push objects away from, pull objects towards, or move the player towards objects. Tractors on AI can make it hard to move around, but you can also use your own tractor to your advantage. Try slingshotting yourself around a planet when you get a chance - learning to use everything at your disposal for maneuverability is key.

The tactics I cover here all involve moving your ship a certain way. These are: Kiting, Jinking, Flybys, and Out Turning.

;Kiting
Kiting an enemy refers to positioning yourself in such a way that you are out of range of their weapons while simultaneously close enough for the AI to keep following you. Most AI have a range at which they will follow you indefinitely, usually between 50 and 100 distance beyond the range of their farthest shooting weapon. You can use this to your advantage by using a long range weapon and shooting at the AI without taking any damage. This is a good tactic if you don't have a strong or extremely agile ship and need to kill something tougher than you are.

;Jinking
Jinking is basically dodging. You cannot dodge lasers, but if the enemy is using projectile weapons, you can make them waste their shots by out maneuvering their bullets. Getting too close to the AI while doing this isn't effective, as you have less time to react. Try to find a distance at which you can keep shooting while also making adjustments to your position.

;Flybys
Flybys are essentially running full speed at the enemy, shooting a salvo of projectiles, and flying past. Speed Demons, especially, like to use this tactic as they tend to have the shield regeneration necessary to recover after sustaining damage from this. This is a good way to take out targets that could kill you if you stay within firing range long enough, but are not easy to kite or jink. You have to make sure you can recover enough of your shield bank between each run and do it fast enough that the enemy doesn't recover as well.

;Out Turning
Many AI turn slow. If you can stay behind them, you can keep shooting without getting shot. Note that some weapons have something called "Full Tracking", which allows them to be shot 360 degrees. If the AI has this, then this tactic is worthless. However, it is especially useful for taking out larger, gear laden AI, as these tend to be heavier.

In spite of the fact that Star Sonata is a top-down shooter and relies heavily on arcade-style gameplay, there's still a few other tactics to consider that don't involve maneuvering.

;Training
Training is the process of controlling the enemy's aggressiveness. AI will tend to shoot at whatever is doing the most damage to them - you can use this to your advantage to make them shoot at what you want them to. You, your slaves, and your drones each may not have that much shield bank individually, but if you combine them all then that's quite a lot. Dividing up enemy fire between each can help you last longer in battle. To capture an AI's aggro, you need to shoot at it. It usually doesn't take long. If you need to lose it, bring the AI near a slave or drone and wait for them to shoot at it. Once your slaves or drones start doing some damage, the AI will switch aggro. Note that some AI will not always respond to this due to the nature of their programming.

;Tanking
Tanking is all about taking damage, rather than directing it. Some players prefer to have an incredibly large shield bank and simply take the hits while their slaves, drones, missiles, fighters, or other players do the actual damage. Shield Monkeys tend to fall along this line, though they are intended to heal without taking damage rather than be shot. Tanking can be challenging and most setups rely on a high-bank, low regeneration shield, meaning that once that bank is gone, there is virtually no way to replenish it in a timely fashion without the help of healer drones or another player.

===== Briefing: Strategy =====

Next, go to Deep Space, do the missions there. Basically just do all the missions you can find, until you think you're not getting enough from them anymore. Yes, feel the greed. Aspire to be greater, greater than the rats and the volcoms.

Once you've done that, go to Sol. To get to Sol, go through the gate to Earthforce Celestial Garden. The one to Sol is in there. Go to the Earthforce Frontier Station and see what missions are available. If you have any skillpoints, use them.

===== Core Skills =====

*Piloting: You can't pilot a giant ship if all you know is zebucarts. Learn to fly more complicated things.
*Shields: Shields keep you from getting blown up. They're also complicated to install. Not just anyone knows how to jack a billion cables together.
*Energy: Nuclear reactor leaking? Too bad, there's no health insurance here. Energy is what makes your ship go round, keep a lot of it.
*Radar: You can't shoot what you can't see. And there's a lot you're not seeing, like why that haircut looks bad on you.
*Engines: Puff puff. Go fast faster, turn hard harder.
*Equipment: You see that launch tube? Go crawl inside it.
*Weaponry: Shoot stuff with bigger and bigger guns.
*Cloaking: Don't get shot at.

So, there you go. The most important to you are probably piloting, weaponry, shields, and energy. You can't shoot without energy, it doesn't matter if you have energy if your gun sucks as much as you do, your guns don't matter if you die instantly and none of it matters if you can't fit it all in the freaking ship.

In any case, get some skills if you can and get some new gear. You should have plenty of money from the Nexus, so go nuts. You should have a decent level of Piloting now so get rid of that Helga.

Next, go to Blue Outpost and kill the little blue ships. You'll get to level 50 easy. Now kill the bigger blue ships. You can get some slaves at this point too, which are extremely useful because it's like having another player beside you.

Once you've killed just about everything you can find and can't level anymore, get Warp Navigation to 2. You can do this at Sol or Paxius, whichever you prefer. However, you've probably got some blue stuff from killing things in the Outpost, so Sol is probably best.

Next, do the same thing. Get to level 100, and start worrying about specialization. This is important, because this game doesn't let you do a little of everything and be good at it. You need to choose a play style and stick with it. There's a lot to consider, but whatever's been working best for you so far is the path you should take.

Before you even worry about class skills, I'd worry more about your core skills. Most people say get a class skill as soon as possible - this is okay, if you know what you want to do already. But I think it's not wise to urge new players to make an important decision so quickly. You can still head in one direction or another first, and see how you like it.

So, core skills. At this point you probably have most somewhere between 8 and 10. Now think about what you're lacking in. Do you run out of energy too often? Do you blow up a lot? Your weapons don't do enough damage? Figure it out and go get that skill up, then get better gear. Whatever's holding you back, move it out of the way.

Once you've chosen a path, follow it. Don't meddle around, it's a waste of time.

==== Briefing: Class Skills ====

Class skills are oftentimes seen as the pinnacle of a player's progression. Having your class skill and its subskills maxed out isn't necessarily a sign that you've reached the end game, but are getting close to it. The bonuses given by these skills tend to be greater than any other skill in the game, and so they are extremely important later on.

Many players say you should get your class skills maxed out as soon as possible. This is definitely good advice, though it is often misinterpreted. You should get your class skills maxed, but not before you get your core skills maxed. You don't need to have, say, Radar to 20, but you definitely should have Piloting, Shields, and Electrical Engineering to 20 at the least before you worry about your class too much.

Now, you can start with your class whenever you feel comfortable making that choice. It doesn't matter if you're level 20 or 200, just begin when you're ready. When you do start to class up, try to keep it consistent. You want to pace yourself, since class skills take a lot of skill points, but you also don't want to lag behind too much.

==== Briefing: Gear ====

Talk about the different items, what they do.

===== Briefing: Augmenters =====

Go into detail about augmenters.

==== The World Keeps Going ====

The game moves on even if you don't.

===== Briefing: Teams =====

A good team is hard to come by. Many teams are simply full of underachievers or lowlifes. Others are filled with people who may seem too cutthroat or edgy for you. It's important not to judge a team simply by objective qualities, but also by how you feel about it. That may sound unusual coming from me, but if you're not happy in a team, you're simply going to want to leave. That'll cause unnecessary drama that nobody really wants to deal with. So find a team that seems to have similar goals to yours, and players who you already know you like.

If you absolutely can't find a decent team or simply want to start your own, you'll need to acquire the [[Leadership]] skill first. This skill is fairly easy to get for most players and simply requires a bit of money and some time. When creating a team, think very carefully about how you want to present it to other players. Are you about integrity and doing things the right way, or are you going for something more laid back, a place where people can just come and go as they please? Are you planning to accomplish something important, or simply intend to figure things out as it goes along? Whatever decision you may come to, make sure you reach it before you actually create the team.

It's not entirely rare, but it also doesn't happen a lot, especially in a large team. Believe it or not, if you put in the time and effort, you may actually get '''promoted''' in your new team! What you do when this happens is take a step back and reevalute your position. What did you do to even get promoted in the first place? Whatever it was, identify it and keep doing it. If you start slacking off, you're simply going to be resented by other players, especially those a lower rank than you. If you've been placed in a position of trust - say, an Officer, or even a Councilor - do ''not'' betray it. You will inevitably regret it. It will tarnish your reputation and people tend to not forget these sorts of things.

If you feel you do not like a team anymore, or do not like what position you are in, it is best to talk about it with someone who can actually help first. Do not simply leave a team unless you've been told to do so - a lot of teams do not take too kindly to it, since it can harm their score. If you feel you're in a position of responsibility but don't actually want that responsibility, ask to be demoted, don't cause trouble.

In general, use common sense, and always consult your teammates before making an important decision.

===== Dungeons =====

*Danger Factors, how they affect dungeons
*Layers, how they too affect dungeons
*Good and bad dungeons, and why
*Alternatives
*Uber dungeons

===== Perilous Space =====

The final frontier.

===== Death =====

Death in this game is not as morbid as it may be in other places, like real life. In fact, dying in this game isn't even as bad as it once was. In previous years, dying in Star Sonata meant losing gear, and slaves could actually be converted into carbon wisps quite easily if they didn't have a Slave Stasis Generator equipped. Drones couldn't be repaired - if you lost them, that was it. Indeed, it was harsh in the olden days, and many Gear Glues were spent trying to prevent the inevitable.

Now, all slaves are equipped with stasis generators by default (one could say the control bots have them inbuilt), drones do not explode but simply break, and players can no longer drop gear when they die.

In spite of all of these improvements (some say they have made the game too easy, but I digress) dying in this game can still be a traumatic experience.

Death is marked by one's shields reaching 0. Now, your shields actually ''can'' be 0 and you still won't die, so in actuality it's being shot without shields that kills you. Your ship enters stasis and you are ejected in either spirit or pod form. For more information about the process of death, see [[Death]].

When you die, equipped items on your ship lose Durability. The lower their Durability, the less effective they are. To regain Durability, you have to repair the items on your ship, which costs money.

Slaves also suffer from a loss of Durability upon death. Drones, when killed, are simply converted to a destroyed form, and must be scooped and repaired in order to be used again.

===== F2P vs P2P =====

It has to be mentioned.

==== Moving On ====

A closing message.

== Part 2: Comprehensive Guide ==

===== Introduction =====

Describe this portion of the guide.

===== All is Well =====

;The End of Everything
When a universe begins, there is a bit of a chaotic phase where everyone is rushing to find the best galaxies, the best planets for colonies, and just get their bases and everything set up. Large teams will try to take large tracts of space that they will eventually fill with drones and trading slaves, only to have to pack it all up again later. Very quickly, and almost without warning, the universe will soon look like it did when it ended, just with everything in a slightly different place.

Star Sonata isn't the only game of its kind to use a system like this, where the game world is reset once every few months. However, it is a very important aspect of the game in many ways. For example, [[Hydroponics]] missions can only be done once per universe. Places like Hyper are hard to invade for any team wishing to seize control of its resources, and so the universe reset allows another team a chance to take hold, preventing monopolies. The same happens for most other resources, and just about everyone gets a chance to try and take some valuable plot of space.

So, why does this matter to you? Well, there's a number of reasons why, and we'll explore each one briefly before expanding on it in a later section.

===== The Economy =====

Describe how the economy in the game works.

===== Making Money =====

;Farming

;Shops

;Pirating

;Slaving

;Saving Money

;Losing Money

;Investments

===== Leveling Up =====

;Dungeon Farming

;Power Leveling

;Grinding

===== Detail: Teams =====

*Teams are crucial to the way Star Sonata works
*Scores are not indicative of whether a team is good or not
*How to identify a good team without scores as reference
*How to be an asset
*How to be a leader
*How to wage war

====== Diplomacy ======

*Networking, and why it's important
*Reputation; image
*How to end war
*How to reason with the unreasonable
*Compromise
*Following through
*Recovery; redemption from failure

===== Detail: AI =====

AI, as you should already know, stands for Artificial Intelligence. The name implies that an AI player is both not alive and also smart. While the former is true, the latter is a complete and utter lie. There is nothing smart about the AI in this game, or most games for that matter. AI in Star Sonata seem to follow a script-based program where they will prioritize certain behaviors over others depending on what's going on around them.

AI seem to have a number of different states and I will attempt to catalog them here as I learn more.

;Standing
When there is nothing for the AI to do, it will simply stand in one spot for a while.
''Leads To''
;Roaming
AI will move for no reason after standing in the same spot too long. Sometimes, they will warp.
''Leads To''
;Docking
AI will randomly dock at AI bases and player bases. Sometimes, they will buy some commodities, but most of the time their hulls are too overfilled to do anything. This behavior is more for effect than anything else, giving players a sense that even the AI have stuff to do in this game.
''Leads To''
;Aggression
*AI will become aggressive for a number of reasons
**They are shot at
**Their attack code determines they need to attack a passing player
**Their swarm code determines they can kill a stronger player than usual e.g., the Rosemarys and Basils in Perilous Outpost sometimes attack the Earthforce AI, though their scripting should prevent this (there's no way they can win), but due to swarm mentality, a group of aggressive AI will attack just about anything.
**They are programmed to be aggressive, for mission or design reasons e.g., Flyswatters, who are intentionally annoying

''Leads To''
;Regression
When an AI is about to die, it will often try to run. Because the script doesn't seem to take into account ''where'' the threat is but rather that there is just a threat in general, most AI will keep warping through the same two gates over and over again until their shields are high enough to resume attack behavior. Sometimes, they will stay on the other side if they leave this state quick enough and eventually resume their normal roaming behavior.
''And/Or/Instead''
;Spin Out
AI will sometimes freak out and spin in circles if they can't run but are still about to die. The only reasons I can conjure up for this behavior are: 1. They are programmed to behave like this, so their deaths are more epic, or 2. Their retreat code can't find a gate to warp through and they continue with the last action they were given (in this case, turning so they can head towards a gate).

''more to come...''

===== Bases =====

Talk about the pros and cons of owning a base, and how to get started.

====== Colonies ======

Talk about how to run colonies and what the point is.

===== Drones =====

Talk about drones, their pros and cons, and what's best for the situation.

===== Slaves =====

Slaves are a key component to the Star Sonata game. They are also pretty unique, and not many other games, even those outside the MMO genre, have something comparable to the ones found in Star Sonata.

Slaves in Star Sonata can be completely independent of the player. Once a slave is activated, it becomes an AI just like any other NPC in the game, the only difference being that you can give it orders. If given a set of commands to repeat, the slave will do them almost indefinitely until it either dies or the Universe ends. Combat slaves are a little less versatile but still obey your commands to not attack or to avoid harm to themselves ("Stay Close").

Because of the way slave AI works, they can be have almost exactly like the regular AI in the game. This is evidenced by the fact that a slave and an enemy AI that are of equal strength can sometimes dogfight for minutes at a time, the same way AI which are aggressive to each other will sometimes do.

The only major difference between slave AI and regular AI is that slaves lack any autonomous behavior, in the sense that they do not have a run script or an aggression script. This means a slave AI will never run away from an enemy, and they will never attack an enemy of their own accord.

===== Ships =====

At the start of the game, choosing a ship is mostly about preference. You will soon find that these preferences may eventually lead you to a certain class skill. If you like bigger ships with lots of hull, you may go for a support or fleet focus, but if you like fast ships you might go for speed demon. There's a large number of ships in this game and lots of different ways of setting them up. The same two Pax Astrologicas, one augged for Berserker and one augged for Engineer, are effectively two entirely different ships because their stats are so strongly affected both by the class skills and by the augmenters equipped.

Towards the end-game, you will find that many ships are in fact aimed at different classes. Some are even class-locked, meaning only one class can use (or make use of) that ship. Rhinos are for Engineers and Shield Monkeys (though ShMs tend to prefer Apprentice's Wards) and Lions are for Berserkers. Panthers are for Speed Demons and Dreads are for Fleet Commanders, and so on and so forth. But just because your class has a ship designed for it doesn't always mean that ship will fit your play style. There are a number of alternatives that you can use at any point in the game that my not align perfectly with the intended flow of character progression but are still good choices and may be even better for you than what's recommended.

So, you may be asking yourself at this point, "That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't help me decide much. You basically just reaffirmed by belief that I am always right, because I am." ''SLAP!'' No! You aren't always right. Get that nonsensical sense out of your skull. The most important thing to remember in this game is that you are ''always WRONG''. Why? Because that's what everyone else is going to tell you, no matter what choice you make. And this is why I assert that you should always go with what feels right for you, even if it may not seem like the best choice. And if it really doesn't work out, hey maybe they were right, but now you have an even better idea of what you need to improve on, right?

That means you need to think long and hard about where you're at and what you want to accomplish. I can assure you though, if you feel like you're getting to the point where it's getting difficult to kill the AI you ought to be killing at your level, a new ship is almost always the cure. Just remember to augment it, otherwise it'll be even worse than your last fully augmented ship, believe it or not.

Once you get that new ship, have it augmented properly, and are ready for something else, go read another section of this guide because what you ought to do next is get newer gear and probably go spend all those Skill Points somewhere.

===== Weapons =====

Damage types and more.

===== Detail: Augmenters =====

Get into the math of how it all works.

===== Detail: Classes =====

More math and detailed explanations.

===== Missions =====

Why should anyone do missions? Talk about it.

===== Detail: Gear =====

Include a discussion about fighters, missiles, etc.

===== Detail: Tactics & Strategy =====

;The Numbers Game

When you get down to it, this game is all about numbers. Everything from DPS to your level in Aug Tweaking effects the way the game plays for you. We're going to talk about one of the most important numbers of all: enemies.

The number of enemies you are facing is generally important. You may not be able to kill 50 Rosemarys, though you can kill 25. You may be able to handle a group of Forgones, but throw in a few Big Greens and it all goes downhill.

When I call it the numbers game, I'm not saying that if all your assets combined can put out X DPS and the enemy can put out Y DPS , and you cross your shields against their fire and theirs against yours (and assuming all else is equal), the math is going to tell you who wins. It most likely won't, because there's a lot more influencing the way this works than that. In fact, my proposition is the antithesis of that mentality: it's not about the numbers, but instead how you apply them. It's all about where you direction your attention and when, and how you go about accomplishing that which needs to be done in order to win.

It really is frustrating when you don't understand why you can't do this or why that DG is so difficult. The truth is, you may have just reached the limits of what you can achieve with your current setup. However, there's still some extremely valuable strategies that you should know, both to squeeze a little more life out of that ship you got 200 lvls ago and should probably have replaced by now, and to increase your overall efficiency and give you some skills that might help you out in more extreme circumstances.

;Focus Fire
* The crux of it is this: when you are fighting a small group of enemies, you generally don't need to worry about where all that fire from your drones, slaves, missiles, or fighters are going. You already know that you're going to win and you just don't need to worry about it. But as you increase the number of enemies to the point where they can actually begin dealing damage against you, choosing your targets suddenly becomes more important. When fighting a large group of enemies, you are likely to get killed if you don't do something about the DPS coming your way, and do it quickly. You can circumvent this by having something that heals you, or a neurotweak that will boost your shield regen, but those only extend your lifespan, not remove the cause of the problem. In other words, you just need to begin reducing their numbers.
* Kill the strongest first. Yes, that's right, take out the strongest enemies first. The ones who are doing the most damage to you, individually, are the most dangerous and need to be removed immediately.
* If all else is equal, go for the weakest first. On the other hand, you have a situation where all are giving about the same DPS and it doesn't matter which you kill. In that case, kill the weakest first - be it the one with the lowest shields at the moment, or the one that's a lower level than the rest.

So, let's consider an example. Again let's rule out other variables like resistances and whatnot and just focus on some pure, raw numbers. You have a ship with 100 shields and you can pull 50 DPS. You have an enemy with 500 shields that can only pull 25 DPS. Who wins? Well, the math says that he can kill you in 4 seconds but you can kill him in 10. So, you'd be dead 6 seconds too soon to kill him, and he'd still have plenty of shields left over. He only has 500% more shields and 50% less DPS, why can't you kill him? Well, did you sit in the same spot the whole time? What if you were able to evade half of his shots, so that it takes him 8 seconds to kill you? And if you let a slave or drone take the other 2 second's worth, hey, you just made it! I know that sounds like a copout, but that's just it! In this game, you use copouts like that to survive. The tactics section goes more in depth about how to avoid taking fire while dealing it, so we're just going to continue exploring the numbers here.

Another example: You and your enemy are equals. You both have 100 shields and can pull 50 DPS. You're both dead after 2 seconds. How do you win? Well, if we consider resistances this time, then whoever has the highest resists wins. If you both shot for the entire duration and landed all your hits, and one still died while the other lived, then you know who has the weaker ship. The same is true if you consider vulnerabilities rather than resistances, or damage boosts instead. What if we consider shield regeneration?

If you have a shield with a bank of 100 and it regenerates 10/s, then it takes you 10 seconds to recover. If, over the course of 10 seconds, an enemy can pull 20 DPS, he's only actually removed half your shields, since your shields are always recovering over the course of that period! Effectively, you'd have 50 shields left, and it'd take him an additional 5 seconds or so to kill you. Scale these values however you like, and it always works out the same. You don't have to just deplete their shields, but also neutralize their regeneration.

So, consider you have a bank of 100 and a regeneration of 20. It takes 5 seconds to recover. If an enemy does 20 DPS to you, then he can't break your regeneration (barring critical hits, of course). If he does even a little more DPS, however, he can kill you, albeit slowly. In order to kill you effectively, he needs be able to do at least twice as much damage as you have shield regeneration. And the true is for you, killing other things. And this is, again, where the numbers game comes into play.

If you have the same bank and regeneration as the last example and there's now ''two'' of those enemies, they can kill you quickly, because even though each is only strong enough to neutralize your regeneration, the other is now doing pure DPS. You will be dead in 5 seconds flat. This is why you may be able to handle a single Battleship for example, but if another one shows up, you're done for. Now, if you manage to kill the first Battleship quickly enough, you're back down to a single enemy. See why this matters so much? If, when that new enemy appears, everything you have suddenly starts shooting at it instead, then you're done for. ''Focus Fire''.

===== Energize =====

Talk about energy and strategies for using it effectively.

===== Shielding =====

Go into detail about shields and how they work.

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-04-12T00:01:29Z

captainGarfield: /* Detail: Teams */

Yet another player guide by yours truly,captainGarfield.

This guide will be split into two parts: '''Quick Start''' and '''Comprehensive'''. The Quick Start portion will briefly explain the different parts of the game's control setup and how to get going in the world of ''Star Sonata''. The Comprehensive portion is intended to cover nearly every aspect of the game and provide you with the wisdom and knowledge I've gathered in the years I've played. Both parts can be used together or completely separate, and an Index will be provided for those looking for specific information. 

As a disclaimer, I realize this is not the first guide of its kind. I also realize that most other guides were left incomplete, had a bias, or have simply become outdated. In any case, I cannot guarantee that what you find here will always be 100% accurate and be the best source for you to base decisions off of. I am simply offering my opinions in the hope that they may help you to avoid some of the mistakes I have, and learn some of the tricks I've used. 

As I continue to develop this guide, I ask that anyone who happens to read it point out any factual mistakes I might make or give me suggestions. I plan to, once the guide has reached maturity, to actually begin interviewing other players for their input and knowledge on a variety of subjects.

== Part I: Quick Start ==

==== Controls & Interface ====

Before you can even think about playing the game, you need to know your way around it. Here's a quick and dirty introduction to all the different aspects of the interface. Try to keep up, because I'm not gonna waste any time with this section.

The screen is divided up into 4 parts: The Ship Box, Hotbar, Menubar, and Chat Box. Naturally, the game itself is in the center portion, with your ship in the center.

*The Ship Box shows your Shields, Energy, Visibility, and Weapon.
*The Hotbar allows you to bind your most commonly used items to a key on your keyboard.
*The Menubar lets you access all the different windows the game uses to interact with the player.
*The Chat Box lets you communicate with other players and provides key information in a timely fashion.

The Menubar has 10 buttons. From left to right, these are: Help, Warp, Dock, Galaxy Map, Options, Social, Character, Ship, Radar, and Inventory. Clicking any of the first three will cause an action, the others toggle windows. Help opens a browser window to the Star Sonata help page, Warp takes you through wormholes, and Dock allows you to go inside stations.

The Chat Box has 7 tabs. From left to right in the default configuration, these are: Event, All, Galaxy, Trade, Help, Team, and Squad. The order of these tabs can be changed by clicking any one and dragging it. Their uses are:

*Event: Displays any game-related messages, such as kills, actions, and the Message of the Day.
*All: A global chat where any player can talk.
*Galaxy: A local chat where only players in the same galaxy as you can talk.
*Trade: A place to advertise, buy, and sell.
*Help: A place to ask questions not easily answered by the Wiki or appropriate for All chat.
*Team: Lets you talk to other members of your Team in private.
*Squad: Lets you talk to other members of your Squad in private, and displays Squad-related events.

Most of the game involves flying your ship around and shooting at stuff. Before you can shoot at something, you first have to target it. If this weren't necessary, then it'd be impossible to avoid attacking everything from neutral space stations to teammates while fighting! To target something, simply click on it. A new box will appear providing information on the targeted object. You can also sort through the list of targetable objects in the galaxy using the Ctrl, Z, Q, and Tab keys. Using Shift with any of these keys will cycle through the list in reverse.

Here's a list of the most pertinent keys (click to expand):

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" width="500" style="font-size:10pt"
|-
| Key
| Action
| Notes
|-
| Space Bar
| Shoot
| Must have a target!
|-
| W, A, D
| Move forwards and turn
|
|-
| S
| Slows the ship
|
|-
| X
| Target options menu
| Must have a target!
|-
| V
| Autopilot
| Must have a target!
|-
| C
| Scoop
| Need to have a Scoop equipped, and a scoopable item nearby
|-
| Enter
| Chat
|
|-
| U
| Suicide
| Will have to authorize it
|-
| I
| Inventory
|
|-
| R
| Dock
| Must be close enough to a station and moving slow enough
|-
| F
| Warp
| Must be a wormhole nearby
|-
| O
| Game Options
|
|-
| P
| Galaxy Map
|
|-
| E
| Switch weapons
|
|-
| G
| Tractor Beam
| Must have one equipped and a target selected; if no target is selected, the nearest piece of Debris is grabbed
|-
| H
| Hides interface
| Useful for screenshots
|-
| K
| Cloaking Device
| Must have one equipped
|-
| M
| Missions Tab
|
|}

There are a number of windows in the game which you use to interact. I'll briefly go over them here:

==== Welcome to Space ====

At the start of the game, you're going to get a dinky little ship. You'll be in some strange looking place with a lot of green things flying around. This is fine, go ahead and click one. Press the Space Bar to shoot at it, and watch as it explodes. Now you know how to kill things, you bloodthirsty heathen.

Now that you've satisfied your bloodlust, it's time to start getting payed for it. Go to the base (the big thing that doesn't look like a rat, as you probably now know those green things as) and dock in it. You'll get a window with lots of tabs; right now, we only care about the first one. There's a box with some missions in it, double-click one. They're pretty self explanatory, so just do what it says and come back to claim your reward. Keep doing missions, eventually they'll lead you to the Nexus where there's... wait for it... ''more missions!'' Do those, and keep reading when you're done.

===== Briefing: Tactics =====

Star Sonata is, at its core, a top-down shooter. The physics in the game are extremely simple and the game mechanics, for the most part, very straight forward. In every top-down shooter since ''Asteroids'', the player controls a character from a bird's eye view and, well, shoots stuff. In Star Sonata, movement is defined by a few key variables:
* Speed - the max speed of a ship limits how fast it can go. Distance in the game is arbitrary, and 1 speed means you move 1 distance every second.
* Thrust - essentially, this determines how quickly you can get to top speed. Weight affects this greatly - you need more thrust to move more weight.
* Turning - the rate at which you turn. Weight also affects this, and so you need more torque to overcome more weight.
* Weight - every item on a ship has a weight, and this variable is used to determine how the ship handles.

Inertia counts. If a ship starts moving forwards, it will not stop until something forces it to. Explosions matter, too. When something blows up near your ship, it creates a concussion that pushes you away and sometimes jams your engine temporarily. There's also tractors - both yours, and those of players and AI. There's 3 kinds of tractors: push, pull, and hitchhiker. Each will push objects away from, pull objects towards, or move the player towards objects. Tractors on AI can make it hard to move around, but you can also use your own tractor to your advantage. Try slingshotting yourself around a planet when you get a chance - learning to use everything at your disposal for maneuverability is key.

The tactics I cover here all involve moving your ship a certain way. These are: Kiting, Jinking, Flybys, and Out Turning.

;Kiting
Kiting an enemy refers to positioning yourself in such a way that you are out of range of their weapons while simultaneously close enough for the AI to keep following you. Most AI have a range at which they will follow you indefinitely, usually between 50 and 100 distance beyond the range of their farthest shooting weapon. You can use this to your advantage by using a long range weapon and shooting at the AI without taking any damage. This is a good tactic if you don't have a strong or extremely agile ship and need to kill something tougher than you are.

;Jinking
Jinking is basically dodging. You cannot dodge lasers, but if the enemy is using projectile weapons, you can make them waste their shots by out maneuvering their bullets. Getting too close to the AI while doing this isn't effective, as you have less time to react. Try to find a distance at which you can keep shooting while also making adjustments to your position.

;Flybys
Flybys are essentially running full speed at the enemy, shooting a salvo of projectiles, and flying past. Speed Demons, especially, like to use this tactic as they tend to have the shield regeneration necessary to recover after sustaining damage from this. This is a good way to take out targets that could kill you if you stay within firing range long enough, but are not easy to kite or jink. You have to make sure you can recover enough of your shield bank between each run and do it fast enough that the enemy doesn't recover as well.

;Out Turning
Many AI turn slow. If you can stay behind them, you can keep shooting without getting shot. Note that some weapons have something called "Full Tracking", which allows them to be shot 360 degrees. If the AI has this, then this tactic is worthless. However, it is especially useful for taking out larger, gear laden AI, as these tend to be heavier.

In spite of the fact that Star Sonata is a top-down shooter and relies heavily on arcade-style gameplay, there's still a few other tactics to consider that don't involve maneuvering.

;Training
Training is the process of controlling the enemy's aggressiveness. AI will tend to shoot at whatever is doing the most damage to them - you can use this to your advantage to make them shoot at what you want them to. You, your slaves, and your drones each may not have that much shield bank individually, but if you combine them all then that's quite a lot. Dividing up enemy fire between each can help you last longer in battle. To capture an AI's aggro, you need to shoot at it. It usually doesn't take long. If you need to lose it, bring the AI near a slave or drone and wait for them to shoot at it. Once your slaves or drones start doing some damage, the AI will switch aggro. Note that some AI will not always respond to this due to the nature of their programming.

;Tanking
Tanking is all about taking damage, rather than directing it. Some players prefer to have an incredibly large shield bank and simply take the hits while their slaves, drones, missiles, fighters, or other players do the actual damage. Shield Monkeys tend to fall along this line, though they are intended to heal without taking damage rather than be shot. Tanking can be challenging and most setups rely on a high-bank, low regeneration shield, meaning that once that bank is gone, there is virtually no way to replenish it in a timely fashion without the help of healer drones or another player.

===== Briefing: Strategy =====

Next, go to Deep Space, do the missions there. Basically just do all the missions you can find, until you think you're not getting enough from them anymore. Yes, feel the greed. Aspire to be greater, greater than the rats and the volcoms.

Once you've done that, go to Sol. To get to Sol, go through the gate to Earthforce Celestial Garden. The one to Sol is in there. Go to the Earthforce Frontier Station and see what missions are available. If you have any skillpoints, use them.

===== Core Skills =====

*Piloting: You can't pilot a giant ship if all you know is zebucarts. Learn to fly more complicated things.
*Shields: Shields keep you from getting blown up. They're also complicated to install. Not just anyone knows how to jack a billion cables together.
*Energy: Nuclear reactor leaking? Too bad, there's no health insurance here. Energy is what makes your ship go round, keep a lot of it.
*Radar: You can't shoot what you can't see. And there's a lot you're not seeing, like why that haircut looks bad on you.
*Engines: Puff puff. Go fast faster, turn hard harder.
*Equipment: You see that launch tube? Go crawl inside it.
*Weaponry: Shoot stuff with bigger and bigger guns.
*Cloaking: Don't get shot at.

So, there you go. The most important to you are probably piloting, weaponry, shields, and energy. You can't shoot without energy, it doesn't matter if you have energy if your gun sucks as much as you do, your guns don't matter if you die instantly and none of it matters if you can't fit it all in the freaking ship.

In any case, get some skills if you can and get some new gear. You should have plenty of money from the Nexus, so go nuts. You should have a decent level of Piloting now so get rid of that Helga.

Next, go to Blue Outpost and kill the little blue ships. You'll get to level 50 easy. Now kill the bigger blue ships. You can get some slaves at this point too, which are extremely useful because it's like having another player beside you.

Once you've killed just about everything you can find and can't level anymore, get Warp Navigation to 2. You can do this at Sol or Paxius, whichever you prefer. However, you've probably got some blue stuff from killing things in the Outpost, so Sol is probably best.

Next, do the same thing. Get to level 100, and start worrying about specialization. This is important, because this game doesn't let you do a little of everything and be good at it. You need to choose a play style and stick with it. There's a lot to consider, but whatever's been working best for you so far is the path you should take.

Before you even worry about class skills, I'd worry more about your core skills. Most people say get a class skill as soon as possible - this is okay, if you know what you want to do already. But I think it's not wise to urge new players to make an important decision so quickly. You can still head in one direction or another first, and see how you like it.

So, core skills. At this point you probably have most somewhere between 8 and 10. Now think about what you're lacking in. Do you run out of energy too often? Do you blow up a lot? Your weapons don't do enough damage? Figure it out and go get that skill up, then get better gear. Whatever's holding you back, move it out of the way.

Once you've chosen a path, follow it. Don't meddle around, it's a waste of time.

==== Briefing: Class Skills ====

Class skills are oftentimes seen as the pinnacle of a player's progression. Having your class skill and its subskills maxed out isn't necessarily a sign that you've reached the end game, but are getting close to it. The bonuses given by these skills tend to be greater than any other skill in the game, and so they are extremely important later on.

Many players say you should get your class skills maxed out as soon as possible. This is definitely good advice, though it is often misinterpreted. You should get your class skills maxed, but not before you get your core skills maxed. You don't need to have, say, Radar to 20, but you definitely should have Piloting, Shields, and Electrical Engineering to 20 at the least before you worry about your class too much.

Now, you can start with your class whenever you feel comfortable making that choice. It doesn't matter if you're level 20 or 200, just begin when you're ready. When you do start to class up, try to keep it consistent. You want to pace yourself, since class skills take a lot of skill points, but you also don't want to lag behind too much.

==== Briefing: Gear ====

Talk about the different items, what they do.

===== Briefing: Augmenters =====

Go into detail about augmenters.

==== The World Keeps Going ====

The game moves on even if you don't.

===== Briefing: Teams =====

A good team is hard to come by. Many teams are simply full of underachievers or lowlifes. Others are filled with people who may seem too cutthroat or edgy for you. It's important not to judge a team simply by objective qualities, but also by how you feel about it. That may sound unusual coming from me, but if you're not happy in a team, you're simply going to want to leave. That'll cause unnecessary drama that nobody really wants to deal with. So find a team that seems to have similar goals to yours, and players who you already know you like.

If you absolutely can't find a decent team or simply want to start your own, you'll need to acquire the [[Leadership]] skill first. This skill is fairly easy to get for most players and simply requires a bit of money and some time. When creating a team, think very carefully about how you want to present it to other players. Are you about integrity and doing things the right way, or are you going for something more laid back, a place where people can just come and go as they please? Are you planning to accomplish something important, or simply intend to figure things out as it goes along? Whatever decision you may come to, make sure you reach it before you actually create the team.

It's not entirely rare, but it also doesn't happen a lot, especially in a large team. Believe it or not, if you put in the time and effort, you may actually get '''promoted''' in your new team! What you do when this happens is take a step back and reevalute your position. What did you do to even get promoted in the first place? Whatever it was, identify it and keep doing it. If you start slacking off, you're simply going to be resented by other players, especially those a lower rank than you. If you've been placed in a position of trust - say, an Officer, or even a Councilor - do ''not'' betray it. You will inevitably regret it. It will tarnish your reputation and people tend to not forget these sorts of things.

If you feel you do not like a team anymore, or do not like what position you are in, it is best to talk about it with someone who can actually help first. Do not simply leave a team unless you've been told to do so - a lot of teams do not take too kindly to it, since it can harm their score. If you feel you're in a position of responsibility but don't actually want that responsibility, ask to be demoted, don't cause trouble.

In general, use common sense, and always consult your teammates before making an important decision.

===== Dungeons =====

Understanding how they work.

===== Perilous Space =====

The final frontier.

===== Death =====

Death in this game is not as morbid as it may be in other places, like real life. In fact, dying in this game isn't even as bad as it once was. In previous years, dying in Star Sonata meant losing gear, and slaves could actually be converted into carbon wisps quite easily if they didn't have a Slave Stasis Generator equipped. Drones couldn't be repaired - if you lost them, that was it. Indeed, it was harsh in the olden days, and many Gear Glues were spent trying to prevent the inevitable.

Now, all slaves are equipped with stasis generators by default (one could say the control bots have them inbuilt), drones do not explode but simply break, and players can no longer drop gear when they die.

In spite of all of these improvements (some say they have made the game too easy, but I digress) dying in this game can still be a traumatic experience.

Death is marked by one's shields reaching 0. Now, your shields actually ''can'' be 0 and you still won't die, so in actuality it's being shot without shields that kills you. Your ship enters stasis and you are ejected in either spirit or pod form. For more information about the process of death, see [[Death]].

When you die, equipped items on your ship lose Durability. The lower their Durability, the less effective they are. To regain Durability, you have to repair the items on your ship, which costs money.

Slaves also suffer from a loss of Durability upon death. Drones, when killed, are simply converted to a destroyed form, and must be scooped and repaired in order to be used again.

===== F2P vs P2P =====

It has to be mentioned.

==== Moving On ====

A closing message.

== Part 2: Comprehensive Guide ==

===== Introduction =====

Describe this portion of the guide.

===== All is Well =====

;The End of Everything
When a universe begins, there is a bit of a chaotic phase where everyone is rushing to find the best galaxies, the best planets for colonies, and just get their bases and everything set up. Large teams will try to take large tracts of space that they will eventually fill with drones and trading slaves, only to have to pack it all up again later. Very quickly, and almost without warning, the universe will soon look like it did when it ended, just with everything in a slightly different place.

Star Sonata isn't the only game of its kind to use a system like this, where the game world is reset once every few months. However, it is a very important aspect of the game in many ways. For example, [[Hydroponics]] missions can only be done once per universe. Places like Hyper are hard to invade for any team wishing to seize control of its resources, and so the universe reset allows another team a chance to take hold, preventing monopolies. The same happens for most other resources, and just about everyone gets a chance to try and take some valuable plot of space.

So, why does this matter to you? Well, there's a number of reasons why, and we'll explore each one briefly before expanding on it in a later section.

===== The Economy =====

Describe how the economy in the game works.

===== Making Money =====

;Farming

;Shops

;Pirating

;Slaving

;Saving Money

;Losing Money

;Investments

===== Leveling Up =====

;Dungeon Farming

;Power Leveling

;Grinding

===== Detail: Teams =====

*Teams are crucial to the way Star Sonata works
*Scores are not indicative of whether a team is good or not
*How to identify a good team without scores as reference
*How to be an asset
*How to be a leader
*How to wage war

====== Diplomacy ======

*Networking, and why it's important
*Reputation; image
*How to end war
*How to reason with the unreasonable
*Compromise
*Following through
*Recovery; redemption from failure

===== Detail: AI =====

AI, as you should already know, stands for Artificial Intelligence. The name implies that an AI player is both not alive and also smart. While the former is true, the latter is a complete and utter lie. There is nothing smart about the AI in this game, or most games for that matter. AI in Star Sonata seem to follow a script-based program where they will prioritize certain behaviors over others depending on what's going on around them.

AI seem to have a number of different states and I will attempt to catalog them here as I learn more.

;Standing
When there is nothing for the AI to do, it will simply stand in one spot for a while.
''Leads To''
;Roaming
AI will move for no reason after standing in the same spot too long. Sometimes, they will warp.
''Leads To''
;Docking
AI will randomly dock at AI bases and player bases. Sometimes, they will buy some commodities, but most of the time their hulls are too overfilled to do anything. This behavior is more for effect than anything else, giving players a sense that even the AI have stuff to do in this game.
''Leads To''
;Aggression
*AI will become aggressive for a number of reasons
**They are shot at
**Their attack code determines they need to attack a passing player
**Their swarm code determines they can kill a stronger player than usual e.g., the Rosemarys and Basils in Perilous Outpost sometimes attack the Earthforce AI, though their scripting should prevent this (there's no way they can win), but due to swarm mentality, a group of aggressive AI will attack just about anything.
**They are programmed to be aggressive, for mission or design reasons e.g., Flyswatters, who are intentionally annoying

''Leads To''
;Regression
When an AI is about to die, it will often try to run. Because the script doesn't seem to take into account ''where'' the threat is but rather that there is just a threat in general, most AI will keep warping through the same two gates over and over again until their shields are high enough to resume attack behavior. Sometimes, they will stay on the other side if they leave this state quick enough and eventually resume their normal roaming behavior.
''And/Or/Instead''
;Spin Out
AI will sometimes freak out and spin in circles if they can't run but are still about to die. The only reasons I can conjure up for this behavior are: 1. They are programmed to behave like this, so their deaths are more epic, or 2. Their retreat code can't find a gate to warp through and they continue with the last action they were given (in this case, turning so they can head towards a gate).

''more to come...''

===== Bases =====

Talk about the pros and cons of owning a base, and how to get started.

====== Colonies ======

Talk about how to run colonies and what the point is.

===== Drones =====

Talk about drones, their pros and cons, and what's best for the situation.

===== Slaves =====

Slaves are a key component to the Star Sonata game. They are also pretty unique, and not many other games, even those outside the MMO genre, have something comparable to the ones found in Star Sonata.

Slaves in Star Sonata can be completely independent of the player. Once a slave is activated, it becomes an AI just like any other NPC in the game, the only difference being that you can give it orders. If given a set of commands to repeat, the slave will do them almost indefinitely until it either dies or the Universe ends. Combat slaves are a little less versatile but still obey your commands to not attack or to avoid harm to themselves ("Stay Close").

Because of the way slave AI works, they can be have almost exactly like the regular AI in the game. This is evidenced by the fact that a slave and an enemy AI that are of equal strength can sometimes dogfight for minutes at a time, the same way AI which are aggressive to each other will sometimes do.

The only major difference between slave AI and regular AI is that slaves lack any autonomous behavior, in the sense that they do not have a run script or an aggression script. This means a slave AI will never run away from an enemy, and they will never attack an enemy of their own accord.

===== Ships =====

At the start of the game, choosing a ship is mostly about preference. You will soon find that these preferences may eventually lead you to a certain class skill. If you like bigger ships with lots of hull, you may go for a support or fleet focus, but if you like fast ships you might go for speed demon. There's a large number of ships in this game and lots of different ways of setting them up. The same two Pax Astrologicas, one augged for Berserker and one augged for Engineer, are effectively two entirely different ships because their stats are so strongly affected both by the class skills and by the augmenters equipped.

Towards the end-game, you will find that many ships are in fact aimed at different classes. Some are even class-locked, meaning only one class can use (or make use of) that ship. Rhinos are for Engineers and Shield Monkeys (though ShMs tend to prefer Apprentice's Wards) and Lions are for Berserkers. Panthers are for Speed Demons and Dreads are for Fleet Commanders, and so on and so forth. But just because your class has a ship designed for it doesn't always mean that ship will fit your play style. There are a number of alternatives that you can use at any point in the game that my not align perfectly with the intended flow of character progression but are still good choices and may be even better for you than what's recommended.

So, you may be asking yourself at this point, "That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't help me decide much. You basically just reaffirmed by belief that I am always right, because I am." ''SLAP!'' No! You aren't always right. Get that nonsensical sense out of your skull. The most important thing to remember in this game is that you are ''always WRONG''. Why? Because that's what everyone else is going to tell you, no matter what choice you make. And this is why I assert that you should always go with what feels right for you, even if it may not seem like the best choice. And if it really doesn't work out, hey maybe they were right, but now you have an even better idea of what you need to improve on, right?

That means you need to think long and hard about where you're at and what you want to accomplish. I can assure you though, if you feel like you're getting to the point where it's getting difficult to kill the AI you ought to be killing at your level, a new ship is almost always the cure. Just remember to augment it, otherwise it'll be even worse than your last fully augmented ship, believe it or not.

Once you get that new ship, have it augmented properly, and are ready for something else, go read another section of this guide because what you ought to do next is get newer gear and probably go spend all those Skill Points somewhere.

===== Weapons =====

Damage types and more.

===== Detail: Augmenters =====

Get into the math of how it all works.

===== Detail: Classes =====

More math and detailed explanations.

===== Missions =====

Why should anyone do missions? Talk about it.

===== Detail: Gear =====

Include a discussion about fighters, missiles, etc.

===== Detail: Tactics & Strategy =====

;The Numbers Game

When you get down to it, this game is all about numbers. Everything from DPS to your level in Aug Tweaking effects the way the game plays for you. We're going to talk about one of the most important numbers of all: enemies.

The number of enemies you are facing is generally important. You may not be able to kill 50 Rosemarys, though you can kill 25. You may be able to handle a group of Forgones, but throw in a few Big Greens and it all goes downhill.

When I call it the numbers game, I'm not saying that if all your assets combined can put out X DPS and the enemy can put out Y DPS , and you cross your shields against their fire and theirs against yours (and assuming all else is equal), the math is going to tell you who wins. It most likely won't, because there's a lot more influencing the way this works than that. In fact, my proposition is the antithesis of that mentality: it's not about the numbers, but instead how you apply them. It's all about where you direction your attention and when, and how you go about accomplishing that which needs to be done in order to win.

It really is frustrating when you don't understand why you can't do this or why that DG is so difficult. The truth is, you may have just reached the limits of what you can achieve with your current setup. However, there's still some extremely valuable strategies that you should know, both to squeeze a little more life out of that ship you got 200 lvls ago and should probably have replaced by now, and to increase your overall efficiency and give you some skills that might help you out in more extreme circumstances.

;Focus Fire
* The crux of it is this: when you are fighting a small group of enemies, you generally don't need to worry about where all that fire from your drones, slaves, missiles, or fighters are going. You already know that you're going to win and you just don't need to worry about it. But as you increase the number of enemies to the point where they can actually begin dealing damage against you, choosing your targets suddenly becomes more important. When fighting a large group of enemies, you are likely to get killed if you don't do something about the DPS coming your way, and do it quickly. You can circumvent this by having something that heals you, or a neurotweak that will boost your shield regen, but those only extend your lifespan, not remove the cause of the problem. In other words, you just need to begin reducing their numbers.
* Kill the strongest first. Yes, that's right, take out the strongest enemies first. The ones who are doing the most damage to you, individually, are the most dangerous and need to be removed immediately.
* If all else is equal, go for the weakest first. On the other hand, you have a situation where all are giving about the same DPS and it doesn't matter which you kill. In that case, kill the weakest first - be it the one with the lowest shields at the moment, or the one that's a lower level than the rest.

So, let's consider an example. Again let's rule out other variables like resistances and whatnot and just focus on some pure, raw numbers. You have a ship with 100 shields and you can pull 50 DPS. You have an enemy with 500 shields that can only pull 25 DPS. Who wins? Well, the math says that he can kill you in 4 seconds but you can kill him in 10. So, you'd be dead 6 seconds too soon to kill him, and he'd still have plenty of shields left over. He only has 500% more shields and 50% less DPS, why can't you kill him? Well, did you sit in the same spot the whole time? What if you were able to evade half of his shots, so that it takes him 8 seconds to kill you? And if you let a slave or drone take the other 2 second's worth, hey, you just made it! I know that sounds like a copout, but that's just it! In this game, you use copouts like that to survive. The tactics section goes more in depth about how to avoid taking fire while dealing it, so we're just going to continue exploring the numbers here.

Another example: You and your enemy are equals. You both have 100 shields and can pull 50 DPS. You're both dead after 2 seconds. How do you win? Well, if we consider resistances this time, then whoever has the highest resists wins. If you both shot for the entire duration and landed all your hits, and one still died while the other lived, then you know who has the weaker ship. The same is true if you consider vulnerabilities rather than resistances, or damage boosts instead. What if we consider shield regeneration?

If you have a shield with a bank of 100 and it regenerates 10/s, then it takes you 10 seconds to recover. If, over the course of 10 seconds, an enemy can pull 20 DPS, he's only actually removed half your shields, since your shields are always recovering over the course of that period! Effectively, you'd have 50 shields left, and it'd take him an additional 5 seconds or so to kill you. Scale these values however you like, and it always works out the same. You don't have to just deplete their shields, but also neutralize their regeneration.

So, consider you have a bank of 100 and a regeneration of 20. It takes 5 seconds to recover. If an enemy does 20 DPS to you, then he can't break your regeneration (barring critical hits, of course). If he does even a little more DPS, however, he can kill you, albeit slowly. In order to kill you effectively, he needs be able to do at least twice as much damage as you have shield regeneration. And the true is for you, killing other things. And this is, again, where the numbers game comes into play.

If you have the same bank and regeneration as the last example and there's now ''two'' of those enemies, they can kill you quickly, because even though each is only strong enough to neutralize your regeneration, the other is now doing pure DPS. You will be dead in 5 seconds flat. This is why you may be able to handle a single Battleship for example, but if another one shows up, you're done for. Now, if you manage to kill the first Battleship quickly enough, you're back down to a single enemy. See why this matters so much? If, when that new enemy appears, everything you have suddenly starts shooting at it instead, then you're done for. ''Focus Fire''.

===== Energize =====

Talk about energy and strategies for using it effectively.

===== Shielding =====

Go into detail about shields and how they work.

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-04-11T23:59:12Z

captainGarfield: /* Leveling Up */

Yet another player guide by yours truly,captainGarfield.

This guide will be split into two parts: '''Quick Start''' and '''Comprehensive'''. The Quick Start portion will briefly explain the different parts of the game's control setup and how to get going in the world of ''Star Sonata''. The Comprehensive portion is intended to cover nearly every aspect of the game and provide you with the wisdom and knowledge I've gathered in the years I've played. Both parts can be used together or completely separate, and an Index will be provided for those looking for specific information. 

As a disclaimer, I realize this is not the first guide of its kind. I also realize that most other guides were left incomplete, had a bias, or have simply become outdated. In any case, I cannot guarantee that what you find here will always be 100% accurate and be the best source for you to base decisions off of. I am simply offering my opinions in the hope that they may help you to avoid some of the mistakes I have, and learn some of the tricks I've used. 

As I continue to develop this guide, I ask that anyone who happens to read it point out any factual mistakes I might make or give me suggestions. I plan to, once the guide has reached maturity, to actually begin interviewing other players for their input and knowledge on a variety of subjects.

== Part I: Quick Start ==

==== Controls & Interface ====

Before you can even think about playing the game, you need to know your way around it. Here's a quick and dirty introduction to all the different aspects of the interface. Try to keep up, because I'm not gonna waste any time with this section.

The screen is divided up into 4 parts: The Ship Box, Hotbar, Menubar, and Chat Box. Naturally, the game itself is in the center portion, with your ship in the center.

*The Ship Box shows your Shields, Energy, Visibility, and Weapon.
*The Hotbar allows you to bind your most commonly used items to a key on your keyboard.
*The Menubar lets you access all the different windows the game uses to interact with the player.
*The Chat Box lets you communicate with other players and provides key information in a timely fashion.

The Menubar has 10 buttons. From left to right, these are: Help, Warp, Dock, Galaxy Map, Options, Social, Character, Ship, Radar, and Inventory. Clicking any of the first three will cause an action, the others toggle windows. Help opens a browser window to the Star Sonata help page, Warp takes you through wormholes, and Dock allows you to go inside stations.

The Chat Box has 7 tabs. From left to right in the default configuration, these are: Event, All, Galaxy, Trade, Help, Team, and Squad. The order of these tabs can be changed by clicking any one and dragging it. Their uses are:

*Event: Displays any game-related messages, such as kills, actions, and the Message of the Day.
*All: A global chat where any player can talk.
*Galaxy: A local chat where only players in the same galaxy as you can talk.
*Trade: A place to advertise, buy, and sell.
*Help: A place to ask questions not easily answered by the Wiki or appropriate for All chat.
*Team: Lets you talk to other members of your Team in private.
*Squad: Lets you talk to other members of your Squad in private, and displays Squad-related events.

Most of the game involves flying your ship around and shooting at stuff. Before you can shoot at something, you first have to target it. If this weren't necessary, then it'd be impossible to avoid attacking everything from neutral space stations to teammates while fighting! To target something, simply click on it. A new box will appear providing information on the targeted object. You can also sort through the list of targetable objects in the galaxy using the Ctrl, Z, Q, and Tab keys. Using Shift with any of these keys will cycle through the list in reverse.

Here's a list of the most pertinent keys (click to expand):

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" width="500" style="font-size:10pt"
|-
| Key
| Action
| Notes
|-
| Space Bar
| Shoot
| Must have a target!
|-
| W, A, D
| Move forwards and turn
|
|-
| S
| Slows the ship
|
|-
| X
| Target options menu
| Must have a target!
|-
| V
| Autopilot
| Must have a target!
|-
| C
| Scoop
| Need to have a Scoop equipped, and a scoopable item nearby
|-
| Enter
| Chat
|
|-
| U
| Suicide
| Will have to authorize it
|-
| I
| Inventory
|
|-
| R
| Dock
| Must be close enough to a station and moving slow enough
|-
| F
| Warp
| Must be a wormhole nearby
|-
| O
| Game Options
|
|-
| P
| Galaxy Map
|
|-
| E
| Switch weapons
|
|-
| G
| Tractor Beam
| Must have one equipped and a target selected; if no target is selected, the nearest piece of Debris is grabbed
|-
| H
| Hides interface
| Useful for screenshots
|-
| K
| Cloaking Device
| Must have one equipped
|-
| M
| Missions Tab
|
|}

There are a number of windows in the game which you use to interact. I'll briefly go over them here:

==== Welcome to Space ====

At the start of the game, you're going to get a dinky little ship. You'll be in some strange looking place with a lot of green things flying around. This is fine, go ahead and click one. Press the Space Bar to shoot at it, and watch as it explodes. Now you know how to kill things, you bloodthirsty heathen.

Now that you've satisfied your bloodlust, it's time to start getting payed for it. Go to the base (the big thing that doesn't look like a rat, as you probably now know those green things as) and dock in it. You'll get a window with lots of tabs; right now, we only care about the first one. There's a box with some missions in it, double-click one. They're pretty self explanatory, so just do what it says and come back to claim your reward. Keep doing missions, eventually they'll lead you to the Nexus where there's... wait for it... ''more missions!'' Do those, and keep reading when you're done.

===== Briefing: Tactics =====

Star Sonata is, at its core, a top-down shooter. The physics in the game are extremely simple and the game mechanics, for the most part, very straight forward. In every top-down shooter since ''Asteroids'', the player controls a character from a bird's eye view and, well, shoots stuff. In Star Sonata, movement is defined by a few key variables:
* Speed - the max speed of a ship limits how fast it can go. Distance in the game is arbitrary, and 1 speed means you move 1 distance every second.
* Thrust - essentially, this determines how quickly you can get to top speed. Weight affects this greatly - you need more thrust to move more weight.
* Turning - the rate at which you turn. Weight also affects this, and so you need more torque to overcome more weight.
* Weight - every item on a ship has a weight, and this variable is used to determine how the ship handles.

Inertia counts. If a ship starts moving forwards, it will not stop until something forces it to. Explosions matter, too. When something blows up near your ship, it creates a concussion that pushes you away and sometimes jams your engine temporarily. There's also tractors - both yours, and those of players and AI. There's 3 kinds of tractors: push, pull, and hitchhiker. Each will push objects away from, pull objects towards, or move the player towards objects. Tractors on AI can make it hard to move around, but you can also use your own tractor to your advantage. Try slingshotting yourself around a planet when you get a chance - learning to use everything at your disposal for maneuverability is key.

The tactics I cover here all involve moving your ship a certain way. These are: Kiting, Jinking, Flybys, and Out Turning.

;Kiting
Kiting an enemy refers to positioning yourself in such a way that you are out of range of their weapons while simultaneously close enough for the AI to keep following you. Most AI have a range at which they will follow you indefinitely, usually between 50 and 100 distance beyond the range of their farthest shooting weapon. You can use this to your advantage by using a long range weapon and shooting at the AI without taking any damage. This is a good tactic if you don't have a strong or extremely agile ship and need to kill something tougher than you are.

;Jinking
Jinking is basically dodging. You cannot dodge lasers, but if the enemy is using projectile weapons, you can make them waste their shots by out maneuvering their bullets. Getting too close to the AI while doing this isn't effective, as you have less time to react. Try to find a distance at which you can keep shooting while also making adjustments to your position.

;Flybys
Flybys are essentially running full speed at the enemy, shooting a salvo of projectiles, and flying past. Speed Demons, especially, like to use this tactic as they tend to have the shield regeneration necessary to recover after sustaining damage from this. This is a good way to take out targets that could kill you if you stay within firing range long enough, but are not easy to kite or jink. You have to make sure you can recover enough of your shield bank between each run and do it fast enough that the enemy doesn't recover as well.

;Out Turning
Many AI turn slow. If you can stay behind them, you can keep shooting without getting shot. Note that some weapons have something called "Full Tracking", which allows them to be shot 360 degrees. If the AI has this, then this tactic is worthless. However, it is especially useful for taking out larger, gear laden AI, as these tend to be heavier.

In spite of the fact that Star Sonata is a top-down shooter and relies heavily on arcade-style gameplay, there's still a few other tactics to consider that don't involve maneuvering.

;Training
Training is the process of controlling the enemy's aggressiveness. AI will tend to shoot at whatever is doing the most damage to them - you can use this to your advantage to make them shoot at what you want them to. You, your slaves, and your drones each may not have that much shield bank individually, but if you combine them all then that's quite a lot. Dividing up enemy fire between each can help you last longer in battle. To capture an AI's aggro, you need to shoot at it. It usually doesn't take long. If you need to lose it, bring the AI near a slave or drone and wait for them to shoot at it. Once your slaves or drones start doing some damage, the AI will switch aggro. Note that some AI will not always respond to this due to the nature of their programming.

;Tanking
Tanking is all about taking damage, rather than directing it. Some players prefer to have an incredibly large shield bank and simply take the hits while their slaves, drones, missiles, fighters, or other players do the actual damage. Shield Monkeys tend to fall along this line, though they are intended to heal without taking damage rather than be shot. Tanking can be challenging and most setups rely on a high-bank, low regeneration shield, meaning that once that bank is gone, there is virtually no way to replenish it in a timely fashion without the help of healer drones or another player.

===== Briefing: Strategy =====

Next, go to Deep Space, do the missions there. Basically just do all the missions you can find, until you think you're not getting enough from them anymore. Yes, feel the greed. Aspire to be greater, greater than the rats and the volcoms.

Once you've done that, go to Sol. To get to Sol, go through the gate to Earthforce Celestial Garden. The one to Sol is in there. Go to the Earthforce Frontier Station and see what missions are available. If you have any skillpoints, use them.

===== Core Skills =====

*Piloting: You can't pilot a giant ship if all you know is zebucarts. Learn to fly more complicated things.
*Shields: Shields keep you from getting blown up. They're also complicated to install. Not just anyone knows how to jack a billion cables together.
*Energy: Nuclear reactor leaking? Too bad, there's no health insurance here. Energy is what makes your ship go round, keep a lot of it.
*Radar: You can't shoot what you can't see. And there's a lot you're not seeing, like why that haircut looks bad on you.
*Engines: Puff puff. Go fast faster, turn hard harder.
*Equipment: You see that launch tube? Go crawl inside it.
*Weaponry: Shoot stuff with bigger and bigger guns.
*Cloaking: Don't get shot at.

So, there you go. The most important to you are probably piloting, weaponry, shields, and energy. You can't shoot without energy, it doesn't matter if you have energy if your gun sucks as much as you do, your guns don't matter if you die instantly and none of it matters if you can't fit it all in the freaking ship.

In any case, get some skills if you can and get some new gear. You should have plenty of money from the Nexus, so go nuts. You should have a decent level of Piloting now so get rid of that Helga.

Next, go to Blue Outpost and kill the little blue ships. You'll get to level 50 easy. Now kill the bigger blue ships. You can get some slaves at this point too, which are extremely useful because it's like having another player beside you.

Once you've killed just about everything you can find and can't level anymore, get Warp Navigation to 2. You can do this at Sol or Paxius, whichever you prefer. However, you've probably got some blue stuff from killing things in the Outpost, so Sol is probably best.

Next, do the same thing. Get to level 100, and start worrying about specialization. This is important, because this game doesn't let you do a little of everything and be good at it. You need to choose a play style and stick with it. There's a lot to consider, but whatever's been working best for you so far is the path you should take.

Before you even worry about class skills, I'd worry more about your core skills. Most people say get a class skill as soon as possible - this is okay, if you know what you want to do already. But I think it's not wise to urge new players to make an important decision so quickly. You can still head in one direction or another first, and see how you like it.

So, core skills. At this point you probably have most somewhere between 8 and 10. Now think about what you're lacking in. Do you run out of energy too often? Do you blow up a lot? Your weapons don't do enough damage? Figure it out and go get that skill up, then get better gear. Whatever's holding you back, move it out of the way.

Once you've chosen a path, follow it. Don't meddle around, it's a waste of time.

==== Briefing: Class Skills ====

Class skills are oftentimes seen as the pinnacle of a player's progression. Having your class skill and its subskills maxed out isn't necessarily a sign that you've reached the end game, but are getting close to it. The bonuses given by these skills tend to be greater than any other skill in the game, and so they are extremely important later on.

Many players say you should get your class skills maxed out as soon as possible. This is definitely good advice, though it is often misinterpreted. You should get your class skills maxed, but not before you get your core skills maxed. You don't need to have, say, Radar to 20, but you definitely should have Piloting, Shields, and Electrical Engineering to 20 at the least before you worry about your class too much.

Now, you can start with your class whenever you feel comfortable making that choice. It doesn't matter if you're level 20 or 200, just begin when you're ready. When you do start to class up, try to keep it consistent. You want to pace yourself, since class skills take a lot of skill points, but you also don't want to lag behind too much.

==== Briefing: Gear ====

Talk about the different items, what they do.

===== Briefing: Augmenters =====

Go into detail about augmenters.

==== The World Keeps Going ====

The game moves on even if you don't.

===== Briefing: Teams =====

A good team is hard to come by. Many teams are simply full of underachievers or lowlifes. Others are filled with people who may seem too cutthroat or edgy for you. It's important not to judge a team simply by objective qualities, but also by how you feel about it. That may sound unusual coming from me, but if you're not happy in a team, you're simply going to want to leave. That'll cause unnecessary drama that nobody really wants to deal with. So find a team that seems to have similar goals to yours, and players who you already know you like.

If you absolutely can't find a decent team or simply want to start your own, you'll need to acquire the [[Leadership]] skill first. This skill is fairly easy to get for most players and simply requires a bit of money and some time. When creating a team, think very carefully about how you want to present it to other players. Are you about integrity and doing things the right way, or are you going for something more laid back, a place where people can just come and go as they please? Are you planning to accomplish something important, or simply intend to figure things out as it goes along? Whatever decision you may come to, make sure you reach it before you actually create the team.

It's not entirely rare, but it also doesn't happen a lot, especially in a large team. Believe it or not, if you put in the time and effort, you may actually get '''promoted''' in your new team! What you do when this happens is take a step back and reevalute your position. What did you do to even get promoted in the first place? Whatever it was, identify it and keep doing it. If you start slacking off, you're simply going to be resented by other players, especially those a lower rank than you. If you've been placed in a position of trust - say, an Officer, or even a Councilor - do ''not'' betray it. You will inevitably regret it. It will tarnish your reputation and people tend to not forget these sorts of things.

If you feel you do not like a team anymore, or do not like what position you are in, it is best to talk about it with someone who can actually help first. Do not simply leave a team unless you've been told to do so - a lot of teams do not take too kindly to it, since it can harm their score. If you feel you're in a position of responsibility but don't actually want that responsibility, ask to be demoted, don't cause trouble.

In general, use common sense, and always consult your teammates before making an important decision.

===== Dungeons =====

Understanding how they work.

===== Perilous Space =====

The final frontier.

===== Death =====

Death in this game is not as morbid as it may be in other places, like real life. In fact, dying in this game isn't even as bad as it once was. In previous years, dying in Star Sonata meant losing gear, and slaves could actually be converted into carbon wisps quite easily if they didn't have a Slave Stasis Generator equipped. Drones couldn't be repaired - if you lost them, that was it. Indeed, it was harsh in the olden days, and many Gear Glues were spent trying to prevent the inevitable.

Now, all slaves are equipped with stasis generators by default (one could say the control bots have them inbuilt), drones do not explode but simply break, and players can no longer drop gear when they die.

In spite of all of these improvements (some say they have made the game too easy, but I digress) dying in this game can still be a traumatic experience.

Death is marked by one's shields reaching 0. Now, your shields actually ''can'' be 0 and you still won't die, so in actuality it's being shot without shields that kills you. Your ship enters stasis and you are ejected in either spirit or pod form. For more information about the process of death, see [[Death]].

When you die, equipped items on your ship lose Durability. The lower their Durability, the less effective they are. To regain Durability, you have to repair the items on your ship, which costs money.

Slaves also suffer from a loss of Durability upon death. Drones, when killed, are simply converted to a destroyed form, and must be scooped and repaired in order to be used again.

===== F2P vs P2P =====

It has to be mentioned.

==== Moving On ====

A closing message.

== Part 2: Comprehensive Guide ==

===== Introduction =====

Describe this portion of the guide.

===== All is Well =====

;The End of Everything
When a universe begins, there is a bit of a chaotic phase where everyone is rushing to find the best galaxies, the best planets for colonies, and just get their bases and everything set up. Large teams will try to take large tracts of space that they will eventually fill with drones and trading slaves, only to have to pack it all up again later. Very quickly, and almost without warning, the universe will soon look like it did when it ended, just with everything in a slightly different place.

Star Sonata isn't the only game of its kind to use a system like this, where the game world is reset once every few months. However, it is a very important aspect of the game in many ways. For example, [[Hydroponics]] missions can only be done once per universe. Places like Hyper are hard to invade for any team wishing to seize control of its resources, and so the universe reset allows another team a chance to take hold, preventing monopolies. The same happens for most other resources, and just about everyone gets a chance to try and take some valuable plot of space.

So, why does this matter to you? Well, there's a number of reasons why, and we'll explore each one briefly before expanding on it in a later section.

===== The Economy =====

Describe how the economy in the game works.

===== Making Money =====

;Farming

;Shops

;Pirating

;Slaving

;Saving Money

;Losing Money

;Investments

===== Leveling Up =====

;Dungeon Farming

;Power Leveling

;Grinding

===== Detail: Teams =====

Get into detail about teams and how they interrelate.

====== Diplomacy ======

Talk about making teams work together, or fall apart.

===== Detail: AI =====

AI, as you should already know, stands for Artificial Intelligence. The name implies that an AI player is both not alive and also smart. While the former is true, the latter is a complete and utter lie. There is nothing smart about the AI in this game, or most games for that matter. AI in Star Sonata seem to follow a script-based program where they will prioritize certain behaviors over others depending on what's going on around them.

AI seem to have a number of different states and I will attempt to catalog them here as I learn more.

;Standing
When there is nothing for the AI to do, it will simply stand in one spot for a while.
''Leads To''
;Roaming
AI will move for no reason after standing in the same spot too long. Sometimes, they will warp.
''Leads To''
;Docking
AI will randomly dock at AI bases and player bases. Sometimes, they will buy some commodities, but most of the time their hulls are too overfilled to do anything. This behavior is more for effect than anything else, giving players a sense that even the AI have stuff to do in this game.
''Leads To''
;Aggression
*AI will become aggressive for a number of reasons
**They are shot at
**Their attack code determines they need to attack a passing player
**Their swarm code determines they can kill a stronger player than usual e.g., the Rosemarys and Basils in Perilous Outpost sometimes attack the Earthforce AI, though their scripting should prevent this (there's no way they can win), but due to swarm mentality, a group of aggressive AI will attack just about anything.
**They are programmed to be aggressive, for mission or design reasons e.g., Flyswatters, who are intentionally annoying

''Leads To''
;Regression
When an AI is about to die, it will often try to run. Because the script doesn't seem to take into account ''where'' the threat is but rather that there is just a threat in general, most AI will keep warping through the same two gates over and over again until their shields are high enough to resume attack behavior. Sometimes, they will stay on the other side if they leave this state quick enough and eventually resume their normal roaming behavior.
''And/Or/Instead''
;Spin Out
AI will sometimes freak out and spin in circles if they can't run but are still about to die. The only reasons I can conjure up for this behavior are: 1. They are programmed to behave like this, so their deaths are more epic, or 2. Their retreat code can't find a gate to warp through and they continue with the last action they were given (in this case, turning so they can head towards a gate).

''more to come...''

===== Bases =====

Talk about the pros and cons of owning a base, and how to get started.

====== Colonies ======

Talk about how to run colonies and what the point is.

===== Drones =====

Talk about drones, their pros and cons, and what's best for the situation.

===== Slaves =====

Slaves are a key component to the Star Sonata game. They are also pretty unique, and not many other games, even those outside the MMO genre, have something comparable to the ones found in Star Sonata.

Slaves in Star Sonata can be completely independent of the player. Once a slave is activated, it becomes an AI just like any other NPC in the game, the only difference being that you can give it orders. If given a set of commands to repeat, the slave will do them almost indefinitely until it either dies or the Universe ends. Combat slaves are a little less versatile but still obey your commands to not attack or to avoid harm to themselves ("Stay Close").

Because of the way slave AI works, they can be have almost exactly like the regular AI in the game. This is evidenced by the fact that a slave and an enemy AI that are of equal strength can sometimes dogfight for minutes at a time, the same way AI which are aggressive to each other will sometimes do.

The only major difference between slave AI and regular AI is that slaves lack any autonomous behavior, in the sense that they do not have a run script or an aggression script. This means a slave AI will never run away from an enemy, and they will never attack an enemy of their own accord.

===== Ships =====

At the start of the game, choosing a ship is mostly about preference. You will soon find that these preferences may eventually lead you to a certain class skill. If you like bigger ships with lots of hull, you may go for a support or fleet focus, but if you like fast ships you might go for speed demon. There's a large number of ships in this game and lots of different ways of setting them up. The same two Pax Astrologicas, one augged for Berserker and one augged for Engineer, are effectively two entirely different ships because their stats are so strongly affected both by the class skills and by the augmenters equipped.

Towards the end-game, you will find that many ships are in fact aimed at different classes. Some are even class-locked, meaning only one class can use (or make use of) that ship. Rhinos are for Engineers and Shield Monkeys (though ShMs tend to prefer Apprentice's Wards) and Lions are for Berserkers. Panthers are for Speed Demons and Dreads are for Fleet Commanders, and so on and so forth. But just because your class has a ship designed for it doesn't always mean that ship will fit your play style. There are a number of alternatives that you can use at any point in the game that my not align perfectly with the intended flow of character progression but are still good choices and may be even better for you than what's recommended.

So, you may be asking yourself at this point, "That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't help me decide much. You basically just reaffirmed by belief that I am always right, because I am." ''SLAP!'' No! You aren't always right. Get that nonsensical sense out of your skull. The most important thing to remember in this game is that you are ''always WRONG''. Why? Because that's what everyone else is going to tell you, no matter what choice you make. And this is why I assert that you should always go with what feels right for you, even if it may not seem like the best choice. And if it really doesn't work out, hey maybe they were right, but now you have an even better idea of what you need to improve on, right?

That means you need to think long and hard about where you're at and what you want to accomplish. I can assure you though, if you feel like you're getting to the point where it's getting difficult to kill the AI you ought to be killing at your level, a new ship is almost always the cure. Just remember to augment it, otherwise it'll be even worse than your last fully augmented ship, believe it or not.

Once you get that new ship, have it augmented properly, and are ready for something else, go read another section of this guide because what you ought to do next is get newer gear and probably go spend all those Skill Points somewhere.

===== Weapons =====

Damage types and more.

===== Detail: Augmenters =====

Get into the math of how it all works.

===== Detail: Classes =====

More math and detailed explanations.

===== Missions =====

Why should anyone do missions? Talk about it.

===== Detail: Gear =====

Include a discussion about fighters, missiles, etc.

===== Detail: Tactics & Strategy =====

;The Numbers Game

When you get down to it, this game is all about numbers. Everything from DPS to your level in Aug Tweaking effects the way the game plays for you. We're going to talk about one of the most important numbers of all: enemies.

The number of enemies you are facing is generally important. You may not be able to kill 50 Rosemarys, though you can kill 25. You may be able to handle a group of Forgones, but throw in a few Big Greens and it all goes downhill.

When I call it the numbers game, I'm not saying that if all your assets combined can put out X DPS and the enemy can put out Y DPS , and you cross your shields against their fire and theirs against yours (and assuming all else is equal), the math is going to tell you who wins. It most likely won't, because there's a lot more influencing the way this works than that. In fact, my proposition is the antithesis of that mentality: it's not about the numbers, but instead how you apply them. It's all about where you direction your attention and when, and how you go about accomplishing that which needs to be done in order to win.

It really is frustrating when you don't understand why you can't do this or why that DG is so difficult. The truth is, you may have just reached the limits of what you can achieve with your current setup. However, there's still some extremely valuable strategies that you should know, both to squeeze a little more life out of that ship you got 200 lvls ago and should probably have replaced by now, and to increase your overall efficiency and give you some skills that might help you out in more extreme circumstances.

;Focus Fire
* The crux of it is this: when you are fighting a small group of enemies, you generally don't need to worry about where all that fire from your drones, slaves, missiles, or fighters are going. You already know that you're going to win and you just don't need to worry about it. But as you increase the number of enemies to the point where they can actually begin dealing damage against you, choosing your targets suddenly becomes more important. When fighting a large group of enemies, you are likely to get killed if you don't do something about the DPS coming your way, and do it quickly. You can circumvent this by having something that heals you, or a neurotweak that will boost your shield regen, but those only extend your lifespan, not remove the cause of the problem. In other words, you just need to begin reducing their numbers.
* Kill the strongest first. Yes, that's right, take out the strongest enemies first. The ones who are doing the most damage to you, individually, are the most dangerous and need to be removed immediately.
* If all else is equal, go for the weakest first. On the other hand, you have a situation where all are giving about the same DPS and it doesn't matter which you kill. In that case, kill the weakest first - be it the one with the lowest shields at the moment, or the one that's a lower level than the rest.

So, let's consider an example. Again let's rule out other variables like resistances and whatnot and just focus on some pure, raw numbers. You have a ship with 100 shields and you can pull 50 DPS. You have an enemy with 500 shields that can only pull 25 DPS. Who wins? Well, the math says that he can kill you in 4 seconds but you can kill him in 10. So, you'd be dead 6 seconds too soon to kill him, and he'd still have plenty of shields left over. He only has 500% more shields and 50% less DPS, why can't you kill him? Well, did you sit in the same spot the whole time? What if you were able to evade half of his shots, so that it takes him 8 seconds to kill you? And if you let a slave or drone take the other 2 second's worth, hey, you just made it! I know that sounds like a copout, but that's just it! In this game, you use copouts like that to survive. The tactics section goes more in depth about how to avoid taking fire while dealing it, so we're just going to continue exploring the numbers here.

Another example: You and your enemy are equals. You both have 100 shields and can pull 50 DPS. You're both dead after 2 seconds. How do you win? Well, if we consider resistances this time, then whoever has the highest resists wins. If you both shot for the entire duration and landed all your hits, and one still died while the other lived, then you know who has the weaker ship. The same is true if you consider vulnerabilities rather than resistances, or damage boosts instead. What if we consider shield regeneration?

If you have a shield with a bank of 100 and it regenerates 10/s, then it takes you 10 seconds to recover. If, over the course of 10 seconds, an enemy can pull 20 DPS, he's only actually removed half your shields, since your shields are always recovering over the course of that period! Effectively, you'd have 50 shields left, and it'd take him an additional 5 seconds or so to kill you. Scale these values however you like, and it always works out the same. You don't have to just deplete their shields, but also neutralize their regeneration.

So, consider you have a bank of 100 and a regeneration of 20. It takes 5 seconds to recover. If an enemy does 20 DPS to you, then he can't break your regeneration (barring critical hits, of course). If he does even a little more DPS, however, he can kill you, albeit slowly. In order to kill you effectively, he needs be able to do at least twice as much damage as you have shield regeneration. And the true is for you, killing other things. And this is, again, where the numbers game comes into play.

If you have the same bank and regeneration as the last example and there's now ''two'' of those enemies, they can kill you quickly, because even though each is only strong enough to neutralize your regeneration, the other is now doing pure DPS. You will be dead in 5 seconds flat. This is why you may be able to handle a single Battleship for example, but if another one shows up, you're done for. Now, if you manage to kill the first Battleship quickly enough, you're back down to a single enemy. See why this matters so much? If, when that new enemy appears, everything you have suddenly starts shooting at it instead, then you're done for. ''Focus Fire''.

===== Energize =====

Talk about energy and strategies for using it effectively.

===== Shielding =====

Go into detail about shields and how they work.

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-04-11T23:57:45Z

captainGarfield:

Yet another player guide by yours truly,captainGarfield.

This guide will be split into two parts: '''Quick Start''' and '''Comprehensive'''. The Quick Start portion will briefly explain the different parts of the game's control setup and how to get going in the world of ''Star Sonata''. The Comprehensive portion is intended to cover nearly every aspect of the game and provide you with the wisdom and knowledge I've gathered in the years I've played. Both parts can be used together or completely separate, and an Index will be provided for those looking for specific information. 

As a disclaimer, I realize this is not the first guide of its kind. I also realize that most other guides were left incomplete, had a bias, or have simply become outdated. In any case, I cannot guarantee that what you find here will always be 100% accurate and be the best source for you to base decisions off of. I am simply offering my opinions in the hope that they may help you to avoid some of the mistakes I have, and learn some of the tricks I've used. 

As I continue to develop this guide, I ask that anyone who happens to read it point out any factual mistakes I might make or give me suggestions. I plan to, once the guide has reached maturity, to actually begin interviewing other players for their input and knowledge on a variety of subjects.

== Part I: Quick Start ==

==== Controls & Interface ====

Before you can even think about playing the game, you need to know your way around it. Here's a quick and dirty introduction to all the different aspects of the interface. Try to keep up, because I'm not gonna waste any time with this section.

The screen is divided up into 4 parts: The Ship Box, Hotbar, Menubar, and Chat Box. Naturally, the game itself is in the center portion, with your ship in the center.

*The Ship Box shows your Shields, Energy, Visibility, and Weapon.
*The Hotbar allows you to bind your most commonly used items to a key on your keyboard.
*The Menubar lets you access all the different windows the game uses to interact with the player.
*The Chat Box lets you communicate with other players and provides key information in a timely fashion.

The Menubar has 10 buttons. From left to right, these are: Help, Warp, Dock, Galaxy Map, Options, Social, Character, Ship, Radar, and Inventory. Clicking any of the first three will cause an action, the others toggle windows. Help opens a browser window to the Star Sonata help page, Warp takes you through wormholes, and Dock allows you to go inside stations.

The Chat Box has 7 tabs. From left to right in the default configuration, these are: Event, All, Galaxy, Trade, Help, Team, and Squad. The order of these tabs can be changed by clicking any one and dragging it. Their uses are:

*Event: Displays any game-related messages, such as kills, actions, and the Message of the Day.
*All: A global chat where any player can talk.
*Galaxy: A local chat where only players in the same galaxy as you can talk.
*Trade: A place to advertise, buy, and sell.
*Help: A place to ask questions not easily answered by the Wiki or appropriate for All chat.
*Team: Lets you talk to other members of your Team in private.
*Squad: Lets you talk to other members of your Squad in private, and displays Squad-related events.

Most of the game involves flying your ship around and shooting at stuff. Before you can shoot at something, you first have to target it. If this weren't necessary, then it'd be impossible to avoid attacking everything from neutral space stations to teammates while fighting! To target something, simply click on it. A new box will appear providing information on the targeted object. You can also sort through the list of targetable objects in the galaxy using the Ctrl, Z, Q, and Tab keys. Using Shift with any of these keys will cycle through the list in reverse.

Here's a list of the most pertinent keys (click to expand):

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" width="500" style="font-size:10pt"
|-
| Key
| Action
| Notes
|-
| Space Bar
| Shoot
| Must have a target!
|-
| W, A, D
| Move forwards and turn
|
|-
| S
| Slows the ship
|
|-
| X
| Target options menu
| Must have a target!
|-
| V
| Autopilot
| Must have a target!
|-
| C
| Scoop
| Need to have a Scoop equipped, and a scoopable item nearby
|-
| Enter
| Chat
|
|-
| U
| Suicide
| Will have to authorize it
|-
| I
| Inventory
|
|-
| R
| Dock
| Must be close enough to a station and moving slow enough
|-
| F
| Warp
| Must be a wormhole nearby
|-
| O
| Game Options
|
|-
| P
| Galaxy Map
|
|-
| E
| Switch weapons
|
|-
| G
| Tractor Beam
| Must have one equipped and a target selected; if no target is selected, the nearest piece of Debris is grabbed
|-
| H
| Hides interface
| Useful for screenshots
|-
| K
| Cloaking Device
| Must have one equipped
|-
| M
| Missions Tab
|
|}

There are a number of windows in the game which you use to interact. I'll briefly go over them here:

==== Welcome to Space ====

At the start of the game, you're going to get a dinky little ship. You'll be in some strange looking place with a lot of green things flying around. This is fine, go ahead and click one. Press the Space Bar to shoot at it, and watch as it explodes. Now you know how to kill things, you bloodthirsty heathen.

Now that you've satisfied your bloodlust, it's time to start getting payed for it. Go to the base (the big thing that doesn't look like a rat, as you probably now know those green things as) and dock in it. You'll get a window with lots of tabs; right now, we only care about the first one. There's a box with some missions in it, double-click one. They're pretty self explanatory, so just do what it says and come back to claim your reward. Keep doing missions, eventually they'll lead you to the Nexus where there's... wait for it... ''more missions!'' Do those, and keep reading when you're done.

===== Briefing: Tactics =====

Star Sonata is, at its core, a top-down shooter. The physics in the game are extremely simple and the game mechanics, for the most part, very straight forward. In every top-down shooter since ''Asteroids'', the player controls a character from a bird's eye view and, well, shoots stuff. In Star Sonata, movement is defined by a few key variables:
* Speed - the max speed of a ship limits how fast it can go. Distance in the game is arbitrary, and 1 speed means you move 1 distance every second.
* Thrust - essentially, this determines how quickly you can get to top speed. Weight affects this greatly - you need more thrust to move more weight.
* Turning - the rate at which you turn. Weight also affects this, and so you need more torque to overcome more weight.
* Weight - every item on a ship has a weight, and this variable is used to determine how the ship handles.

Inertia counts. If a ship starts moving forwards, it will not stop until something forces it to. Explosions matter, too. When something blows up near your ship, it creates a concussion that pushes you away and sometimes jams your engine temporarily. There's also tractors - both yours, and those of players and AI. There's 3 kinds of tractors: push, pull, and hitchhiker. Each will push objects away from, pull objects towards, or move the player towards objects. Tractors on AI can make it hard to move around, but you can also use your own tractor to your advantage. Try slingshotting yourself around a planet when you get a chance - learning to use everything at your disposal for maneuverability is key.

The tactics I cover here all involve moving your ship a certain way. These are: Kiting, Jinking, Flybys, and Out Turning.

;Kiting
Kiting an enemy refers to positioning yourself in such a way that you are out of range of their weapons while simultaneously close enough for the AI to keep following you. Most AI have a range at which they will follow you indefinitely, usually between 50 and 100 distance beyond the range of their farthest shooting weapon. You can use this to your advantage by using a long range weapon and shooting at the AI without taking any damage. This is a good tactic if you don't have a strong or extremely agile ship and need to kill something tougher than you are.

;Jinking
Jinking is basically dodging. You cannot dodge lasers, but if the enemy is using projectile weapons, you can make them waste their shots by out maneuvering their bullets. Getting too close to the AI while doing this isn't effective, as you have less time to react. Try to find a distance at which you can keep shooting while also making adjustments to your position.

;Flybys
Flybys are essentially running full speed at the enemy, shooting a salvo of projectiles, and flying past. Speed Demons, especially, like to use this tactic as they tend to have the shield regeneration necessary to recover after sustaining damage from this. This is a good way to take out targets that could kill you if you stay within firing range long enough, but are not easy to kite or jink. You have to make sure you can recover enough of your shield bank between each run and do it fast enough that the enemy doesn't recover as well.

;Out Turning
Many AI turn slow. If you can stay behind them, you can keep shooting without getting shot. Note that some weapons have something called "Full Tracking", which allows them to be shot 360 degrees. If the AI has this, then this tactic is worthless. However, it is especially useful for taking out larger, gear laden AI, as these tend to be heavier.

In spite of the fact that Star Sonata is a top-down shooter and relies heavily on arcade-style gameplay, there's still a few other tactics to consider that don't involve maneuvering.

;Training
Training is the process of controlling the enemy's aggressiveness. AI will tend to shoot at whatever is doing the most damage to them - you can use this to your advantage to make them shoot at what you want them to. You, your slaves, and your drones each may not have that much shield bank individually, but if you combine them all then that's quite a lot. Dividing up enemy fire between each can help you last longer in battle. To capture an AI's aggro, you need to shoot at it. It usually doesn't take long. If you need to lose it, bring the AI near a slave or drone and wait for them to shoot at it. Once your slaves or drones start doing some damage, the AI will switch aggro. Note that some AI will not always respond to this due to the nature of their programming.

;Tanking
Tanking is all about taking damage, rather than directing it. Some players prefer to have an incredibly large shield bank and simply take the hits while their slaves, drones, missiles, fighters, or other players do the actual damage. Shield Monkeys tend to fall along this line, though they are intended to heal without taking damage rather than be shot. Tanking can be challenging and most setups rely on a high-bank, low regeneration shield, meaning that once that bank is gone, there is virtually no way to replenish it in a timely fashion without the help of healer drones or another player.

===== Briefing: Strategy =====

Next, go to Deep Space, do the missions there. Basically just do all the missions you can find, until you think you're not getting enough from them anymore. Yes, feel the greed. Aspire to be greater, greater than the rats and the volcoms.

Once you've done that, go to Sol. To get to Sol, go through the gate to Earthforce Celestial Garden. The one to Sol is in there. Go to the Earthforce Frontier Station and see what missions are available. If you have any skillpoints, use them.

===== Core Skills =====

*Piloting: You can't pilot a giant ship if all you know is zebucarts. Learn to fly more complicated things.
*Shields: Shields keep you from getting blown up. They're also complicated to install. Not just anyone knows how to jack a billion cables together.
*Energy: Nuclear reactor leaking? Too bad, there's no health insurance here. Energy is what makes your ship go round, keep a lot of it.
*Radar: You can't shoot what you can't see. And there's a lot you're not seeing, like why that haircut looks bad on you.
*Engines: Puff puff. Go fast faster, turn hard harder.
*Equipment: You see that launch tube? Go crawl inside it.
*Weaponry: Shoot stuff with bigger and bigger guns.
*Cloaking: Don't get shot at.

So, there you go. The most important to you are probably piloting, weaponry, shields, and energy. You can't shoot without energy, it doesn't matter if you have energy if your gun sucks as much as you do, your guns don't matter if you die instantly and none of it matters if you can't fit it all in the freaking ship.

In any case, get some skills if you can and get some new gear. You should have plenty of money from the Nexus, so go nuts. You should have a decent level of Piloting now so get rid of that Helga.

Next, go to Blue Outpost and kill the little blue ships. You'll get to level 50 easy. Now kill the bigger blue ships. You can get some slaves at this point too, which are extremely useful because it's like having another player beside you.

Once you've killed just about everything you can find and can't level anymore, get Warp Navigation to 2. You can do this at Sol or Paxius, whichever you prefer. However, you've probably got some blue stuff from killing things in the Outpost, so Sol is probably best.

Next, do the same thing. Get to level 100, and start worrying about specialization. This is important, because this game doesn't let you do a little of everything and be good at it. You need to choose a play style and stick with it. There's a lot to consider, but whatever's been working best for you so far is the path you should take.

Before you even worry about class skills, I'd worry more about your core skills. Most people say get a class skill as soon as possible - this is okay, if you know what you want to do already. But I think it's not wise to urge new players to make an important decision so quickly. You can still head in one direction or another first, and see how you like it.

So, core skills. At this point you probably have most somewhere between 8 and 10. Now think about what you're lacking in. Do you run out of energy too often? Do you blow up a lot? Your weapons don't do enough damage? Figure it out and go get that skill up, then get better gear. Whatever's holding you back, move it out of the way.

Once you've chosen a path, follow it. Don't meddle around, it's a waste of time.

==== Briefing: Class Skills ====

Class skills are oftentimes seen as the pinnacle of a player's progression. Having your class skill and its subskills maxed out isn't necessarily a sign that you've reached the end game, but are getting close to it. The bonuses given by these skills tend to be greater than any other skill in the game, and so they are extremely important later on.

Many players say you should get your class skills maxed out as soon as possible. This is definitely good advice, though it is often misinterpreted. You should get your class skills maxed, but not before you get your core skills maxed. You don't need to have, say, Radar to 20, but you definitely should have Piloting, Shields, and Electrical Engineering to 20 at the least before you worry about your class too much.

Now, you can start with your class whenever you feel comfortable making that choice. It doesn't matter if you're level 20 or 200, just begin when you're ready. When you do start to class up, try to keep it consistent. You want to pace yourself, since class skills take a lot of skill points, but you also don't want to lag behind too much.

==== Briefing: Gear ====

Talk about the different items, what they do.

===== Briefing: Augmenters =====

Go into detail about augmenters.

==== The World Keeps Going ====

The game moves on even if you don't.

===== Briefing: Teams =====

A good team is hard to come by. Many teams are simply full of underachievers or lowlifes. Others are filled with people who may seem too cutthroat or edgy for you. It's important not to judge a team simply by objective qualities, but also by how you feel about it. That may sound unusual coming from me, but if you're not happy in a team, you're simply going to want to leave. That'll cause unnecessary drama that nobody really wants to deal with. So find a team that seems to have similar goals to yours, and players who you already know you like.

If you absolutely can't find a decent team or simply want to start your own, you'll need to acquire the [[Leadership]] skill first. This skill is fairly easy to get for most players and simply requires a bit of money and some time. When creating a team, think very carefully about how you want to present it to other players. Are you about integrity and doing things the right way, or are you going for something more laid back, a place where people can just come and go as they please? Are you planning to accomplish something important, or simply intend to figure things out as it goes along? Whatever decision you may come to, make sure you reach it before you actually create the team.

It's not entirely rare, but it also doesn't happen a lot, especially in a large team. Believe it or not, if you put in the time and effort, you may actually get '''promoted''' in your new team! What you do when this happens is take a step back and reevalute your position. What did you do to even get promoted in the first place? Whatever it was, identify it and keep doing it. If you start slacking off, you're simply going to be resented by other players, especially those a lower rank than you. If you've been placed in a position of trust - say, an Officer, or even a Councilor - do ''not'' betray it. You will inevitably regret it. It will tarnish your reputation and people tend to not forget these sorts of things.

If you feel you do not like a team anymore, or do not like what position you are in, it is best to talk about it with someone who can actually help first. Do not simply leave a team unless you've been told to do so - a lot of teams do not take too kindly to it, since it can harm their score. If you feel you're in a position of responsibility but don't actually want that responsibility, ask to be demoted, don't cause trouble.

In general, use common sense, and always consult your teammates before making an important decision.

===== Dungeons =====

Understanding how they work.

===== Perilous Space =====

The final frontier.

===== Death =====

Death in this game is not as morbid as it may be in other places, like real life. In fact, dying in this game isn't even as bad as it once was. In previous years, dying in Star Sonata meant losing gear, and slaves could actually be converted into carbon wisps quite easily if they didn't have a Slave Stasis Generator equipped. Drones couldn't be repaired - if you lost them, that was it. Indeed, it was harsh in the olden days, and many Gear Glues were spent trying to prevent the inevitable.

Now, all slaves are equipped with stasis generators by default (one could say the control bots have them inbuilt), drones do not explode but simply break, and players can no longer drop gear when they die.

In spite of all of these improvements (some say they have made the game too easy, but I digress) dying in this game can still be a traumatic experience.

Death is marked by one's shields reaching 0. Now, your shields actually ''can'' be 0 and you still won't die, so in actuality it's being shot without shields that kills you. Your ship enters stasis and you are ejected in either spirit or pod form. For more information about the process of death, see [[Death]].

When you die, equipped items on your ship lose Durability. The lower their Durability, the less effective they are. To regain Durability, you have to repair the items on your ship, which costs money.

Slaves also suffer from a loss of Durability upon death. Drones, when killed, are simply converted to a destroyed form, and must be scooped and repaired in order to be used again.

===== F2P vs P2P =====

It has to be mentioned.

==== Moving On ====

A closing message.

== Part 2: Comprehensive Guide ==

===== Introduction =====

Describe this portion of the guide.

===== All is Well =====

;The End of Everything
When a universe begins, there is a bit of a chaotic phase where everyone is rushing to find the best galaxies, the best planets for colonies, and just get their bases and everything set up. Large teams will try to take large tracts of space that they will eventually fill with drones and trading slaves, only to have to pack it all up again later. Very quickly, and almost without warning, the universe will soon look like it did when it ended, just with everything in a slightly different place.

Star Sonata isn't the only game of its kind to use a system like this, where the game world is reset once every few months. However, it is a very important aspect of the game in many ways. For example, [[Hydroponics]] missions can only be done once per universe. Places like Hyper are hard to invade for any team wishing to seize control of its resources, and so the universe reset allows another team a chance to take hold, preventing monopolies. The same happens for most other resources, and just about everyone gets a chance to try and take some valuable plot of space.

So, why does this matter to you? Well, there's a number of reasons why, and we'll explore each one briefly before expanding on it in a later section.

===== The Economy =====

Describe how the economy in the game works.

===== Making Money =====

;Farming

;Shops

;Pirating

;Slaving

;Saving Money

;Losing Money

;Investments

===== Leveling Up =====

Talk about strategies for leveling up.

===== Detail: Teams =====

Get into detail about teams and how they interrelate.

====== Diplomacy ======

Talk about making teams work together, or fall apart.

===== Detail: AI =====

AI, as you should already know, stands for Artificial Intelligence. The name implies that an AI player is both not alive and also smart. While the former is true, the latter is a complete and utter lie. There is nothing smart about the AI in this game, or most games for that matter. AI in Star Sonata seem to follow a script-based program where they will prioritize certain behaviors over others depending on what's going on around them.

AI seem to have a number of different states and I will attempt to catalog them here as I learn more.

;Standing
When there is nothing for the AI to do, it will simply stand in one spot for a while.
''Leads To''
;Roaming
AI will move for no reason after standing in the same spot too long. Sometimes, they will warp.
''Leads To''
;Docking
AI will randomly dock at AI bases and player bases. Sometimes, they will buy some commodities, but most of the time their hulls are too overfilled to do anything. This behavior is more for effect than anything else, giving players a sense that even the AI have stuff to do in this game.
''Leads To''
;Aggression
*AI will become aggressive for a number of reasons
**They are shot at
**Their attack code determines they need to attack a passing player
**Their swarm code determines they can kill a stronger player than usual e.g., the Rosemarys and Basils in Perilous Outpost sometimes attack the Earthforce AI, though their scripting should prevent this (there's no way they can win), but due to swarm mentality, a group of aggressive AI will attack just about anything.
**They are programmed to be aggressive, for mission or design reasons e.g., Flyswatters, who are intentionally annoying

''Leads To''
;Regression
When an AI is about to die, it will often try to run. Because the script doesn't seem to take into account ''where'' the threat is but rather that there is just a threat in general, most AI will keep warping through the same two gates over and over again until their shields are high enough to resume attack behavior. Sometimes, they will stay on the other side if they leave this state quick enough and eventually resume their normal roaming behavior.
''And/Or/Instead''
;Spin Out
AI will sometimes freak out and spin in circles if they can't run but are still about to die. The only reasons I can conjure up for this behavior are: 1. They are programmed to behave like this, so their deaths are more epic, or 2. Their retreat code can't find a gate to warp through and they continue with the last action they were given (in this case, turning so they can head towards a gate).

''more to come...''

===== Bases =====

Talk about the pros and cons of owning a base, and how to get started.

====== Colonies ======

Talk about how to run colonies and what the point is.

===== Drones =====

Talk about drones, their pros and cons, and what's best for the situation.

===== Slaves =====

Slaves are a key component to the Star Sonata game. They are also pretty unique, and not many other games, even those outside the MMO genre, have something comparable to the ones found in Star Sonata.

Slaves in Star Sonata can be completely independent of the player. Once a slave is activated, it becomes an AI just like any other NPC in the game, the only difference being that you can give it orders. If given a set of commands to repeat, the slave will do them almost indefinitely until it either dies or the Universe ends. Combat slaves are a little less versatile but still obey your commands to not attack or to avoid harm to themselves ("Stay Close").

Because of the way slave AI works, they can be have almost exactly like the regular AI in the game. This is evidenced by the fact that a slave and an enemy AI that are of equal strength can sometimes dogfight for minutes at a time, the same way AI which are aggressive to each other will sometimes do.

The only major difference between slave AI and regular AI is that slaves lack any autonomous behavior, in the sense that they do not have a run script or an aggression script. This means a slave AI will never run away from an enemy, and they will never attack an enemy of their own accord.

===== Ships =====

At the start of the game, choosing a ship is mostly about preference. You will soon find that these preferences may eventually lead you to a certain class skill. If you like bigger ships with lots of hull, you may go for a support or fleet focus, but if you like fast ships you might go for speed demon. There's a large number of ships in this game and lots of different ways of setting them up. The same two Pax Astrologicas, one augged for Berserker and one augged for Engineer, are effectively two entirely different ships because their stats are so strongly affected both by the class skills and by the augmenters equipped.

Towards the end-game, you will find that many ships are in fact aimed at different classes. Some are even class-locked, meaning only one class can use (or make use of) that ship. Rhinos are for Engineers and Shield Monkeys (though ShMs tend to prefer Apprentice's Wards) and Lions are for Berserkers. Panthers are for Speed Demons and Dreads are for Fleet Commanders, and so on and so forth. But just because your class has a ship designed for it doesn't always mean that ship will fit your play style. There are a number of alternatives that you can use at any point in the game that my not align perfectly with the intended flow of character progression but are still good choices and may be even better for you than what's recommended.

So, you may be asking yourself at this point, "That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't help me decide much. You basically just reaffirmed by belief that I am always right, because I am." ''SLAP!'' No! You aren't always right. Get that nonsensical sense out of your skull. The most important thing to remember in this game is that you are ''always WRONG''. Why? Because that's what everyone else is going to tell you, no matter what choice you make. And this is why I assert that you should always go with what feels right for you, even if it may not seem like the best choice. And if it really doesn't work out, hey maybe they were right, but now you have an even better idea of what you need to improve on, right?

That means you need to think long and hard about where you're at and what you want to accomplish. I can assure you though, if you feel like you're getting to the point where it's getting difficult to kill the AI you ought to be killing at your level, a new ship is almost always the cure. Just remember to augment it, otherwise it'll be even worse than your last fully augmented ship, believe it or not.

Once you get that new ship, have it augmented properly, and are ready for something else, go read another section of this guide because what you ought to do next is get newer gear and probably go spend all those Skill Points somewhere.

===== Weapons =====

Damage types and more.

===== Detail: Augmenters =====

Get into the math of how it all works.

===== Detail: Classes =====

More math and detailed explanations.

===== Missions =====

Why should anyone do missions? Talk about it.

===== Detail: Gear =====

Include a discussion about fighters, missiles, etc.

===== Detail: Tactics & Strategy =====

;The Numbers Game

When you get down to it, this game is all about numbers. Everything from DPS to your level in Aug Tweaking effects the way the game plays for you. We're going to talk about one of the most important numbers of all: enemies.

The number of enemies you are facing is generally important. You may not be able to kill 50 Rosemarys, though you can kill 25. You may be able to handle a group of Forgones, but throw in a few Big Greens and it all goes downhill.

When I call it the numbers game, I'm not saying that if all your assets combined can put out X DPS and the enemy can put out Y DPS , and you cross your shields against their fire and theirs against yours (and assuming all else is equal), the math is going to tell you who wins. It most likely won't, because there's a lot more influencing the way this works than that. In fact, my proposition is the antithesis of that mentality: it's not about the numbers, but instead how you apply them. It's all about where you direction your attention and when, and how you go about accomplishing that which needs to be done in order to win.

It really is frustrating when you don't understand why you can't do this or why that DG is so difficult. The truth is, you may have just reached the limits of what you can achieve with your current setup. However, there's still some extremely valuable strategies that you should know, both to squeeze a little more life out of that ship you got 200 lvls ago and should probably have replaced by now, and to increase your overall efficiency and give you some skills that might help you out in more extreme circumstances.

;Focus Fire
* The crux of it is this: when you are fighting a small group of enemies, you generally don't need to worry about where all that fire from your drones, slaves, missiles, or fighters are going. You already know that you're going to win and you just don't need to worry about it. But as you increase the number of enemies to the point where they can actually begin dealing damage against you, choosing your targets suddenly becomes more important. When fighting a large group of enemies, you are likely to get killed if you don't do something about the DPS coming your way, and do it quickly. You can circumvent this by having something that heals you, or a neurotweak that will boost your shield regen, but those only extend your lifespan, not remove the cause of the problem. In other words, you just need to begin reducing their numbers.
* Kill the strongest first. Yes, that's right, take out the strongest enemies first. The ones who are doing the most damage to you, individually, are the most dangerous and need to be removed immediately.
* If all else is equal, go for the weakest first. On the other hand, you have a situation where all are giving about the same DPS and it doesn't matter which you kill. In that case, kill the weakest first - be it the one with the lowest shields at the moment, or the one that's a lower level than the rest.

So, let's consider an example. Again let's rule out other variables like resistances and whatnot and just focus on some pure, raw numbers. You have a ship with 100 shields and you can pull 50 DPS. You have an enemy with 500 shields that can only pull 25 DPS. Who wins? Well, the math says that he can kill you in 4 seconds but you can kill him in 10. So, you'd be dead 6 seconds too soon to kill him, and he'd still have plenty of shields left over. He only has 500% more shields and 50% less DPS, why can't you kill him? Well, did you sit in the same spot the whole time? What if you were able to evade half of his shots, so that it takes him 8 seconds to kill you? And if you let a slave or drone take the other 2 second's worth, hey, you just made it! I know that sounds like a copout, but that's just it! In this game, you use copouts like that to survive. The tactics section goes more in depth about how to avoid taking fire while dealing it, so we're just going to continue exploring the numbers here.

Another example: You and your enemy are equals. You both have 100 shields and can pull 50 DPS. You're both dead after 2 seconds. How do you win? Well, if we consider resistances this time, then whoever has the highest resists wins. If you both shot for the entire duration and landed all your hits, and one still died while the other lived, then you know who has the weaker ship. The same is true if you consider vulnerabilities rather than resistances, or damage boosts instead. What if we consider shield regeneration?

If you have a shield with a bank of 100 and it regenerates 10/s, then it takes you 10 seconds to recover. If, over the course of 10 seconds, an enemy can pull 20 DPS, he's only actually removed half your shields, since your shields are always recovering over the course of that period! Effectively, you'd have 50 shields left, and it'd take him an additional 5 seconds or so to kill you. Scale these values however you like, and it always works out the same. You don't have to just deplete their shields, but also neutralize their regeneration.

So, consider you have a bank of 100 and a regeneration of 20. It takes 5 seconds to recover. If an enemy does 20 DPS to you, then he can't break your regeneration (barring critical hits, of course). If he does even a little more DPS, however, he can kill you, albeit slowly. In order to kill you effectively, he needs be able to do at least twice as much damage as you have shield regeneration. And the true is for you, killing other things. And this is, again, where the numbers game comes into play.

If you have the same bank and regeneration as the last example and there's now ''two'' of those enemies, they can kill you quickly, because even though each is only strong enough to neutralize your regeneration, the other is now doing pure DPS. You will be dead in 5 seconds flat. This is why you may be able to handle a single Battleship for example, but if another one shows up, you're done for. Now, if you manage to kill the first Battleship quickly enough, you're back down to a single enemy. See why this matters so much? If, when that new enemy appears, everything you have suddenly starts shooting at it instead, then you're done for. ''Focus Fire''.

===== Energize =====

Talk about energy and strategies for using it effectively.

===== Shielding =====

Go into detail about shields and how they work.

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-04-11T23:55:31Z

captainGarfield: /* Slaves */

Yet another player guide by yours truly,captainGarfield.

This guide will be split into two parts: '''Quick Start''' and '''Comprehensive'''. The Quick Start portion will briefly explain the different parts of the game's control setup and how to get going in the world of ''Star Sonata''. The Comprehensive portion is intended to cover nearly every aspect of the game and provide you with the wisdom and knowledge I've gathered in the years I've played. Both parts can be used together or completely separate, and an Index will be provided for those looking for specific information. 

As a disclaimer, I realize this is not the first guide of its kind. I also realize that most other guides were left incomplete, had a bias, or have simply become outdated. In any case, I cannot guarantee that what you find here will always be 100% accurate and be the best source for you to base decisions off of. I am simply offering my opinions in the hope that they may help you to avoid some of the mistakes I have, and learn some of the tricks I've used. 

As I continue to develop this guide, I ask that anyone who happens to read it point out any factual mistakes I might make or give me suggestions. I plan to, once the guide has reached maturity, to actually begin interviewing other players for their input and knowledge on a variety of subjects.

== Part I: Quick Start ==

==== Controls & Interface ====

Before you can even think about playing the game, you need to know your way around it. Here's a quick and dirty introduction to all the different aspects of the interface. Try to keep up, because I'm not gonna waste any time with this section.

The screen is divided up into 4 parts: The Ship Box, Hotbar, Menubar, and Chat Box. Naturally, the game itself is in the center portion, with your ship in the center.

*The Ship Box shows your Shields, Energy, Visibility, and Weapon.
*The Hotbar allows you to bind your most commonly used items to a key on your keyboard.
*The Menubar lets you access all the different windows the game uses to interact with the player.
*The Chat Box lets you communicate with other players and provides key information in a timely fashion.

The Menubar has 10 buttons. From left to right, these are: Help, Warp, Dock, Galaxy Map, Options, Social, Character, Ship, Radar, and Inventory. Clicking any of the first three will cause an action, the others toggle windows. Help opens a browser window to the Star Sonata help page, Warp takes you through wormholes, and Dock allows you to go inside stations.

The Chat Box has 7 tabs. From left to right in the default configuration, these are: Event, All, Galaxy, Trade, Help, Team, and Squad. The order of these tabs can be changed by clicking any one and dragging it. Their uses are:

*Event: Displays any game-related messages, such as kills, actions, and the Message of the Day.
*All: A global chat where any player can talk.
*Galaxy: A local chat where only players in the same galaxy as you can talk.
*Trade: A place to advertise, buy, and sell.
*Help: A place to ask questions not easily answered by the Wiki or appropriate for All chat.
*Team: Lets you talk to other members of your Team in private.
*Squad: Lets you talk to other members of your Squad in private, and displays Squad-related events.

Most of the game involves flying your ship around and shooting at stuff. Before you can shoot at something, you first have to target it. If this weren't necessary, then it'd be impossible to avoid attacking everything from neutral space stations to teammates while fighting! To target something, simply click on it. A new box will appear providing information on the targeted object. You can also sort through the list of targetable objects in the galaxy using the Ctrl, Z, Q, and Tab keys. Using Shift with any of these keys will cycle through the list in reverse.

Here's a list of the most pertinent keys (click to expand):

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" width="500" style="font-size:10pt"
|-
| Key
| Action
| Notes
|-
| Space Bar
| Shoot
| Must have a target!
|-
| W, A, D
| Move forwards and turn
|
|-
| S
| Slows the ship
|
|-
| X
| Target options menu
| Must have a target!
|-
| V
| Autopilot
| Must have a target!
|-
| C
| Scoop
| Need to have a Scoop equipped, and a scoopable item nearby
|-
| Enter
| Chat
|
|-
| U
| Suicide
| Will have to authorize it
|-
| I
| Inventory
|
|-
| R
| Dock
| Must be close enough to a station and moving slow enough
|-
| F
| Warp
| Must be a wormhole nearby
|-
| O
| Game Options
|
|-
| P
| Galaxy Map
|
|-
| E
| Switch weapons
|
|-
| G
| Tractor Beam
| Must have one equipped and a target selected; if no target is selected, the nearest piece of Debris is grabbed
|-
| H
| Hides interface
| Useful for screenshots
|-
| K
| Cloaking Device
| Must have one equipped
|-
| M
| Missions Tab
|
|}

There are a number of windows in the game which you use to interact. I'll briefly go over them here:

==== Welcome to Space ====

At the start of the game, you're going to get a dinky little ship. You'll be in some strange looking place with a lot of green things flying around. This is fine, go ahead and click one. Press the Space Bar to shoot at it, and watch as it explodes. Now you know how to kill things, you bloodthirsty heathen.

Now that you've satisfied your bloodlust, it's time to start getting payed for it. Go to the base (the big thing that doesn't look like a rat, as you probably now know those green things as) and dock in it. You'll get a window with lots of tabs; right now, we only care about the first one. There's a box with some missions in it, double-click one. They're pretty self explanatory, so just do what it says and come back to claim your reward. Keep doing missions, eventually they'll lead you to the Nexus where there's... wait for it... ''more missions!'' Do those, and keep reading when you're done.

===== Tactics =====

Star Sonata is, at its core, a top-down shooter. The physics in the game are extremely simple and the game mechanics, for the most part, very straight forward. In every top-down shooter since ''Asteroids'', the player controls a character from a bird's eye view and, well, shoots stuff. In Star Sonata, movement is defined by a few key variables:
* Speed - the max speed of a ship limits how fast it can go. Distance in the game is arbitrary, and 1 speed means you move 1 distance every second.
* Thrust - essentially, this determines how quickly you can get to top speed. Weight affects this greatly - you need more thrust to move more weight.
* Turning - the rate at which you turn. Weight also affects this, and so you need more torque to overcome more weight.
* Weight - every item on a ship has a weight, and this variable is used to determine how the ship handles.

Inertia counts. If a ship starts moving forwards, it will not stop until something forces it to. Explosions matter, too. When something blows up near your ship, it creates a concussion that pushes you away and sometimes jams your engine temporarily. There's also tractors - both yours, and those of players and AI. There's 3 kinds of tractors: push, pull, and hitchhiker. Each will push objects away from, pull objects towards, or move the player towards objects. Tractors on AI can make it hard to move around, but you can also use your own tractor to your advantage. Try slingshotting yourself around a planet when you get a chance - learning to use everything at your disposal for maneuverability is key.

The tactics I cover here all involve moving your ship a certain way. These are: Kiting, Jinking, Flybys, and Out Turning.

;Kiting
Kiting an enemy refers to positioning yourself in such a way that you are out of range of their weapons while simultaneously close enough for the AI to keep following you. Most AI have a range at which they will follow you indefinitely, usually between 50 and 100 distance beyond the range of their farthest shooting weapon. You can use this to your advantage by using a long range weapon and shooting at the AI without taking any damage. This is a good tactic if you don't have a strong or extremely agile ship and need to kill something tougher than you are.

;Jinking
Jinking is basically dodging. You cannot dodge lasers, but if the enemy is using projectile weapons, you can make them waste their shots by out maneuvering their bullets. Getting too close to the AI while doing this isn't effective, as you have less time to react. Try to find a distance at which you can keep shooting while also making adjustments to your position.

;Flybys
Flybys are essentially running full speed at the enemy, shooting a salvo of projectiles, and flying past. Speed Demons, especially, like to use this tactic as they tend to have the shield regeneration necessary to recover after sustaining damage from this. This is a good way to take out targets that could kill you if you stay within firing range long enough, but are not easy to kite or jink. You have to make sure you can recover enough of your shield bank between each run and do it fast enough that the enemy doesn't recover as well.

;Out Turning
Many AI turn slow. If you can stay behind them, you can keep shooting without getting shot. Note that some weapons have something called "Full Tracking", which allows them to be shot 360 degrees. If the AI has this, then this tactic is worthless. However, it is especially useful for taking out larger, gear laden AI, as these tend to be heavier.

In spite of the fact that Star Sonata is a top-down shooter and relies heavily on arcade-style gameplay, there's still a few other tactics to consider that don't involve maneuvering.

;Training
Training is the process of controlling the enemy's aggressiveness. AI will tend to shoot at whatever is doing the most damage to them - you can use this to your advantage to make them shoot at what you want them to. You, your slaves, and your drones each may not have that much shield bank individually, but if you combine them all then that's quite a lot. Dividing up enemy fire between each can help you last longer in battle. To capture an AI's aggro, you need to shoot at it. It usually doesn't take long. If you need to lose it, bring the AI near a slave or drone and wait for them to shoot at it. Once your slaves or drones start doing some damage, the AI will switch aggro. Note that some AI will not always respond to this due to the nature of their programming.

;Tanking
Tanking is all about taking damage, rather than directing it. Some players prefer to have an incredibly large shield bank and simply take the hits while their slaves, drones, missiles, fighters, or other players do the actual damage. Shield Monkeys tend to fall along this line, though they are intended to heal without taking damage rather than be shot. Tanking can be challenging and most setups rely on a high-bank, low regeneration shield, meaning that once that bank is gone, there is virtually no way to replenish it in a timely fashion without the help of healer drones or another player.

===== Strategy =====

Next, go to Deep Space, do the missions there. Basically just do all the missions you can find, until you think you're not getting enough from them anymore. Yes, feel the greed. Aspire to be greater, greater than the rats and the volcoms.

Once you've done that, go to Sol. To get to Sol, go through the gate to Earthforce Celestial Garden. The one to Sol is in there. Go to the Earthforce Frontier Station and see what missions are available. If you have any skillpoints, use them.

===== Core Skills =====

*Piloting: You can't pilot a giant ship if all you know is zebucarts. Learn to fly more complicated things.
*Shields: Shields keep you from getting blown up. They're also complicated to install. Not just anyone knows how to jack a billion cables together.
*Energy: Nuclear reactor leaking? Too bad, there's no health insurance here. Energy is what makes your ship go round, keep a lot of it.
*Radar: You can't shoot what you can't see. And there's a lot you're not seeing, like why that haircut looks bad on you.
*Engines: Puff puff. Go fast faster, turn hard harder.
*Equipment: You see that launch tube? Go crawl inside it.
*Weaponry: Shoot stuff with bigger and bigger guns.
*Cloaking: Don't get shot at.

So, there you go. The most important to you are probably piloting, weaponry, shields, and energy. You can't shoot without energy, it doesn't matter if you have energy if your gun sucks as much as you do, your guns don't matter if you die instantly and none of it matters if you can't fit it all in the freaking ship.

In any case, get some skills if you can and get some new gear. You should have plenty of money from the Nexus, so go nuts. You should have a decent level of Piloting now so get rid of that Helga.

Next, go to Blue Outpost and kill the little blue ships. You'll get to level 50 easy. Now kill the bigger blue ships. You can get some slaves at this point too, which are extremely useful because it's like having another player beside you.

Once you've killed just about everything you can find and can't level anymore, get Warp Navigation to 2. You can do this at Sol or Paxius, whichever you prefer. However, you've probably got some blue stuff from killing things in the Outpost, so Sol is probably best.

Next, do the same thing. Get to level 100, and start worrying about specialization. This is important, because this game doesn't let you do a little of everything and be good at it. You need to choose a play style and stick with it. There's a lot to consider, but whatever's been working best for you so far is the path you should take.

Before you even worry about class skills, I'd worry more about your core skills. Most people say get a class skill as soon as possible - this is okay, if you know what you want to do already. But I think it's not wise to urge new players to make an important decision so quickly. You can still head in one direction or another first, and see how you like it.

So, core skills. At this point you probably have most somewhere between 8 and 10. Now think about what you're lacking in. Do you run out of energy too often? Do you blow up a lot? Your weapons don't do enough damage? Figure it out and go get that skill up, then get better gear. Whatever's holding you back, move it out of the way.

Once you've chosen a path, follow it. Don't meddle around, it's a waste of time.

==== Class Skills ====

Class skills are oftentimes seen as the pinnacle of a player's progression. Having your class skill and its subskills maxed out isn't necessarily a sign that you've reached the end game, but are getting close to it. The bonuses given by these skills tend to be greater than any other skill in the game, and so they are extremely important later on.

Many players say you should get your class skills maxed out as soon as possible. This is definitely good advice, though it is often misinterpreted. You should get your class skills maxed, but not before you get your core skills maxed. You don't need to have, say, Radar to 20, but you definitely should have Piloting, Shields, and Electrical Engineering to 20 at the least before you worry about your class too much.

Now, you can start with your class whenever you feel comfortable making that choice. It doesn't matter if you're level 20 or 200, just begin when you're ready. When you do start to class up, try to keep it consistent. You want to pace yourself, since class skills take a lot of skill points, but you also don't want to lag behind too much.

==== Gear ====

Talk about the different items, what they do.

===== Augmenters =====

Go into detail about augmenters.

==== The World Keeps Going ====

The game moves on even if you don't.

===== Teams =====

A good team is hard to come by. Many teams are simply full of underachievers or lowlifes. Others are filled with people who may seem too cutthroat or edgy for you. It's important not to judge a team simply by objective qualities, but also by how you feel about it. That may sound unusual coming from me, but if you're not happy in a team, you're simply going to want to leave. That'll cause unnecessary drama that nobody really wants to deal with. So find a team that seems to have similar goals to yours, and players who you already know you like.

If you absolutely can't find a decent team or simply want to start your own, you'll need to acquire the [[Leadership]] skill first. This skill is fairly easy to get for most players and simply requires a bit of money and some time. When creating a team, think very carefully about how you want to present it to other players. Are you about integrity and doing things the right way, or are you going for something more laid back, a place where people can just come and go as they please? Are you planning to accomplish something important, or simply intend to figure things out as it goes along? Whatever decision you may come to, make sure you reach it before you actually create the team.

It's not entirely rare, but it also doesn't happen a lot, especially in a large team. Believe it or not, if you put in the time and effort, you may actually get '''promoted''' in your new team! What you do when this happens is take a step back and reevalute your position. What did you do to even get promoted in the first place? Whatever it was, identify it and keep doing it. If you start slacking off, you're simply going to be resented by other players, especially those a lower rank than you. If you've been placed in a position of trust - say, an Officer, or even a Councilor - do ''not'' betray it. You will inevitably regret it. It will tarnish your reputation and people tend to not forget these sorts of things.

If you feel you do not like a team anymore, or do not like what position you are in, it is best to talk about it with someone who can actually help first. Do not simply leave a team unless you've been told to do so - a lot of teams do not take too kindly to it, since it can harm their score. If you feel you're in a position of responsibility but don't actually want that responsibility, ask to be demoted, don't cause trouble.

In general, use common sense, and always consult your teammates before making an important decision.

===== Dungeons =====

Understanding how they work.

===== Perilous Space =====

The final frontier.

===== Death =====

Death in this game is not as morbid as it may be in other places, like real life. In fact, dying in this game isn't even as bad as it once was. In previous years, dying in Star Sonata meant losing gear, and slaves could actually be converted into carbon wisps quite easily if they didn't have a Slave Stasis Generator equipped. Drones couldn't be repaired - if you lost them, that was it. Indeed, it was harsh in the olden days, and many Gear Glues were spent trying to prevent the inevitable.

Now, all slaves are equipped with stasis generators by default (one could say the control bots have them inbuilt), drones do not explode but simply break, and players can no longer drop gear when they die.

In spite of all of these improvements (some say they have made the game too easy, but I digress) dying in this game can still be a traumatic experience.

Death is marked by one's shields reaching 0. Now, your shields actually ''can'' be 0 and you still won't die, so in actuality it's being shot without shields that kills you. Your ship enters stasis and you are ejected in either spirit or pod form. For more information about the process of death, see [[Death]].

When you die, equipped items on your ship lose Durability. The lower their Durability, the less effective they are. To regain Durability, you have to repair the items on your ship, which costs money.

Slaves also suffer from a loss of Durability upon death. Drones, when killed, are simply converted to a destroyed form, and must be scooped and repaired in order to be used again.

===== F2P vs P2P =====

It has to be mentioned.

==== Moving On ====

A closing message.

== Part 2: Comprehensive Guide ==

===== Introduction =====

Describe this portion of the guide.

===== All is Well =====

;The End of Everything
When a universe begins, there is a bit of a chaotic phase where everyone is rushing to find the best galaxies, the best planets for colonies, and just get their bases and everything set up. Large teams will try to take large tracts of space that they will eventually fill with drones and trading slaves, only to have to pack it all up again later. Very quickly, and almost without warning, the universe will soon look like it did when it ended, just with everything in a slightly different place.

Star Sonata isn't the only game of its kind to use a system like this, where the game world is reset once every few months. However, it is a very important aspect of the game in many ways. For example, [[Hydroponics]] missions can only be done once per universe. Places like Hyper are hard to invade for any team wishing to seize control of its resources, and so the universe reset allows another team a chance to take hold, preventing monopolies. The same happens for most other resources, and just about everyone gets a chance to try and take some valuable plot of space.

So, why does this matter to you? Well, there's a number of reasons why, and we'll explore each one briefly before expanding on it in a later section.

===== The Economy =====

Describe how the economy in the game works.

===== Making Money =====

;Farming

;Shops

;Pirating

;Slaving

;Saving Money

;Losing Money

lInvestments

===== Leveling Up =====

Talk about strategies for leveling up.

===== More About Teams =====

Get into detail about teams and how they interrelate.

====== Diplomacy ======

Talk about making teams work together, or fall apart.

===== More About AI =====

AI, as you should already know, stands for Artificial Intelligence. The name implies that an AI player is both not alive and also smart. While the former is true, the latter is a complete and utter lie. There is nothing smart about the AI in this game, or most games for that matter. AI in Star Sonata seem to follow a script-based program where they will prioritize certain behaviors over others depending on what's going on around them.

AI seem to have a number of different states and I will attempt to catalog them here as I learn more.

;Standing
When there is nothing for the AI to do, it will simply stand in one spot for a while.
''Leads To''
;Roaming
AI will move for no reason after standing in the same spot too long. Sometimes, they will warp.
''Leads To''
;Docking
AI will randomly dock at AI bases and player bases. Sometimes, they will buy some commodities, but most of the time their hulls are too overfilled to do anything. This behavior is more for effect than anything else, giving players a sense that even the AI have stuff to do in this game.
''Leads To''
;Aggression
*AI will become aggressive for a number of reasons
**They are shot at
**Their attack code determines they need to attack a passing player
**Their swarm code determines they can kill a stronger player than usual e.g., the Rosemarys and Basils in Perilous Outpost sometimes attack the Earthforce AI, though their scripting should prevent this (there's no way they can win), but due to swarm mentality, a group of aggressive AI will attack just about anything.
**They are programmed to be aggressive, for mission or design reasons e.g., Flyswatters, who are intentionally annoying

''Leads To''
;Regression
When an AI is about to die, it will often try to run. Because the script doesn't seem to take into account ''where'' the threat is but rather that there is just a threat in general, most AI will keep warping through the same two gates over and over again until their shields are high enough to resume attack behavior. Sometimes, they will stay on the other side if they leave this state quick enough and eventually resume their normal roaming behavior.
''And/Or/Instead''
;Spin Out
AI will sometimes freak out and spin in circles if they can't run but are still about to die. The only reasons I can conjure up for this behavior are: 1. They are programmed to behave like this, so their deaths are more epic, or 2. Their retreat code can't find a gate to warp through and they continue with the last action they were given (in this case, turning so they can head towards a gate).

''more to come...''

===== Bases =====

Talk about the pros and cons of owning a base, and how to get started.

====== Colonies ======

Talk about how to run colonies and what the point is.

===== Drones =====

Talk about drones, their pros and cons, and what's best for the situation.

===== Slaves =====

Slaves are a key component to the Star Sonata game. They are also pretty unique, and not many other games, even those outside the MMO genre, have something comparable to the ones found in Star Sonata.

Slaves in Star Sonata can be completely independent of the player. Once a slave is activated, it becomes an AI just like any other NPC in the game, the only difference being that you can give it orders. If given a set of commands to repeat, the slave will do them almost indefinitely until it either dies or the Universe ends. Combat slaves are a little less versatile but still obey your commands to not attack or to avoid harm to themselves ("Stay Close").

Because of the way slave AI works, they can be have almost exactly like the regular AI in the game. This is evidenced by the fact that a slave and an enemy AI that are of equal strength can sometimes dogfight for minutes at a time, the same way AI which are aggressive to each other will sometimes do.

The only major difference between slave AI and regular AI is that slaves lack any autonomous behavior, in the sense that they do not have a run script or an aggression script. This means a slave AI will never run away from an enemy, and they will never attack an enemy of their own accord.

===== Ships =====

At the start of the game, choosing a ship is mostly about preference. You will soon find that these preferences may eventually lead you to a certain class skill. If you like bigger ships with lots of hull, you may go for a support or fleet focus, but if you like fast ships you might go for speed demon. There's a large number of ships in this game and lots of different ways of setting them up. The same two Pax Astrologicas, one augged for Berserker and one augged for Engineer, are effectively two entirely different ships because their stats are so strongly affected both by the class skills and by the augmenters equipped.

Towards the end-game, you will find that many ships are in fact aimed at different classes. Some are even class-locked, meaning only one class can use (or make use of) that ship. Rhinos are for Engineers and Shield Monkeys (though ShMs tend to prefer Apprentice's Wards) and Lions are for Berserkers. Panthers are for Speed Demons and Dreads are for Fleet Commanders, and so on and so forth. But just because your class has a ship designed for it doesn't always mean that ship will fit your play style. There are a number of alternatives that you can use at any point in the game that my not align perfectly with the intended flow of character progression but are still good choices and may be even better for you than what's recommended.

So, you may be asking yourself at this point, "That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't help me decide much. You basically just reaffirmed by belief that I am always right, because I am." ''SLAP!'' No! You aren't always right. Get that nonsensical sense out of your skull. The most important thing to remember in this game is that you are ''always WRONG''. Why? Because that's what everyone else is going to tell you, no matter what choice you make. And this is why I assert that you should always go with what feels right for you, even if it may not seem like the best choice. And if it really doesn't work out, hey maybe they were right, but now you have an even better idea of what you need to improve on, right?

That means you need to think long and hard about where you're at and what you want to accomplish. I can assure you though, if you feel like you're getting to the point where it's getting difficult to kill the AI you ought to be killing at your level, a new ship is almost always the cure. Just remember to augment it, otherwise it'll be even worse than your last fully augmented ship, believe it or not.

Once you get that new ship, have it augmented properly, and are ready for something else, go read another section of this guide because what you ought to do next is get newer gear and probably go spend all those Skill Points somewhere.

===== Weapons =====

Damage types and more.

===== More About Augmenters =====

Get into the math of how it all works.

===== More About Classes =====

More math and detailed explanations.

===== Missions =====

Why should anyone do missions? Talk about it.

===== More About Gear =====

Include a discussion about fighters, missiles, etc.

===== More About Tactics & Strategy =====

;The Numbers Game

When you get down to it, this game is all about numbers. Everything from DPS to your level in Aug Tweaking effects the way the game plays for you. We're going to talk about one of the most important numbers of all: enemies.

The number of enemies you are facing is generally important. You may not be able to kill 50 Rosemarys, though you can kill 25. You may be able to handle a group of Forgones, but throw in a few Big Greens and it all goes downhill.

When I call it the numbers game, I'm not saying that if all your assets combined can put out X DPS and the enemy can put out Y DPS , and you cross your shields against their fire and theirs against yours (and assuming all else is equal), the math is going to tell you who wins. It most likely won't, because there's a lot more influencing the way this works than that. In fact, my proposition is the antithesis of that mentality: it's not about the numbers, but instead how you apply them. It's all about where you direction your attention and when, and how you go about accomplishing that which needs to be done in order to win.

It really is frustrating when you don't understand why you can't do this or why that DG is so difficult. The truth is, you may have just reached the limits of what you can achieve with your current setup. However, there's still some extremely valuable strategies that you should know, both to squeeze a little more life out of that ship you got 200 lvls ago and should probably have replaced by now, and to increase your overall efficiency and give you some skills that might help you out in more extreme circumstances.

;Focus Fire
* The crux of it is this: when you are fighting a small group of enemies, you generally don't need to worry about where all that fire from your drones, slaves, missiles, or fighters are going. You already know that you're going to win and you just don't need to worry about it. But as you increase the number of enemies to the point where they can actually begin dealing damage against you, choosing your targets suddenly becomes more important. When fighting a large group of enemies, you are likely to get killed if you don't do something about the DPS coming your way, and do it quickly. You can circumvent this by having something that heals you, or a neurotweak that will boost your shield regen, but those only extend your lifespan, not remove the cause of the problem. In other words, you just need to begin reducing their numbers.
* Kill the strongest first. Yes, that's right, take out the strongest enemies first. The ones who are doing the most damage to you, individually, are the most dangerous and need to be removed immediately.
* If all else is equal, go for the weakest first. On the other hand, you have a situation where all are giving about the same DPS and it doesn't matter which you kill. In that case, kill the weakest first - be it the one with the lowest shields at the moment, or the one that's a lower level than the rest.

So, let's consider an example. Again let's rule out other variables like resistances and whatnot and just focus on some pure, raw numbers. You have a ship with 100 shields and you can pull 50 DPS. You have an enemy with 500 shields that can only pull 25 DPS. Who wins? Well, the math says that he can kill you in 4 seconds but you can kill him in 10. So, you'd be dead 6 seconds too soon to kill him, and he'd still have plenty of shields left over. He only has 500% more shields and 50% less DPS, why can't you kill him? Well, did you sit in the same spot the whole time? What if you were able to evade half of his shots, so that it takes him 8 seconds to kill you? And if you let a slave or drone take the other 2 second's worth, hey, you just made it! I know that sounds like a copout, but that's just it! In this game, you use copouts like that to survive. The tactics section goes more in depth about how to avoid taking fire while dealing it, so we're just going to continue exploring the numbers here.

Another example: You and your enemy are equals. You both have 100 shields and can pull 50 DPS. You're both dead after 2 seconds. How do you win? Well, if we consider resistances this time, then whoever has the highest resists wins. If you both shot for the entire duration and landed all your hits, and one still died while the other lived, then you know who has the weaker ship. The same is true if you consider vulnerabilities rather than resistances, or damage boosts instead. What if we consider shield regeneration?

If you have a shield with a bank of 100 and it regenerates 10/s, then it takes you 10 seconds to recover. If, over the course of 10 seconds, an enemy can pull 20 DPS, he's only actually removed half your shields, since your shields are always recovering over the course of that period! Effectively, you'd have 50 shields left, and it'd take him an additional 5 seconds or so to kill you. Scale these values however you like, and it always works out the same. You don't have to just deplete their shields, but also neutralize their regeneration.

So, consider you have a bank of 100 and a regeneration of 20. It takes 5 seconds to recover. If an enemy does 20 DPS to you, then he can't break your regeneration (barring critical hits, of course). If he does even a little more DPS, however, he can kill you, albeit slowly. In order to kill you effectively, he needs be able to do at least twice as much damage as you have shield regeneration. And the true is for you, killing other things. And this is, again, where the numbers game comes into play.

If you have the same bank and regeneration as the last example and there's now ''two'' of those enemies, they can kill you quickly, because even though each is only strong enough to neutralize your regeneration, the other is now doing pure DPS. You will be dead in 5 seconds flat. This is why you may be able to handle a single Battleship for example, but if another one shows up, you're done for. Now, if you manage to kill the first Battleship quickly enough, you're back down to a single enemy. See why this matters so much? If, when that new enemy appears, everything you have suddenly starts shooting at it instead, then you're done for. ''Focus Fire''.

===== Energize =====

Talk about energy and strategies for using it effectively.

===== Shielding =====

Go into detail about shields and how they work.

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-04-11T05:34:19Z

captainGarfield: /* Controls & Interface */

Yet another player guide by yours truly,captainGarfield.

This guide will be split into two parts: '''Quick Start''' and '''Comprehensive'''. The Quick Start portion will briefly explain the different parts of the game's control setup and how to get going in the world of ''Star Sonata''. The Comprehensive portion is intended to cover nearly every aspect of the game and provide you with the wisdom and knowledge I've gathered in the years I've played. Both parts can be used together or completely separate, and an Index will be provided for those looking for specific information. 

As a disclaimer, I realize this is not the first guide of its kind. I also realize that most other guides were left incomplete, had a bias, or have simply become outdated. In any case, I cannot guarantee that what you find here will always be 100% accurate and be the best source for you to base decisions off of. I am simply offering my opinions in the hope that they may help you to avoid some of the mistakes I have, and learn some of the tricks I've used. 

As I continue to develop this guide, I ask that anyone who happens to read it point out any factual mistakes I might make or give me suggestions. I plan to, once the guide has reached maturity, to actually begin interviewing other players for their input and knowledge on a variety of subjects.

== Part I: Quick Start ==

==== Controls & Interface ====

Before you can even think about playing the game, you need to know your way around it. Here's a quick and dirty introduction to all the different aspects of the interface. Try to keep up, because I'm not gonna waste any time with this section.

The screen is divided up into 4 parts: The Ship Box, Hotbar, Menubar, and Chat Box. Naturally, the game itself is in the center portion, with your ship in the center.

*The Ship Box shows your Shields, Energy, Visibility, and Weapon.
*The Hotbar allows you to bind your most commonly used items to a key on your keyboard.
*The Menubar lets you access all the different windows the game uses to interact with the player.
*The Chat Box lets you communicate with other players and provides key information in a timely fashion.

The Menubar has 10 buttons. From left to right, these are: Help, Warp, Dock, Galaxy Map, Options, Social, Character, Ship, Radar, and Inventory. Clicking any of the first three will cause an action, the others toggle windows. Help opens a browser window to the Star Sonata help page, Warp takes you through wormholes, and Dock allows you to go inside stations.

The Chat Box has 7 tabs. From left to right in the default configuration, these are: Event, All, Galaxy, Trade, Help, Team, and Squad. The order of these tabs can be changed by clicking any one and dragging it. Their uses are:

*Event: Displays any game-related messages, such as kills, actions, and the Message of the Day.
*All: A global chat where any player can talk.
*Galaxy: A local chat where only players in the same galaxy as you can talk.
*Trade: A place to advertise, buy, and sell.
*Help: A place to ask questions not easily answered by the Wiki or appropriate for All chat.
*Team: Lets you talk to other members of your Team in private.
*Squad: Lets you talk to other members of your Squad in private, and displays Squad-related events.

Most of the game involves flying your ship around and shooting at stuff. Before you can shoot at something, you first have to target it. If this weren't necessary, then it'd be impossible to avoid attacking everything from neutral space stations to teammates while fighting! To target something, simply click on it. A new box will appear providing information on the targeted object. You can also sort through the list of targetable objects in the galaxy using the Ctrl, Z, Q, and Tab keys. Using Shift with any of these keys will cycle through the list in reverse.

Here's a list of the most pertinent keys (click to expand):

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" width="500" style="font-size:10pt"
|-
| Key
| Action
| Notes
|-
| Space Bar
| Shoot
| Must have a target!
|-
| W, A, D
| Move forwards and turn
|
|-
| S
| Slows the ship
|
|-
| X
| Target options menu
| Must have a target!
|-
| V
| Autopilot
| Must have a target!
|-
| C
| Scoop
| Need to have a Scoop equipped, and a scoopable item nearby
|-
| Enter
| Chat
|
|-
| U
| Suicide
| Will have to authorize it
|-
| I
| Inventory
|
|-
| R
| Dock
| Must be close enough to a station and moving slow enough
|-
| F
| Warp
| Must be a wormhole nearby
|-
| O
| Game Options
|
|-
| P
| Galaxy Map
|
|-
| E
| Switch weapons
|
|-
| G
| Tractor Beam
| Must have one equipped and a target selected; if no target is selected, the nearest piece of Debris is grabbed
|-
| H
| Hides interface
| Useful for screenshots
|-
| K
| Cloaking Device
| Must have one equipped
|-
| M
| Missions Tab
|
|}

There are a number of windows in the game which you use to interact. I'll briefly go over them here:

==== Welcome to Space ====

At the start of the game, you're going to get a dinky little ship. You'll be in some strange looking place with a lot of green things flying around. This is fine, go ahead and click one. Press the Space Bar to shoot at it, and watch as it explodes. Now you know how to kill things, you bloodthirsty heathen.

Now that you've satisfied your bloodlust, it's time to start getting payed for it. Go to the base (the big thing that doesn't look like a rat, as you probably now know those green things as) and dock in it. You'll get a window with lots of tabs; right now, we only care about the first one. There's a box with some missions in it, double-click one. They're pretty self explanatory, so just do what it says and come back to claim your reward. Keep doing missions, eventually they'll lead you to the Nexus where there's... wait for it... ''more missions!'' Do those, and keep reading when you're done.

===== Tactics =====

Star Sonata is, at its core, a top-down shooter. The physics in the game are extremely simple and the game mechanics, for the most part, very straight forward. In every top-down shooter since ''Asteroids'', the player controls a character from a bird's eye view and, well, shoots stuff. In Star Sonata, movement is defined by a few key variables:
* Speed - the max speed of a ship limits how fast it can go. Distance in the game is arbitrary, and 1 speed means you move 1 distance every second.
* Thrust - essentially, this determines how quickly you can get to top speed. Weight affects this greatly - you need more thrust to move more weight.
* Turning - the rate at which you turn. Weight also affects this, and so you need more torque to overcome more weight.
* Weight - every item on a ship has a weight, and this variable is used to determine how the ship handles.

Inertia counts. If a ship starts moving forwards, it will not stop until something forces it to. Explosions matter, too. When something blows up near your ship, it creates a concussion that pushes you away and sometimes jams your engine temporarily. There's also tractors - both yours, and those of players and AI. There's 3 kinds of tractors: push, pull, and hitchhiker. Each will push objects away from, pull objects towards, or move the player towards objects. Tractors on AI can make it hard to move around, but you can also use your own tractor to your advantage. Try slingshotting yourself around a planet when you get a chance - learning to use everything at your disposal for maneuverability is key.

The tactics I cover here all involve moving your ship a certain way. These are: Kiting, Jinking, Flybys, and Out Turning.

;Kiting
Kiting an enemy refers to positioning yourself in such a way that you are out of range of their weapons while simultaneously close enough for the AI to keep following you. Most AI have a range at which they will follow you indefinitely, usually between 50 and 100 distance beyond the range of their farthest shooting weapon. You can use this to your advantage by using a long range weapon and shooting at the AI without taking any damage. This is a good tactic if you don't have a strong or extremely agile ship and need to kill something tougher than you are.

;Jinking
Jinking is basically dodging. You cannot dodge lasers, but if the enemy is using projectile weapons, you can make them waste their shots by out maneuvering their bullets. Getting too close to the AI while doing this isn't effective, as you have less time to react. Try to find a distance at which you can keep shooting while also making adjustments to your position.

;Flybys
Flybys are essentially running full speed at the enemy, shooting a salvo of projectiles, and flying past. Speed Demons, especially, like to use this tactic as they tend to have the shield regeneration necessary to recover after sustaining damage from this. This is a good way to take out targets that could kill you if you stay within firing range long enough, but are not easy to kite or jink. You have to make sure you can recover enough of your shield bank between each run and do it fast enough that the enemy doesn't recover as well.

;Out Turning
Many AI turn slow. If you can stay behind them, you can keep shooting without getting shot. Note that some weapons have something called "Full Tracking", which allows them to be shot 360 degrees. If the AI has this, then this tactic is worthless. However, it is especially useful for taking out larger, gear laden AI, as these tend to be heavier.

In spite of the fact that Star Sonata is a top-down shooter and relies heavily on arcade-style gameplay, there's still a few other tactics to consider that don't involve maneuvering.

;Training
Training is the process of controlling the enemy's aggressiveness. AI will tend to shoot at whatever is doing the most damage to them - you can use this to your advantage to make them shoot at what you want them to. You, your slaves, and your drones each may not have that much shield bank individually, but if you combine them all then that's quite a lot. Dividing up enemy fire between each can help you last longer in battle. To capture an AI's aggro, you need to shoot at it. It usually doesn't take long. If you need to lose it, bring the AI near a slave or drone and wait for them to shoot at it. Once your slaves or drones start doing some damage, the AI will switch aggro. Note that some AI will not always respond to this due to the nature of their programming.

;Tanking
Tanking is all about taking damage, rather than directing it. Some players prefer to have an incredibly large shield bank and simply take the hits while their slaves, drones, missiles, fighters, or other players do the actual damage. Shield Monkeys tend to fall along this line, though they are intended to heal without taking damage rather than be shot. Tanking can be challenging and most setups rely on a high-bank, low regeneration shield, meaning that once that bank is gone, there is virtually no way to replenish it in a timely fashion without the help of healer drones or another player.

===== Strategy =====

Next, go to Deep Space, do the missions there. Basically just do all the missions you can find, until you think you're not getting enough from them anymore. Yes, feel the greed. Aspire to be greater, greater than the rats and the volcoms.

Once you've done that, go to Sol. To get to Sol, go through the gate to Earthforce Celestial Garden. The one to Sol is in there. Go to the Earthforce Frontier Station and see what missions are available. If you have any skillpoints, use them.

===== Core Skills =====

*Piloting: You can't pilot a giant ship if all you know is zebucarts. Learn to fly more complicated things.
*Shields: Shields keep you from getting blown up. They're also complicated to install. Not just anyone knows how to jack a billion cables together.
*Energy: Nuclear reactor leaking? Too bad, there's no health insurance here. Energy is what makes your ship go round, keep a lot of it.
*Radar: You can't shoot what you can't see. And there's a lot you're not seeing, like why that haircut looks bad on you.
*Engines: Puff puff. Go fast faster, turn hard harder.
*Equipment: You see that launch tube? Go crawl inside it.
*Weaponry: Shoot stuff with bigger and bigger guns.
*Cloaking: Don't get shot at.

So, there you go. The most important to you are probably piloting, weaponry, shields, and energy. You can't shoot without energy, it doesn't matter if you have energy if your gun sucks as much as you do, your guns don't matter if you die instantly and none of it matters if you can't fit it all in the freaking ship.

In any case, get some skills if you can and get some new gear. You should have plenty of money from the Nexus, so go nuts. You should have a decent level of Piloting now so get rid of that Helga.

Next, go to Blue Outpost and kill the little blue ships. You'll get to level 50 easy. Now kill the bigger blue ships. You can get some slaves at this point too, which are extremely useful because it's like having another player beside you.

Once you've killed just about everything you can find and can't level anymore, get Warp Navigation to 2. You can do this at Sol or Paxius, whichever you prefer. However, you've probably got some blue stuff from killing things in the Outpost, so Sol is probably best.

Next, do the same thing. Get to level 100, and start worrying about specialization. This is important, because this game doesn't let you do a little of everything and be good at it. You need to choose a play style and stick with it. There's a lot to consider, but whatever's been working best for you so far is the path you should take.

Before you even worry about class skills, I'd worry more about your core skills. Most people say get a class skill as soon as possible - this is okay, if you know what you want to do already. But I think it's not wise to urge new players to make an important decision so quickly. You can still head in one direction or another first, and see how you like it.

So, core skills. At this point you probably have most somewhere between 8 and 10. Now think about what you're lacking in. Do you run out of energy too often? Do you blow up a lot? Your weapons don't do enough damage? Figure it out and go get that skill up, then get better gear. Whatever's holding you back, move it out of the way.

Once you've chosen a path, follow it. Don't meddle around, it's a waste of time.

==== Class Skills ====

Class skills are oftentimes seen as the pinnacle of a player's progression. Having your class skill and its subskills maxed out isn't necessarily a sign that you've reached the end game, but are getting close to it. The bonuses given by these skills tend to be greater than any other skill in the game, and so they are extremely important later on.

Many players say you should get your class skills maxed out as soon as possible. This is definitely good advice, though it is often misinterpreted. You should get your class skills maxed, but not before you get your core skills maxed. You don't need to have, say, Radar to 20, but you definitely should have Piloting, Shields, and Electrical Engineering to 20 at the least before you worry about your class too much.

Now, you can start with your class whenever you feel comfortable making that choice. It doesn't matter if you're level 20 or 200, just begin when you're ready. When you do start to class up, try to keep it consistent. You want to pace yourself, since class skills take a lot of skill points, but you also don't want to lag behind too much.

==== Gear ====

Talk about the different items, what they do.

===== Augmenters =====

Go into detail about augmenters.

==== The World Keeps Going ====

The game moves on even if you don't.

===== Teams =====

A good team is hard to come by. Many teams are simply full of underachievers or lowlifes. Others are filled with people who may seem too cutthroat or edgy for you. It's important not to judge a team simply by objective qualities, but also by how you feel about it. That may sound unusual coming from me, but if you're not happy in a team, you're simply going to want to leave. That'll cause unnecessary drama that nobody really wants to deal with. So find a team that seems to have similar goals to yours, and players who you already know you like.

If you absolutely can't find a decent team or simply want to start your own, you'll need to acquire the [[Leadership]] skill first. This skill is fairly easy to get for most players and simply requires a bit of money and some time. When creating a team, think very carefully about how you want to present it to other players. Are you about integrity and doing things the right way, or are you going for something more laid back, a place where people can just come and go as they please? Are you planning to accomplish something important, or simply intend to figure things out as it goes along? Whatever decision you may come to, make sure you reach it before you actually create the team.

It's not entirely rare, but it also doesn't happen a lot, especially in a large team. Believe it or not, if you put in the time and effort, you may actually get '''promoted''' in your new team! What you do when this happens is take a step back and reevalute your position. What did you do to even get promoted in the first place? Whatever it was, identify it and keep doing it. If you start slacking off, you're simply going to be resented by other players, especially those a lower rank than you. If you've been placed in a position of trust - say, an Officer, or even a Councilor - do ''not'' betray it. You will inevitably regret it. It will tarnish your reputation and people tend to not forget these sorts of things.

If you feel you do not like a team anymore, or do not like what position you are in, it is best to talk about it with someone who can actually help first. Do not simply leave a team unless you've been told to do so - a lot of teams do not take too kindly to it, since it can harm their score. If you feel you're in a position of responsibility but don't actually want that responsibility, ask to be demoted, don't cause trouble.

In general, use common sense, and always consult your teammates before making an important decision.

===== Dungeons =====

Understanding how they work.

===== Perilous Space =====

The final frontier.

===== Death =====

Death in this game is not as morbid as it may be in other places, like real life. In fact, dying in this game isn't even as bad as it once was. In previous years, dying in Star Sonata meant losing gear, and slaves could actually be converted into carbon wisps quite easily if they didn't have a Slave Stasis Generator equipped. Drones couldn't be repaired - if you lost them, that was it. Indeed, it was harsh in the olden days, and many Gear Glues were spent trying to prevent the inevitable.

Now, all slaves are equipped with stasis generators by default (one could say the control bots have them inbuilt), drones do not explode but simply break, and players can no longer drop gear when they die.

In spite of all of these improvements (some say they have made the game too easy, but I digress) dying in this game can still be a traumatic experience.

Death is marked by one's shields reaching 0. Now, your shields actually ''can'' be 0 and you still won't die, so in actuality it's being shot without shields that kills you. Your ship enters stasis and you are ejected in either spirit or pod form. For more information about the process of death, see [[Death]].

When you die, equipped items on your ship lose Durability. The lower their Durability, the less effective they are. To regain Durability, you have to repair the items on your ship, which costs money.

Slaves also suffer from a loss of Durability upon death. Drones, when killed, are simply converted to a destroyed form, and must be scooped and repaired in order to be used again.

===== F2P vs P2P =====

It has to be mentioned.

==== Moving On ====

A closing message.

== Part 2: Comprehensive Guide ==

===== Introduction =====

Describe this portion of the guide.

===== All is Well =====

;The End of Everything
When a universe begins, there is a bit of a chaotic phase where everyone is rushing to find the best galaxies, the best planets for colonies, and just get their bases and everything set up. Large teams will try to take large tracts of space that they will eventually fill with drones and trading slaves, only to have to pack it all up again later. Very quickly, and almost without warning, the universe will soon look like it did when it ended, just with everything in a slightly different place.

Star Sonata isn't the only game of its kind to use a system like this, where the game world is reset once every few months. However, it is a very important aspect of the game in many ways. For example, [[Hydroponics]] missions can only be done once per universe. Places like Hyper are hard to invade for any team wishing to seize control of its resources, and so the universe reset allows another team a chance to take hold, preventing monopolies. The same happens for most other resources, and just about everyone gets a chance to try and take some valuable plot of space.

So, why does this matter to you? Well, there's a number of reasons why, and we'll explore each one briefly before expanding on it in a later section.

===== The Economy =====

Describe how the economy in the game works.

===== Making Money =====

;Farming

;Shops

;Pirating

;Slaving

;Saving Money

;Losing Money

lInvestments

===== Leveling Up =====

Talk about strategies for leveling up.

===== More About Teams =====

Get into detail about teams and how they interrelate.

====== Diplomacy ======

Talk about making teams work together, or fall apart.

===== More About AI =====

AI, as you should already know, stands for Artificial Intelligence. The name implies that an AI player is both not alive and also smart. While the former is true, the latter is a complete and utter lie. There is nothing smart about the AI in this game, or most games for that matter. AI in Star Sonata seem to follow a script-based program where they will prioritize certain behaviors over others depending on what's going on around them.

AI seem to have a number of different states and I will attempt to catalog them here as I learn more.

;Standing
When there is nothing for the AI to do, it will simply stand in one spot for a while.
''Leads To''
;Roaming
AI will move for no reason after standing in the same spot too long. Sometimes, they will warp.
''Leads To''
;Docking
AI will randomly dock at AI bases and player bases. Sometimes, they will buy some commodities, but most of the time their hulls are too overfilled to do anything. This behavior is more for effect than anything else, giving players a sense that even the AI have stuff to do in this game.
''Leads To''
;Aggression
*AI will become aggressive for a number of reasons
**They are shot at
**Their attack code determines they need to attack a passing player
**Their swarm code determines they can kill a stronger player than usual e.g., the Rosemarys and Basils in Perilous Outpost sometimes attack the Earthforce AI, though their scripting should prevent this (there's no way they can win), but due to swarm mentality, a group of aggressive AI will attack just about anything.
**They are programmed to be aggressive, for mission or design reasons e.g., Flyswatters, who are intentionally annoying

''Leads To''
;Regression
When an AI is about to die, it will often try to run. Because the script doesn't seem to take into account ''where'' the threat is but rather that there is just a threat in general, most AI will keep warping through the same two gates over and over again until their shields are high enough to resume attack behavior. Sometimes, they will stay on the other side if they leave this state quick enough and eventually resume their normal roaming behavior.
''And/Or/Instead''
;Spin Out
AI will sometimes freak out and spin in circles if they can't run but are still about to die. The only reasons I can conjure up for this behavior are: 1. They are programmed to behave like this, so their deaths are more epic, or 2. Their retreat code can't find a gate to warp through and they continue with the last action they were given (in this case, turning so they can head towards a gate).

''more to come...''

===== Bases =====

Talk about the pros and cons of owning a base, and how to get started.

====== Colonies ======

Talk about how to run colonies and what the point is.

===== Drones =====

Talk about drones, their pros and cons, and what's best for the situation.

===== Slaves =====

Describe how slaves work and the best ways to make good use of them.

===== Ships =====

At the start of the game, choosing a ship is mostly about preference. You will soon find that these preferences may eventually lead you to a certain class skill. If you like bigger ships with lots of hull, you may go for a support or fleet focus, but if you like fast ships you might go for speed demon. There's a large number of ships in this game and lots of different ways of setting them up. The same two Pax Astrologicas, one augged for Berserker and one augged for Engineer, are effectively two entirely different ships because their stats are so strongly affected both by the class skills and by the augmenters equipped.

Towards the end-game, you will find that many ships are in fact aimed at different classes. Some are even class-locked, meaning only one class can use (or make use of) that ship. Rhinos are for Engineers and Shield Monkeys (though ShMs tend to prefer Apprentice's Wards) and Lions are for Berserkers. Panthers are for Speed Demons and Dreads are for Fleet Commanders, and so on and so forth. But just because your class has a ship designed for it doesn't always mean that ship will fit your play style. There are a number of alternatives that you can use at any point in the game that my not align perfectly with the intended flow of character progression but are still good choices and may be even better for you than what's recommended.

So, you may be asking yourself at this point, "That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't help me decide much. You basically just reaffirmed by belief that I am always right, because I am." ''SLAP!'' No! You aren't always right. Get that nonsensical sense out of your skull. The most important thing to remember in this game is that you are ''always WRONG''. Why? Because that's what everyone else is going to tell you, no matter what choice you make. And this is why I assert that you should always go with what feels right for you, even if it may not seem like the best choice. And if it really doesn't work out, hey maybe they were right, but now you have an even better idea of what you need to improve on, right?

That means you need to think long and hard about where you're at and what you want to accomplish. I can assure you though, if you feel like you're getting to the point where it's getting difficult to kill the AI you ought to be killing at your level, a new ship is almost always the cure. Just remember to augment it, otherwise it'll be even worse than your last fully augmented ship, believe it or not.

Once you get that new ship, have it augmented properly, and are ready for something else, go read another section of this guide because what you ought to do next is get newer gear and probably go spend all those Skill Points somewhere.

===== Weapons =====

Damage types and more.

===== More About Augmenters =====

Get into the math of how it all works.

===== More About Classes =====

More math and detailed explanations.

===== Missions =====

Why should anyone do missions? Talk about it.

===== More About Gear =====

Include a discussion about fighters, missiles, etc.

===== More About Tactics & Strategy =====

;The Numbers Game

When you get down to it, this game is all about numbers. Everything from DPS to your level in Aug Tweaking effects the way the game plays for you. We're going to talk about one of the most important numbers of all: enemies.

The number of enemies you are facing is generally important. You may not be able to kill 50 Rosemarys, though you can kill 25. You may be able to handle a group of Forgones, but throw in a few Big Greens and it all goes downhill.

When I call it the numbers game, I'm not saying that if all your assets combined can put out X DPS and the enemy can put out Y DPS , and you cross your shields against their fire and theirs against yours (and assuming all else is equal), the math is going to tell you who wins. It most likely won't, because there's a lot more influencing the way this works than that. In fact, my proposition is the antithesis of that mentality: it's not about the numbers, but instead how you apply them. It's all about where you direction your attention and when, and how you go about accomplishing that which needs to be done in order to win.

It really is frustrating when you don't understand why you can't do this or why that DG is so difficult. The truth is, you may have just reached the limits of what you can achieve with your current setup. However, there's still some extremely valuable strategies that you should know, both to squeeze a little more life out of that ship you got 200 lvls ago and should probably have replaced by now, and to increase your overall efficiency and give you some skills that might help you out in more extreme circumstances.

;Focus Fire
* The crux of it is this: when you are fighting a small group of enemies, you generally don't need to worry about where all that fire from your drones, slaves, missiles, or fighters are going. You already know that you're going to win and you just don't need to worry about it. But as you increase the number of enemies to the point where they can actually begin dealing damage against you, choosing your targets suddenly becomes more important. When fighting a large group of enemies, you are likely to get killed if you don't do something about the DPS coming your way, and do it quickly. You can circumvent this by having something that heals you, or a neurotweak that will boost your shield regen, but those only extend your lifespan, not remove the cause of the problem. In other words, you just need to begin reducing their numbers.
* Kill the strongest first. Yes, that's right, take out the strongest enemies first. The ones who are doing the most damage to you, individually, are the most dangerous and need to be removed immediately.
* If all else is equal, go for the weakest first. On the other hand, you have a situation where all are giving about the same DPS and it doesn't matter which you kill. In that case, kill the weakest first - be it the one with the lowest shields at the moment, or the one that's a lower level than the rest.

So, let's consider an example. Again let's rule out other variables like resistances and whatnot and just focus on some pure, raw numbers. You have a ship with 100 shields and you can pull 50 DPS. You have an enemy with 500 shields that can only pull 25 DPS. Who wins? Well, the math says that he can kill you in 4 seconds but you can kill him in 10. So, you'd be dead 6 seconds too soon to kill him, and he'd still have plenty of shields left over. He only has 500% more shields and 50% less DPS, why can't you kill him? Well, did you sit in the same spot the whole time? What if you were able to evade half of his shots, so that it takes him 8 seconds to kill you? And if you let a slave or drone take the other 2 second's worth, hey, you just made it! I know that sounds like a copout, but that's just it! In this game, you use copouts like that to survive. The tactics section goes more in depth about how to avoid taking fire while dealing it, so we're just going to continue exploring the numbers here.

Another example: You and your enemy are equals. You both have 100 shields and can pull 50 DPS. You're both dead after 2 seconds. How do you win? Well, if we consider resistances this time, then whoever has the highest resists wins. If you both shot for the entire duration and landed all your hits, and one still died while the other lived, then you know who has the weaker ship. The same is true if you consider vulnerabilities rather than resistances, or damage boosts instead. What if we consider shield regeneration?

If you have a shield with a bank of 100 and it regenerates 10/s, then it takes you 10 seconds to recover. If, over the course of 10 seconds, an enemy can pull 20 DPS, he's only actually removed half your shields, since your shields are always recovering over the course of that period! Effectively, you'd have 50 shields left, and it'd take him an additional 5 seconds or so to kill you. Scale these values however you like, and it always works out the same. You don't have to just deplete their shields, but also neutralize their regeneration.

So, consider you have a bank of 100 and a regeneration of 20. It takes 5 seconds to recover. If an enemy does 20 DPS to you, then he can't break your regeneration (barring critical hits, of course). If he does even a little more DPS, however, he can kill you, albeit slowly. In order to kill you effectively, he needs be able to do at least twice as much damage as you have shield regeneration. And the true is for you, killing other things. And this is, again, where the numbers game comes into play.

If you have the same bank and regeneration as the last example and there's now ''two'' of those enemies, they can kill you quickly, because even though each is only strong enough to neutralize your regeneration, the other is now doing pure DPS. You will be dead in 5 seconds flat. This is why you may be able to handle a single Battleship for example, but if another one shows up, you're done for. Now, if you manage to kill the first Battleship quickly enough, you're back down to a single enemy. See why this matters so much? If, when that new enemy appears, everything you have suddenly starts shooting at it instead, then you're done for. ''Focus Fire''.

===== Energize =====

Talk about energy and strategies for using it effectively.

===== Shielding =====

Go into detail about shields and how they work.

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-04-10T05:11:48Z

captainGarfield: /* Class Skills */

Yet another player guide by yours truly,captainGarfield.

This guide will be split into two parts: '''Quick Start''' and '''Comprehensive'''. The Quick Start portion will briefly explain the different parts of the game's control setup and how to get going in the world of ''Star Sonata''. The Comprehensive portion is intended to cover nearly every aspect of the game and provide you with the wisdom and knowledge I've gathered in the years I've played. Both parts can be used together or completely separate, and an Index will be provided for those looking for specific information. 

As a disclaimer, I realize this is not the first guide of its kind. I also realize that most other guides were left incomplete, had a bias, or have simply become outdated. In any case, I cannot guarantee that what you find here will always be 100% accurate and be the best source for you to base decisions off of. I am simply offering my opinions in the hope that they may help you to avoid some of the mistakes I have, and learn some of the tricks I've used. 

As I continue to develop this guide, I ask that anyone who happens to read it point out any factual mistakes I might make or give me suggestions. I plan to, once the guide has reached maturity, to actually begin interviewing other players for their input and knowledge on a variety of subjects.

== Part I: Quick Start ==

==== Controls & Interface ====

Before you can even think about playing the game, you need to know your way around it. Here's a quick and dirty introduction to all the different aspects of the interface. Try to keep up, because I'm not gonna waste any time with this section.

The screen is divided up into 4 parts: The Ship Box, Hotbar, Menubar, and Chat Box. Naturally, the game itself is in the center portion, with your ship in the center.

*The Ship Box shows your Shields, Energy, Visibility, and Weapon.
*The Hotbar allows you to bind your most commonly used items to a key on your keyboard.
*The Menubar lets you access all the different windows the game uses to interact with the player.
*The Chat Box lets you communicate with other players and provides key information in a timely fashion.

The Menubar has 10 buttons. From left to right, these are: Help, Warp, Dock, Galaxy Map, Options, Social, Character, Ship, Radar, and Inventory. Clicking any of the first three will cause an action, the others toggle windows. Help opens a browser window to the Star Sonata help page, Warp takes you through wormholes, and Dock allows you to go inside stations.

The Chat Box has 7 tabs. From left to right in the default configuration, these are: Event, All, Galaxy, Trade, Help, Team, and Squad. The order of these tabs can be changed by clicking any one and dragging it. Their uses are:

*Event: Displays any game-related messages, such as kills, actions, and the Message of the Day.
*All: A global chat where any player can talk.
*Galaxy: A local chat where only players in the same galaxy as you can talk.
*Trade: A place to advertise, buy, and sell.
*Help: A place to ask questions not easily answered by the Wiki or appropriate for All chat.
*Team: Lets you talk to other members of your Team in private.
*Squad: Lets you talk to other members of your Squad in private, and displays Squad-related events.

Most of the game involves flying your ship around and shooting at stuff. Before you can shoot at something, you first have to target it. If this weren't necessary, then it'd be impossible to avoid attacking everything from neutral space stations to teammates while fighting! To target something, simply click on it. A new box will appear providing information on the targeted object. You can also sort through the list of targetable objects in the galaxy using the Ctrl, Z, Q, and Tab keys. Using Shift with any of these keys will cycle through the list in reverse.

Here's a list of the most pertinent keys:

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible collapsed"
|+ Default Key Bindings
|-
! Key
! Action
! Notes
|-
| Space Bar
| Shoot
| Must have a target!
|-
| W, A, D
| Move forwards and turn
|
|-
| S
| Slows the ship
|
|-
| X
| Target options menu
| Must have a target!
|-
| V
| Autopilot
| Must have a target!
|-
| C
| Scoop
| Need to have a Scoop equipped, and a scoopable item nearby
|-
| Enter
| Chat
|
|-
| U
| Suicide
| Will have to authorize it
|-
| I
| Inventory
|
|-
| R
| Dock
| Must be close enough to a station and moving slow enough
|-
| F
| Warp
| Must be a wormhole nearby
|-
| O
| Game Options
|
|-
| P
| Galaxy Map
|
|-
| E
| Switch weapons
|
|-
| G
| Tractor Beam
| Must have one equipped and a target selected; if no target is selected, the nearest piece of Debris is grabbed
|-
| H
| Hides interface
| Useful for screenshots
|-
| K
| Cloaking Device
| Must have one equipped
|-
| M
| Missions Tab
|
|}

There are a number of windows in the game which you use to interact. I'll briefly go over them here:

==== Welcome to Space ====

At the start of the game, you're going to get a dinky little ship. You'll be in some strange looking place with a lot of green things flying around. This is fine, go ahead and click one. Press the Space Bar to shoot at it, and watch as it explodes. Now you know how to kill things, you bloodthirsty heathen.

Now that you've satisfied your bloodlust, it's time to start getting payed for it. Go to the base (the big thing that doesn't look like a rat, as you probably now know those green things as) and dock in it. You'll get a window with lots of tabs; right now, we only care about the first one. There's a box with some missions in it, double-click one. They're pretty self explanatory, so just do what it says and come back to claim your reward. Keep doing missions, eventually they'll lead you to the Nexus where there's... wait for it... ''more missions!'' Do those, and keep reading when you're done.

===== Tactics =====

Star Sonata is, at its core, a top-down shooter. The physics in the game are extremely simple and the game mechanics, for the most part, very straight forward. In every top-down shooter since ''Asteroids'', the player controls a character from a bird's eye view and, well, shoots stuff. In Star Sonata, movement is defined by a few key variables:
* Speed - the max speed of a ship limits how fast it can go. Distance in the game is arbitrary, and 1 speed means you move 1 distance every second.
* Thrust - essentially, this determines how quickly you can get to top speed. Weight affects this greatly - you need more thrust to move more weight.
* Turning - the rate at which you turn. Weight also affects this, and so you need more torque to overcome more weight.
* Weight - every item on a ship has a weight, and this variable is used to determine how the ship handles.

Inertia counts. If a ship starts moving forwards, it will not stop until something forces it to. Explosions matter, too. When something blows up near your ship, it creates a concussion that pushes you away and sometimes jams your engine temporarily. There's also tractors - both yours, and those of players and AI. There's 3 kinds of tractors: push, pull, and hitchhiker. Each will push objects away from, pull objects towards, or move the player towards objects. Tractors on AI can make it hard to move around, but you can also use your own tractor to your advantage. Try slingshotting yourself around a planet when you get a chance - learning to use everything at your disposal for maneuverability is key.

The tactics I cover here all involve moving your ship a certain way. These are: Kiting, Jinking, Flybys, and Out Turning.

;Kiting
Kiting an enemy refers to positioning yourself in such a way that you are out of range of their weapons while simultaneously close enough for the AI to keep following you. Most AI have a range at which they will follow you indefinitely, usually between 50 and 100 distance beyond the range of their farthest shooting weapon. You can use this to your advantage by using a long range weapon and shooting at the AI without taking any damage. This is a good tactic if you don't have a strong or extremely agile ship and need to kill something tougher than you are.

;Jinking
Jinking is basically dodging. You cannot dodge lasers, but if the enemy is using projectile weapons, you can make them waste their shots by out maneuvering their bullets. Getting too close to the AI while doing this isn't effective, as you have less time to react. Try to find a distance at which you can keep shooting while also making adjustments to your position.

;Flybys
Flybys are essentially running full speed at the enemy, shooting a salvo of projectiles, and flying past. Speed Demons, especially, like to use this tactic as they tend to have the shield regeneration necessary to recover after sustaining damage from this. This is a good way to take out targets that could kill you if you stay within firing range long enough, but are not easy to kite or jink. You have to make sure you can recover enough of your shield bank between each run and do it fast enough that the enemy doesn't recover as well.

;Out Turning
Many AI turn slow. If you can stay behind them, you can keep shooting without getting shot. Note that some weapons have something called "Full Tracking", which allows them to be shot 360 degrees. If the AI has this, then this tactic is worthless. However, it is especially useful for taking out larger, gear laden AI, as these tend to be heavier.

In spite of the fact that Star Sonata is a top-down shooter and relies heavily on arcade-style gameplay, there's still a few other tactics to consider that don't involve maneuvering.

;Training
Training is the process of controlling the enemy's aggressiveness. AI will tend to shoot at whatever is doing the most damage to them - you can use this to your advantage to make them shoot at what you want them to. You, your slaves, and your drones each may not have that much shield bank individually, but if you combine them all then that's quite a lot. Dividing up enemy fire between each can help you last longer in battle. To capture an AI's aggro, you need to shoot at it. It usually doesn't take long. If you need to lose it, bring the AI near a slave or drone and wait for them to shoot at it. Once your slaves or drones start doing some damage, the AI will switch aggro. Note that some AI will not always respond to this due to the nature of their programming.

;Tanking
Tanking is all about taking damage, rather than directing it. Some players prefer to have an incredibly large shield bank and simply take the hits while their slaves, drones, missiles, fighters, or other players do the actual damage. Shield Monkeys tend to fall along this line, though they are intended to heal without taking damage rather than be shot. Tanking can be challenging and most setups rely on a high-bank, low regeneration shield, meaning that once that bank is gone, there is virtually no way to replenish it in a timely fashion without the help of healer drones or another player.

===== Strategy =====

Next, go to Deep Space, do the missions there. Basically just do all the missions you can find, until you think you're not getting enough from them anymore. Yes, feel the greed. Aspire to be greater, greater than the rats and the volcoms.

Once you've done that, go to Sol. To get to Sol, go through the gate to Earthforce Celestial Garden. The one to Sol is in there. Go to the Earthforce Frontier Station and see what missions are available. If you have any skillpoints, use them.

===== Core Skills =====

*Piloting: You can't pilot a giant ship if all you know is zebucarts. Learn to fly more complicated things.
*Shields: Shields keep you from getting blown up. They're also complicated to install. Not just anyone knows how to jack a billion cables together.
*Energy: Nuclear reactor leaking? Too bad, there's no health insurance here. Energy is what makes your ship go round, keep a lot of it.
*Radar: You can't shoot what you can't see. And there's a lot you're not seeing, like why that haircut looks bad on you.
*Engines: Puff puff. Go fast faster, turn hard harder.
*Equipment: You see that launch tube? Go crawl inside it.
*Weaponry: Shoot stuff with bigger and bigger guns.
*Cloaking: Don't get shot at.

So, there you go. The most important to you are probably piloting, weaponry, shields, and energy. You can't shoot without energy, it doesn't matter if you have energy if your gun sucks as much as you do, your guns don't matter if you die instantly and none of it matters if you can't fit it all in the freaking ship.

In any case, get some skills if you can and get some new gear. You should have plenty of money from the Nexus, so go nuts. You should have a decent level of Piloting now so get rid of that Helga.

Next, go to Blue Outpost and kill the little blue ships. You'll get to level 50 easy. Now kill the bigger blue ships. You can get some slaves at this point too, which are extremely useful because it's like having another player beside you.

Once you've killed just about everything you can find and can't level anymore, get Warp Navigation to 2. You can do this at Sol or Paxius, whichever you prefer. However, you've probably got some blue stuff from killing things in the Outpost, so Sol is probably best.

Next, do the same thing. Get to level 100, and start worrying about specialization. This is important, because this game doesn't let you do a little of everything and be good at it. You need to choose a play style and stick with it. There's a lot to consider, but whatever's been working best for you so far is the path you should take.

Before you even worry about class skills, I'd worry more about your core skills. Most people say get a class skill as soon as possible - this is okay, if you know what you want to do already. But I think it's not wise to urge new players to make an important decision so quickly. You can still head in one direction or another first, and see how you like it.

So, core skills. At this point you probably have most somewhere between 8 and 10. Now think about what you're lacking in. Do you run out of energy too often? Do you blow up a lot? Your weapons don't do enough damage? Figure it out and go get that skill up, then get better gear. Whatever's holding you back, move it out of the way.

Once you've chosen a path, follow it. Don't meddle around, it's a waste of time.

==== Class Skills ====

Class skills are oftentimes seen as the pinnacle of a player's progression. Having your class skill and its subskills maxed out isn't necessarily a sign that you've reached the end game, but are getting close to it. The bonuses given by these skills tend to be greater than any other skill in the game, and so they are extremely important later on.

Many players say you should get your class skills maxed out as soon as possible. This is definitely good advice, though it is often misinterpreted. You should get your class skills maxed, but not before you get your core skills maxed. You don't need to have, say, Radar to 20, but you definitely should have Piloting, Shields, and Electrical Engineering to 20 at the least before you worry about your class too much.

Now, you can start with your class whenever you feel comfortable making that choice. It doesn't matter if you're level 20 or 200, just begin when you're ready. When you do start to class up, try to keep it consistent. You want to pace yourself, since class skills take a lot of skill points, but you also don't want to lag behind too much.

==== Gear ====

Talk about the different items, what they do.

===== Augmenters =====

Go into detail about augmenters.

==== The World Keeps Going ====

The game moves on even if you don't.

===== Teams =====

A good team is hard to come by. Many teams are simply full of underachievers or lowlifes. Others are filled with people who may seem too cutthroat or edgy for you. It's important not to judge a team simply by objective qualities, but also by how you feel about it. That may sound unusual coming from me, but if you're not happy in a team, you're simply going to want to leave. That'll cause unnecessary drama that nobody really wants to deal with. So find a team that seems to have similar goals to yours, and players who you already know you like.

If you absolutely can't find a decent team or simply want to start your own, you'll need to acquire the [[Leadership]] skill first. This skill is fairly easy to get for most players and simply requires a bit of money and some time. When creating a team, think very carefully about how you want to present it to other players. Are you about integrity and doing things the right way, or are you going for something more laid back, a place where people can just come and go as they please? Are you planning to accomplish something important, or simply intend to figure things out as it goes along? Whatever decision you may come to, make sure you reach it before you actually create the team.

It's not entirely rare, but it also doesn't happen a lot, especially in a large team. Believe it or not, if you put in the time and effort, you may actually get '''promoted''' in your new team! What you do when this happens is take a step back and reevalute your position. What did you do to even get promoted in the first place? Whatever it was, identify it and keep doing it. If you start slacking off, you're simply going to be resented by other players, especially those a lower rank than you. If you've been placed in a position of trust - say, an Officer, or even a Councilor - do ''not'' betray it. You will inevitably regret it. It will tarnish your reputation and people tend to not forget these sorts of things.

If you feel you do not like a team anymore, or do not like what position you are in, it is best to talk about it with someone who can actually help first. Do not simply leave a team unless you've been told to do so - a lot of teams do not take too kindly to it, since it can harm their score. If you feel you're in a position of responsibility but don't actually want that responsibility, ask to be demoted, don't cause trouble.

In general, use common sense, and always consult your teammates before making an important decision.

===== Dungeons =====

Understanding how they work.

===== Perilous Space =====

The final frontier.

===== Death =====

Death in this game is not as morbid as it may be in other places, like real life. In fact, dying in this game isn't even as bad as it once was. In previous years, dying in Star Sonata meant losing gear, and slaves could actually be converted into carbon wisps quite easily if they didn't have a Slave Stasis Generator equipped. Drones couldn't be repaired - if you lost them, that was it. Indeed, it was harsh in the olden days, and many Gear Glues were spent trying to prevent the inevitable.

Now, all slaves are equipped with stasis generators by default (one could say the control bots have them inbuilt), drones do not explode but simply break, and players can no longer drop gear when they die.

In spite of all of these improvements (some say they have made the game too easy, but I digress) dying in this game can still be a traumatic experience.

Death is marked by one's shields reaching 0. Now, your shields actually ''can'' be 0 and you still won't die, so in actuality it's being shot without shields that kills you. Your ship enters stasis and you are ejected in either spirit or pod form. For more information about the process of death, see [[Death]].

When you die, equipped items on your ship lose Durability. The lower their Durability, the less effective they are. To regain Durability, you have to repair the items on your ship, which costs money.

Slaves also suffer from a loss of Durability upon death. Drones, when killed, are simply converted to a destroyed form, and must be scooped and repaired in order to be used again.

===== F2P vs P2P =====

It has to be mentioned.

==== Moving On ====

A closing message.

== Part 2: Comprehensive Guide ==

===== Introduction =====

Describe this portion of the guide.

===== All is Well =====

;The End of Everything
When a universe begins, there is a bit of a chaotic phase where everyone is rushing to find the best galaxies, the best planets for colonies, and just get their bases and everything set up. Large teams will try to take large tracts of space that they will eventually fill with drones and trading slaves, only to have to pack it all up again later. Very quickly, and almost without warning, the universe will soon look like it did when it ended, just with everything in a slightly different place.

Star Sonata isn't the only game of its kind to use a system like this, where the game world is reset once every few months. However, it is a very important aspect of the game in many ways. For example, [[Hydroponics]] missions can only be done once per universe. Places like Hyper are hard to invade for any team wishing to seize control of its resources, and so the universe reset allows another team a chance to take hold, preventing monopolies. The same happens for most other resources, and just about everyone gets a chance to try and take some valuable plot of space.

So, why does this matter to you? Well, there's a number of reasons why, and we'll explore each one briefly before expanding on it in a later section.

===== The Economy =====

Describe how the economy in the game works.

===== Making Money =====

;Farming

;Shops

;Pirating

;Slaving

;Saving Money

;Losing Money

lInvestments

===== Leveling Up =====

Talk about strategies for leveling up.

===== More About Teams =====

Get into detail about teams and how they interrelate.

====== Diplomacy ======

Talk about making teams work together, or fall apart.

===== More About AI =====

AI, as you should already know, stands for Artificial Intelligence. The name implies that an AI player is both not alive and also smart. While the former is true, the latter is a complete and utter lie. There is nothing smart about the AI in this game, or most games for that matter. AI in Star Sonata seem to follow a script-based program where they will prioritize certain behaviors over others depending on what's going on around them.

AI seem to have a number of different states and I will attempt to catalog them here as I learn more.

;Standing
When there is nothing for the AI to do, it will simply stand in one spot for a while.
''Leads To''
;Roaming
AI will move for no reason after standing in the same spot too long. Sometimes, they will warp.
''Leads To''
;Docking
AI will randomly dock at AI bases and player bases. Sometimes, they will buy some commodities, but most of the time their hulls are too overfilled to do anything. This behavior is more for effect than anything else, giving players a sense that even the AI have stuff to do in this game.
''Leads To''
;Aggression
*AI will become aggressive for a number of reasons
**They are shot at
**Their attack code determines they need to attack a passing player
**Their swarm code determines they can kill a stronger player than usual e.g., the Rosemarys and Basils in Perilous Outpost sometimes attack the Earthforce AI, though their scripting should prevent this (there's no way they can win), but due to swarm mentality, a group of aggressive AI will attack just about anything.
**They are programmed to be aggressive, for mission or design reasons e.g., Flyswatters, who are intentionally annoying

''Leads To''
;Regression
When an AI is about to die, it will often try to run. Because the script doesn't seem to take into account ''where'' the threat is but rather that there is just a threat in general, most AI will keep warping through the same two gates over and over again until their shields are high enough to resume attack behavior. Sometimes, they will stay on the other side if they leave this state quick enough and eventually resume their normal roaming behavior.
''And/Or/Instead''
;Spin Out
AI will sometimes freak out and spin in circles if they can't run but are still about to die. The only reasons I can conjure up for this behavior are: 1. They are programmed to behave like this, so their deaths are more epic, or 2. Their retreat code can't find a gate to warp through and they continue with the last action they were given (in this case, turning so they can head towards a gate).

''more to come...''

===== Bases =====

Talk about the pros and cons of owning a base, and how to get started.

====== Colonies ======

Talk about how to run colonies and what the point is.

===== Drones =====

Talk about drones, their pros and cons, and what's best for the situation.

===== Slaves =====

Describe how slaves work and the best ways to make good use of them.

===== Ships =====

At the start of the game, choosing a ship is mostly about preference. You will soon find that these preferences may eventually lead you to a certain class skill. If you like bigger ships with lots of hull, you may go for a support or fleet focus, but if you like fast ships you might go for speed demon. There's a large number of ships in this game and lots of different ways of setting them up. The same two Pax Astrologicas, one augged for Berserker and one augged for Engineer, are effectively two entirely different ships because their stats are so strongly affected both by the class skills and by the augmenters equipped.

Towards the end-game, you will find that many ships are in fact aimed at different classes. Some are even class-locked, meaning only one class can use (or make use of) that ship. Rhinos are for Engineers and Shield Monkeys (though ShMs tend to prefer Apprentice's Wards) and Lions are for Berserkers. Panthers are for Speed Demons and Dreads are for Fleet Commanders, and so on and so forth. But just because your class has a ship designed for it doesn't always mean that ship will fit your play style. There are a number of alternatives that you can use at any point in the game that my not align perfectly with the intended flow of character progression but are still good choices and may be even better for you than what's recommended.

So, you may be asking yourself at this point, "That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't help me decide much. You basically just reaffirmed by belief that I am always right, because I am." ''SLAP!'' No! You aren't always right. Get that nonsensical sense out of your skull. The most important thing to remember in this game is that you are ''always WRONG''. Why? Because that's what everyone else is going to tell you, no matter what choice you make. And this is why I assert that you should always go with what feels right for you, even if it may not seem like the best choice. And if it really doesn't work out, hey maybe they were right, but now you have an even better idea of what you need to improve on, right?

That means you need to think long and hard about where you're at and what you want to accomplish. I can assure you though, if you feel like you're getting to the point where it's getting difficult to kill the AI you ought to be killing at your level, a new ship is almost always the cure. Just remember to augment it, otherwise it'll be even worse than your last fully augmented ship, believe it or not.

Once you get that new ship, have it augmented properly, and are ready for something else, go read another section of this guide because what you ought to do next is get newer gear and probably go spend all those Skill Points somewhere.

===== Weapons =====

Damage types and more.

===== More About Augmenters =====

Get into the math of how it all works.

===== More About Classes =====

More math and detailed explanations.

===== Missions =====

Why should anyone do missions? Talk about it.

===== More About Gear =====

Include a discussion about fighters, missiles, etc.

===== More About Tactics & Strategy =====

;The Numbers Game

When you get down to it, this game is all about numbers. Everything from DPS to your level in Aug Tweaking effects the way the game plays for you. We're going to talk about one of the most important numbers of all: enemies.

The number of enemies you are facing is generally important. You may not be able to kill 50 Rosemarys, though you can kill 25. You may be able to handle a group of Forgones, but throw in a few Big Greens and it all goes downhill.

When I call it the numbers game, I'm not saying that if all your assets combined can put out X DPS and the enemy can put out Y DPS , and you cross your shields against their fire and theirs against yours (and assuming all else is equal), the math is going to tell you who wins. It most likely won't, because there's a lot more influencing the way this works than that. In fact, my proposition is the antithesis of that mentality: it's not about the numbers, but instead how you apply them. It's all about where you direction your attention and when, and how you go about accomplishing that which needs to be done in order to win.

It really is frustrating when you don't understand why you can't do this or why that DG is so difficult. The truth is, you may have just reached the limits of what you can achieve with your current setup. However, there's still some extremely valuable strategies that you should know, both to squeeze a little more life out of that ship you got 200 lvls ago and should probably have replaced by now, and to increase your overall efficiency and give you some skills that might help you out in more extreme circumstances.

;Focus Fire
* The crux of it is this: when you are fighting a small group of enemies, you generally don't need to worry about where all that fire from your drones, slaves, missiles, or fighters are going. You already know that you're going to win and you just don't need to worry about it. But as you increase the number of enemies to the point where they can actually begin dealing damage against you, choosing your targets suddenly becomes more important. When fighting a large group of enemies, you are likely to get killed if you don't do something about the DPS coming your way, and do it quickly. You can circumvent this by having something that heals you, or a neurotweak that will boost your shield regen, but those only extend your lifespan, not remove the cause of the problem. In other words, you just need to begin reducing their numbers.
* Kill the strongest first. Yes, that's right, take out the strongest enemies first. The ones who are doing the most damage to you, individually, are the most dangerous and need to be removed immediately.
* If all else is equal, go for the weakest first. On the other hand, you have a situation where all are giving about the same DPS and it doesn't matter which you kill. In that case, kill the weakest first - be it the one with the lowest shields at the moment, or the one that's a lower level than the rest.

So, let's consider an example. Again let's rule out other variables like resistances and whatnot and just focus on some pure, raw numbers. You have a ship with 100 shields and you can pull 50 DPS. You have an enemy with 500 shields that can only pull 25 DPS. Who wins? Well, the math says that he can kill you in 4 seconds but you can kill him in 10. So, you'd be dead 6 seconds too soon to kill him, and he'd still have plenty of shields left over. He only has 500% more shields and 50% less DPS, why can't you kill him? Well, did you sit in the same spot the whole time? What if you were able to evade half of his shots, so that it takes him 8 seconds to kill you? And if you let a slave or drone take the other 2 second's worth, hey, you just made it! I know that sounds like a copout, but that's just it! In this game, you use copouts like that to survive. The tactics section goes more in depth about how to avoid taking fire while dealing it, so we're just going to continue exploring the numbers here.

Another example: You and your enemy are equals. You both have 100 shields and can pull 50 DPS. You're both dead after 2 seconds. How do you win? Well, if we consider resistances this time, then whoever has the highest resists wins. If you both shot for the entire duration and landed all your hits, and one still died while the other lived, then you know who has the weaker ship. The same is true if you consider vulnerabilities rather than resistances, or damage boosts instead. What if we consider shield regeneration?

If you have a shield with a bank of 100 and it regenerates 10/s, then it takes you 10 seconds to recover. If, over the course of 10 seconds, an enemy can pull 20 DPS, he's only actually removed half your shields, since your shields are always recovering over the course of that period! Effectively, you'd have 50 shields left, and it'd take him an additional 5 seconds or so to kill you. Scale these values however you like, and it always works out the same. You don't have to just deplete their shields, but also neutralize their regeneration.

So, consider you have a bank of 100 and a regeneration of 20. It takes 5 seconds to recover. If an enemy does 20 DPS to you, then he can't break your regeneration (barring critical hits, of course). If he does even a little more DPS, however, he can kill you, albeit slowly. In order to kill you effectively, he needs be able to do at least twice as much damage as you have shield regeneration. And the true is for you, killing other things. And this is, again, where the numbers game comes into play.

If you have the same bank and regeneration as the last example and there's now ''two'' of those enemies, they can kill you quickly, because even though each is only strong enough to neutralize your regeneration, the other is now doing pure DPS. You will be dead in 5 seconds flat. This is why you may be able to handle a single Battleship for example, but if another one shows up, you're done for. Now, if you manage to kill the first Battleship quickly enough, you're back down to a single enemy. See why this matters so much? If, when that new enemy appears, everything you have suddenly starts shooting at it instead, then you're done for. ''Focus Fire''.

===== Energize =====

Talk about energy and strategies for using it effectively.

===== Shielding =====

Go into detail about shields and how they work.

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-04-09T21:07:43Z

captainGarfield: /* Death */

Yet another player guide by yours truly,captainGarfield.

This guide will be split into two parts: '''Quick Start''' and '''Comprehensive'''. The Quick Start portion will briefly explain the different parts of the game's control setup and how to get going in the world of ''Star Sonata''. The Comprehensive portion is intended to cover nearly every aspect of the game and provide you with the wisdom and knowledge I've gathered in the years I've played. Both parts can be used together or completely separate, and an Index will be provided for those looking for specific information. 

As a disclaimer, I realize this is not the first guide of its kind. I also realize that most other guides were left incomplete, had a bias, or have simply become outdated. In any case, I cannot guarantee that what you find here will always be 100% accurate and be the best source for you to base decisions off of. I am simply offering my opinions in the hope that they may help you to avoid some of the mistakes I have, and learn some of the tricks I've used. 

As I continue to develop this guide, I ask that anyone who happens to read it point out any factual mistakes I might make or give me suggestions. I plan to, once the guide has reached maturity, to actually begin interviewing other players for their input and knowledge on a variety of subjects.

== Part I: Quick Start ==

==== Controls & Interface ====

Before you can even think about playing the game, you need to know your way around it. Here's a quick and dirty introduction to all the different aspects of the interface. Try to keep up, because I'm not gonna waste any time with this section.

The screen is divided up into 4 parts: The Ship Box, Hotbar, Menubar, and Chat Box. Naturally, the game itself is in the center portion, with your ship in the center.

*The Ship Box shows your Shields, Energy, Visibility, and Weapon.
*The Hotbar allows you to bind your most commonly used items to a key on your keyboard.
*The Menubar lets you access all the different windows the game uses to interact with the player.
*The Chat Box lets you communicate with other players and provides key information in a timely fashion.

The Menubar has 10 buttons. From left to right, these are: Help, Warp, Dock, Galaxy Map, Options, Social, Character, Ship, Radar, and Inventory. Clicking any of the first three will cause an action, the others toggle windows. Help opens a browser window to the Star Sonata help page, Warp takes you through wormholes, and Dock allows you to go inside stations.

The Chat Box has 7 tabs. From left to right in the default configuration, these are: Event, All, Galaxy, Trade, Help, Team, and Squad. The order of these tabs can be changed by clicking any one and dragging it. Their uses are:

*Event: Displays any game-related messages, such as kills, actions, and the Message of the Day.
*All: A global chat where any player can talk.
*Galaxy: A local chat where only players in the same galaxy as you can talk.
*Trade: A place to advertise, buy, and sell.
*Help: A place to ask questions not easily answered by the Wiki or appropriate for All chat.
*Team: Lets you talk to other members of your Team in private.
*Squad: Lets you talk to other members of your Squad in private, and displays Squad-related events.

Most of the game involves flying your ship around and shooting at stuff. Before you can shoot at something, you first have to target it. If this weren't necessary, then it'd be impossible to avoid attacking everything from neutral space stations to teammates while fighting! To target something, simply click on it. A new box will appear providing information on the targeted object. You can also sort through the list of targetable objects in the galaxy using the Ctrl, Z, Q, and Tab keys. Using Shift with any of these keys will cycle through the list in reverse.

Here's a list of the most pertinent keys:

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible collapsed"
|+ Default Key Bindings
|-
! Key
! Action
! Notes
|-
| Space Bar
| Shoot
| Must have a target!
|-
| W, A, D
| Move forwards and turn
|
|-
| S
| Slows the ship
|
|-
| X
| Target options menu
| Must have a target!
|-
| V
| Autopilot
| Must have a target!
|-
| C
| Scoop
| Need to have a Scoop equipped, and a scoopable item nearby
|-
| Enter
| Chat
|
|-
| U
| Suicide
| Will have to authorize it
|-
| I
| Inventory
|
|-
| R
| Dock
| Must be close enough to a station and moving slow enough
|-
| F
| Warp
| Must be a wormhole nearby
|-
| O
| Game Options
|
|-
| P
| Galaxy Map
|
|-
| E
| Switch weapons
|
|-
| G
| Tractor Beam
| Must have one equipped and a target selected; if no target is selected, the nearest piece of Debris is grabbed
|-
| H
| Hides interface
| Useful for screenshots
|-
| K
| Cloaking Device
| Must have one equipped
|-
| M
| Missions Tab
|
|}

There are a number of windows in the game which you use to interact. I'll briefly go over them here:

==== Welcome to Space ====

At the start of the game, you're going to get a dinky little ship. You'll be in some strange looking place with a lot of green things flying around. This is fine, go ahead and click one. Press the Space Bar to shoot at it, and watch as it explodes. Now you know how to kill things, you bloodthirsty heathen.

Now that you've satisfied your bloodlust, it's time to start getting payed for it. Go to the base (the big thing that doesn't look like a rat, as you probably now know those green things as) and dock in it. You'll get a window with lots of tabs; right now, we only care about the first one. There's a box with some missions in it, double-click one. They're pretty self explanatory, so just do what it says and come back to claim your reward. Keep doing missions, eventually they'll lead you to the Nexus where there's... wait for it... ''more missions!'' Do those, and keep reading when you're done.

===== Tactics =====

Star Sonata is, at its core, a top-down shooter. The physics in the game are extremely simple and the game mechanics, for the most part, very straight forward. In every top-down shooter since ''Asteroids'', the player controls a character from a bird's eye view and, well, shoots stuff. In Star Sonata, movement is defined by a few key variables:
* Speed - the max speed of a ship limits how fast it can go. Distance in the game is arbitrary, and 1 speed means you move 1 distance every second.
* Thrust - essentially, this determines how quickly you can get to top speed. Weight affects this greatly - you need more thrust to move more weight.
* Turning - the rate at which you turn. Weight also affects this, and so you need more torque to overcome more weight.
* Weight - every item on a ship has a weight, and this variable is used to determine how the ship handles.

Inertia counts. If a ship starts moving forwards, it will not stop until something forces it to. Explosions matter, too. When something blows up near your ship, it creates a concussion that pushes you away and sometimes jams your engine temporarily. There's also tractors - both yours, and those of players and AI. There's 3 kinds of tractors: push, pull, and hitchhiker. Each will push objects away from, pull objects towards, or move the player towards objects. Tractors on AI can make it hard to move around, but you can also use your own tractor to your advantage. Try slingshotting yourself around a planet when you get a chance - learning to use everything at your disposal for maneuverability is key.

The tactics I cover here all involve moving your ship a certain way. These are: Kiting, Jinking, Flybys, and Out Turning.

;Kiting
Kiting an enemy refers to positioning yourself in such a way that you are out of range of their weapons while simultaneously close enough for the AI to keep following you. Most AI have a range at which they will follow you indefinitely, usually between 50 and 100 distance beyond the range of their farthest shooting weapon. You can use this to your advantage by using a long range weapon and shooting at the AI without taking any damage. This is a good tactic if you don't have a strong or extremely agile ship and need to kill something tougher than you are.

;Jinking
Jinking is basically dodging. You cannot dodge lasers, but if the enemy is using projectile weapons, you can make them waste their shots by out maneuvering their bullets. Getting too close to the AI while doing this isn't effective, as you have less time to react. Try to find a distance at which you can keep shooting while also making adjustments to your position.

;Flybys
Flybys are essentially running full speed at the enemy, shooting a salvo of projectiles, and flying past. Speed Demons, especially, like to use this tactic as they tend to have the shield regeneration necessary to recover after sustaining damage from this. This is a good way to take out targets that could kill you if you stay within firing range long enough, but are not easy to kite or jink. You have to make sure you can recover enough of your shield bank between each run and do it fast enough that the enemy doesn't recover as well.

;Out Turning
Many AI turn slow. If you can stay behind them, you can keep shooting without getting shot. Note that some weapons have something called "Full Tracking", which allows them to be shot 360 degrees. If the AI has this, then this tactic is worthless. However, it is especially useful for taking out larger, gear laden AI, as these tend to be heavier.

In spite of the fact that Star Sonata is a top-down shooter and relies heavily on arcade-style gameplay, there's still a few other tactics to consider that don't involve maneuvering.

;Training
Training is the process of controlling the enemy's aggressiveness. AI will tend to shoot at whatever is doing the most damage to them - you can use this to your advantage to make them shoot at what you want them to. You, your slaves, and your drones each may not have that much shield bank individually, but if you combine them all then that's quite a lot. Dividing up enemy fire between each can help you last longer in battle. To capture an AI's aggro, you need to shoot at it. It usually doesn't take long. If you need to lose it, bring the AI near a slave or drone and wait for them to shoot at it. Once your slaves or drones start doing some damage, the AI will switch aggro. Note that some AI will not always respond to this due to the nature of their programming.

;Tanking
Tanking is all about taking damage, rather than directing it. Some players prefer to have an incredibly large shield bank and simply take the hits while their slaves, drones, missiles, fighters, or other players do the actual damage. Shield Monkeys tend to fall along this line, though they are intended to heal without taking damage rather than be shot. Tanking can be challenging and most setups rely on a high-bank, low regeneration shield, meaning that once that bank is gone, there is virtually no way to replenish it in a timely fashion without the help of healer drones or another player.

===== Strategy =====

Next, go to Deep Space, do the missions there. Basically just do all the missions you can find, until you think you're not getting enough from them anymore. Yes, feel the greed. Aspire to be greater, greater than the rats and the volcoms.

Once you've done that, go to Sol. To get to Sol, go through the gate to Earthforce Celestial Garden. The one to Sol is in there. Go to the Earthforce Frontier Station and see what missions are available. If you have any skillpoints, use them.

===== Core Skills =====

*Piloting: You can't pilot a giant ship if all you know is zebucarts. Learn to fly more complicated things.
*Shields: Shields keep you from getting blown up. They're also complicated to install. Not just anyone knows how to jack a billion cables together.
*Energy: Nuclear reactor leaking? Too bad, there's no health insurance here. Energy is what makes your ship go round, keep a lot of it.
*Radar: You can't shoot what you can't see. And there's a lot you're not seeing, like why that haircut looks bad on you.
*Engines: Puff puff. Go fast faster, turn hard harder.
*Equipment: You see that launch tube? Go crawl inside it.
*Weaponry: Shoot stuff with bigger and bigger guns.
*Cloaking: Don't get shot at.

So, there you go. The most important to you are probably piloting, weaponry, shields, and energy. You can't shoot without energy, it doesn't matter if you have energy if your gun sucks as much as you do, your guns don't matter if you die instantly and none of it matters if you can't fit it all in the freaking ship.

In any case, get some skills if you can and get some new gear. You should have plenty of money from the Nexus, so go nuts. You should have a decent level of Piloting now so get rid of that Helga.

Next, go to Blue Outpost and kill the little blue ships. You'll get to level 50 easy. Now kill the bigger blue ships. You can get some slaves at this point too, which are extremely useful because it's like having another player beside you.

Once you've killed just about everything you can find and can't level anymore, get Warp Navigation to 2. You can do this at Sol or Paxius, whichever you prefer. However, you've probably got some blue stuff from killing things in the Outpost, so Sol is probably best.

Next, do the same thing. Get to level 100, and start worrying about specialization. This is important, because this game doesn't let you do a little of everything and be good at it. You need to choose a play style and stick with it. There's a lot to consider, but whatever's been working best for you so far is the path you should take.

Before you even worry about class skills, I'd worry more about your core skills. Most people say get a class skill as soon as possible - this is okay, if you know what you want to do already. But I think it's not wise to urge new players to make an important decision so quickly. You can still head in one direction or another first, and see how you like it.

So, core skills. At this point you probably have most somewhere between 8 and 10. Now think about what you're lacking in. Do you run out of energy too often? Do you blow up a lot? Your weapons don't do enough damage? Figure it out and go get that skill up, then get better gear. Whatever's holding you back, move it out of the way.

Once you've chosen a path, follow it. Don't meddle around, it's a waste of time.

==== Class Skills ====

When you're comfortable with it, choose a class. Pour as much time, money, and skill points as you can into it. Use class-specific items and augmenters.

==== Gear ====

Talk about the different items, what they do.

===== Augmenters =====

Go into detail about augmenters.

==== The World Keeps Going ====

The game moves on even if you don't.

===== Teams =====

A good team is hard to come by. Many teams are simply full of underachievers or lowlifes. Others are filled with people who may seem too cutthroat or edgy for you. It's important not to judge a team simply by objective qualities, but also by how you feel about it. That may sound unusual coming from me, but if you're not happy in a team, you're simply going to want to leave. That'll cause unnecessary drama that nobody really wants to deal with. So find a team that seems to have similar goals to yours, and players who you already know you like.

If you absolutely can't find a decent team or simply want to start your own, you'll need to acquire the [[Leadership]] skill first. This skill is fairly easy to get for most players and simply requires a bit of money and some time. When creating a team, think very carefully about how you want to present it to other players. Are you about integrity and doing things the right way, or are you going for something more laid back, a place where people can just come and go as they please? Are you planning to accomplish something important, or simply intend to figure things out as it goes along? Whatever decision you may come to, make sure you reach it before you actually create the team.

It's not entirely rare, but it also doesn't happen a lot, especially in a large team. Believe it or not, if you put in the time and effort, you may actually get '''promoted''' in your new team! What you do when this happens is take a step back and reevalute your position. What did you do to even get promoted in the first place? Whatever it was, identify it and keep doing it. If you start slacking off, you're simply going to be resented by other players, especially those a lower rank than you. If you've been placed in a position of trust - say, an Officer, or even a Councilor - do ''not'' betray it. You will inevitably regret it. It will tarnish your reputation and people tend to not forget these sorts of things.

If you feel you do not like a team anymore, or do not like what position you are in, it is best to talk about it with someone who can actually help first. Do not simply leave a team unless you've been told to do so - a lot of teams do not take too kindly to it, since it can harm their score. If you feel you're in a position of responsibility but don't actually want that responsibility, ask to be demoted, don't cause trouble.

In general, use common sense, and always consult your teammates before making an important decision.

===== Dungeons =====

Understanding how they work.

===== Perilous Space =====

The final frontier.

===== Death =====

Death in this game is not as morbid as it may be in other places, like real life. In fact, dying in this game isn't even as bad as it once was. In previous years, dying in Star Sonata meant losing gear, and slaves could actually be converted into carbon wisps quite easily if they didn't have a Slave Stasis Generator equipped. Drones couldn't be repaired - if you lost them, that was it. Indeed, it was harsh in the olden days, and many Gear Glues were spent trying to prevent the inevitable.

Now, all slaves are equipped with stasis generators by default (one could say the control bots have them inbuilt), drones do not explode but simply break, and players can no longer drop gear when they die.

In spite of all of these improvements (some say they have made the game too easy, but I digress) dying in this game can still be a traumatic experience.

Death is marked by one's shields reaching 0. Now, your shields actually ''can'' be 0 and you still won't die, so in actuality it's being shot without shields that kills you. Your ship enters stasis and you are ejected in either spirit or pod form. For more information about the process of death, see [[Death]].

When you die, equipped items on your ship lose Durability. The lower their Durability, the less effective they are. To regain Durability, you have to repair the items on your ship, which costs money.

Slaves also suffer from a loss of Durability upon death. Drones, when killed, are simply converted to a destroyed form, and must be scooped and repaired in order to be used again.

===== F2P vs P2P =====

It has to be mentioned.

==== Moving On ====

A closing message.

== Part 2: Comprehensive Guide ==

===== Introduction =====

Describe this portion of the guide.

===== All is Well =====

;The End of Everything
When a universe begins, there is a bit of a chaotic phase where everyone is rushing to find the best galaxies, the best planets for colonies, and just get their bases and everything set up. Large teams will try to take large tracts of space that they will eventually fill with drones and trading slaves, only to have to pack it all up again later. Very quickly, and almost without warning, the universe will soon look like it did when it ended, just with everything in a slightly different place.

Star Sonata isn't the only game of its kind to use a system like this, where the game world is reset once every few months. However, it is a very important aspect of the game in many ways. For example, [[Hydroponics]] missions can only be done once per universe. Places like Hyper are hard to invade for any team wishing to seize control of its resources, and so the universe reset allows another team a chance to take hold, preventing monopolies. The same happens for most other resources, and just about everyone gets a chance to try and take some valuable plot of space.

So, why does this matter to you? Well, there's a number of reasons why, and we'll explore each one briefly before expanding on it in a later section.

===== The Economy =====

Describe how the economy in the game works.

===== Making Money =====

;Farming

;Shops

;Pirating

;Slaving

;Saving Money

;Losing Money

lInvestments

===== Leveling Up =====

Talk about strategies for leveling up.

===== More About Teams =====

Get into detail about teams and how they interrelate.

====== Diplomacy ======

Talk about making teams work together, or fall apart.

===== More About AI =====

AI, as you should already know, stands for Artificial Intelligence. The name implies that an AI player is both not alive and also smart. While the former is true, the latter is a complete and utter lie. There is nothing smart about the AI in this game, or most games for that matter. AI in Star Sonata seem to follow a script-based program where they will prioritize certain behaviors over others depending on what's going on around them.

AI seem to have a number of different states and I will attempt to catalog them here as I learn more.

;Standing
When there is nothing for the AI to do, it will simply stand in one spot for a while.
''Leads To''
;Roaming
AI will move for no reason after standing in the same spot too long. Sometimes, they will warp.
''Leads To''
;Docking
AI will randomly dock at AI bases and player bases. Sometimes, they will buy some commodities, but most of the time their hulls are too overfilled to do anything. This behavior is more for effect than anything else, giving players a sense that even the AI have stuff to do in this game.
''Leads To''
;Aggression
*AI will become aggressive for a number of reasons
**They are shot at
**Their attack code determines they need to attack a passing player
**Their swarm code determines they can kill a stronger player than usual e.g., the Rosemarys and Basils in Perilous Outpost sometimes attack the Earthforce AI, though their scripting should prevent this (there's no way they can win), but due to swarm mentality, a group of aggressive AI will attack just about anything.
**They are programmed to be aggressive, for mission or design reasons e.g., Flyswatters, who are intentionally annoying

''Leads To''
;Regression
When an AI is about to die, it will often try to run. Because the script doesn't seem to take into account ''where'' the threat is but rather that there is just a threat in general, most AI will keep warping through the same two gates over and over again until their shields are high enough to resume attack behavior. Sometimes, they will stay on the other side if they leave this state quick enough and eventually resume their normal roaming behavior.
''And/Or/Instead''
;Spin Out
AI will sometimes freak out and spin in circles if they can't run but are still about to die. The only reasons I can conjure up for this behavior are: 1. They are programmed to behave like this, so their deaths are more epic, or 2. Their retreat code can't find a gate to warp through and they continue with the last action they were given (in this case, turning so they can head towards a gate).

''more to come...''

===== Bases =====

Talk about the pros and cons of owning a base, and how to get started.

====== Colonies ======

Talk about how to run colonies and what the point is.

===== Drones =====

Talk about drones, their pros and cons, and what's best for the situation.

===== Slaves =====

Describe how slaves work and the best ways to make good use of them.

===== Ships =====

At the start of the game, choosing a ship is mostly about preference. You will soon find that these preferences may eventually lead you to a certain class skill. If you like bigger ships with lots of hull, you may go for a support or fleet focus, but if you like fast ships you might go for speed demon. There's a large number of ships in this game and lots of different ways of setting them up. The same two Pax Astrologicas, one augged for Berserker and one augged for Engineer, are effectively two entirely different ships because their stats are so strongly affected both by the class skills and by the augmenters equipped.

Towards the end-game, you will find that many ships are in fact aimed at different classes. Some are even class-locked, meaning only one class can use (or make use of) that ship. Rhinos are for Engineers and Shield Monkeys (though ShMs tend to prefer Apprentice's Wards) and Lions are for Berserkers. Panthers are for Speed Demons and Dreads are for Fleet Commanders, and so on and so forth. But just because your class has a ship designed for it doesn't always mean that ship will fit your play style. There are a number of alternatives that you can use at any point in the game that my not align perfectly with the intended flow of character progression but are still good choices and may be even better for you than what's recommended.

So, you may be asking yourself at this point, "That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't help me decide much. You basically just reaffirmed by belief that I am always right, because I am." ''SLAP!'' No! You aren't always right. Get that nonsensical sense out of your skull. The most important thing to remember in this game is that you are ''always WRONG''. Why? Because that's what everyone else is going to tell you, no matter what choice you make. And this is why I assert that you should always go with what feels right for you, even if it may not seem like the best choice. And if it really doesn't work out, hey maybe they were right, but now you have an even better idea of what you need to improve on, right?

That means you need to think long and hard about where you're at and what you want to accomplish. I can assure you though, if you feel like you're getting to the point where it's getting difficult to kill the AI you ought to be killing at your level, a new ship is almost always the cure. Just remember to augment it, otherwise it'll be even worse than your last fully augmented ship, believe it or not.

Once you get that new ship, have it augmented properly, and are ready for something else, go read another section of this guide because what you ought to do next is get newer gear and probably go spend all those Skill Points somewhere.

===== Weapons =====

Damage types and more.

===== More About Augmenters =====

Get into the math of how it all works.

===== More About Classes =====

More math and detailed explanations.

===== Missions =====

Why should anyone do missions? Talk about it.

===== More About Gear =====

Include a discussion about fighters, missiles, etc.

===== More About Tactics & Strategy =====

;The Numbers Game

When you get down to it, this game is all about numbers. Everything from DPS to your level in Aug Tweaking effects the way the game plays for you. We're going to talk about one of the most important numbers of all: enemies.

The number of enemies you are facing is generally important. You may not be able to kill 50 Rosemarys, though you can kill 25. You may be able to handle a group of Forgones, but throw in a few Big Greens and it all goes downhill.

When I call it the numbers game, I'm not saying that if all your assets combined can put out X DPS and the enemy can put out Y DPS , and you cross your shields against their fire and theirs against yours (and assuming all else is equal), the math is going to tell you who wins. It most likely won't, because there's a lot more influencing the way this works than that. In fact, my proposition is the antithesis of that mentality: it's not about the numbers, but instead how you apply them. It's all about where you direction your attention and when, and how you go about accomplishing that which needs to be done in order to win.

It really is frustrating when you don't understand why you can't do this or why that DG is so difficult. The truth is, you may have just reached the limits of what you can achieve with your current setup. However, there's still some extremely valuable strategies that you should know, both to squeeze a little more life out of that ship you got 200 lvls ago and should probably have replaced by now, and to increase your overall efficiency and give you some skills that might help you out in more extreme circumstances.

;Focus Fire
* The crux of it is this: when you are fighting a small group of enemies, you generally don't need to worry about where all that fire from your drones, slaves, missiles, or fighters are going. You already know that you're going to win and you just don't need to worry about it. But as you increase the number of enemies to the point where they can actually begin dealing damage against you, choosing your targets suddenly becomes more important. When fighting a large group of enemies, you are likely to get killed if you don't do something about the DPS coming your way, and do it quickly. You can circumvent this by having something that heals you, or a neurotweak that will boost your shield regen, but those only extend your lifespan, not remove the cause of the problem. In other words, you just need to begin reducing their numbers.
* Kill the strongest first. Yes, that's right, take out the strongest enemies first. The ones who are doing the most damage to you, individually, are the most dangerous and need to be removed immediately.
* If all else is equal, go for the weakest first. On the other hand, you have a situation where all are giving about the same DPS and it doesn't matter which you kill. In that case, kill the weakest first - be it the one with the lowest shields at the moment, or the one that's a lower level than the rest.

So, let's consider an example. Again let's rule out other variables like resistances and whatnot and just focus on some pure, raw numbers. You have a ship with 100 shields and you can pull 50 DPS. You have an enemy with 500 shields that can only pull 25 DPS. Who wins? Well, the math says that he can kill you in 4 seconds but you can kill him in 10. So, you'd be dead 6 seconds too soon to kill him, and he'd still have plenty of shields left over. He only has 500% more shields and 50% less DPS, why can't you kill him? Well, did you sit in the same spot the whole time? What if you were able to evade half of his shots, so that it takes him 8 seconds to kill you? And if you let a slave or drone take the other 2 second's worth, hey, you just made it! I know that sounds like a copout, but that's just it! In this game, you use copouts like that to survive. The tactics section goes more in depth about how to avoid taking fire while dealing it, so we're just going to continue exploring the numbers here.

Another example: You and your enemy are equals. You both have 100 shields and can pull 50 DPS. You're both dead after 2 seconds. How do you win? Well, if we consider resistances this time, then whoever has the highest resists wins. If you both shot for the entire duration and landed all your hits, and one still died while the other lived, then you know who has the weaker ship. The same is true if you consider vulnerabilities rather than resistances, or damage boosts instead. What if we consider shield regeneration?

If you have a shield with a bank of 100 and it regenerates 10/s, then it takes you 10 seconds to recover. If, over the course of 10 seconds, an enemy can pull 20 DPS, he's only actually removed half your shields, since your shields are always recovering over the course of that period! Effectively, you'd have 50 shields left, and it'd take him an additional 5 seconds or so to kill you. Scale these values however you like, and it always works out the same. You don't have to just deplete their shields, but also neutralize their regeneration.

So, consider you have a bank of 100 and a regeneration of 20. It takes 5 seconds to recover. If an enemy does 20 DPS to you, then he can't break your regeneration (barring critical hits, of course). If he does even a little more DPS, however, he can kill you, albeit slowly. In order to kill you effectively, he needs be able to do at least twice as much damage as you have shield regeneration. And the true is for you, killing other things. And this is, again, where the numbers game comes into play.

If you have the same bank and regeneration as the last example and there's now ''two'' of those enemies, they can kill you quickly, because even though each is only strong enough to neutralize your regeneration, the other is now doing pure DPS. You will be dead in 5 seconds flat. This is why you may be able to handle a single Battleship for example, but if another one shows up, you're done for. Now, if you manage to kill the first Battleship quickly enough, you're back down to a single enemy. See why this matters so much? If, when that new enemy appears, everything you have suddenly starts shooting at it instead, then you're done for. ''Focus Fire''.

===== Energize =====

Talk about energy and strategies for using it effectively.

===== Shielding =====

Go into detail about shields and how they work.

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-04-09T20:57:58Z

captainGarfield:

Yet another player guide by yours truly,captainGarfield.

This guide will be split into two parts: '''Quick Start''' and '''Comprehensive'''. The Quick Start portion will briefly explain the different parts of the game's control setup and how to get going in the world of ''Star Sonata''. The Comprehensive portion is intended to cover nearly every aspect of the game and provide you with the wisdom and knowledge I've gathered in the years I've played. Both parts can be used together or completely separate, and an Index will be provided for those looking for specific information. 

As a disclaimer, I realize this is not the first guide of its kind. I also realize that most other guides were left incomplete, had a bias, or have simply become outdated. In any case, I cannot guarantee that what you find here will always be 100% accurate and be the best source for you to base decisions off of. I am simply offering my opinions in the hope that they may help you to avoid some of the mistakes I have, and learn some of the tricks I've used. 

As I continue to develop this guide, I ask that anyone who happens to read it point out any factual mistakes I might make or give me suggestions. I plan to, once the guide has reached maturity, to actually begin interviewing other players for their input and knowledge on a variety of subjects.

== Part I: Quick Start ==

==== Controls & Interface ====

Before you can even think about playing the game, you need to know your way around it. Here's a quick and dirty introduction to all the different aspects of the interface. Try to keep up, because I'm not gonna waste any time with this section.

The screen is divided up into 4 parts: The Ship Box, Hotbar, Menubar, and Chat Box. Naturally, the game itself is in the center portion, with your ship in the center.

*The Ship Box shows your Shields, Energy, Visibility, and Weapon.
*The Hotbar allows you to bind your most commonly used items to a key on your keyboard.
*The Menubar lets you access all the different windows the game uses to interact with the player.
*The Chat Box lets you communicate with other players and provides key information in a timely fashion.

The Menubar has 10 buttons. From left to right, these are: Help, Warp, Dock, Galaxy Map, Options, Social, Character, Ship, Radar, and Inventory. Clicking any of the first three will cause an action, the others toggle windows. Help opens a browser window to the Star Sonata help page, Warp takes you through wormholes, and Dock allows you to go inside stations.

The Chat Box has 7 tabs. From left to right in the default configuration, these are: Event, All, Galaxy, Trade, Help, Team, and Squad. The order of these tabs can be changed by clicking any one and dragging it. Their uses are:

*Event: Displays any game-related messages, such as kills, actions, and the Message of the Day.
*All: A global chat where any player can talk.
*Galaxy: A local chat where only players in the same galaxy as you can talk.
*Trade: A place to advertise, buy, and sell.
*Help: A place to ask questions not easily answered by the Wiki or appropriate for All chat.
*Team: Lets you talk to other members of your Team in private.
*Squad: Lets you talk to other members of your Squad in private, and displays Squad-related events.

Most of the game involves flying your ship around and shooting at stuff. Before you can shoot at something, you first have to target it. If this weren't necessary, then it'd be impossible to avoid attacking everything from neutral space stations to teammates while fighting! To target something, simply click on it. A new box will appear providing information on the targeted object. You can also sort through the list of targetable objects in the galaxy using the Ctrl, Z, Q, and Tab keys. Using Shift with any of these keys will cycle through the list in reverse.

Here's a list of the most pertinent keys:

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible collapsed"
|+ Default Key Bindings
|-
! Key
! Action
! Notes
|-
| Space Bar
| Shoot
| Must have a target!
|-
| W, A, D
| Move forwards and turn
|
|-
| S
| Slows the ship
|
|-
| X
| Target options menu
| Must have a target!
|-
| V
| Autopilot
| Must have a target!
|-
| C
| Scoop
| Need to have a Scoop equipped, and a scoopable item nearby
|-
| Enter
| Chat
|
|-
| U
| Suicide
| Will have to authorize it
|-
| I
| Inventory
|
|-
| R
| Dock
| Must be close enough to a station and moving slow enough
|-
| F
| Warp
| Must be a wormhole nearby
|-
| O
| Game Options
|
|-
| P
| Galaxy Map
|
|-
| E
| Switch weapons
|
|-
| G
| Tractor Beam
| Must have one equipped and a target selected; if no target is selected, the nearest piece of Debris is grabbed
|-
| H
| Hides interface
| Useful for screenshots
|-
| K
| Cloaking Device
| Must have one equipped
|-
| M
| Missions Tab
|
|}

There are a number of windows in the game which you use to interact. I'll briefly go over them here:

==== Welcome to Space ====

At the start of the game, you're going to get a dinky little ship. You'll be in some strange looking place with a lot of green things flying around. This is fine, go ahead and click one. Press the Space Bar to shoot at it, and watch as it explodes. Now you know how to kill things, you bloodthirsty heathen.

Now that you've satisfied your bloodlust, it's time to start getting payed for it. Go to the base (the big thing that doesn't look like a rat, as you probably now know those green things as) and dock in it. You'll get a window with lots of tabs; right now, we only care about the first one. There's a box with some missions in it, double-click one. They're pretty self explanatory, so just do what it says and come back to claim your reward. Keep doing missions, eventually they'll lead you to the Nexus where there's... wait for it... ''more missions!'' Do those, and keep reading when you're done.

===== Tactics =====

Star Sonata is, at its core, a top-down shooter. The physics in the game are extremely simple and the game mechanics, for the most part, very straight forward. In every top-down shooter since ''Asteroids'', the player controls a character from a bird's eye view and, well, shoots stuff. In Star Sonata, movement is defined by a few key variables:
* Speed - the max speed of a ship limits how fast it can go. Distance in the game is arbitrary, and 1 speed means you move 1 distance every second.
* Thrust - essentially, this determines how quickly you can get to top speed. Weight affects this greatly - you need more thrust to move more weight.
* Turning - the rate at which you turn. Weight also affects this, and so you need more torque to overcome more weight.
* Weight - every item on a ship has a weight, and this variable is used to determine how the ship handles.

Inertia counts. If a ship starts moving forwards, it will not stop until something forces it to. Explosions matter, too. When something blows up near your ship, it creates a concussion that pushes you away and sometimes jams your engine temporarily. There's also tractors - both yours, and those of players and AI. There's 3 kinds of tractors: push, pull, and hitchhiker. Each will push objects away from, pull objects towards, or move the player towards objects. Tractors on AI can make it hard to move around, but you can also use your own tractor to your advantage. Try slingshotting yourself around a planet when you get a chance - learning to use everything at your disposal for maneuverability is key.

The tactics I cover here all involve moving your ship a certain way. These are: Kiting, Jinking, Flybys, and Out Turning.

;Kiting
Kiting an enemy refers to positioning yourself in such a way that you are out of range of their weapons while simultaneously close enough for the AI to keep following you. Most AI have a range at which they will follow you indefinitely, usually between 50 and 100 distance beyond the range of their farthest shooting weapon. You can use this to your advantage by using a long range weapon and shooting at the AI without taking any damage. This is a good tactic if you don't have a strong or extremely agile ship and need to kill something tougher than you are.

;Jinking
Jinking is basically dodging. You cannot dodge lasers, but if the enemy is using projectile weapons, you can make them waste their shots by out maneuvering their bullets. Getting too close to the AI while doing this isn't effective, as you have less time to react. Try to find a distance at which you can keep shooting while also making adjustments to your position.

;Flybys
Flybys are essentially running full speed at the enemy, shooting a salvo of projectiles, and flying past. Speed Demons, especially, like to use this tactic as they tend to have the shield regeneration necessary to recover after sustaining damage from this. This is a good way to take out targets that could kill you if you stay within firing range long enough, but are not easy to kite or jink. You have to make sure you can recover enough of your shield bank between each run and do it fast enough that the enemy doesn't recover as well.

;Out Turning
Many AI turn slow. If you can stay behind them, you can keep shooting without getting shot. Note that some weapons have something called "Full Tracking", which allows them to be shot 360 degrees. If the AI has this, then this tactic is worthless. However, it is especially useful for taking out larger, gear laden AI, as these tend to be heavier.

In spite of the fact that Star Sonata is a top-down shooter and relies heavily on arcade-style gameplay, there's still a few other tactics to consider that don't involve maneuvering.

;Training
Training is the process of controlling the enemy's aggressiveness. AI will tend to shoot at whatever is doing the most damage to them - you can use this to your advantage to make them shoot at what you want them to. You, your slaves, and your drones each may not have that much shield bank individually, but if you combine them all then that's quite a lot. Dividing up enemy fire between each can help you last longer in battle. To capture an AI's aggro, you need to shoot at it. It usually doesn't take long. If you need to lose it, bring the AI near a slave or drone and wait for them to shoot at it. Once your slaves or drones start doing some damage, the AI will switch aggro. Note that some AI will not always respond to this due to the nature of their programming.

;Tanking
Tanking is all about taking damage, rather than directing it. Some players prefer to have an incredibly large shield bank and simply take the hits while their slaves, drones, missiles, fighters, or other players do the actual damage. Shield Monkeys tend to fall along this line, though they are intended to heal without taking damage rather than be shot. Tanking can be challenging and most setups rely on a high-bank, low regeneration shield, meaning that once that bank is gone, there is virtually no way to replenish it in a timely fashion without the help of healer drones or another player.

===== Strategy =====

Next, go to Deep Space, do the missions there. Basically just do all the missions you can find, until you think you're not getting enough from them anymore. Yes, feel the greed. Aspire to be greater, greater than the rats and the volcoms.

Once you've done that, go to Sol. To get to Sol, go through the gate to Earthforce Celestial Garden. The one to Sol is in there. Go to the Earthforce Frontier Station and see what missions are available. If you have any skillpoints, use them.

===== Core Skills =====

*Piloting: You can't pilot a giant ship if all you know is zebucarts. Learn to fly more complicated things.
*Shields: Shields keep you from getting blown up. They're also complicated to install. Not just anyone knows how to jack a billion cables together.
*Energy: Nuclear reactor leaking? Too bad, there's no health insurance here. Energy is what makes your ship go round, keep a lot of it.
*Radar: You can't shoot what you can't see. And there's a lot you're not seeing, like why that haircut looks bad on you.
*Engines: Puff puff. Go fast faster, turn hard harder.
*Equipment: You see that launch tube? Go crawl inside it.
*Weaponry: Shoot stuff with bigger and bigger guns.
*Cloaking: Don't get shot at.

So, there you go. The most important to you are probably piloting, weaponry, shields, and energy. You can't shoot without energy, it doesn't matter if you have energy if your gun sucks as much as you do, your guns don't matter if you die instantly and none of it matters if you can't fit it all in the freaking ship.

In any case, get some skills if you can and get some new gear. You should have plenty of money from the Nexus, so go nuts. You should have a decent level of Piloting now so get rid of that Helga.

Next, go to Blue Outpost and kill the little blue ships. You'll get to level 50 easy. Now kill the bigger blue ships. You can get some slaves at this point too, which are extremely useful because it's like having another player beside you.

Once you've killed just about everything you can find and can't level anymore, get Warp Navigation to 2. You can do this at Sol or Paxius, whichever you prefer. However, you've probably got some blue stuff from killing things in the Outpost, so Sol is probably best.

Next, do the same thing. Get to level 100, and start worrying about specialization. This is important, because this game doesn't let you do a little of everything and be good at it. You need to choose a play style and stick with it. There's a lot to consider, but whatever's been working best for you so far is the path you should take.

Before you even worry about class skills, I'd worry more about your core skills. Most people say get a class skill as soon as possible - this is okay, if you know what you want to do already. But I think it's not wise to urge new players to make an important decision so quickly. You can still head in one direction or another first, and see how you like it.

So, core skills. At this point you probably have most somewhere between 8 and 10. Now think about what you're lacking in. Do you run out of energy too often? Do you blow up a lot? Your weapons don't do enough damage? Figure it out and go get that skill up, then get better gear. Whatever's holding you back, move it out of the way.

Once you've chosen a path, follow it. Don't meddle around, it's a waste of time.

==== Class Skills ====

When you're comfortable with it, choose a class. Pour as much time, money, and skill points as you can into it. Use class-specific items and augmenters.

==== Gear ====

Talk about the different items, what they do.

===== Augmenters =====

Go into detail about augmenters.

==== The World Keeps Going ====

The game moves on even if you don't.

===== Teams =====

A good team is hard to come by. Many teams are simply full of underachievers or lowlifes. Others are filled with people who may seem too cutthroat or edgy for you. It's important not to judge a team simply by objective qualities, but also by how you feel about it. That may sound unusual coming from me, but if you're not happy in a team, you're simply going to want to leave. That'll cause unnecessary drama that nobody really wants to deal with. So find a team that seems to have similar goals to yours, and players who you already know you like.

If you absolutely can't find a decent team or simply want to start your own, you'll need to acquire the [[Leadership]] skill first. This skill is fairly easy to get for most players and simply requires a bit of money and some time. When creating a team, think very carefully about how you want to present it to other players. Are you about integrity and doing things the right way, or are you going for something more laid back, a place where people can just come and go as they please? Are you planning to accomplish something important, or simply intend to figure things out as it goes along? Whatever decision you may come to, make sure you reach it before you actually create the team.

It's not entirely rare, but it also doesn't happen a lot, especially in a large team. Believe it or not, if you put in the time and effort, you may actually get '''promoted''' in your new team! What you do when this happens is take a step back and reevalute your position. What did you do to even get promoted in the first place? Whatever it was, identify it and keep doing it. If you start slacking off, you're simply going to be resented by other players, especially those a lower rank than you. If you've been placed in a position of trust - say, an Officer, or even a Councilor - do ''not'' betray it. You will inevitably regret it. It will tarnish your reputation and people tend to not forget these sorts of things.

If you feel you do not like a team anymore, or do not like what position you are in, it is best to talk about it with someone who can actually help first. Do not simply leave a team unless you've been told to do so - a lot of teams do not take too kindly to it, since it can harm their score. If you feel you're in a position of responsibility but don't actually want that responsibility, ask to be demoted, don't cause trouble.

In general, use common sense, and always consult your teammates before making an important decision.

===== Dungeons =====

Understanding how they work.

===== Perilous Space =====

The final frontier.

===== Death =====

How to deal with losing in the game.

===== F2P vs P2P =====

It has to be mentioned.

==== Moving On ====

A closing message.

== Part 2: Comprehensive Guide ==

===== Introduction =====

Describe this portion of the guide.

===== All is Well =====

;The End of Everything
When a universe begins, there is a bit of a chaotic phase where everyone is rushing to find the best galaxies, the best planets for colonies, and just get their bases and everything set up. Large teams will try to take large tracts of space that they will eventually fill with drones and trading slaves, only to have to pack it all up again later. Very quickly, and almost without warning, the universe will soon look like it did when it ended, just with everything in a slightly different place.

Star Sonata isn't the only game of its kind to use a system like this, where the game world is reset once every few months. However, it is a very important aspect of the game in many ways. For example, [[Hydroponics]] missions can only be done once per universe. Places like Hyper are hard to invade for any team wishing to seize control of its resources, and so the universe reset allows another team a chance to take hold, preventing monopolies. The same happens for most other resources, and just about everyone gets a chance to try and take some valuable plot of space.

So, why does this matter to you? Well, there's a number of reasons why, and we'll explore each one briefly before expanding on it in a later section.

===== The Economy =====

Describe how the economy in the game works.

===== Making Money =====

;Farming

;Shops

;Pirating

;Slaving

;Saving Money

;Losing Money

lInvestments

===== Leveling Up =====

Talk about strategies for leveling up.

===== More About Teams =====

Get into detail about teams and how they interrelate.

====== Diplomacy ======

Talk about making teams work together, or fall apart.

===== More About AI =====

AI, as you should already know, stands for Artificial Intelligence. The name implies that an AI player is both not alive and also smart. While the former is true, the latter is a complete and utter lie. There is nothing smart about the AI in this game, or most games for that matter. AI in Star Sonata seem to follow a script-based program where they will prioritize certain behaviors over others depending on what's going on around them.

AI seem to have a number of different states and I will attempt to catalog them here as I learn more.

;Standing
When there is nothing for the AI to do, it will simply stand in one spot for a while.
''Leads To''
;Roaming
AI will move for no reason after standing in the same spot too long. Sometimes, they will warp.
''Leads To''
;Docking
AI will randomly dock at AI bases and player bases. Sometimes, they will buy some commodities, but most of the time their hulls are too overfilled to do anything. This behavior is more for effect than anything else, giving players a sense that even the AI have stuff to do in this game.
''Leads To''
;Aggression
*AI will become aggressive for a number of reasons
**They are shot at
**Their attack code determines they need to attack a passing player
**Their swarm code determines they can kill a stronger player than usual e.g., the Rosemarys and Basils in Perilous Outpost sometimes attack the Earthforce AI, though their scripting should prevent this (there's no way they can win), but due to swarm mentality, a group of aggressive AI will attack just about anything.
**They are programmed to be aggressive, for mission or design reasons e.g., Flyswatters, who are intentionally annoying

''Leads To''
;Regression
When an AI is about to die, it will often try to run. Because the script doesn't seem to take into account ''where'' the threat is but rather that there is just a threat in general, most AI will keep warping through the same two gates over and over again until their shields are high enough to resume attack behavior. Sometimes, they will stay on the other side if they leave this state quick enough and eventually resume their normal roaming behavior.
''And/Or/Instead''
;Spin Out
AI will sometimes freak out and spin in circles if they can't run but are still about to die. The only reasons I can conjure up for this behavior are: 1. They are programmed to behave like this, so their deaths are more epic, or 2. Their retreat code can't find a gate to warp through and they continue with the last action they were given (in this case, turning so they can head towards a gate).

''more to come...''

===== Bases =====

Talk about the pros and cons of owning a base, and how to get started.

====== Colonies ======

Talk about how to run colonies and what the point is.

===== Drones =====

Talk about drones, their pros and cons, and what's best for the situation.

===== Slaves =====

Describe how slaves work and the best ways to make good use of them.

===== Ships =====

At the start of the game, choosing a ship is mostly about preference. You will soon find that these preferences may eventually lead you to a certain class skill. If you like bigger ships with lots of hull, you may go for a support or fleet focus, but if you like fast ships you might go for speed demon. There's a large number of ships in this game and lots of different ways of setting them up. The same two Pax Astrologicas, one augged for Berserker and one augged for Engineer, are effectively two entirely different ships because their stats are so strongly affected both by the class skills and by the augmenters equipped.

Towards the end-game, you will find that many ships are in fact aimed at different classes. Some are even class-locked, meaning only one class can use (or make use of) that ship. Rhinos are for Engineers and Shield Monkeys (though ShMs tend to prefer Apprentice's Wards) and Lions are for Berserkers. Panthers are for Speed Demons and Dreads are for Fleet Commanders, and so on and so forth. But just because your class has a ship designed for it doesn't always mean that ship will fit your play style. There are a number of alternatives that you can use at any point in the game that my not align perfectly with the intended flow of character progression but are still good choices and may be even better for you than what's recommended.

So, you may be asking yourself at this point, "That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't help me decide much. You basically just reaffirmed by belief that I am always right, because I am." ''SLAP!'' No! You aren't always right. Get that nonsensical sense out of your skull. The most important thing to remember in this game is that you are ''always WRONG''. Why? Because that's what everyone else is going to tell you, no matter what choice you make. And this is why I assert that you should always go with what feels right for you, even if it may not seem like the best choice. And if it really doesn't work out, hey maybe they were right, but now you have an even better idea of what you need to improve on, right?

That means you need to think long and hard about where you're at and what you want to accomplish. I can assure you though, if you feel like you're getting to the point where it's getting difficult to kill the AI you ought to be killing at your level, a new ship is almost always the cure. Just remember to augment it, otherwise it'll be even worse than your last fully augmented ship, believe it or not.

Once you get that new ship, have it augmented properly, and are ready for something else, go read another section of this guide because what you ought to do next is get newer gear and probably go spend all those Skill Points somewhere.

===== Weapons =====

Damage types and more.

===== More About Augmenters =====

Get into the math of how it all works.

===== More About Classes =====

More math and detailed explanations.

===== Missions =====

Why should anyone do missions? Talk about it.

===== More About Gear =====

Include a discussion about fighters, missiles, etc.

===== More About Tactics & Strategy =====

;The Numbers Game

When you get down to it, this game is all about numbers. Everything from DPS to your level in Aug Tweaking effects the way the game plays for you. We're going to talk about one of the most important numbers of all: enemies.

The number of enemies you are facing is generally important. You may not be able to kill 50 Rosemarys, though you can kill 25. You may be able to handle a group of Forgones, but throw in a few Big Greens and it all goes downhill.

When I call it the numbers game, I'm not saying that if all your assets combined can put out X DPS and the enemy can put out Y DPS , and you cross your shields against their fire and theirs against yours (and assuming all else is equal), the math is going to tell you who wins. It most likely won't, because there's a lot more influencing the way this works than that. In fact, my proposition is the antithesis of that mentality: it's not about the numbers, but instead how you apply them. It's all about where you direction your attention and when, and how you go about accomplishing that which needs to be done in order to win.

It really is frustrating when you don't understand why you can't do this or why that DG is so difficult. The truth is, you may have just reached the limits of what you can achieve with your current setup. However, there's still some extremely valuable strategies that you should know, both to squeeze a little more life out of that ship you got 200 lvls ago and should probably have replaced by now, and to increase your overall efficiency and give you some skills that might help you out in more extreme circumstances.

;Focus Fire
* The crux of it is this: when you are fighting a small group of enemies, you generally don't need to worry about where all that fire from your drones, slaves, missiles, or fighters are going. You already know that you're going to win and you just don't need to worry about it. But as you increase the number of enemies to the point where they can actually begin dealing damage against you, choosing your targets suddenly becomes more important. When fighting a large group of enemies, you are likely to get killed if you don't do something about the DPS coming your way, and do it quickly. You can circumvent this by having something that heals you, or a neurotweak that will boost your shield regen, but those only extend your lifespan, not remove the cause of the problem. In other words, you just need to begin reducing their numbers.
* Kill the strongest first. Yes, that's right, take out the strongest enemies first. The ones who are doing the most damage to you, individually, are the most dangerous and need to be removed immediately.
* If all else is equal, go for the weakest first. On the other hand, you have a situation where all are giving about the same DPS and it doesn't matter which you kill. In that case, kill the weakest first - be it the one with the lowest shields at the moment, or the one that's a lower level than the rest.

So, let's consider an example. Again let's rule out other variables like resistances and whatnot and just focus on some pure, raw numbers. You have a ship with 100 shields and you can pull 50 DPS. You have an enemy with 500 shields that can only pull 25 DPS. Who wins? Well, the math says that he can kill you in 4 seconds but you can kill him in 10. So, you'd be dead 6 seconds too soon to kill him, and he'd still have plenty of shields left over. He only has 500% more shields and 50% less DPS, why can't you kill him? Well, did you sit in the same spot the whole time? What if you were able to evade half of his shots, so that it takes him 8 seconds to kill you? And if you let a slave or drone take the other 2 second's worth, hey, you just made it! I know that sounds like a copout, but that's just it! In this game, you use copouts like that to survive. The tactics section goes more in depth about how to avoid taking fire while dealing it, so we're just going to continue exploring the numbers here.

Another example: You and your enemy are equals. You both have 100 shields and can pull 50 DPS. You're both dead after 2 seconds. How do you win? Well, if we consider resistances this time, then whoever has the highest resists wins. If you both shot for the entire duration and landed all your hits, and one still died while the other lived, then you know who has the weaker ship. The same is true if you consider vulnerabilities rather than resistances, or damage boosts instead. What if we consider shield regeneration?

If you have a shield with a bank of 100 and it regenerates 10/s, then it takes you 10 seconds to recover. If, over the course of 10 seconds, an enemy can pull 20 DPS, he's only actually removed half your shields, since your shields are always recovering over the course of that period! Effectively, you'd have 50 shields left, and it'd take him an additional 5 seconds or so to kill you. Scale these values however you like, and it always works out the same. You don't have to just deplete their shields, but also neutralize their regeneration.

So, consider you have a bank of 100 and a regeneration of 20. It takes 5 seconds to recover. If an enemy does 20 DPS to you, then he can't break your regeneration (barring critical hits, of course). If he does even a little more DPS, however, he can kill you, albeit slowly. In order to kill you effectively, he needs be able to do at least twice as much damage as you have shield regeneration. And the true is for you, killing other things. And this is, again, where the numbers game comes into play.

If you have the same bank and regeneration as the last example and there's now ''two'' of those enemies, they can kill you quickly, because even though each is only strong enough to neutralize your regeneration, the other is now doing pure DPS. You will be dead in 5 seconds flat. This is why you may be able to handle a single Battleship for example, but if another one shows up, you're done for. Now, if you manage to kill the first Battleship quickly enough, you're back down to a single enemy. See why this matters so much? If, when that new enemy appears, everything you have suddenly starts shooting at it instead, then you're done for. ''Focus Fire''.

===== Energize =====

Talk about energy and strategies for using it effectively.

===== Shielding =====

Go into detail about shields and how they work.

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-04-09T20:52:48Z

captainGarfield: /* The World Keeps Spinning */

Yet another player guide by yours truly,captainGarfield.

This guide will be split into two parts: '''Quick Start''' and '''Comprehensive'''. The Quick Start portion will briefly explain the different parts of the game's control setup and how to get going in the world of ''Star Sonata''. The Comprehensive portion is intended to cover nearly every aspect of the game and provide you with the wisdom and knowledge I've gathered in the years I've played. Both parts can be used together or completely separate, and an Index will be provided for those looking for specific information. 

As a disclaimer, I realize this is not the first guide of its kind. I also realize that most other guides were left incomplete, had a bias, or have simply become outdated. In any case, I cannot guarantee that what you find here will always be 100% accurate and be the best source for you to base decisions off of. I am simply offering my opinions in the hope that they may help you to avoid some of the mistakes I have, and learn some of the tricks I've used. 

== Part I: Quick Start ==

==== Controls & Interface ====

Before you can even think about playing the game, you need to know your way around it. Here's a quick and dirty introduction to all the different aspects of the interface. Try to keep up, because I'm not gonna waste any time with this section.

The screen is divided up into 4 parts: The Ship Box, Hotbar, Menubar, and Chat Box. Naturally, the game itself is in the center portion, with your ship in the center.

*The Ship Box shows your Shields, Energy, Visibility, and Weapon.
*The Hotbar allows you to bind your most commonly used items to a key on your keyboard.
*The Menubar lets you access all the different windows the game uses to interact with the player.
*The Chat Box lets you communicate with other players and provides key information in a timely fashion.

The Menubar has 10 buttons. From left to right, these are: Help, Warp, Dock, Galaxy Map, Options, Social, Character, Ship, Radar, and Inventory. Clicking any of the first three will cause an action, the others toggle windows. Help opens a browser window to the Star Sonata help page, Warp takes you through wormholes, and Dock allows you to go inside stations.

The Chat Box has 7 tabs. From left to right in the default configuration, these are: Event, All, Galaxy, Trade, Help, Team, and Squad. The order of these tabs can be changed by clicking any one and dragging it. Their uses are:

*Event: Displays any game-related messages, such as kills, actions, and the Message of the Day.
*All: A global chat where any player can talk.
*Galaxy: A local chat where only players in the same galaxy as you can talk.
*Trade: A place to advertise, buy, and sell.
*Help: A place to ask questions not easily answered by the Wiki or appropriate for All chat.
*Team: Lets you talk to other members of your Team in private.
*Squad: Lets you talk to other members of your Squad in private, and displays Squad-related events.

Most of the game involves flying your ship around and shooting at stuff. Before you can shoot at something, you first have to target it. If this weren't necessary, then it'd be impossible to avoid attacking everything from neutral space stations to teammates while fighting! To target something, simply click on it. A new box will appear providing information on the targeted object. You can also sort through the list of targetable objects in the galaxy using the Ctrl, Z, Q, and Tab keys. Using Shift with any of these keys will cycle through the list in reverse.

Here's a list of the most pertinent keys:

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible collapsed"
|+ Default Key Bindings
|-
! Key
! Action
! Notes
|-
| Space Bar
| Shoot
| Must have a target!
|-
| W, A, D
| Move forwards and turn
|
|-
| S
| Slows the ship
|
|-
| X
| Target options menu
| Must have a target!
|-
| V
| Autopilot
| Must have a target!
|-
| C
| Scoop
| Need to have a Scoop equipped, and a scoopable item nearby
|-
| Enter
| Chat
|
|-
| U
| Suicide
| Will have to authorize it
|-
| I
| Inventory
|
|-
| R
| Dock
| Must be close enough to a station and moving slow enough
|-
| F
| Warp
| Must be a wormhole nearby
|-
| O
| Game Options
|
|-
| P
| Galaxy Map
|
|-
| E
| Switch weapons
|
|-
| G
| Tractor Beam
| Must have one equipped and a target selected; if no target is selected, the nearest piece of Debris is grabbed
|-
| H
| Hides interface
| Useful for screenshots
|-
| K
| Cloaking Device
| Must have one equipped
|-
| M
| Missions Tab
|
|}

There are a number of windows in the game which you use to interact. I'll briefly go over them here:

==== Welcome to Space ====

At the start of the game, you're going to get a dinky little ship. You'll be in some strange looking place with a lot of green things flying around. This is fine, go ahead and click one. Press the Space Bar to shoot at it, and watch as it explodes. Now you know how to kill things, you bloodthirsty heathen.

Now that you've satisfied your bloodlust, it's time to start getting payed for it. Go to the base (the big thing that doesn't look like a rat, as you probably now know those green things as) and dock in it. You'll get a window with lots of tabs; right now, we only care about the first one. There's a box with some missions in it, double-click one. They're pretty self explanatory, so just do what it says and come back to claim your reward. Keep doing missions, eventually they'll lead you to the Nexus where there's... wait for it... ''more missions!'' Do those, and keep reading when you're done.

===== Tactics =====

Star Sonata is, at its core, a top-down shooter. The physics in the game are extremely simple and the game mechanics, for the most part, very straight forward. In every top-down shooter since ''Asteroids'', the player controls a character from a bird's eye view and, well, shoots stuff. In Star Sonata, movement is defined by a few key variables:
* Speed - the max speed of a ship limits how fast it can go. Distance in the game is arbitrary, and 1 speed means you move 1 distance every second.
* Thrust - essentially, this determines how quickly you can get to top speed. Weight affects this greatly - you need more thrust to move more weight.
* Turning - the rate at which you turn. Weight also affects this, and so you need more torque to overcome more weight.
* Weight - every item on a ship has a weight, and this variable is used to determine how the ship handles.

Inertia counts. If a ship starts moving forwards, it will not stop until something forces it to. Explosions matter, too. When something blows up near your ship, it creates a concussion that pushes you away and sometimes jams your engine temporarily. There's also tractors - both yours, and those of players and AI. There's 3 kinds of tractors: push, pull, and hitchhiker. Each will push objects away from, pull objects towards, or move the player towards objects. Tractors on AI can make it hard to move around, but you can also use your own tractor to your advantage. Try slingshotting yourself around a planet when you get a chance - learning to use everything at your disposal for maneuverability is key.

The tactics I cover here all involve moving your ship a certain way. These are: Kiting, Jinking, Flybys, and Out Turning.

;Kiting
Kiting an enemy refers to positioning yourself in such a way that you are out of range of their weapons while simultaneously close enough for the AI to keep following you. Most AI have a range at which they will follow you indefinitely, usually between 50 and 100 distance beyond the range of their farthest shooting weapon. You can use this to your advantage by using a long range weapon and shooting at the AI without taking any damage. This is a good tactic if you don't have a strong or extremely agile ship and need to kill something tougher than you are.

;Jinking
Jinking is basically dodging. You cannot dodge lasers, but if the enemy is using projectile weapons, you can make them waste their shots by out maneuvering their bullets. Getting too close to the AI while doing this isn't effective, as you have less time to react. Try to find a distance at which you can keep shooting while also making adjustments to your position.

;Flybys
Flybys are essentially running full speed at the enemy, shooting a salvo of projectiles, and flying past. Speed Demons, especially, like to use this tactic as they tend to have the shield regeneration necessary to recover after sustaining damage from this. This is a good way to take out targets that could kill you if you stay within firing range long enough, but are not easy to kite or jink. You have to make sure you can recover enough of your shield bank between each run and do it fast enough that the enemy doesn't recover as well.

;Out Turning
Many AI turn slow. If you can stay behind them, you can keep shooting without getting shot. Note that some weapons have something called "Full Tracking", which allows them to be shot 360 degrees. If the AI has this, then this tactic is worthless. However, it is especially useful for taking out larger, gear laden AI, as these tend to be heavier.

In spite of the fact that Star Sonata is a top-down shooter and relies heavily on arcade-style gameplay, there's still a few other tactics to consider that don't involve maneuvering.

;Training
Training is the process of controlling the enemy's aggressiveness. AI will tend to shoot at whatever is doing the most damage to them - you can use this to your advantage to make them shoot at what you want them to. You, your slaves, and your drones each may not have that much shield bank individually, but if you combine them all then that's quite a lot. Dividing up enemy fire between each can help you last longer in battle. To capture an AI's aggro, you need to shoot at it. It usually doesn't take long. If you need to lose it, bring the AI near a slave or drone and wait for them to shoot at it. Once your slaves or drones start doing some damage, the AI will switch aggro. Note that some AI will not always respond to this due to the nature of their programming.

;Tanking
Tanking is all about taking damage, rather than directing it. Some players prefer to have an incredibly large shield bank and simply take the hits while their slaves, drones, missiles, fighters, or other players do the actual damage. Shield Monkeys tend to fall along this line, though they are intended to heal without taking damage rather than be shot. Tanking can be challenging and most setups rely on a high-bank, low regeneration shield, meaning that once that bank is gone, there is virtually no way to replenish it in a timely fashion without the help of healer drones or another player.

===== Strategy =====

Next, go to Deep Space, do the missions there. Basically just do all the missions you can find, until you think you're not getting enough from them anymore. Yes, feel the greed. Aspire to be greater, greater than the rats and the volcoms.

Once you've done that, go to Sol. To get to Sol, go through the gate to Earthforce Celestial Garden. The one to Sol is in there. Go to the Earthforce Frontier Station and see what missions are available. If you have any skillpoints, use them.

===== Core Skills =====

*Piloting: You can't pilot a giant ship if all you know is zebucarts. Learn to fly more complicated things.
*Shields: Shields keep you from getting blown up. They're also complicated to install. Not just anyone knows how to jack a billion cables together.
*Energy: Nuclear reactor leaking? Too bad, there's no health insurance here. Energy is what makes your ship go round, keep a lot of it.
*Radar: You can't shoot what you can't see. And there's a lot you're not seeing, like why that haircut looks bad on you.
*Engines: Puff puff. Go fast faster, turn hard harder.
*Equipment: You see that launch tube? Go crawl inside it.
*Weaponry: Shoot stuff with bigger and bigger guns.
*Cloaking: Don't get shot at.

So, there you go. The most important to you are probably piloting, weaponry, shields, and energy. You can't shoot without energy, it doesn't matter if you have energy if your gun sucks as much as you do, your guns don't matter if you die instantly and none of it matters if you can't fit it all in the freaking ship.

In any case, get some skills if you can and get some new gear. You should have plenty of money from the Nexus, so go nuts. You should have a decent level of Piloting now so get rid of that Helga.

Next, go to Blue Outpost and kill the little blue ships. You'll get to level 50 easy. Now kill the bigger blue ships. You can get some slaves at this point too, which are extremely useful because it's like having another player beside you.

Once you've killed just about everything you can find and can't level anymore, get Warp Navigation to 2. You can do this at Sol or Paxius, whichever you prefer. However, you've probably got some blue stuff from killing things in the Outpost, so Sol is probably best.

Next, do the same thing. Get to level 100, and start worrying about specialization. This is important, because this game doesn't let you do a little of everything and be good at it. You need to choose a play style and stick with it. There's a lot to consider, but whatever's been working best for you so far is the path you should take.

Before you even worry about class skills, I'd worry more about your core skills. Most people say get a class skill as soon as possible - this is okay, if you know what you want to do already. But I think it's not wise to urge new players to make an important decision so quickly. You can still head in one direction or another first, and see how you like it.

So, core skills. At this point you probably have most somewhere between 8 and 10. Now think about what you're lacking in. Do you run out of energy too often? Do you blow up a lot? Your weapons don't do enough damage? Figure it out and go get that skill up, then get better gear. Whatever's holding you back, move it out of the way.

Once you've chosen a path, follow it. Don't meddle around, it's a waste of time.

==== Class Skills ====

When you're comfortable with it, choose a class. Pour as much time, money, and skill points as you can into it. Use class-specific items and augmenters.

==== Gear ====

Talk about the different items, what they do.

===== Augmenters =====

Go into detail about augmenters.

==== The World Keeps Going ====

The game moves on even if you don't.

===== Teams =====

A good team is hard to come by. Many teams are simply full of underachievers or lowlifes. Others are filled with people who may seem too cutthroat or edgy for you. It's important not to judge a team simply by objective qualities, but also by how you feel about it. That may sound unusual coming from me, but if you're not happy in a team, you're simply going to want to leave. That'll cause unnecessary drama that nobody really wants to deal with. So find a team that seems to have similar goals to yours, and players who you already know you like.

If you absolutely can't find a decent team or simply want to start your own, you'll need to acquire the [[Leadership]] skill first. This skill is fairly easy to get for most players and simply requires a bit of money and some time. When creating a team, think very carefully about how you want to present it to other players. Are you about integrity and doing things the right way, or are you going for something more laid back, a place where people can just come and go as they please? Are you planning to accomplish something important, or simply intend to figure things out as it goes along? Whatever decision you may come to, make sure you reach it before you actually create the team.

It's not entirely rare, but it also doesn't happen a lot, especially in a large team. Believe it or not, if you put in the time and effort, you may actually get '''promoted''' in your new team! What you do when this happens is take a step back and reevalute your position. What did you do to even get promoted in the first place? Whatever it was, identify it and keep doing it. If you start slacking off, you're simply going to be resented by other players, especially those a lower rank than you. If you've been placed in a position of trust - say, an Officer, or even a Councilor - do ''not'' betray it. You will inevitably regret it. It will tarnish your reputation and people tend to not forget these sorts of things.

If you feel you do not like a team anymore, or do not like what position you are in, it is best to talk about it with someone who can actually help first. Do not simply leave a team unless you've been told to do so - a lot of teams do not take too kindly to it, since it can harm their score. If you feel you're in a position of responsibility but don't actually want that responsibility, ask to be demoted, don't cause trouble.

In general, use common sense, and always consult your teammates before making an important decision.

===== Dungeons =====

Understanding how they work.

===== Perilous Space =====

The final frontier.

===== Death =====

How to deal with losing in the game.

===== F2P vs P2P =====

It has to be mentioned.

==== Moving On ====

A closing message.

== Part 2: Comprehensive Guide ==

===== Introduction =====

Describe this portion of the guide.

===== All is Well =====

;The End of Everything
When a universe begins, there is a bit of a chaotic phase where everyone is rushing to find the best galaxies, the best planets for colonies, and just get their bases and everything set up. Large teams will try to take large tracts of space that they will eventually fill with drones and trading slaves, only to have to pack it all up again later. Very quickly, and almost without warning, the universe will soon look like it did when it ended, just with everything in a slightly different place.

Star Sonata isn't the only game of its kind to use a system like this, where the game world is reset once every few months. However, it is a very important aspect of the game in many ways. For example, [[Hydroponics]] missions can only be done once per universe. Places like Hyper are hard to invade for any team wishing to seize control of its resources, and so the universe reset allows another team a chance to take hold, preventing monopolies. The same happens for most other resources, and just about everyone gets a chance to try and take some valuable plot of space.

So, why does this matter to you? Well, there's a number of reasons why, and we'll explore each one briefly before expanding on it in a later section.

===== The Economy =====

Describe how the economy in the game works.

===== Making Money =====

;Farming

;Shops

;Pirating

;Slaving

;Saving Money

;Losing Money

lInvestments

===== Leveling Up =====

Talk about strategies for leveling up.

===== More About Teams =====

Get into detail about teams and how they interrelate.

====== Diplomacy ======

Talk about making teams work together, or fall apart.

===== More About AI =====

AI, as you should already know, stands for Artificial Intelligence. The name implies that an AI player is both not alive and also smart. While the former is true, the latter is a complete and utter lie. There is nothing smart about the AI in this game, or most games for that matter. AI in Star Sonata seem to follow a script-based program where they will prioritize certain behaviors over others depending on what's going on around them.

AI seem to have a number of different states and I will attempt to catalog them here as I learn more.

;Standing
When there is nothing for the AI to do, it will simply stand in one spot for a while.
''Leads To''
;Roaming
AI will move for no reason after standing in the same spot too long. Sometimes, they will warp.
''Leads To''
;Docking
AI will randomly dock at AI bases and player bases. Sometimes, they will buy some commodities, but most of the time their hulls are too overfilled to do anything. This behavior is more for effect than anything else, giving players a sense that even the AI have stuff to do in this game.
''Leads To''
;Aggression
*AI will become aggressive for a number of reasons
**They are shot at
**Their attack code determines they need to attack a passing player
**Their swarm code determines they can kill a stronger player than usual e.g., the Rosemarys and Basils in Perilous Outpost sometimes attack the Earthforce AI, though their scripting should prevent this (there's no way they can win), but due to swarm mentality, a group of aggressive AI will attack just about anything.
**They are programmed to be aggressive, for mission or design reasons e.g., Flyswatters, who are intentionally annoying

''Leads To''
;Regression
When an AI is about to die, it will often try to run. Because the script doesn't seem to take into account ''where'' the threat is but rather that there is just a threat in general, most AI will keep warping through the same two gates over and over again until their shields are high enough to resume attack behavior. Sometimes, they will stay on the other side if they leave this state quick enough and eventually resume their normal roaming behavior.
''And/Or/Instead''
;Spin Out
AI will sometimes freak out and spin in circles if they can't run but are still about to die. The only reasons I can conjure up for this behavior are: 1. They are programmed to behave like this, so their deaths are more epic, or 2. Their retreat code can't find a gate to warp through and they continue with the last action they were given (in this case, turning so they can head towards a gate).

''more to come...''

===== Bases =====

Talk about the pros and cons of owning a base, and how to get started.

====== Colonies ======

Talk about how to run colonies and what the point is.

===== Drones =====

Talk about drones, their pros and cons, and what's best for the situation.

===== Slaves =====

Describe how slaves work and the best ways to make good use of them.

===== Ships =====

At the start of the game, choosing a ship is mostly about preference. You will soon find that these preferences may eventually lead you to a certain class skill. If you like bigger ships with lots of hull, you may go for a support or fleet focus, but if you like fast ships you might go for speed demon. There's a large number of ships in this game and lots of different ways of setting them up. The same two Pax Astrologicas, one augged for Berserker and one augged for Engineer, are effectively two entirely different ships because their stats are so strongly affected both by the class skills and by the augmenters equipped.

Towards the end-game, you will find that many ships are in fact aimed at different classes. Some are even class-locked, meaning only one class can use (or make use of) that ship. Rhinos are for Engineers and Shield Monkeys (though ShMs tend to prefer Apprentice's Wards) and Lions are for Berserkers. Panthers are for Speed Demons and Dreads are for Fleet Commanders, and so on and so forth. But just because your class has a ship designed for it doesn't always mean that ship will fit your play style. There are a number of alternatives that you can use at any point in the game that my not align perfectly with the intended flow of character progression but are still good choices and may be even better for you than what's recommended.

So, you may be asking yourself at this point, "That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't help me decide much. You basically just reaffirmed by belief that I am always right, because I am." ''SLAP!'' No! You aren't always right. Get that nonsensical sense out of your skull. The most important thing to remember in this game is that you are ''always WRONG''. Why? Because that's what everyone else is going to tell you, no matter what choice you make. And this is why I assert that you should always go with what feels right for you, even if it may not seem like the best choice. And if it really doesn't work out, hey maybe they were right, but now you have an even better idea of what you need to improve on, right?

That means you need to think long and hard about where you're at and what you want to accomplish. I can assure you though, if you feel like you're getting to the point where it's getting difficult to kill the AI you ought to be killing at your level, a new ship is almost always the cure. Just remember to augment it, otherwise it'll be even worse than your last fully augmented ship, believe it or not.

Once you get that new ship, have it augmented properly, and are ready for something else, go read another section of this guide because what you ought to do next is get newer gear and probably go spend all those Skill Points somewhere.

===== Weapons =====

Damage types and more.

===== More About Augmenters =====

Get into the math of how it all works.

===== More About Classes =====

More math and detailed explanations.

===== Missions =====

Why should anyone do missions? Talk about it.

===== More About Gear =====

Include a discussion about fighters, missiles, etc.

===== More About Tactics & Strategy =====

;The Numbers Game

When you get down to it, this game is all about numbers. Everything from DPS to your level in Aug Tweaking effects the way the game plays for you. We're going to talk about one of the most important numbers of all: enemies.

The number of enemies you are facing is generally important. You may not be able to kill 50 Rosemarys, though you can kill 25. You may be able to handle a group of Forgones, but throw in a few Big Greens and it all goes downhill.

When I call it the numbers game, I'm not saying that if all your assets combined can put out X DPS and the enemy can put out Y DPS , and you cross your shields against their fire and theirs against yours (and assuming all else is equal), the math is going to tell you who wins. It most likely won't, because there's a lot more influencing the way this works than that. In fact, my proposition is the antithesis of that mentality: it's not about the numbers, but instead how you apply them. It's all about where you direction your attention and when, and how you go about accomplishing that which needs to be done in order to win.

It really is frustrating when you don't understand why you can't do this or why that DG is so difficult. The truth is, you may have just reached the limits of what you can achieve with your current setup. However, there's still some extremely valuable strategies that you should know, both to squeeze a little more life out of that ship you got 200 lvls ago and should probably have replaced by now, and to increase your overall efficiency and give you some skills that might help you out in more extreme circumstances.

;Focus Fire
* The crux of it is this: when you are fighting a small group of enemies, you generally don't need to worry about where all that fire from your drones, slaves, missiles, or fighters are going. You already know that you're going to win and you just don't need to worry about it. But as you increase the number of enemies to the point where they can actually begin dealing damage against you, choosing your targets suddenly becomes more important. When fighting a large group of enemies, you are likely to get killed if you don't do something about the DPS coming your way, and do it quickly. You can circumvent this by having something that heals you, or a neurotweak that will boost your shield regen, but those only extend your lifespan, not remove the cause of the problem. In other words, you just need to begin reducing their numbers.
* Kill the strongest first. Yes, that's right, take out the strongest enemies first. The ones who are doing the most damage to you, individually, are the most dangerous and need to be removed immediately.
* If all else is equal, go for the weakest first. On the other hand, you have a situation where all are giving about the same DPS and it doesn't matter which you kill. In that case, kill the weakest first - be it the one with the lowest shields at the moment, or the one that's a lower level than the rest.

So, let's consider an example. Again let's rule out other variables like resistances and whatnot and just focus on some pure, raw numbers. You have a ship with 100 shields and you can pull 50 DPS. You have an enemy with 500 shields that can only pull 25 DPS. Who wins? Well, the math says that he can kill you in 4 seconds but you can kill him in 10. So, you'd be dead 6 seconds too soon to kill him, and he'd still have plenty of shields left over. He only has 500% more shields and 50% less DPS, why can't you kill him? Well, did you sit in the same spot the whole time? What if you were able to evade half of his shots, so that it takes him 8 seconds to kill you? And if you let a slave or drone take the other 2 second's worth, hey, you just made it! I know that sounds like a copout, but that's just it! In this game, you use copouts like that to survive. The tactics section goes more in depth about how to avoid taking fire while dealing it, so we're just going to continue exploring the numbers here.

Another example: You and your enemy are equals. You both have 100 shields and can pull 50 DPS. You're both dead after 2 seconds. How do you win? Well, if we consider resistances this time, then whoever has the highest resists wins. If you both shot for the entire duration and landed all your hits, and one still died while the other lived, then you know who has the weaker ship. The same is true if you consider vulnerabilities rather than resistances, or damage boosts instead. What if we consider shield regeneration?

If you have a shield with a bank of 100 and it regenerates 10/s, then it takes you 10 seconds to recover. If, over the course of 10 seconds, an enemy can pull 20 DPS, he's only actually removed half your shields, since your shields are always recovering over the course of that period! Effectively, you'd have 50 shields left, and it'd take him an additional 5 seconds or so to kill you. Scale these values however you like, and it always works out the same. You don't have to just deplete their shields, but also neutralize their regeneration.

So, consider you have a bank of 100 and a regeneration of 20. It takes 5 seconds to recover. If an enemy does 20 DPS to you, then he can't break your regeneration (barring critical hits, of course). If he does even a little more DPS, however, he can kill you, albeit slowly. In order to kill you effectively, he needs be able to do at least twice as much damage as you have shield regeneration. And the true is for you, killing other things. And this is, again, where the numbers game comes into play.

If you have the same bank and regeneration as the last example and there's now ''two'' of those enemies, they can kill you quickly, because even though each is only strong enough to neutralize your regeneration, the other is now doing pure DPS. You will be dead in 5 seconds flat. This is why you may be able to handle a single Battleship for example, but if another one shows up, you're done for. Now, if you manage to kill the first Battleship quickly enough, you're back down to a single enemy. See why this matters so much? If, when that new enemy appears, everything you have suddenly starts shooting at it instead, then you're done for. ''Focus Fire''.

===== Energize =====

Talk about energy and strategies for using it effectively.

===== Shielding =====

Go into detail about shields and how they work.

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-04-09T19:29:43Z

captainGarfield: /* The Numbers Game */

Yet another player guide by yours truly,captainGarfield.

This guide will be split into two parts: '''Quick Start''' and '''Comprehensive'''. The Quick Start portion will briefly explain the different parts of the game's control setup and how to get going in the world of ''Star Sonata''. The Comprehensive portion is intended to cover nearly every aspect of the game and provide you with the wisdom and knowledge I've gathered in the years I've played. Both parts can be used together or completely separate, and an Index will be provided for those looking for specific information. 

As a disclaimer, I realize this is not the first guide of its kind. I also realize that most other guides were left incomplete, had a bias, or have simply become outdated. In any case, I cannot guarantee that what you find here will always be 100% accurate and be the best source for you to base decisions off of. I am simply offering my opinions in the hope that they may help you to avoid some of the mistakes I have, and learn some of the tricks I've used. 

== Part I: Quick Start ==

==== Controls & Interface ====

Before you can even think about playing the game, you need to know your way around it. Here's a quick and dirty introduction to all the different aspects of the interface. Try to keep up, because I'm not gonna waste any time with this section.

The screen is divided up into 4 parts: The Ship Box, Hotbar, Menubar, and Chat Box. Naturally, the game itself is in the center portion, with your ship in the center.

*The Ship Box shows your Shields, Energy, Visibility, and Weapon.
*The Hotbar allows you to bind your most commonly used items to a key on your keyboard.
*The Menubar lets you access all the different windows the game uses to interact with the player.
*The Chat Box lets you communicate with other players and provides key information in a timely fashion.

The Menubar has 10 buttons. From left to right, these are: Help, Warp, Dock, Galaxy Map, Options, Social, Character, Ship, Radar, and Inventory. Clicking any of the first three will cause an action, the others toggle windows. Help opens a browser window to the Star Sonata help page, Warp takes you through wormholes, and Dock allows you to go inside stations.

The Chat Box has 7 tabs. From left to right in the default configuration, these are: Event, All, Galaxy, Trade, Help, Team, and Squad. The order of these tabs can be changed by clicking any one and dragging it. Their uses are:

*Event: Displays any game-related messages, such as kills, actions, and the Message of the Day.
*All: A global chat where any player can talk.
*Galaxy: A local chat where only players in the same galaxy as you can talk.
*Trade: A place to advertise, buy, and sell.
*Help: A place to ask questions not easily answered by the Wiki or appropriate for All chat.
*Team: Lets you talk to other members of your Team in private.
*Squad: Lets you talk to other members of your Squad in private, and displays Squad-related events.

Most of the game involves flying your ship around and shooting at stuff. Before you can shoot at something, you first have to target it. If this weren't necessary, then it'd be impossible to avoid attacking everything from neutral space stations to teammates while fighting! To target something, simply click on it. A new box will appear providing information on the targeted object. You can also sort through the list of targetable objects in the galaxy using the Ctrl, Z, Q, and Tab keys. Using Shift with any of these keys will cycle through the list in reverse.

Here's a list of the most pertinent keys:

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible collapsed"
|+ Default Key Bindings
|-
! Key
! Action
! Notes
|-
| Space Bar
| Shoot
| Must have a target!
|-
| W, A, D
| Move forwards and turn
|
|-
| S
| Slows the ship
|
|-
| X
| Target options menu
| Must have a target!
|-
| V
| Autopilot
| Must have a target!
|-
| C
| Scoop
| Need to have a Scoop equipped, and a scoopable item nearby
|-
| Enter
| Chat
|
|-
| U
| Suicide
| Will have to authorize it
|-
| I
| Inventory
|
|-
| R
| Dock
| Must be close enough to a station and moving slow enough
|-
| F
| Warp
| Must be a wormhole nearby
|-
| O
| Game Options
|
|-
| P
| Galaxy Map
|
|-
| E
| Switch weapons
|
|-
| G
| Tractor Beam
| Must have one equipped and a target selected; if no target is selected, the nearest piece of Debris is grabbed
|-
| H
| Hides interface
| Useful for screenshots
|-
| K
| Cloaking Device
| Must have one equipped
|-
| M
| Missions Tab
|
|}

There are a number of windows in the game which you use to interact. I'll briefly go over them here:

==== Welcome to Space ====

At the start of the game, you're going to get a dinky little ship. You'll be in some strange looking place with a lot of green things flying around. This is fine, go ahead and click one. Press the Space Bar to shoot at it, and watch as it explodes. Now you know how to kill things, you bloodthirsty heathen.

Now that you've satisfied your bloodlust, it's time to start getting payed for it. Go to the base (the big thing that doesn't look like a rat, as you probably now know those green things as) and dock in it. You'll get a window with lots of tabs; right now, we only care about the first one. There's a box with some missions in it, double-click one. They're pretty self explanatory, so just do what it says and come back to claim your reward. Keep doing missions, eventually they'll lead you to the Nexus where there's... wait for it... ''more missions!'' Do those, and keep reading when you're done.

===== Tactics =====

Star Sonata is, at its core, a top-down shooter. The physics in the game are extremely simple and the game mechanics, for the most part, very straight forward. In every top-down shooter since ''Asteroids'', the player controls a character from a bird's eye view and, well, shoots stuff. In Star Sonata, movement is defined by a few key variables:
* Speed - the max speed of a ship limits how fast it can go. Distance in the game is arbitrary, and 1 speed means you move 1 distance every second.
* Thrust - essentially, this determines how quickly you can get to top speed. Weight affects this greatly - you need more thrust to move more weight.
* Turning - the rate at which you turn. Weight also affects this, and so you need more torque to overcome more weight.
* Weight - every item on a ship has a weight, and this variable is used to determine how the ship handles.

Inertia counts. If a ship starts moving forwards, it will not stop until something forces it to. Explosions matter, too. When something blows up near your ship, it creates a concussion that pushes you away and sometimes jams your engine temporarily. There's also tractors - both yours, and those of players and AI. There's 3 kinds of tractors: push, pull, and hitchhiker. Each will push objects away from, pull objects towards, or move the player towards objects. Tractors on AI can make it hard to move around, but you can also use your own tractor to your advantage. Try slingshotting yourself around a planet when you get a chance - learning to use everything at your disposal for maneuverability is key.

The tactics I cover here all involve moving your ship a certain way. These are: Kiting, Jinking, Flybys, and Out Turning.

;Kiting
Kiting an enemy refers to positioning yourself in such a way that you are out of range of their weapons while simultaneously close enough for the AI to keep following you. Most AI have a range at which they will follow you indefinitely, usually between 50 and 100 distance beyond the range of their farthest shooting weapon. You can use this to your advantage by using a long range weapon and shooting at the AI without taking any damage. This is a good tactic if you don't have a strong or extremely agile ship and need to kill something tougher than you are.

;Jinking
Jinking is basically dodging. You cannot dodge lasers, but if the enemy is using projectile weapons, you can make them waste their shots by out maneuvering their bullets. Getting too close to the AI while doing this isn't effective, as you have less time to react. Try to find a distance at which you can keep shooting while also making adjustments to your position.

;Flybys
Flybys are essentially running full speed at the enemy, shooting a salvo of projectiles, and flying past. Speed Demons, especially, like to use this tactic as they tend to have the shield regeneration necessary to recover after sustaining damage from this. This is a good way to take out targets that could kill you if you stay within firing range long enough, but are not easy to kite or jink. You have to make sure you can recover enough of your shield bank between each run and do it fast enough that the enemy doesn't recover as well.

;Out Turning
Many AI turn slow. If you can stay behind them, you can keep shooting without getting shot. Note that some weapons have something called "Full Tracking", which allows them to be shot 360 degrees. If the AI has this, then this tactic is worthless. However, it is especially useful for taking out larger, gear laden AI, as these tend to be heavier.

In spite of the fact that Star Sonata is a top-down shooter and relies heavily on arcade-style gameplay, there's still a few other tactics to consider that don't involve maneuvering.

;Training
Training is the process of controlling the enemy's aggressiveness. AI will tend to shoot at whatever is doing the most damage to them - you can use this to your advantage to make them shoot at what you want them to. You, your slaves, and your drones each may not have that much shield bank individually, but if you combine them all then that's quite a lot. Dividing up enemy fire between each can help you last longer in battle. To capture an AI's aggro, you need to shoot at it. It usually doesn't take long. If you need to lose it, bring the AI near a slave or drone and wait for them to shoot at it. Once your slaves or drones start doing some damage, the AI will switch aggro. Note that some AI will not always respond to this due to the nature of their programming.

;Tanking
Tanking is all about taking damage, rather than directing it. Some players prefer to have an incredibly large shield bank and simply take the hits while their slaves, drones, missiles, fighters, or other players do the actual damage. Shield Monkeys tend to fall along this line, though they are intended to heal without taking damage rather than be shot. Tanking can be challenging and most setups rely on a high-bank, low regeneration shield, meaning that once that bank is gone, there is virtually no way to replenish it in a timely fashion without the help of healer drones or another player.

===== Strategy =====

Next, go to Deep Space, do the missions there. Basically just do all the missions you can find, until you think you're not getting enough from them anymore. Yes, feel the greed. Aspire to be greater, greater than the rats and the volcoms.

Once you've done that, go to Sol. To get to Sol, go through the gate to Earthforce Celestial Garden. The one to Sol is in there. Go to the Earthforce Frontier Station and see what missions are available. If you have any skillpoints, use them.

===== Core Skills =====

*Piloting: You can't pilot a giant ship if all you know is zebucarts. Learn to fly more complicated things.
*Shields: Shields keep you from getting blown up. They're also complicated to install. Not just anyone knows how to jack a billion cables together.
*Energy: Nuclear reactor leaking? Too bad, there's no health insurance here. Energy is what makes your ship go round, keep a lot of it.
*Radar: You can't shoot what you can't see. And there's a lot you're not seeing, like why that haircut looks bad on you.
*Engines: Puff puff. Go fast faster, turn hard harder.
*Equipment: You see that launch tube? Go crawl inside it.
*Weaponry: Shoot stuff with bigger and bigger guns.
*Cloaking: Don't get shot at.

So, there you go. The most important to you are probably piloting, weaponry, shields, and energy. You can't shoot without energy, it doesn't matter if you have energy if your gun sucks as much as you do, your guns don't matter if you die instantly and none of it matters if you can't fit it all in the freaking ship.

In any case, get some skills if you can and get some new gear. You should have plenty of money from the Nexus, so go nuts. You should have a decent level of Piloting now so get rid of that Helga.

Next, go to Blue Outpost and kill the little blue ships. You'll get to level 50 easy. Now kill the bigger blue ships. You can get some slaves at this point too, which are extremely useful because it's like having another player beside you.

Once you've killed just about everything you can find and can't level anymore, get Warp Navigation to 2. You can do this at Sol or Paxius, whichever you prefer. However, you've probably got some blue stuff from killing things in the Outpost, so Sol is probably best.

Next, do the same thing. Get to level 100, and start worrying about specialization. This is important, because this game doesn't let you do a little of everything and be good at it. You need to choose a play style and stick with it. There's a lot to consider, but whatever's been working best for you so far is the path you should take.

Before you even worry about class skills, I'd worry more about your core skills. Most people say get a class skill as soon as possible - this is okay, if you know what you want to do already. But I think it's not wise to urge new players to make an important decision so quickly. You can still head in one direction or another first, and see how you like it.

So, core skills. At this point you probably have most somewhere between 8 and 10. Now think about what you're lacking in. Do you run out of energy too often? Do you blow up a lot? Your weapons don't do enough damage? Figure it out and go get that skill up, then get better gear. Whatever's holding you back, move it out of the way.

Once you've chosen a path, follow it. Don't meddle around, it's a waste of time.

==== Class Skills ====

When you're comfortable with it, choose a class. Pour as much time, money, and skill points as you can into it. Use class-specific items and augmenters.

==== Gear ====

Talk about the different items, what they do.

===== Augmenters =====

Go into detail about augmenters.

==== The World Keeps Spinning ====

The game moves on even if you don't.

===== Teams =====

A good team is hard to come by. Many teams are simply full of underachievers or lowlifes. Others are filled with people who may seem too cutthroat or edgy for you. It's important not to judge a team simply by objective qualities, but also by how you feel about it. That may sound unusual coming from me, but if you're not happy in a team, you're simply going to want to leave. That'll cause unnecessary drama that nobody really wants to deal with. So find a team that seems to have similar goals to yours, and players who you already know you like.

If you absolutely can't find a decent team or simply want to start your own, you'll need to acquire the [[Leadership]] skill first. This skill is fairly easy to get for most players and simply requires a bit of money and some time. When creating a team, think very carefully about how you want to present it to other players. Are you about integrity and doing things the right way, or are you going for something more laid back, a place where people can just come and go as they please? Are you planning to accomplish something important, or simply intend to figure things out as it goes along? Whatever decision you may come to, make sure you reach it before you actually create the team.

It's not entirely rare, but it also doesn't happen a lot, especially in a large team. Believe it or not, if you put in the time and effort, you may actually get '''promoted''' in your new team! What you do when this happens is take a step back and reevalute your position. What did you do to even get promoted in the first place? Whatever it was, identify it and keep doing it. If you start slacking off, you're simply going to be resented by other players, especially those a lower rank than you. If you've been placed in a position of trust - say, an Officer, or even a Councilor - do ''not'' betray it. You will inevitably regret it. It will tarnish your reputation and people tend to not forget these sorts of things.

If you feel you do not like a team anymore, or do not like what position you are in, it is best to talk about it with someone who can actually help first. Do not simply leave a team unless you've been told to do so - a lot of teams do not take too kindly to it, since it can harm their score. If you feel you're in a position of responsibility but don't actually want that responsibility, ask to be demoted, don't cause trouble.

In general, use common sense, and always consult your teammates before making an important decision.

===== Dungeons =====

Understanding how they work.

===== Perilous Space =====

The final frontier.

===== Death =====

How to deal with losing in the game.

===== F2P vs P2P =====

It has to be mentioned.

==== Moving On ====

A closing message.

== Part 2: Comprehensive Guide ==

===== Introduction =====

Describe this portion of the guide.

===== All is Well =====

;The End of Everything
When a universe begins, there is a bit of a chaotic phase where everyone is rushing to find the best galaxies, the best planets for colonies, and just get their bases and everything set up. Large teams will try to take large tracts of space that they will eventually fill with drones and trading slaves, only to have to pack it all up again later. Very quickly, and almost without warning, the universe will soon look like it did when it ended, just with everything in a slightly different place.

Star Sonata isn't the only game of its kind to use a system like this, where the game world is reset once every few months. However, it is a very important aspect of the game in many ways. For example, [[Hydroponics]] missions can only be done once per universe. Places like Hyper are hard to invade for any team wishing to seize control of its resources, and so the universe reset allows another team a chance to take hold, preventing monopolies. The same happens for most other resources, and just about everyone gets a chance to try and take some valuable plot of space.

So, why does this matter to you? Well, there's a number of reasons why, and we'll explore each one briefly before expanding on it in a later section.

===== The Economy =====

Describe how the economy in the game works.

===== Making Money =====

;Farming

;Shops

;Pirating

;Slaving

;Saving Money

;Losing Money

lInvestments

===== Leveling Up =====

Talk about strategies for leveling up.

===== More About Teams =====

Get into detail about teams and how they interrelate.

====== Diplomacy ======

Talk about making teams work together, or fall apart.

===== More About AI =====

AI, as you should already know, stands for Artificial Intelligence. The name implies that an AI player is both not alive and also smart. While the former is true, the latter is a complete and utter lie. There is nothing smart about the AI in this game, or most games for that matter. AI in Star Sonata seem to follow a script-based program where they will prioritize certain behaviors over others depending on what's going on around them.

AI seem to have a number of different states and I will attempt to catalog them here as I learn more.

;Standing
When there is nothing for the AI to do, it will simply stand in one spot for a while.
''Leads To''
;Roaming
AI will move for no reason after standing in the same spot too long. Sometimes, they will warp.
''Leads To''
;Docking
AI will randomly dock at AI bases and player bases. Sometimes, they will buy some commodities, but most of the time their hulls are too overfilled to do anything. This behavior is more for effect than anything else, giving players a sense that even the AI have stuff to do in this game.
''Leads To''
;Aggression
*AI will become aggressive for a number of reasons
**They are shot at
**Their attack code determines they need to attack a passing player
**Their swarm code determines they can kill a stronger player than usual e.g., the Rosemarys and Basils in Perilous Outpost sometimes attack the Earthforce AI, though their scripting should prevent this (there's no way they can win), but due to swarm mentality, a group of aggressive AI will attack just about anything.
**They are programmed to be aggressive, for mission or design reasons e.g., Flyswatters, who are intentionally annoying

''Leads To''
;Regression
When an AI is about to die, it will often try to run. Because the script doesn't seem to take into account ''where'' the threat is but rather that there is just a threat in general, most AI will keep warping through the same two gates over and over again until their shields are high enough to resume attack behavior. Sometimes, they will stay on the other side if they leave this state quick enough and eventually resume their normal roaming behavior.
''And/Or/Instead''
;Spin Out
AI will sometimes freak out and spin in circles if they can't run but are still about to die. The only reasons I can conjure up for this behavior are: 1. They are programmed to behave like this, so their deaths are more epic, or 2. Their retreat code can't find a gate to warp through and they continue with the last action they were given (in this case, turning so they can head towards a gate).

''more to come...''

===== Bases =====

Talk about the pros and cons of owning a base, and how to get started.

====== Colonies ======

Talk about how to run colonies and what the point is.

===== Drones =====

Talk about drones, their pros and cons, and what's best for the situation.

===== Slaves =====

Describe how slaves work and the best ways to make good use of them.

===== Ships =====

At the start of the game, choosing a ship is mostly about preference. You will soon find that these preferences may eventually lead you to a certain class skill. If you like bigger ships with lots of hull, you may go for a support or fleet focus, but if you like fast ships you might go for speed demon. There's a large number of ships in this game and lots of different ways of setting them up. The same two Pax Astrologicas, one augged for Berserker and one augged for Engineer, are effectively two entirely different ships because their stats are so strongly affected both by the class skills and by the augmenters equipped.

Towards the end-game, you will find that many ships are in fact aimed at different classes. Some are even class-locked, meaning only one class can use (or make use of) that ship. Rhinos are for Engineers and Shield Monkeys (though ShMs tend to prefer Apprentice's Wards) and Lions are for Berserkers. Panthers are for Speed Demons and Dreads are for Fleet Commanders, and so on and so forth. But just because your class has a ship designed for it doesn't always mean that ship will fit your play style. There are a number of alternatives that you can use at any point in the game that my not align perfectly with the intended flow of character progression but are still good choices and may be even better for you than what's recommended.

So, you may be asking yourself at this point, "That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't help me decide much. You basically just reaffirmed by belief that I am always right, because I am." ''SLAP!'' No! You aren't always right. Get that nonsensical sense out of your skull. The most important thing to remember in this game is that you are ''always WRONG''. Why? Because that's what everyone else is going to tell you, no matter what choice you make. And this is why I assert that you should always go with what feels right for you, even if it may not seem like the best choice. And if it really doesn't work out, hey maybe they were right, but now you have an even better idea of what you need to improve on, right?

That means you need to think long and hard about where you're at and what you want to accomplish. I can assure you though, if you feel like you're getting to the point where it's getting difficult to kill the AI you ought to be killing at your level, a new ship is almost always the cure. Just remember to augment it, otherwise it'll be even worse than your last fully augmented ship, believe it or not.

Once you get that new ship, have it augmented properly, and are ready for something else, go read another section of this guide because what you ought to do next is get newer gear and probably go spend all those Skill Points somewhere.

===== Weapons =====

Damage types and more.

===== More About Augmenters =====

Get into the math of how it all works.

===== More About Classes =====

More math and detailed explanations.

===== Missions =====

Why should anyone do missions? Talk about it.

===== More About Gear =====

Include a discussion about fighters, missiles, etc.

===== More About Tactics & Strategy =====

;The Numbers Game

When you get down to it, this game is all about numbers. Everything from DPS to your level in Aug Tweaking effects the way the game plays for you. We're going to talk about one of the most important numbers of all: enemies.

The number of enemies you are facing is generally important. You may not be able to kill 50 Rosemarys, though you can kill 25. You may be able to handle a group of Forgones, but throw in a few Big Greens and it all goes downhill.

When I call it the numbers game, I'm not saying that if all your assets combined can put out X DPS and the enemy can put out Y DPS , and you cross your shields against their fire and theirs against yours (and assuming all else is equal), the math is going to tell you who wins. It most likely won't, because there's a lot more influencing the way this works than that. In fact, my proposition is the antithesis of that mentality: it's not about the numbers, but instead how you apply them. It's all about where you direction your attention and when, and how you go about accomplishing that which needs to be done in order to win.

It really is frustrating when you don't understand why you can't do this or why that DG is so difficult. The truth is, you may have just reached the limits of what you can achieve with your current setup. However, there's still some extremely valuable strategies that you should know, both to squeeze a little more life out of that ship you got 200 lvls ago and should probably have replaced by now, and to increase your overall efficiency and give you some skills that might help you out in more extreme circumstances.

;Focus Fire
* The crux of it is this: when you are fighting a small group of enemies, you generally don't need to worry about where all that fire from your drones, slaves, missiles, or fighters are going. You already know that you're going to win and you just don't need to worry about it. But as you increase the number of enemies to the point where they can actually begin dealing damage against you, choosing your targets suddenly becomes more important. When fighting a large group of enemies, you are likely to get killed if you don't do something about the DPS coming your way, and do it quickly. You can circumvent this by having something that heals you, or a neurotweak that will boost your shield regen, but those only extend your lifespan, not remove the cause of the problem. In other words, you just need to begin reducing their numbers.
* Kill the strongest first. Yes, that's right, take out the strongest enemies first. The ones who are doing the most damage to you, individually, are the most dangerous and need to be removed immediately.
* If all else is equal, go for the weakest first. On the other hand, you have a situation where all are giving about the same DPS and it doesn't matter which you kill. In that case, kill the weakest first - be it the one with the lowest shields at the moment, or the one that's a lower level than the rest.

So, let's consider an example. Again let's rule out other variables like resistances and whatnot and just focus on some pure, raw numbers. You have a ship with 100 shields and you can pull 50 DPS. You have an enemy with 500 shields that can only pull 25 DPS. Who wins? Well, the math says that he can kill you in 4 seconds but you can kill him in 10. So, you'd be dead 6 seconds too soon to kill him, and he'd still have plenty of shields left over. He only has 500% more shields and 50% less DPS, why can't you kill him? Well, did you sit in the same spot the whole time? What if you were able to evade half of his shots, so that it takes him 8 seconds to kill you? And if you let a slave or drone take the other 2 second's worth, hey, you just made it! I know that sounds like a copout, but that's just it! In this game, you use copouts like that to survive. The tactics section goes more in depth about how to avoid taking fire while dealing it, so we're just going to continue exploring the numbers here.

Another example: You and your enemy are equals. You both have 100 shields and can pull 50 DPS. You're both dead after 2 seconds. How do you win? Well, if we consider resistances this time, then whoever has the highest resists wins. If you both shot for the entire duration and landed all your hits, and one still died while the other lived, then you know who has the weaker ship. The same is true if you consider vulnerabilities rather than resistances, or damage boosts instead. What if we consider shield regeneration?

If you have a shield with a bank of 100 and it regenerates 10/s, then it takes you 10 seconds to recover. If, over the course of 10 seconds, an enemy can pull 20 DPS, he's only actually removed half your shields, since your shields are always recovering over the course of that period! Effectively, you'd have 50 shields left, and it'd take him an additional 5 seconds or so to kill you. Scale these values however you like, and it always works out the same. You don't have to just deplete their shields, but also neutralize their regeneration.

So, consider you have a bank of 100 and a regeneration of 20. It takes 5 seconds to recover. If an enemy does 20 DPS to you, then he can't break your regeneration (barring critical hits, of course). If he does even a little more DPS, however, he can kill you, albeit slowly. In order to kill you effectively, he needs be able to do at least twice as much damage as you have shield regeneration. And the true is for you, killing other things. And this is, again, where the numbers game comes into play.

If you have the same bank and regeneration as the last example and there's now ''two'' of those enemies, they can kill you quickly, because even though each is only strong enough to neutralize your regeneration, the other is now doing pure DPS. You will be dead in 5 seconds flat. This is why you may be able to handle a single Battleship for example, but if another one shows up, you're done for. Now, if you manage to kill the first Battleship quickly enough, you're back down to a single enemy. See why this matters so much? If, when that new enemy appears, everything you have suddenly starts shooting at it instead, then you're done for. ''Focus Fire''.

===== Energize =====

Talk about energy and strategies for using it effectively.

===== Shielding =====

Go into detail about shields and how they work.

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-04-09T19:13:23Z

captainGarfield: /* Ships */

Yet another player guide by yours truly,captainGarfield.

This guide will be split into two parts: '''Quick Start''' and '''Comprehensive'''. The Quick Start portion will briefly explain the different parts of the game's control setup and how to get going in the world of ''Star Sonata''. The Comprehensive portion is intended to cover nearly every aspect of the game and provide you with the wisdom and knowledge I've gathered in the years I've played. Both parts can be used together or completely separate, and an Index will be provided for those looking for specific information. 

As a disclaimer, I realize this is not the first guide of its kind. I also realize that most other guides were left incomplete, had a bias, or have simply become outdated. In any case, I cannot guarantee that what you find here will always be 100% accurate and be the best source for you to base decisions off of. I am simply offering my opinions in the hope that they may help you to avoid some of the mistakes I have, and learn some of the tricks I've used. 

== Part I: Quick Start ==

==== Controls & Interface ====

Before you can even think about playing the game, you need to know your way around it. Here's a quick and dirty introduction to all the different aspects of the interface. Try to keep up, because I'm not gonna waste any time with this section.

The screen is divided up into 4 parts: The Ship Box, Hotbar, Menubar, and Chat Box. Naturally, the game itself is in the center portion, with your ship in the center.

*The Ship Box shows your Shields, Energy, Visibility, and Weapon.
*The Hotbar allows you to bind your most commonly used items to a key on your keyboard.
*The Menubar lets you access all the different windows the game uses to interact with the player.
*The Chat Box lets you communicate with other players and provides key information in a timely fashion.

The Menubar has 10 buttons. From left to right, these are: Help, Warp, Dock, Galaxy Map, Options, Social, Character, Ship, Radar, and Inventory. Clicking any of the first three will cause an action, the others toggle windows. Help opens a browser window to the Star Sonata help page, Warp takes you through wormholes, and Dock allows you to go inside stations.

The Chat Box has 7 tabs. From left to right in the default configuration, these are: Event, All, Galaxy, Trade, Help, Team, and Squad. The order of these tabs can be changed by clicking any one and dragging it. Their uses are:

*Event: Displays any game-related messages, such as kills, actions, and the Message of the Day.
*All: A global chat where any player can talk.
*Galaxy: A local chat where only players in the same galaxy as you can talk.
*Trade: A place to advertise, buy, and sell.
*Help: A place to ask questions not easily answered by the Wiki or appropriate for All chat.
*Team: Lets you talk to other members of your Team in private.
*Squad: Lets you talk to other members of your Squad in private, and displays Squad-related events.

Most of the game involves flying your ship around and shooting at stuff. Before you can shoot at something, you first have to target it. If this weren't necessary, then it'd be impossible to avoid attacking everything from neutral space stations to teammates while fighting! To target something, simply click on it. A new box will appear providing information on the targeted object. You can also sort through the list of targetable objects in the galaxy using the Ctrl, Z, Q, and Tab keys. Using Shift with any of these keys will cycle through the list in reverse.

Here's a list of the most pertinent keys:

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible collapsed"
|+ Default Key Bindings
|-
! Key
! Action
! Notes
|-
| Space Bar
| Shoot
| Must have a target!
|-
| W, A, D
| Move forwards and turn
|
|-
| S
| Slows the ship
|
|-
| X
| Target options menu
| Must have a target!
|-
| V
| Autopilot
| Must have a target!
|-
| C
| Scoop
| Need to have a Scoop equipped, and a scoopable item nearby
|-
| Enter
| Chat
|
|-
| U
| Suicide
| Will have to authorize it
|-
| I
| Inventory
|
|-
| R
| Dock
| Must be close enough to a station and moving slow enough
|-
| F
| Warp
| Must be a wormhole nearby
|-
| O
| Game Options
|
|-
| P
| Galaxy Map
|
|-
| E
| Switch weapons
|
|-
| G
| Tractor Beam
| Must have one equipped and a target selected; if no target is selected, the nearest piece of Debris is grabbed
|-
| H
| Hides interface
| Useful for screenshots
|-
| K
| Cloaking Device
| Must have one equipped
|-
| M
| Missions Tab
|
|}

There are a number of windows in the game which you use to interact. I'll briefly go over them here:

==== Welcome to Space ====

At the start of the game, you're going to get a dinky little ship. You'll be in some strange looking place with a lot of green things flying around. This is fine, go ahead and click one. Press the Space Bar to shoot at it, and watch as it explodes. Now you know how to kill things, you bloodthirsty heathen.

Now that you've satisfied your bloodlust, it's time to start getting payed for it. Go to the base (the big thing that doesn't look like a rat, as you probably now know those green things as) and dock in it. You'll get a window with lots of tabs; right now, we only care about the first one. There's a box with some missions in it, double-click one. They're pretty self explanatory, so just do what it says and come back to claim your reward. Keep doing missions, eventually they'll lead you to the Nexus where there's... wait for it... ''more missions!'' Do those, and keep reading when you're done.

===== Tactics =====

Star Sonata is, at its core, a top-down shooter. The physics in the game are extremely simple and the game mechanics, for the most part, very straight forward. In every top-down shooter since ''Asteroids'', the player controls a character from a bird's eye view and, well, shoots stuff. In Star Sonata, movement is defined by a few key variables:
* Speed - the max speed of a ship limits how fast it can go. Distance in the game is arbitrary, and 1 speed means you move 1 distance every second.
* Thrust - essentially, this determines how quickly you can get to top speed. Weight affects this greatly - you need more thrust to move more weight.
* Turning - the rate at which you turn. Weight also affects this, and so you need more torque to overcome more weight.
* Weight - every item on a ship has a weight, and this variable is used to determine how the ship handles.

Inertia counts. If a ship starts moving forwards, it will not stop until something forces it to. Explosions matter, too. When something blows up near your ship, it creates a concussion that pushes you away and sometimes jams your engine temporarily. There's also tractors - both yours, and those of players and AI. There's 3 kinds of tractors: push, pull, and hitchhiker. Each will push objects away from, pull objects towards, or move the player towards objects. Tractors on AI can make it hard to move around, but you can also use your own tractor to your advantage. Try slingshotting yourself around a planet when you get a chance - learning to use everything at your disposal for maneuverability is key.

The tactics I cover here all involve moving your ship a certain way. These are: Kiting, Jinking, Flybys, and Out Turning.

;Kiting
Kiting an enemy refers to positioning yourself in such a way that you are out of range of their weapons while simultaneously close enough for the AI to keep following you. Most AI have a range at which they will follow you indefinitely, usually between 50 and 100 distance beyond the range of their farthest shooting weapon. You can use this to your advantage by using a long range weapon and shooting at the AI without taking any damage. This is a good tactic if you don't have a strong or extremely agile ship and need to kill something tougher than you are.

;Jinking
Jinking is basically dodging. You cannot dodge lasers, but if the enemy is using projectile weapons, you can make them waste their shots by out maneuvering their bullets. Getting too close to the AI while doing this isn't effective, as you have less time to react. Try to find a distance at which you can keep shooting while also making adjustments to your position.

;Flybys
Flybys are essentially running full speed at the enemy, shooting a salvo of projectiles, and flying past. Speed Demons, especially, like to use this tactic as they tend to have the shield regeneration necessary to recover after sustaining damage from this. This is a good way to take out targets that could kill you if you stay within firing range long enough, but are not easy to kite or jink. You have to make sure you can recover enough of your shield bank between each run and do it fast enough that the enemy doesn't recover as well.

;Out Turning
Many AI turn slow. If you can stay behind them, you can keep shooting without getting shot. Note that some weapons have something called "Full Tracking", which allows them to be shot 360 degrees. If the AI has this, then this tactic is worthless. However, it is especially useful for taking out larger, gear laden AI, as these tend to be heavier.

In spite of the fact that Star Sonata is a top-down shooter and relies heavily on arcade-style gameplay, there's still a few other tactics to consider that don't involve maneuvering.

;Training
Training is the process of controlling the enemy's aggressiveness. AI will tend to shoot at whatever is doing the most damage to them - you can use this to your advantage to make them shoot at what you want them to. You, your slaves, and your drones each may not have that much shield bank individually, but if you combine them all then that's quite a lot. Dividing up enemy fire between each can help you last longer in battle. To capture an AI's aggro, you need to shoot at it. It usually doesn't take long. If you need to lose it, bring the AI near a slave or drone and wait for them to shoot at it. Once your slaves or drones start doing some damage, the AI will switch aggro. Note that some AI will not always respond to this due to the nature of their programming.

;Tanking
Tanking is all about taking damage, rather than directing it. Some players prefer to have an incredibly large shield bank and simply take the hits while their slaves, drones, missiles, fighters, or other players do the actual damage. Shield Monkeys tend to fall along this line, though they are intended to heal without taking damage rather than be shot. Tanking can be challenging and most setups rely on a high-bank, low regeneration shield, meaning that once that bank is gone, there is virtually no way to replenish it in a timely fashion without the help of healer drones or another player.

===== Strategy =====

Next, go to Deep Space, do the missions there. Basically just do all the missions you can find, until you think you're not getting enough from them anymore. Yes, feel the greed. Aspire to be greater, greater than the rats and the volcoms.

Once you've done that, go to Sol. To get to Sol, go through the gate to Earthforce Celestial Garden. The one to Sol is in there. Go to the Earthforce Frontier Station and see what missions are available. If you have any skillpoints, use them.

===== Core Skills =====

*Piloting: You can't pilot a giant ship if all you know is zebucarts. Learn to fly more complicated things.
*Shields: Shields keep you from getting blown up. They're also complicated to install. Not just anyone knows how to jack a billion cables together.
*Energy: Nuclear reactor leaking? Too bad, there's no health insurance here. Energy is what makes your ship go round, keep a lot of it.
*Radar: You can't shoot what you can't see. And there's a lot you're not seeing, like why that haircut looks bad on you.
*Engines: Puff puff. Go fast faster, turn hard harder.
*Equipment: You see that launch tube? Go crawl inside it.
*Weaponry: Shoot stuff with bigger and bigger guns.
*Cloaking: Don't get shot at.

So, there you go. The most important to you are probably piloting, weaponry, shields, and energy. You can't shoot without energy, it doesn't matter if you have energy if your gun sucks as much as you do, your guns don't matter if you die instantly and none of it matters if you can't fit it all in the freaking ship.

In any case, get some skills if you can and get some new gear. You should have plenty of money from the Nexus, so go nuts. You should have a decent level of Piloting now so get rid of that Helga.

Next, go to Blue Outpost and kill the little blue ships. You'll get to level 50 easy. Now kill the bigger blue ships. You can get some slaves at this point too, which are extremely useful because it's like having another player beside you.

Once you've killed just about everything you can find and can't level anymore, get Warp Navigation to 2. You can do this at Sol or Paxius, whichever you prefer. However, you've probably got some blue stuff from killing things in the Outpost, so Sol is probably best.

Next, do the same thing. Get to level 100, and start worrying about specialization. This is important, because this game doesn't let you do a little of everything and be good at it. You need to choose a play style and stick with it. There's a lot to consider, but whatever's been working best for you so far is the path you should take.

Before you even worry about class skills, I'd worry more about your core skills. Most people say get a class skill as soon as possible - this is okay, if you know what you want to do already. But I think it's not wise to urge new players to make an important decision so quickly. You can still head in one direction or another first, and see how you like it.

So, core skills. At this point you probably have most somewhere between 8 and 10. Now think about what you're lacking in. Do you run out of energy too often? Do you blow up a lot? Your weapons don't do enough damage? Figure it out and go get that skill up, then get better gear. Whatever's holding you back, move it out of the way.

Once you've chosen a path, follow it. Don't meddle around, it's a waste of time.

==== Class Skills ====

When you're comfortable with it, choose a class. Pour as much time, money, and skill points as you can into it. Use class-specific items and augmenters.

==== Gear ====

Talk about the different items, what they do.

===== Augmenters =====

Go into detail about augmenters.

==== The World Keeps Spinning ====

The game moves on even if you don't.

===== Teams =====

A good team is hard to come by. Many teams are simply full of underachievers or lowlifes. Others are filled with people who may seem too cutthroat or edgy for you. It's important not to judge a team simply by objective qualities, but also by how you feel about it. That may sound unusual coming from me, but if you're not happy in a team, you're simply going to want to leave. That'll cause unnecessary drama that nobody really wants to deal with. So find a team that seems to have similar goals to yours, and players who you already know you like.

If you absolutely can't find a decent team or simply want to start your own, you'll need to acquire the [[Leadership]] skill first. This skill is fairly easy to get for most players and simply requires a bit of money and some time. When creating a team, think very carefully about how you want to present it to other players. Are you about integrity and doing things the right way, or are you going for something more laid back, a place where people can just come and go as they please? Are you planning to accomplish something important, or simply intend to figure things out as it goes along? Whatever decision you may come to, make sure you reach it before you actually create the team.

It's not entirely rare, but it also doesn't happen a lot, especially in a large team. Believe it or not, if you put in the time and effort, you may actually get '''promoted''' in your new team! What you do when this happens is take a step back and reevalute your position. What did you do to even get promoted in the first place? Whatever it was, identify it and keep doing it. If you start slacking off, you're simply going to be resented by other players, especially those a lower rank than you. If you've been placed in a position of trust - say, an Officer, or even a Councilor - do ''not'' betray it. You will inevitably regret it. It will tarnish your reputation and people tend to not forget these sorts of things.

If you feel you do not like a team anymore, or do not like what position you are in, it is best to talk about it with someone who can actually help first. Do not simply leave a team unless you've been told to do so - a lot of teams do not take too kindly to it, since it can harm their score. If you feel you're in a position of responsibility but don't actually want that responsibility, ask to be demoted, don't cause trouble.

In general, use common sense, and always consult your teammates before making an important decision.

===== Dungeons =====

Understanding how they work.

===== Perilous Space =====

The final frontier.

===== Death =====

How to deal with losing in the game.

===== F2P vs P2P =====

It has to be mentioned.

==== Moving On ====

A closing message.

== Part 2: Comprehensive Guide ==

===== Introduction =====

Describe this portion of the guide.

===== All is Well =====

;The End of Everything
When a universe begins, there is a bit of a chaotic phase where everyone is rushing to find the best galaxies, the best planets for colonies, and just get their bases and everything set up. Large teams will try to take large tracts of space that they will eventually fill with drones and trading slaves, only to have to pack it all up again later. Very quickly, and almost without warning, the universe will soon look like it did when it ended, just with everything in a slightly different place.

Star Sonata isn't the only game of its kind to use a system like this, where the game world is reset once every few months. However, it is a very important aspect of the game in many ways. For example, [[Hydroponics]] missions can only be done once per universe. Places like Hyper are hard to invade for any team wishing to seize control of its resources, and so the universe reset allows another team a chance to take hold, preventing monopolies. The same happens for most other resources, and just about everyone gets a chance to try and take some valuable plot of space.

So, why does this matter to you? Well, there's a number of reasons why, and we'll explore each one briefly before expanding on it in a later section.

===== The Economy =====

Describe how the economy in the game works.

===== Making Money =====

;Farming

;Shops

;Pirating

;Slaving

;Saving Money

;Losing Money

lInvestments

===== Leveling Up =====

Talk about strategies for leveling up.

===== More About Teams =====

Get into detail about teams and how they interrelate.

====== Diplomacy ======

Talk about making teams work together, or fall apart.

===== More About AI =====

AI, as you should already know, stands for Artificial Intelligence. The name implies that an AI player is both not alive and also smart. While the former is true, the latter is a complete and utter lie. There is nothing smart about the AI in this game, or most games for that matter. AI in Star Sonata seem to follow a script-based program where they will prioritize certain behaviors over others depending on what's going on around them.

AI seem to have a number of different states and I will attempt to catalog them here as I learn more.

;Standing
When there is nothing for the AI to do, it will simply stand in one spot for a while.
''Leads To''
;Roaming
AI will move for no reason after standing in the same spot too long. Sometimes, they will warp.
''Leads To''
;Docking
AI will randomly dock at AI bases and player bases. Sometimes, they will buy some commodities, but most of the time their hulls are too overfilled to do anything. This behavior is more for effect than anything else, giving players a sense that even the AI have stuff to do in this game.
''Leads To''
;Aggression
*AI will become aggressive for a number of reasons
**They are shot at
**Their attack code determines they need to attack a passing player
**Their swarm code determines they can kill a stronger player than usual e.g., the Rosemarys and Basils in Perilous Outpost sometimes attack the Earthforce AI, though their scripting should prevent this (there's no way they can win), but due to swarm mentality, a group of aggressive AI will attack just about anything.
**They are programmed to be aggressive, for mission or design reasons e.g., Flyswatters, who are intentionally annoying

''Leads To''
;Regression
When an AI is about to die, it will often try to run. Because the script doesn't seem to take into account ''where'' the threat is but rather that there is just a threat in general, most AI will keep warping through the same two gates over and over again until their shields are high enough to resume attack behavior. Sometimes, they will stay on the other side if they leave this state quick enough and eventually resume their normal roaming behavior.
''And/Or/Instead''
;Spin Out
AI will sometimes freak out and spin in circles if they can't run but are still about to die. The only reasons I can conjure up for this behavior are: 1. They are programmed to behave like this, so their deaths are more epic, or 2. Their retreat code can't find a gate to warp through and they continue with the last action they were given (in this case, turning so they can head towards a gate).

''more to come...''

===== Bases =====

Talk about the pros and cons of owning a base, and how to get started.

====== Colonies ======

Talk about how to run colonies and what the point is.

===== Drones =====

Talk about drones, their pros and cons, and what's best for the situation.

===== Slaves =====

Describe how slaves work and the best ways to make good use of them.

===== Ships =====

At the start of the game, choosing a ship is mostly about preference. You will soon find that these preferences may eventually lead you to a certain class skill. If you like bigger ships with lots of hull, you may go for a support or fleet focus, but if you like fast ships you might go for speed demon. There's a large number of ships in this game and lots of different ways of setting them up. The same two Pax Astrologicas, one augged for Berserker and one augged for Engineer, are effectively two entirely different ships because their stats are so strongly affected both by the class skills and by the augmenters equipped.

Towards the end-game, you will find that many ships are in fact aimed at different classes. Some are even class-locked, meaning only one class can use (or make use of) that ship. Rhinos are for Engineers and Shield Monkeys (though ShMs tend to prefer Apprentice's Wards) and Lions are for Berserkers. Panthers are for Speed Demons and Dreads are for Fleet Commanders, and so on and so forth. But just because your class has a ship designed for it doesn't always mean that ship will fit your play style. There are a number of alternatives that you can use at any point in the game that my not align perfectly with the intended flow of character progression but are still good choices and may be even better for you than what's recommended.

So, you may be asking yourself at this point, "That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't help me decide much. You basically just reaffirmed by belief that I am always right, because I am." ''SLAP!'' No! You aren't always right. Get that nonsensical sense out of your skull. The most important thing to remember in this game is that you are ''always WRONG''. Why? Because that's what everyone else is going to tell you, no matter what choice you make. And this is why I assert that you should always go with what feels right for you, even if it may not seem like the best choice. And if it really doesn't work out, hey maybe they were right, but now you have an even better idea of what you need to improve on, right?

That means you need to think long and hard about where you're at and what you want to accomplish. I can assure you though, if you feel like you're getting to the point where it's getting difficult to kill the AI you ought to be killing at your level, a new ship is almost always the cure. Just remember to augment it, otherwise it'll be even worse than your last fully augmented ship, believe it or not.

Once you get that new ship, have it augmented properly, and are ready for something else, go read another section of this guide because what you ought to do next is get newer gear and probably go spend all those Skill Points somewhere.

===== Weapons =====

Damage types and more.

===== More About Augmenters =====

Get into the math of how it all works.

===== More About Classes =====

More math and detailed explanations.

===== Missions =====

Why should anyone do missions? Talk about it.

===== More About Gear =====

Include a discussion about fighters, missiles, etc.

===== More About Tactics & Strategy =====

==== The Numbers Game ====

When you get down to it, this game is all about numbers. Everything from DPS to your level in Aug Tweaking effects the way the game plays for you. We're going to talk about one of the most important numbers of all: enemies.

The number of enemies you are facing is generally important. You may not be able to kill 50 Rosemarys, though you can kill 25. You may be able to handle a group of Forgones, but throw in a few Big Greens and it all goes downhill.

When I call it the numbers game, I'm not saying that if all your assets combined can put out X DPS and the enemy can put out Y DPS, and you cross your shields against their fire and theirs against yours, the math is going to tell you who wins. It most likely won't, because there's a lot more influencing the way this works than that. In fact, my proposition is the antithesis of that mentality: it's not about the numbers, but instead how you apply them. It's all about where you direction your attention and when, and how you go about accomplishing that which needs to be done in order to win.

It really is frustrating when you don't understand why you can't do this or why that DG is so difficult. The truth is, you may have just reached the limits of what you can achieve with your current setup. However, there's still some extremely valuable strategies that you should know, both to squeeze a little more life out of that ship you got 200 lvls ago and should probably have replaced by now, and to increase your overall efficiency and give you some skills that might help you out in more extreme circumstances.

;Focus Fire
* The crux of it is this: when you are fighting a small group of enemies, you generally don't need to worry about where all that fire from your drones, slaves, missiles, or fighters are going. You already know that you're going to win and you just don't need to worry about it. But as you increase the number of enemies to the point where they can actually begin dealing damage against you, choosing your targets suddenly becomes more important. When fighting a large group of enemies, you are likely to get killed if you don't do something about the DPS coming your way, and do it quickly. You can circumvent this by having something that heals you, or a neurotweak that will boost your shield regen, but those only extend your lifespan, not remove the cause of the problem. In other words, you just need to begin reducing their numbers.
* Kill the strongest first. Yes, that's right, take out the strongest enemies first. The ones who are doing the most damage to you, individually, are the most dangerous and need to be removed immediately.
* If all else is equal, go for the weakest first. On the other hand, you have a situation where all are giving about the same DPS and it doesn't matter which you kill. In that case, kill the weakest first - be it the one with the lowest shields at the moment, or the one that's a lower level than the rest.

===== Energize =====

Talk about energy and strategies for using it effectively.

===== Shielding =====

Go into detail about shields and how they work.

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-04-09T18:58:36Z

captainGarfield: /* More About AI */

Yet another player guide by yours truly,captainGarfield.

This guide will be split into two parts: '''Quick Start''' and '''Comprehensive'''. The Quick Start portion will briefly explain the different parts of the game's control setup and how to get going in the world of ''Star Sonata''. The Comprehensive portion is intended to cover nearly every aspect of the game and provide you with the wisdom and knowledge I've gathered in the years I've played. Both parts can be used together or completely separate, and an Index will be provided for those looking for specific information. 

As a disclaimer, I realize this is not the first guide of its kind. I also realize that most other guides were left incomplete, had a bias, or have simply become outdated. In any case, I cannot guarantee that what you find here will always be 100% accurate and be the best source for you to base decisions off of. I am simply offering my opinions in the hope that they may help you to avoid some of the mistakes I have, and learn some of the tricks I've used. 

== Part I: Quick Start ==

==== Controls & Interface ====

Before you can even think about playing the game, you need to know your way around it. Here's a quick and dirty introduction to all the different aspects of the interface. Try to keep up, because I'm not gonna waste any time with this section.

The screen is divided up into 4 parts: The Ship Box, Hotbar, Menubar, and Chat Box. Naturally, the game itself is in the center portion, with your ship in the center.

*The Ship Box shows your Shields, Energy, Visibility, and Weapon.
*The Hotbar allows you to bind your most commonly used items to a key on your keyboard.
*The Menubar lets you access all the different windows the game uses to interact with the player.
*The Chat Box lets you communicate with other players and provides key information in a timely fashion.

The Menubar has 10 buttons. From left to right, these are: Help, Warp, Dock, Galaxy Map, Options, Social, Character, Ship, Radar, and Inventory. Clicking any of the first three will cause an action, the others toggle windows. Help opens a browser window to the Star Sonata help page, Warp takes you through wormholes, and Dock allows you to go inside stations.

The Chat Box has 7 tabs. From left to right in the default configuration, these are: Event, All, Galaxy, Trade, Help, Team, and Squad. The order of these tabs can be changed by clicking any one and dragging it. Their uses are:

*Event: Displays any game-related messages, such as kills, actions, and the Message of the Day.
*All: A global chat where any player can talk.
*Galaxy: A local chat where only players in the same galaxy as you can talk.
*Trade: A place to advertise, buy, and sell.
*Help: A place to ask questions not easily answered by the Wiki or appropriate for All chat.
*Team: Lets you talk to other members of your Team in private.
*Squad: Lets you talk to other members of your Squad in private, and displays Squad-related events.

Most of the game involves flying your ship around and shooting at stuff. Before you can shoot at something, you first have to target it. If this weren't necessary, then it'd be impossible to avoid attacking everything from neutral space stations to teammates while fighting! To target something, simply click on it. A new box will appear providing information on the targeted object. You can also sort through the list of targetable objects in the galaxy using the Ctrl, Z, Q, and Tab keys. Using Shift with any of these keys will cycle through the list in reverse.

Here's a list of the most pertinent keys:

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible collapsed"
|+ Default Key Bindings
|-
! Key
! Action
! Notes
|-
| Space Bar
| Shoot
| Must have a target!
|-
| W, A, D
| Move forwards and turn
|
|-
| S
| Slows the ship
|
|-
| X
| Target options menu
| Must have a target!
|-
| V
| Autopilot
| Must have a target!
|-
| C
| Scoop
| Need to have a Scoop equipped, and a scoopable item nearby
|-
| Enter
| Chat
|
|-
| U
| Suicide
| Will have to authorize it
|-
| I
| Inventory
|
|-
| R
| Dock
| Must be close enough to a station and moving slow enough
|-
| F
| Warp
| Must be a wormhole nearby
|-
| O
| Game Options
|
|-
| P
| Galaxy Map
|
|-
| E
| Switch weapons
|
|-
| G
| Tractor Beam
| Must have one equipped and a target selected; if no target is selected, the nearest piece of Debris is grabbed
|-
| H
| Hides interface
| Useful for screenshots
|-
| K
| Cloaking Device
| Must have one equipped
|-
| M
| Missions Tab
|
|}

There are a number of windows in the game which you use to interact. I'll briefly go over them here:

==== Welcome to Space ====

At the start of the game, you're going to get a dinky little ship. You'll be in some strange looking place with a lot of green things flying around. This is fine, go ahead and click one. Press the Space Bar to shoot at it, and watch as it explodes. Now you know how to kill things, you bloodthirsty heathen.

Now that you've satisfied your bloodlust, it's time to start getting payed for it. Go to the base (the big thing that doesn't look like a rat, as you probably now know those green things as) and dock in it. You'll get a window with lots of tabs; right now, we only care about the first one. There's a box with some missions in it, double-click one. They're pretty self explanatory, so just do what it says and come back to claim your reward. Keep doing missions, eventually they'll lead you to the Nexus where there's... wait for it... ''more missions!'' Do those, and keep reading when you're done.

===== Tactics =====

Star Sonata is, at its core, a top-down shooter. The physics in the game are extremely simple and the game mechanics, for the most part, very straight forward. In every top-down shooter since ''Asteroids'', the player controls a character from a bird's eye view and, well, shoots stuff. In Star Sonata, movement is defined by a few key variables:
* Speed - the max speed of a ship limits how fast it can go. Distance in the game is arbitrary, and 1 speed means you move 1 distance every second.
* Thrust - essentially, this determines how quickly you can get to top speed. Weight affects this greatly - you need more thrust to move more weight.
* Turning - the rate at which you turn. Weight also affects this, and so you need more torque to overcome more weight.
* Weight - every item on a ship has a weight, and this variable is used to determine how the ship handles.

Inertia counts. If a ship starts moving forwards, it will not stop until something forces it to. Explosions matter, too. When something blows up near your ship, it creates a concussion that pushes you away and sometimes jams your engine temporarily. There's also tractors - both yours, and those of players and AI. There's 3 kinds of tractors: push, pull, and hitchhiker. Each will push objects away from, pull objects towards, or move the player towards objects. Tractors on AI can make it hard to move around, but you can also use your own tractor to your advantage. Try slingshotting yourself around a planet when you get a chance - learning to use everything at your disposal for maneuverability is key.

The tactics I cover here all involve moving your ship a certain way. These are: Kiting, Jinking, Flybys, and Out Turning.

;Kiting
Kiting an enemy refers to positioning yourself in such a way that you are out of range of their weapons while simultaneously close enough for the AI to keep following you. Most AI have a range at which they will follow you indefinitely, usually between 50 and 100 distance beyond the range of their farthest shooting weapon. You can use this to your advantage by using a long range weapon and shooting at the AI without taking any damage. This is a good tactic if you don't have a strong or extremely agile ship and need to kill something tougher than you are.

;Jinking
Jinking is basically dodging. You cannot dodge lasers, but if the enemy is using projectile weapons, you can make them waste their shots by out maneuvering their bullets. Getting too close to the AI while doing this isn't effective, as you have less time to react. Try to find a distance at which you can keep shooting while also making adjustments to your position.

;Flybys
Flybys are essentially running full speed at the enemy, shooting a salvo of projectiles, and flying past. Speed Demons, especially, like to use this tactic as they tend to have the shield regeneration necessary to recover after sustaining damage from this. This is a good way to take out targets that could kill you if you stay within firing range long enough, but are not easy to kite or jink. You have to make sure you can recover enough of your shield bank between each run and do it fast enough that the enemy doesn't recover as well.

;Out Turning
Many AI turn slow. If you can stay behind them, you can keep shooting without getting shot. Note that some weapons have something called "Full Tracking", which allows them to be shot 360 degrees. If the AI has this, then this tactic is worthless. However, it is especially useful for taking out larger, gear laden AI, as these tend to be heavier.

In spite of the fact that Star Sonata is a top-down shooter and relies heavily on arcade-style gameplay, there's still a few other tactics to consider that don't involve maneuvering.

;Training
Training is the process of controlling the enemy's aggressiveness. AI will tend to shoot at whatever is doing the most damage to them - you can use this to your advantage to make them shoot at what you want them to. You, your slaves, and your drones each may not have that much shield bank individually, but if you combine them all then that's quite a lot. Dividing up enemy fire between each can help you last longer in battle. To capture an AI's aggro, you need to shoot at it. It usually doesn't take long. If you need to lose it, bring the AI near a slave or drone and wait for them to shoot at it. Once your slaves or drones start doing some damage, the AI will switch aggro. Note that some AI will not always respond to this due to the nature of their programming.

;Tanking
Tanking is all about taking damage, rather than directing it. Some players prefer to have an incredibly large shield bank and simply take the hits while their slaves, drones, missiles, fighters, or other players do the actual damage. Shield Monkeys tend to fall along this line, though they are intended to heal without taking damage rather than be shot. Tanking can be challenging and most setups rely on a high-bank, low regeneration shield, meaning that once that bank is gone, there is virtually no way to replenish it in a timely fashion without the help of healer drones or another player.

===== Strategy =====

Next, go to Deep Space, do the missions there. Basically just do all the missions you can find, until you think you're not getting enough from them anymore. Yes, feel the greed. Aspire to be greater, greater than the rats and the volcoms.

Once you've done that, go to Sol. To get to Sol, go through the gate to Earthforce Celestial Garden. The one to Sol is in there. Go to the Earthforce Frontier Station and see what missions are available. If you have any skillpoints, use them.

===== Core Skills =====

*Piloting: You can't pilot a giant ship if all you know is zebucarts. Learn to fly more complicated things.
*Shields: Shields keep you from getting blown up. They're also complicated to install. Not just anyone knows how to jack a billion cables together.
*Energy: Nuclear reactor leaking? Too bad, there's no health insurance here. Energy is what makes your ship go round, keep a lot of it.
*Radar: You can't shoot what you can't see. And there's a lot you're not seeing, like why that haircut looks bad on you.
*Engines: Puff puff. Go fast faster, turn hard harder.
*Equipment: You see that launch tube? Go crawl inside it.
*Weaponry: Shoot stuff with bigger and bigger guns.
*Cloaking: Don't get shot at.

So, there you go. The most important to you are probably piloting, weaponry, shields, and energy. You can't shoot without energy, it doesn't matter if you have energy if your gun sucks as much as you do, your guns don't matter if you die instantly and none of it matters if you can't fit it all in the freaking ship.

In any case, get some skills if you can and get some new gear. You should have plenty of money from the Nexus, so go nuts. You should have a decent level of Piloting now so get rid of that Helga.

Next, go to Blue Outpost and kill the little blue ships. You'll get to level 50 easy. Now kill the bigger blue ships. You can get some slaves at this point too, which are extremely useful because it's like having another player beside you.

Once you've killed just about everything you can find and can't level anymore, get Warp Navigation to 2. You can do this at Sol or Paxius, whichever you prefer. However, you've probably got some blue stuff from killing things in the Outpost, so Sol is probably best.

Next, do the same thing. Get to level 100, and start worrying about specialization. This is important, because this game doesn't let you do a little of everything and be good at it. You need to choose a play style and stick with it. There's a lot to consider, but whatever's been working best for you so far is the path you should take.

Before you even worry about class skills, I'd worry more about your core skills. Most people say get a class skill as soon as possible - this is okay, if you know what you want to do already. But I think it's not wise to urge new players to make an important decision so quickly. You can still head in one direction or another first, and see how you like it.

So, core skills. At this point you probably have most somewhere between 8 and 10. Now think about what you're lacking in. Do you run out of energy too often? Do you blow up a lot? Your weapons don't do enough damage? Figure it out and go get that skill up, then get better gear. Whatever's holding you back, move it out of the way.

Once you've chosen a path, follow it. Don't meddle around, it's a waste of time.

==== Class Skills ====

When you're comfortable with it, choose a class. Pour as much time, money, and skill points as you can into it. Use class-specific items and augmenters.

==== Gear ====

Talk about the different items, what they do.

===== Augmenters =====

Go into detail about augmenters.

==== The World Keeps Spinning ====

The game moves on even if you don't.

===== Teams =====

A good team is hard to come by. Many teams are simply full of underachievers or lowlifes. Others are filled with people who may seem too cutthroat or edgy for you. It's important not to judge a team simply by objective qualities, but also by how you feel about it. That may sound unusual coming from me, but if you're not happy in a team, you're simply going to want to leave. That'll cause unnecessary drama that nobody really wants to deal with. So find a team that seems to have similar goals to yours, and players who you already know you like.

If you absolutely can't find a decent team or simply want to start your own, you'll need to acquire the [[Leadership]] skill first. This skill is fairly easy to get for most players and simply requires a bit of money and some time. When creating a team, think very carefully about how you want to present it to other players. Are you about integrity and doing things the right way, or are you going for something more laid back, a place where people can just come and go as they please? Are you planning to accomplish something important, or simply intend to figure things out as it goes along? Whatever decision you may come to, make sure you reach it before you actually create the team.

It's not entirely rare, but it also doesn't happen a lot, especially in a large team. Believe it or not, if you put in the time and effort, you may actually get '''promoted''' in your new team! What you do when this happens is take a step back and reevalute your position. What did you do to even get promoted in the first place? Whatever it was, identify it and keep doing it. If you start slacking off, you're simply going to be resented by other players, especially those a lower rank than you. If you've been placed in a position of trust - say, an Officer, or even a Councilor - do ''not'' betray it. You will inevitably regret it. It will tarnish your reputation and people tend to not forget these sorts of things.

If you feel you do not like a team anymore, or do not like what position you are in, it is best to talk about it with someone who can actually help first. Do not simply leave a team unless you've been told to do so - a lot of teams do not take too kindly to it, since it can harm their score. If you feel you're in a position of responsibility but don't actually want that responsibility, ask to be demoted, don't cause trouble.

In general, use common sense, and always consult your teammates before making an important decision.

===== Dungeons =====

Understanding how they work.

===== Perilous Space =====

The final frontier.

===== Death =====

How to deal with losing in the game.

===== F2P vs P2P =====

It has to be mentioned.

==== Moving On ====

A closing message.

== Part 2: Comprehensive Guide ==

===== Introduction =====

Describe this portion of the guide.

===== All is Well =====

;The End of Everything
When a universe begins, there is a bit of a chaotic phase where everyone is rushing to find the best galaxies, the best planets for colonies, and just get their bases and everything set up. Large teams will try to take large tracts of space that they will eventually fill with drones and trading slaves, only to have to pack it all up again later. Very quickly, and almost without warning, the universe will soon look like it did when it ended, just with everything in a slightly different place.

Star Sonata isn't the only game of its kind to use a system like this, where the game world is reset once every few months. However, it is a very important aspect of the game in many ways. For example, [[Hydroponics]] missions can only be done once per universe. Places like Hyper are hard to invade for any team wishing to seize control of its resources, and so the universe reset allows another team a chance to take hold, preventing monopolies. The same happens for most other resources, and just about everyone gets a chance to try and take some valuable plot of space.

So, why does this matter to you? Well, there's a number of reasons why, and we'll explore each one briefly before expanding on it in a later section.

===== The Economy =====

Describe how the economy in the game works.

===== Making Money =====

;Farming

;Shops

;Pirating

;Slaving

;Saving Money

;Losing Money

lInvestments

===== Leveling Up =====

Talk about strategies for leveling up.

===== More About Teams =====

Get into detail about teams and how they interrelate.

====== Diplomacy ======

Talk about making teams work together, or fall apart.

===== More About AI =====

AI, as you should already know, stands for Artificial Intelligence. The name implies that an AI player is both not alive and also smart. While the former is true, the latter is a complete and utter lie. There is nothing smart about the AI in this game, or most games for that matter. AI in Star Sonata seem to follow a script-based program where they will prioritize certain behaviors over others depending on what's going on around them.

AI seem to have a number of different states and I will attempt to catalog them here as I learn more.

;Standing
When there is nothing for the AI to do, it will simply stand in one spot for a while.
''Leads To''
;Roaming
AI will move for no reason after standing in the same spot too long. Sometimes, they will warp.
''Leads To''
;Docking
AI will randomly dock at AI bases and player bases. Sometimes, they will buy some commodities, but most of the time their hulls are too overfilled to do anything. This behavior is more for effect than anything else, giving players a sense that even the AI have stuff to do in this game.
''Leads To''
;Aggression
*AI will become aggressive for a number of reasons
**They are shot at
**Their attack code determines they need to attack a passing player
**Their swarm code determines they can kill a stronger player than usual e.g., the Rosemarys and Basils in Perilous Outpost sometimes attack the Earthforce AI, though their scripting should prevent this (there's no way they can win), but due to swarm mentality, a group of aggressive AI will attack just about anything.
**They are programmed to be aggressive, for mission or design reasons e.g., Flyswatters, who are intentionally annoying

''Leads To''
;Regression
When an AI is about to die, it will often try to run. Because the script doesn't seem to take into account ''where'' the threat is but rather that there is just a threat in general, most AI will keep warping through the same two gates over and over again until their shields are high enough to resume attack behavior. Sometimes, they will stay on the other side if they leave this state quick enough and eventually resume their normal roaming behavior.
''And/Or/Instead''
;Spin Out
AI will sometimes freak out and spin in circles if they can't run but are still about to die. The only reasons I can conjure up for this behavior are: 1. They are programmed to behave like this, so their deaths are more epic, or 2. Their retreat code can't find a gate to warp through and they continue with the last action they were given (in this case, turning so they can head towards a gate).

''more to come...''

===== Bases =====

Talk about the pros and cons of owning a base, and how to get started.

====== Colonies ======

Talk about how to run colonies and what the point is.

===== Drones =====

Talk about drones, their pros and cons, and what's best for the situation.

===== Slaves =====

Describe how slaves work and the best ways to make good use of them.

===== Ships =====

Why should I choose X over Y? Explain.

===== Weapons =====

Damage types and more.

===== More About Augmenters =====

Get into the math of how it all works.

===== More About Classes =====

More math and detailed explanations.

===== Missions =====

Why should anyone do missions? Talk about it.

===== More About Gear =====

Include a discussion about fighters, missiles, etc.

===== More About Tactics & Strategy =====

==== The Numbers Game ====

When you get down to it, this game is all about numbers. Everything from DPS to your level in Aug Tweaking effects the way the game plays for you. We're going to talk about one of the most important numbers of all: enemies.

The number of enemies you are facing is generally important. You may not be able to kill 50 Rosemarys, though you can kill 25. You may be able to handle a group of Forgones, but throw in a few Big Greens and it all goes downhill.

When I call it the numbers game, I'm not saying that if all your assets combined can put out X DPS and the enemy can put out Y DPS, and you cross your shields against their fire and theirs against yours, the math is going to tell you who wins. It most likely won't, because there's a lot more influencing the way this works than that. In fact, my proposition is the antithesis of that mentality: it's not about the numbers, but instead how you apply them. It's all about where you direction your attention and when, and how you go about accomplishing that which needs to be done in order to win.

It really is frustrating when you don't understand why you can't do this or why that DG is so difficult. The truth is, you may have just reached the limits of what you can achieve with your current setup. However, there's still some extremely valuable strategies that you should know, both to squeeze a little more life out of that ship you got 200 lvls ago and should probably have replaced by now, and to increase your overall efficiency and give you some skills that might help you out in more extreme circumstances.

;Focus Fire
* The crux of it is this: when you are fighting a small group of enemies, you generally don't need to worry about where all that fire from your drones, slaves, missiles, or fighters are going. You already know that you're going to win and you just don't need to worry about it. But as you increase the number of enemies to the point where they can actually begin dealing damage against you, choosing your targets suddenly becomes more important. When fighting a large group of enemies, you are likely to get killed if you don't do something about the DPS coming your way, and do it quickly. You can circumvent this by having something that heals you, or a neurotweak that will boost your shield regen, but those only extend your lifespan, not remove the cause of the problem. In other words, you just need to begin reducing their numbers.
* Kill the strongest first. Yes, that's right, take out the strongest enemies first. The ones who are doing the most damage to you, individually, are the most dangerous and need to be removed immediately.
* If all else is equal, go for the weakest first. On the other hand, you have a situation where all are giving about the same DPS and it doesn't matter which you kill. In that case, kill the weakest first - be it the one with the lowest shields at the moment, or the one that's a lower level than the rest.

===== Energize =====

Talk about energy and strategies for using it effectively.

===== Shielding =====

Go into detail about shields and how they work.

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-04-09T18:43:44Z

captainGarfield: /* Making Money */

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-04-08T10:00:06Z

captainGarfield:

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-04-08T08:07:15Z

captainGarfield:

User:CaptainGarfield

2014-03-29T11:04:22Z

captainGarfield:

[[User:CaptainGarfield|captainGarfield]] is a low to mid-level player of [[Star Sonata]]. He can be found lurking around the [[Earthforce]] galaxies and occasionally [[Warp Navigation|Warp]] 3 space when he isn't being lazy. He spends his time doing much of nothing and generally bothering other players. He has a dark, tired sense of humor and a boring writing style well suited for encyclopedia editing, which is actually what he does when he's not at work being whipped with a chain or wasting time in [[Shadow]]. Although he has played '''Star Sonata''' for years before on other accounts, the names of which he wishes not to disclose for purposes of, quote, "avoiding people who'd kill me", he still has no clue what he's doing when he edits or creates a wiki page, so he appreciates it greatly when users contact him with any mistakes he made or suggestions for him. If anyone has a problem with him, he kindly invites them to drop a note on the Talk page for his user article, or to message him in-game (assuming he's ever online).

[[Garfield's Complete Guide]] isn't actually complete yet, and he is putting this link here so he doesn't forget about it.

Garfield's Complete Guide

2014-03-29T10:56:57Z

captainGarfield: WIP

New Pilot

2014-03-26T07:27:36Z

captainGarfield: cleaned up, great tutorial but needs some work. hope nobody minds. still working on it

Welcome to Star Sonata! We hope that the Star Sonata Wiki will be helpful to you on your journey through the game!

Once you have come up with a user name and password you will be able to choose a faction to join, either the [[Volcom Pirates]] or the [[Earthforce|Nexus Cadets]].

[[Image:Choosing a side!.png]]

Once you have chosen a side you will spawn in [[Volcom Testing Grounds]] if you chose to be a [[Volcom Pirates|Volcom Pirate]] or [[Earthforce Outpost]] if you chose to be a [[Earthforce|Nexus Cadet]]. You will also be piloting your very first ship, the [[Zebucart]].

Your [[Zebucart]] will have this gear on it (some will be modified).

*[[Weapons#Energy_Weapons|IonCannon]]
*[[Shields|FirstLine]]
*[[Engines|Coalfurnace]]
*[[Escape Pods|Escape Pod]]
*[[Scanners|Nooby Shipscanner]]
*[[Shield Salvation Device]]
*[[Mini Mass Driver Device]]
*[[Scoops|Scoop]]
*[[Energy|Flux Capacitor]]
*[[Radars|Ande Radar]]

For starting players it is good to note that the [[Shield Salvation Device]] and [[Mini Mass Driver Device]] will help you greatly when used so use them often, another thing is that from certain missions and kills you will sometimes get [[Augmenters]], these will boost the stats of your ship in certain areas. Augmenters need to be the same as or lower than the [[Tech Level]] of your ship in order to equip them. Remember that you can always destroy an equipped augmenter by right-clicking it and selecting ''Destroy Augmenter''. However, be careful! Some augmenters are worth quite a lot, so always be sure you know what you want to do before you do it.

[[Image:Chat Barc2.png]]

The chat bar is located at the bottom-left corner of the screen. It is split into seven different channels, each of which have unique purposes:

*Event Tab is where you can view what loot you scoop, when you level, when someone gives you money, and other game-related messages.
*All chat is where players can communicate with one another universally. Anyone can talk or speak in this channel.
*Trade chat is where players advertise the items they wish to buy or sell. Players can also advertise their shops here.
*Team chat is available when you have joined a [[Team]]. It allows you to speak to other teammates directly, without the need to worry about other players.
*Help chat is the place for new players to ask questions when they don't understand how something works.
*Galaxy chat is the local channel for the [[galaxy]] you are currently in. Only other players inside the same galaxy can speak to you through this channel.
*And Squad chat is to talk to people who are in the same squad as you, it will also show what other squad-mates have been scooping.

When there is a new message in a channel, its tab will begin to flash or glow.

To send a personal message to another player (in this case Demon Hunter), then you would type this command into any chat channel:
*/mc "Demon Hunter" hi
A new tab will appear allowing you to make conversation with that player.

[[Image:Toolbarc2.png]]

Now let's see if we can make sense of the menu system. The menu bar is located at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

Here's a breakdown of what each button means and what it does:

[[Image:Warp Symbolc2.png]]
This is the Warp symbol (F key), it allows you to warp into different galaxies when you are hovering over a wormhole. You will know when you can attempt to warp through a wormhole because the symbol will turn orange.

[[Image:Dock Symbolc2.png]]
This is the Request Docking button (R key), it allows players to attempt to dock in an [[Stations|AI Base]] or a [[Bases|Player Base]]. You will know when you can attempt to dock because the symbol will turn orange.

[[Image:Map Symbolc2.png]]

This is the Map symbol (F6 key), it opens the [[Galaxy Map]] and also shows what galaxy you are currently in.

[[Image:Map4c2.png]]

Clicking on the map button will open up the Galaxy Map. This map shows you all the places you have been, as well as a few pre-explored areas. The map is divided up into several layers, which can be changed by clicking the up or down arrows. You'll notice that your map is quite empty at first - this is okay, as you still haven't explored the [[Universe]] yet. When you enter a new galaxy for the first time, it will appear on your map and stay there for future reference.
There's a lot of information on this map, but the most important to you would probably be the color coding and station tabs.

The station tabs are the white bars along the outside of each galaxy's icon. There's a single tab for each station or base in the galaxy: white for AI owned, yellow for those belonging to other players, green for your team's bases, and blue for your own (if you have any).

The color coding indicates what level of [[Warp Navigation]] you'll need to travel there. The color is also somewhat indicative of the difficulty of that galaxy, though the [[Danger Factor]] plays a much larger role.
* Green: Warp 0
* Blue: Warp 1
* Red: Warp 2
* Purple: Warp 3

Additionally, the ship button will center the map on your current location while the 1x, 2x, and crossed arrows are used to change the size of the map. You can also click one of the corners and drag to set a custom size. Lastly, you can use the scrollbar or your mouse wheel to zoom in and out on the map.

[[Image:Options Symbolc2.png]]
This is the Options symbol (F7 or O key), which allows you to change how the game works. There are tabs for Graphics, Sound, Display, Social, and Keys. You can also toggle the Lag Killer on and off - this can sometimes help if the game is acting slow!

[[Image:Social Symbolc2.png]]
This is the Social symbol (F8 key), from which you can manage your [[Squad]], [[Team]], and Friends List.
*Squad lets you create temporary teams. Squads are extremely useful for tackling difficult [[DG|Dungeons]] or killing [[Uber AI]]. Any player in your squad will be treated like a Teammate, meaning any enemies of theirs are also your enemies and vice versa. Drones will also defend Squadmates, and Squadmates can be [[Tractoring|Tractored]], which can be useful.
*Team lets you manage, create, and interact with your [[Team]]. In order to create a Team of your own, you'll need to get the [[Leadership]] skill first. You can join other Teams through invitation only, though many are often looking for new recruits so just ask around!
*Friends lets you create and manage your Friends List. Anyone can be added to the list, just type in their name or target them and hit the ''Invite Target'' button. If they friend you back, you'll even be able to see where they're at when they're online.

[[Image:Character Symbolc2.png]]
This is the Character symbol (F9 key, M key for [[Missions]]), it allows you to access your Avatar, Possessions, Skills, and Missions tabs.
*The Avatar tab displays your name, level, kills, and [[Death Debt]]
*The Possessions tab is a list of all your [[Ships]], [[Drones]], Bases, and [[Slaves]]
*The Skills tab shows what [[Skills]] you have earned and how many [[Skill Points]] you have left
*The Missions tab lists all your currently active Missions and their requirements. You can also abort or suspend (deactivate) Missions here

[[Image:Ship Symbolc2.png]]

This is the Ship Details symbol (F10 key), which shows the [[Hull]], [[Ships|Class]], Tech Level, Top Speed and Weight of your ship.

[[Image:Radar Symbolc2.png]]

This is the Radar symbol (F11 key), which toggles the [[Radar]] map on and off.

[[Image:Radarc2.png]]

The color representation is as follows:

*A White icon with a red circle indicates your ship
*A White icon indicates a neutral ship
*A Red icon indicates a hostile ship
*Green indicates an AI Base or a Drone
*Orange indicates a Player Base
*Yellow indicates a sun
*Light Blue indicates a [[Planet]]
*Little White dots represent [[Asteroids]]
*Blue circles represent [[Wormholes]]

[[Image:Invertory Symbolc2.png]]
And last but not least the Inventory symbol (F12 or I key), which toggles the Inventory list on and off.
The Inventory is probably one of the most important windows in the game. It shows you everything that's inside your ship, including all of your [[Weapons]], your [[Shields]], [[Energy]], and other items. Here's a quick list of things you can do with it:
*Right-click: This will open a context menu for any item, allowing you to interact with it
**Equip/Unequip: Equipping items is how you make them work. You can also double-click an item to equip it. Note that some items, like [[Neuro Tweaks]], are used instead (they disappear afterwards)
**Add to Trade Bay: Available only while docked at a base you control, adds the selected item to the Trade List
**Check Market Price: This will open a window displaying the cheapest or most profitable places to buy or sell that item from. Very useful for valuing loot
**Use: Some items must be equipped before they can be used, and once equipped clicking Use will make them work
**Sell: Sells the item to the current station, can be undone at AI stations, but not player bases
**Toss Overboard: As the name suggests, this will shoot the selected item out the airlock
**Info: Displays the Infobox for the object, can also be triggered by hovering over an item for 2 seconds or more
**Transfer: Available when docked, this will move the item to the indicated ship or base
**Transfer Some...: Transfers a specified amount of the item
**Transfer Type...: Transfers all items of a similar kind
**Transfer All...: Transfers every unequipped item on the ship
*Click and Drag To...: This will move the item around
**Outside the Inventory: Tosses overboard
**Inside another Inventory (e.g., a base's): Transfers
**Into a Trade Tab: Sells item
**Onto the Hotbar: Sets up a hotkey for that item
*Shift+Click: Selects a number of items at once
*Ctrl+Click: Adds item to selected
*Destroy Augmenter: Only available for augmenters, this will destroy the augmenter selected

You can sort through the items in your inventory using the buttons at the top of the inventory window. Clicking one of the column headers (''Item'', ''#'', etc.) will use that column as the basis for sorting.

[[Image:Top Menuc2.png]]

The Ship Status box is located at the top left corner of the screen. It shows your [[Shields|Shield]] and its Regeneration Rate, [[Energy]] and its Regeneration, the current [[Weapon]] and Rate of Fire for that weapon.

Beside that is a [[Cloaking|Visibility]] meter. Your visibility affects how easily other [[Radars]] can detect you. [[Cloaks]] are used to lower this.

There's also the Hotbar, which has several boxes for you to assign items to. The first 10 boxes are assigned to the 1-0 keys on your keyboard. The rest you can simply click on to activate. To assign an item to a box, simply drag it over and let go.

Underneath the tabs are as followed: [[Level]] and [[XP]] needed to level up, [[Credits]], Hull, Speed and Item Durability. Durability affects how well the items in your ship perform. Getting [[Killed]] lowers the durability of most equipped items on your ship. You cannot lose your items this way, but it is advisable to always Repair your ship as soon as possible! You can do this at any station or by not getting shot or shooting for 60 seconds and double-clicking the durability icon.

[[Image:AI Basec2.png]]

[[Image:White Tabc2.png]]
Just above is an [[Stations|AI Base]]! These bases are scattered throughout the universe and are your main resources for new weapons, skills, ships, and more. As stated before, you can always use the Galaxy Map to identify where an AI base is.

And now the next important part of the game, Missions.

[[Image:New Missionc2.png]] [[Image:In Progressc2.png]] [[Image:Completec2.png]]

Missions are an important way of helping people through the game, so its not really wise to skip key missions for your Star Sonata career. The symbols above are what will hover on an AI base when you either have, in order, a New Mission, a Mission in Progress and a Completed Mission. Reading all the text in the missions will help you to feel the role that you are playing, as well as getting some handy tips to help complete the missions. Missions are located on Ai Bases.

[[Image:Death Blue2c2.png]][[Image:Death Yellowc2.png]]

Dying is a natural part of the game, when you die your ship will turn blue, when your ship turns yellow you can drive your escape pod over it, press R, and get back into it (Escape pods help you not to lose alot of credits.)

Hopefully that covers all the important things, we hope you enjoy your time on this adventure, see ya in the game!

Missiles

2014-03-26T05:43:00Z

captainGarfield:

[[Missiles]] are guided projectiles: they do damage upon impacting a target, oftentimes much more than any conventional weapon of a similar [[Tech Level]] could do. Missiles are therefore a good choice for players looking to increase their damage throughput, albeit a sometimes expensive one.

To use '''Missiles''', a player must have a [[Missile Launchers|Missile Launcher]] equipped and an appropriate [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] in their inventory. Ammo Crates Type I through III can be opened to yield either 10, 25, or 50 missiles, respectively.

Missiles will attempt to fly towards whatever target was selected when the Missile was launched. They can be destroyed or knocked off course just like ships can, but some (if not all, needs checking) Missiles contain an inbuilt '''Missile Stabilizer''' reducing effect of concussions by %50.

Most '''Missiles''' have [[Resistance|Resistances]] to [[Mining]](75%) and [[Radiation]](100%) damage and a vulnerability to [[Physical]](200%) damage.

See also: [[Base Missiles]].

== Sortable Listing ==

{| width="78%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" border="2" class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Name
! Tech
! Size
! Launch Energy
! Damage
! Damage Type
! Speed
! Lifespan
! Min/Max Launch Distance
! Source
! Skill Needed
! Weight
! Description
! Notes
|-
| Small Kinetic Missile
| 5
| 1
| 200
| 250
| Physical
| 150
| 2 minutes
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Missile Factories|Small Kinetic Type I/II/III ]]
| none
| 1000
| Physical damage payload delivered to a single target
|
|-
| Small Armor Piercing Missile
| 6
| 1
| 200
| 500
| Mining
| 75
| 2 minutes
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Missile Factories|Small AP Type I/II/III ]]
| none
| 1000
| Mining damage payload delivered to a single target
|
|-
| Medium Kinetic Missile
| 10
| 2
| 350
| 500
| Physical
| 200
| 2 minutes
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Missile Factories|Medium Kinetic Type I/II/III ]]
| none
| 2000
| Physical damage payload delivered to a single target
|
|-
| Medium Armor Piercing Missile
| 11
| 2
| 350
| 1250
| Mining
| 75
| 2 minutes
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Missile Factories|Medium AP Type I/II/III ]]
| none
| 2000
| Mining damage payload delivered to a single target
|
|-
| Large Kinetic Missile
| 15
| 3
| 500
| 1000
| Physical
| 250
| 2 minutes
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Missile Factories|Large Kinetic Type I/II/III ]]
| none
| 3000
| Physical damage payload delivered to a single target
|
|-
| Eggsile
| 15
| 2
| 650
| 1250
| Physical
| 80~?
| 30s or 1min
| 50/2000
| [[Eggbox Crate]] from [[Easter]] Drop
| none
| 10000
| How is this going to work? Cover their view ports with egg?
| Has 5000 vis, seems buggy
|-
| Carcass Missile
| 16
| 1
| 1000
| 5000
| Heat
| 100
| 7 seconds
| 50/2000
| [[Missile Generators|Carcass Missile Generator]]
| none
| 10000
| If its worth killing, its probably worth overkilling
| splash 1000 at 100 range.
|-
| Large Armor Piercing Missile
| 16
| 3
| 500
| 2500
| Mining
| 75
| 2 minutes
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Missile Factories|Large AP Type I/II/III ]]
| none
| 3000
| Mining damage payload delivered to a single target
|
|-
| Zaphragi Cheetah Missile
| 16
| 2
| 750
| 2250
| Surgical
| 350
| 20 seconds
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Missile Factories|Armada WMD Factory]]
| none
| 3000
| Faster than any other missile on the prairies
|
|-
| Flaming Lantern Missile
| 17
| 2
| 350
| 7000
| Heat
|  ?
|  ?
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Halloween|Halloween]] drop
| none
| 2000
| Flaming Skull of Dooom.
|
|-
| Red Photon Plasma Missile
| 20
| 3
| 1000
| 2100
| Heat
|  ?
|  ?
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Missile Factories|Red Photon Missile Factory]]
| none
| 3,000
| Red Photon specialized missile
|
|-
| Large Lancer Missile
| 20
| 6
| 4000
| 3000
| Heat
| ~340
| ?
| 1200/5000
| Built from Large Lancer Missile Production
| Gunner class 20
| 3000
| Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening.
| Shoots heat damage beam type weapon. Does add destruction debuff up to 5% debuff to resists. (Missile acts as a slave giving half class skills, and only single fires allowing half effectiveness of destruction.)
|-
| Large MIRV Torpedo
| 20
| 4
| 1600
| 2200 x5
| Mining
| 105
| 30s
| 50/2000
| Built from Large MIRV Torpedo Production
| Gunner class 20
| 3000
| Fly my pretties,fly
| splits into several smaller missiles
|-
| Large Bunkerbuster Missile
| 20
| 6
| 3000
| 10000
| Physical
| 105
| 30s
| 50/2000
| Built from Large Bunkerbuster Missile Production
| Gunner class 20
| 3000
| Hasta la Vista baby.
| Deals area of effect damage and damages the user, Knockback
|-
| Large Burst Missile
| 20
| 3
| 1300
| 2800
| Mining
| 105
| 30s
| 50/2000
| Built from Large Burst Missile Production
| Gunner class 20
| 3000
| Nuke em from orbit. it's the only way to be sure.
| Deals area of effect damage and damages the user
|}

== Lore ==

Missiles are rumored to have been invented when a [[Zebucart]] decided to ram a Fly at flank speed, destroying both ships instantly. While the people of [[Hyperion]] claim to be the aficionados on missile technology, that Zebucart was the pioneer. After the incident, researchers began investigating the possible uses of flinging several tons of metal at another object while travelling at near relativistic speeds. Initial results were promising, as it was discovered that all test subjects were reduced to carbon wisps. However, researchers denounced the technology, claiming that it was too expensive since the missiles had to withstand the harshness of space and also propel themselves to the target. This obstacle was overcome when a valiant undergrad intern decided to pack several hundred pounds of C4 into the back of a cylinder made of reinforced graphite. The resultant explosion annihilated his home planet, but the information he gathered proved invaluable. In any case, missile launchers advanced to the point where they could use anti-matter accelerators in order to propel the missiles. The missiles then only need attitude thrusters for control, reducing costs exponentially. Since then, missile technology has exploded, and the field continues to grow with each passing year.

[[Category:Missile_Bays]] [[Category:Items]]

Missiles

2014-03-26T05:33:39Z

captainGarfield:

[[Missiles]] are guided projectiles: they do damage upon impacting a target, oftentimes much more than any conventional weapon of a similar [[Tech Level]] could do. Missiles are therefore a good choice for players looking to increase their damage throughput, albeit a sometimes expensive one.

To use '''Missiles''', a player must have a [[Missile Launchers|Missile Launcher]] equipped and an appropriate [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] in their inventory. Ammo Crates Type I through III can be opened to yield either 10, 25, or 50 missiles, respectively.

Missiles will attempt to fly towards whatever target was selected when the Missile was launched. They can be destroyed or knocked off course just like ships can, but some (if not all, needs checking) Missiles contain an inbuilt '''Missile Stabilizer''' reducing effect of concussions by %50.

Most '''Missiles''' have [[Resistance|Resistances]] to [[Mining]](75%) and [[Radiation]](100%) damage and a vulnerability to [[Physical]](200%) damage.

See also: [[Base Missiles]].

{| width="78%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" border="2" class="wikitable sortable"
|-
| '''         Name         '''
| '''Tech'''
| '''Size'''
| '''Launch Energy'''
| '''Damage'''
| '''Damage Type'''
| '''Speed'''
| '''Lifespan'''
| '''Min/Max Launch Distance'''
| '''            Source              '''
| '''Skill Needed'''
| '''Weight'''
| '''         Description          '''
| '''       Notes       '''
|-
| Small Kinetic Missile
| 5
| 1
| 200
| 250
| Physical
| 150
| 2 minutes
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Missile Factories|Small Kinetic Type I/II/III ]]
| none
| 1000
| Physical damage payload delivered to a single target
|
|-
| Small Armor Piercing Missile
| 6
| 1
| 200
| 500
| Mining
| 75
| 2 minutes
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Missile Factories|Small AP Type I/II/III ]]
| none
| 1000
| Mining damage payload delivered to a single target
|
|-
| Medium Kinetic Missile
| 10
| 2
| 350
| 500
| Physical
| 200
| 2 minutes
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Missile Factories|Medium Kinetic Type I/II/III ]]
| none
| 2000
| Physical damage payload delivered to a single target
|
|-
| Medium Armor Piercing Missile
| 11
| 2
| 350
| 1250
| Mining
| 75
| 2 minutes
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Missile Factories|Medium AP Type I/II/III ]]
| none
| 2000
| Mining damage payload delivered to a single target
|
|-
| Large Kinetic Missile
| 15
| 3
| 500
| 1000
| Physical
| 250
| 2 minutes
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Missile Factories|Large Kinetic Type I/II/III ]]
| none
| 3000
| Physical damage payload delivered to a single target
|
|-
| Eggsile
| 15
| 2
| 650
| 1250
| Physical
| 80~?
| 30s or 1min
| 50/2000
| [[Eggbox Crate]] from [[Easter]] Drop
| none
| 10000
| How is this going to work? Cover their view ports with egg?
| Has 5000 vis, seems buggy
|-
| Carcass Missile
| 16
| 1
| 1000
| 5000
| Heat
| 100
| 7 seconds
| 50/2000
| [[Missile Generators|Carcass Missile Generator]]
| none
| 10000
| If its worth killing, its probably worth overkilling
| splash 1000 at 100 range.
|-
| Large Armor Piercing Missile
| 16
| 3
| 500
| 2500
| Mining
| 75
| 2 minutes
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Missile Factories|Large AP Type I/II/III ]]
| none
| 3000
| Mining damage payload delivered to a single target
|
|-
| Zaphragi Cheetah Missile
| 16
| 2
| 750
| 2250
| Surgical
| 350
| 20 seconds
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Missile Factories|Armada WMD Factory]]
| none
| 3000
| Faster than any other missile on the prairies
|
|-
| Flaming Lantern Missile
| 17
| 2
| 350
| 7000
| Heat
|  ?
|  ?
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Halloween|Halloween]] drop
| none
| 2000
| Flaming Skull of Dooom.
|
|-
| Red Photon Plasma Missile
| 20
| 3
| 1000
| 2100
| Heat
|  ?
|  ?
| 50/2000
| [[:Category:Crates|Ammo Crate]] from [[Missile Factories|Red Photon Missile Factory]]
| none
| 3,000
| Red Photon specialized missile
|
|-
| Large Lancer Missile
| 20
| 6
| 4000
| 3000
| Heat
| ~340
| ?
| 1200/5000
| Built from Large Lancer Missile Production
| Gunner class 20
| 3000
| Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening.
| Shoots heat damage beam type weapon. Does add destruction debuff up to 5% debuff to resists. (Missile acts as a slave giving half class skills, and only single fires allowing half effectiveness of destruction.)
|-
| Large MIRV Torpedo
| 20
| 4
| 1600
| 2200 x5
| Mining
| 105
| 30s
| 50/2000
| Built from Large MIRV Torpedo Production
| Gunner class 20
| 3000
| Fly my pretties,fly
| splits into several smaller missiles
|-
| Large Bunkerbuster Missile
| 20
| 6
| 3000
| 10000
| Physical
| 105
| 30s
| 50/2000
| Built from Large Bunkerbuster Missile Production
| Gunner class 20
| 3000
| Hasta la Vista baby.
| Deals area of effect damage and damages the user, Knockback
|-
| Large Burst Missile
| 20
| 3
| 1300
| 2800
| Mining
| 105
| 30s
| 50/2000
| Built from Large Burst Missile Production
| Gunner class 20
| 3000
| Nuke em from orbit. it's the only way to be sure.
| Deals area of effect damage and damages the user

|}

== Lore ==

Missiles are rumored to have been invented when a [[Zebucart]] decided to ram a Fly at flank speed, destroying both ships instantly. While the people of [[Hyperion]] claim to be the aficionados on missile technology, that Zebucart was the pioneer. After the incident, researchers began investigating the possible uses of flinging several tons of metal at another object while travelling at near relativistic speeds. Initial results were promising, as it was discovered that all test subjects were reduced to carbon wisps. However, researchers denounced the technology, claiming that it was too expensive since the missiles had to withstand the harshness of space and also propel themselves to the target. This obstacle was overcome when a valiant undergrad intern decided to pack several hundred pounds of C4 into the back of a cylinder made of reinforced graphite. The resultant explosion annihilated his home planet, but the information he gathered proved invaluable. In any case, missile launchers advanced to the point where they could use anti-matter accelerators in order to propel the missiles. The missiles then only need attitude thrusters for control, reducing costs exponentially. Since then, missile technology has exploded, and the field continues to grow with each passing year.

[[Category:Missile_Bays]] [[Category:Items]]

Zebucart

2014-03-26T05:32:17Z

captainGarfield:

{{shipbox
|Class = Light Fighter
|Tech = 0
|Hull = 55
|Speed = 95
|Augs = 3
|Weaps = 4
|Visibility = 12
|Reflectivity = 300%
|Size = 33
|Weight = 5,000
|Lresist = 0
|Eresist = 0
|Hresist = 0
|Presist = 0
|Rresist = 0
|Sresist = 0
|Mresist = 0
|Tresist = 0
|Lsoak = 0
|Esoak = 0
|Hsoak = 0
|Psoak = 0
|Rsoak = 0
|Ssoak = 0
|Msoak = 0
|Tsoak = 0
|InbuiltElec = none
|SkillNeeded = None
|DockingSpeed = 15
|InbuiltItems = [[Shield Salvation Device]], [[Mini Mass Driver Device]]
|Mods = Turning +35% Damage +15% Thrust +35% Critical Hit Resistance +50%
|Source = AI Station
|Price = 28,000
|ItemSize = 100
|Description = basic starship
|Capturable = Yes
|Radex = Yes
|Imagepagename = Image:Zebucart.png
}}

The '''Zebucart''' is the very first [[ship]] a player is given when starting Star Sonata. Zebus are for sale at almost any AI station and are often used as [[slaves]] by newer pilots. It is one of the most recognized ships in Star Sonata and certainly the most populous.

These ships are also common level 0-4 [[AI]] that seem to be found in every [[Danger Factor]] in the [[universe]]. This has caused the speculation that the Zebucart is the bravest AI in existence.

Zebucarts have been seen engaging and destroying Flyswatter Eggs and Mini Volcoms in [[W-0]] by using the "kiting" tactic.

[[Weapons#Energy Weapons|Tag Torpedoes]] used to drop from Zebucarts, but were later removed.

Zebucarts are known to be used by the [[Star Runners]].

AI Base: 4,000 Credits

Takes 1 slave slot.

Total selling price: 19,000

{|border="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
|Nexus version (level 3) Gear list:
**[[Weapons#Energy_Weapons|Ion Peashooter]]
**[[Shields|First Line]]
**[[Engines|Eddison Furnace]]
**[[Shield Salvation Device]]
**[[Mini Mass Driver Device]]
**Faulty Wiring
**[[Escape Pods|Escape Pod]]
**[[Scoops|Electro Scoop]]
**[[Energy|Core Power]]
**Random Augmenter (3)
| Gear list:
* Zebucart Specialized Trade Goods
* Ion Peashooter
* Firstline
* Coalfurnace
* Escape Pod
* Oilheart's Afterburner
* Flux Capacitor
* Ande Radar
* 3 random minor augs

[[Category: Light Fighters]]
[[Category: Player Ships]]
[[Category: AI Ships]]

Talk:Weapons

2014-03-24T23:39:11Z

captainGarfield:

I'm going to be adding virtually all the weapons in the next day or two, and dividing things up into separate pages (too many for 1 page) [[User:Thanar|Thanar]] 10:53, 30 July 2006 (PDT)
:Sounds good. Will make the whole list much easyer to navigate. [[User:ArrowHate|ArrowHate]] 11:14, 30 July 2006 (PDT)

Thats Fine I just noticed it missing so figured some info was better than none
btw here is stats on wep you may not have
Radiation Cone tech 16 rad wep size 60 weight 21,000 damage 1x15, range 115, recoil 0.300, rad damage, elec 60
It look like crap it feels like crap but when used properly it is teh roxxors....you get it from mission and there is hint how to use it when you get weapon.

Is this a weapon?/|\ cause if it is, you missed it... and i have a good idea how to use it right...one firing aug, and an aura gen that gives +20 damage per shot. you could get over a k DPS for practically no elec.

It is a weapon, it shoots out 15 bullets that i dont believe track and they all spread out in a cone shape from the firing point. It is very hard to make it hit anything unless you are very close. And you are right, that aura would make it all worthwhile. It is also very effective in Liberty. I have still not found out where in the world you are supposed to go to start the mission chain for it. I was told it was in Liberty, but i did all the missions i could find in liberty, and they can be found here: [[Liberty Missions]]. and there is no mission to get the rad cone. -[[User:Simon|Simon]] 23:35, 22 April 2008 (PDT)

----

Um...is lion's scratch laser? I don't wanna change it unless it really is heat but I'm pretty sure it is.

Nope, lion's scratch is laser damage, Dark_one got one on a uz run, its absolute shit...

----

I would like to see a new option to sort these weapons by type - that is separate the sections for beam (all lasers), thorax, pulse, mag cannons, torpedos, shotguns, jux, Expander weapons (antimatter, black hole generator etc), Self damaging weapons (immo), multidirectional weapons (F flower, V twit) etc. That would make it a lot easier to find what you want. There is literally a metric crapton of items to be sorted though, so I'm not sure if its worth the effort. --[[User:DWO|DWO]] 16:20, 7 October 2007 (PDT)

----

Tell ya what, if you think up all the tags to sort them into, i can go through and label them all in my spreadsheet, then click the autosort button, and post it to a seperate page. So we have: Laser: full tracking, some tracking, no tracking. Magcannon. Pulse. Lipo/DWO type. Shotguns/shortblasts(nova). multibullets(abs/excomm/cata). Multidirectional(retreater goes here). Juxes. Torpedos. Self Damaging. Thoaxes. Parasites. Gravity. --- Ok, now a few things to sort out, is a Urqa'ka a mag or its own cateory with the other bana weaps? Where do the bana 2 and 3 shot fit in? Are Trans laser beam type, or their own thing? It does behave like a laser. Can metal decap and things like that be called mags? What do you put the mass driver and mccoy's bubble splatterer? LC and harisprayer are multibullets or mags, (i'd guess mags, longer range)? sort those things out, and add in anything i forgot, and i will tag my spreadsheet and upload it. -- [[User:Simon|Simon]] 17:38, 7 October 2007 (PDT)

----

Here are the categories that I would use

Beams (Lasers) - Firebeam, Heavy laser, etc.

Full Tracking Beams (Lasers) - Mzungu Trading Defense, Heavy Tracking Laser, etc.

Ethereal Beams (Laser) - including stuff such as OHL, etc.

Gremlin - Hairsprayer, grem cannon, reaver laser, etc.

Parasite - Blow worm, flare gun, stem worm, etc. Could combine this category with gremlins, as they are both fairly small and are fairly similar.

Pulse - Mass driver, bubble splatterer, DWO, lipo, and every weapon that fires a single straight shot. This category is probably going to be huge but I don't really know how to split it up. I don't think it can be any worse than the current energy weapon section though.

Magnetic/Tracking Bullet - Catapults, Iq weapons, abstructors, mag cannons, love cylinder, faranji flower, hole driller, metal decapitator, etc. Whether 1 bullet or six they all function on the same principle. Of course, they you have the dilemma of what to do with hairsprayer and grem cannon - you could just double up on these. However, people who are looking for those weapons are probably looking for them for the gremlin effects.

Torpedo - Self explanatory, I think every torpedo in the game has the suffix torpedo on it.

Thorax - I think there are a handful of weapons that act like thorax but don't have the tag, the only one that I can think of offhand is the crimson fist, though I'm pretty sure there is more. I'm not sure if this category should even be separate from torpedos, as functionally they are very similar except that thorax have a slightly different graphic and the bullets move a lot slower. Perhaps it would just be easier to put these all in the torpedo section, to avoid having to worry about hunleyite and crimson fist and where to put them.

Jux - Pretty much anything with the jux and "damage = x to lots" tag fits in here, should be easy enough to sort out.

Gravity - black hole generator, antimatter device, and anything else with a set variable damage range. I don't know if anything else even fits in this category as it is fairly uncommon. However it is unique enough for its own category in my opinion.

Transference - All healing weapons thrown in this category

Shotgun weapons - Usually Short range weapons that spread out with no tracking, such as Pulse shotgun, Nova, sebastopol, vazaha twit, and I think the tech 20 Jackhammer?

Immolation weapons - I'm still not sure whether to put this in its own category, as the weapons tend to operate on the shotgun principle with the added bonus of trading your own shields for a reduced electricity cost. Includes the bule insanity lineup, the immolations, and incinerations. I think hypernova might also cause self inflicted damage, I'm not positive though.

The only problem that I foresee is that as you get more "views" of current lists of items, it becomes more difficult to maintain them all - especially with the massive upcoming changes to balance sheets that could end up with a lot of changed stats.

--[[User:DWO|DWO]] 18:29, 7 October 2007 (PDT)

----

I think that sums up most things well, but i feel that thoraxes and torps are essentially different things, mostly because thoraxes usually have a DPE of 1.33 and torps ... don't. but i see why you worry about hunleyite and crimson fist.
one other thing, whats the secondary sort? type, tech, alphabetical? or tech, alphabetical?

--[[User:Simon|Simon]] 18:40, 7 October 2007 (PDT)

----

A Tech -> Alphabetical sort, with each type of weapon getting its own table/subsection would be preferable. --[[User:DWO|DWO]] 19:20, 7 October 2007 (PDT)

== Pictures? -- [[User:71.36.6.121|71.36.6.121]] 20:37, 9 February 2008 (PST) ==

I was thinking, maybe as a long-term goal, to try to get a picture of all the weapons firing? Does that sound good?

===Re: Pictures? -- [[User:Simon|Simon]] 13:24, 10 February 2008 (PST)===
Thats a ton of pictures, there are close to 600 weapons. And it was one of my longterm goals too, but it is a huge undertaking.

====Re: Re: Pictures? -- [[User:69.145.118.51|69.145.118.51]] 13:35, 20 April 2008 (PDT)====
well, why dont we start out with easy to get weapons, such as base bought weapons, and go on from there? You could easily get 20-30 pics that way. Actually, i'd be willing to post screenies of me shooting the weapons, if others would crop them down.

===Re: Pictures? -- [[User:Visorak|Physic]] 12:56, 13 August 2008 (PDT)===
I have finally started making pictures for the weps...What ship should I use for lasers? any ship I use will be in the picture with it...

anyway, why is no one helping me? I've already put up 6 and I've got another 6 here...

====Re: Re: Pictures? -- [[User:80.188.178.205|80.188.178.205]] 13:15, 13 August 2008 (PDT)====

I would, but like i said, im in europer right now, with no access to SS... I will as soon as i get back, though. As for lasers, what ive found effective is taking a fast ship, flying one direction, and firing backwards, which should pull the img a bit away from your ship.

== Gigantic Bthorax -- [[User:199.120.100.168|199.120.100.168]] 08:42, 16 April 2008 (PDT) ==

would anyone mind telling me why the info i posted on giga bthorax aws deleted, for apparently no reason? thanks.
:when i look at your contributions it doesnt say that you added to the weapons page before, so either you did it on a different account or ip address, or you posted it and it got rolled back by a hosting server crash that happened a while ago.

==Weapon Sortings, again -- [[User:Utumno|Utumno]] 16:21, 20 April 2008 (PDT) ==

About weapon categories - opinions:

First of all I should metion that I'm all f2p - so I've no exp. with higher tech weapons.
Further I do a lot of calc. (as I'm physics student) also on not so common designs.

The categories mentioned above are already choosen pretty well.
So I've still some suggestions.
Keeping it simple is good. A listing which is a bit longer is better especially for the occasional user than a lot of categories which tend to confuse especially ... users.
So I would suggest instead of creating new categories which are also as mentioned harder to maintain use for some attributes simply tags or acronyms in a column like it is done in comments now also avoiding multiple listings of the same weapon.
This could e.g. apply to Ethereal weapons, Grem weapons and self damaging weapons.

I would suggest if it is easily doable an icon or if not a coloured mark - like Eth.. This would also sort out any duality - like with the MTD being full turreted and etherial.
For Grem and weapons I would suggest a Grem acronym as a link to a Gremlin site - on a dedicated site space is available to name further down the Grem effect and if anyone is seeking for a Grem weapon they would first visit that site anyway - just as like with the parasites done now.
Selfdamaging weapons would also get a mark and a ratio of the self dam/dam to enemy in comments as there are only few out at all.
Again avoiding mulitiple listings like with the Incineration being self damaging and homing.

About the tracking and the degree of being turreted. Especially for starting players this is very important.
For the class of turreted and homing weapons this would add of course another column - tracking/turreted which would be needed to be explained in more detail on top of the weapons page so that acronymns could be used to keep it small.
The degree of tracking aka full turreted or like in case of the Voltage Laser +-43° in front can be measured and filled in (hopefully) by players.

More difficult is of course the degree of tracking - as no game data is available for it from the game creators (if they have them themselves at all) I would suggest a more practical approach:

A standart test setup - like using an unaugged ship with no built in tracking or range bonus shooting at a target;
most easily this would be an alt (by multiaccounting) or a team mate, both stationary at a predefined range shooting a set number of bullets (like 100 in total) and counting hits (and of course the total shot numbers) maybe repeated at different ranges which is limited of course by the range of the weapon (just think of the Incineration).
The exact parameters of this test must be published so that the results are comparable.
Of course this is not an ideal approach as it is likely that this will not cover all parameters important for tracking (as we don't know of them).
I'm not sure how far any of this applies to Thorax weapons - at least the Silver Thorax seems to have some type of homing aka tracking.

All in all this should reduce the number of categories and these sorted by their type of 'shooting' with the exception of the transference weapons adding additional information (Eth./Grem/...) without enlarging the weapons page too much.

Maybe I should enlist the suggest categories again:

Pulse, Shotgun, Gravity, Beam, Turreted Beam, Torpedo, Homing (=Magnetic/Tracking Bullet), Thorax, Jux and Transference

The suggested marks are:

Eth, Grem, Paras, SelfDam

The suggested to add columns:

Turreted Beam: degree of turreting

Homing: quality of homing

Awaiting your input... :-)

:Ok, so i currently have types next to every weapon in my spreadsheet. I havent punched em into the wiki yet. I understand what you're saying about putting in tags but i find that it would make it much more difficult to allow the sortable tables to sortout tags than simply weapon types. It's akin to the augmenter pages. They more or less have tags that say what bonuses they give. You cant sort by the bonuses that they give tho because for that to happen you would have to have a separate column for each effect. I would like to see the number of columns kept to a minimum because large page widths are hard to navigate. A degree of tracking column would be great on all beam and transference weapons. But again, i dont see anyone undertaking that project any time soon unless you are volunteering XD. -[[User:Simon|Simon]] 16:51, 20 April 2008 (PDT)

Utumno:
I see the point with the sorting. You shouldn't forget so that the Grem, Eth, Paras are just binary parameters - either they're true (weapons is ethereal) or not (is not). It's really up to you.
You might find it funny but I really would do it - the measurement of tracking.
I actually await some more input from players I asked about (so it's not likely to come anymore) cause I'd like to be sure that the date I'll acquire would be usefull at all.
A issue which will make my data pretty neglectable is that I've only access to a few weapons (as I'm f2p currently weap 6 max) and my knowledge of weapons is limited.
Tracking and beam weapons? Afaik all beam weapons do 100% if tracking is at all applicable to beam weapons - the beam just shoots straight to the target (if turreted) or straight in front of your ship. All transference weapons I tried so far are just like beam weapons (and I didn't met yet a turreted one) - so I tried already Monkey xfr (I + II) on my f2p shm.

:I was referring to what you have labelled as turreting. As you noted, some lasers turret more than others, the voltage laser turrets quite a bit. I call it tracking because the tracking stat on an aug changes the degree to which a beam turrets. With enough Targeting augmenters you can make a voltage laser shoot directly behind you. -[[User:Simon|Simon]] 15:32, 21 April 2008 (PDT)

See what you did? Now I feel really noobish ;-) I had not the slightest clue what some players meant with tracking of turreted weapons. (one reason why I'm so reluctant to write any guide - simply I lack so much knowledge of the game still) --[[User:Utumno|Utumno]] 17:15, 21 April 2008 (PDT)

Pah! a voltage laser? i can make a C-beam fire behind me! lol. 5x artemis ftw!

== Difficulty in telling which stat is which -- [[User:65.100.80.183|65.100.80.183]] 18:04, 1 May 2008 (PDT) ==

I dont know about you guys, but i often find that i have difficulty remembering which stat in each column is which. Could it be possible, to i dont know, put a watermark behind each difdferent cell, or to color code the columns or something?

== Dark Curse Gatling Laser? -- Gamer 10:18, 16 July 2008 (PDT) ==

Just a quick question, but has anyone ever obtained a [[Dark Curse|Dark Curse Gatling Laser]] before, or is it not available for player use?

== Pictures ==

The pictures are broken. Someone should fix them. --''The preceding unsigned comment was added by'' [[User:Demiser of d]] ([[User talk:Demiser of d|talk]]).

:done. -[[Image:Simon Game.gif|20px]][[User:Simon|Simon]] [[User talk:Simon|''talk'']] 18:32, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

== Reboot? -- Raynor 04 June 2010 ==

Anyone still working on this? Would it be easier to divide up the Weapons page into subgroups, based on damage type and work on each damage type individually?

== Clean up --[[User:captainGarfield|captainGarfield]] 19:39, 24 March 2014 (EDT) ==

This page seems pretty messed up. Is anyone planning to fix it? I would but I'm not sure if I even can, the editor is freezing on me. Aside from that, if someone else plans to fix it I don't want to get in their way.

Killed

2014-03-23T16:29:39Z

captainGarfield: /* Slaves, Drones, Missiles, and Fighters */

Being [[killed]] means having your ship put into [[stasis]] or having your [[escape pod]] destroyed.

The conventional method of getting killed is to have your [[shields]] reduced to zero. At this point you are removed from your [[ship]]. If you have an [[escape pod]] equipped, you will be placed into that. If you lack a pod, you will enter into [[spirit]] form. There are consequences to both of these, which will be explained in detail below.

When you are killed, the ship you were piloting goes into stasis. It will remain in stasis until one of two things happens: the shields fully regenerate on their own, or 5 minutes elapse. When your ship first enters stasis, it will be blue. While it is blue you cannot reenter it. After one of the prior conditions are met, it will turn yellow, and at this point you can reenter it by hovering over it and pressing the '''Dock''' key (default '''R''').

== Consequences of Death ==

;'''Losing Items'''
: In previous versions of Star Sonata, players over level 15 would drop items when killed. [[Gear Glue]] was used to prevent this, but that whole system has now been replaced by [[durability]]. Items can no longer be dropped, but items do become damaged and less efficient each time you die.
;'''Losing Credits'''
: Whenever you die, by being removed from your ship or having your pod blown up (colloquially ''podded''), you drop [[credits]]. The amount you drop is a portion of your ship's repair cost: and, if you die without a pod, a percent of your funds on-hand. The best way to avoid this is to store your credits in the [[TSL]]. Another way to avoid this is to store most of your credits inside a [[base]], but this incurs the risk of having that base blown up and losing those credits. A final option is to store credits inside a [[team]], but unless you own the team you may not be able to get them back or someone else may take them.

== Avoiding Death ==

Dying is something most players experience at some point in the game. However, it is advisable to avoid death as much as possible. Dying means losing money, paying repair bills in order to regain lost durability, and incurring death debt. Here are some tips to avoiding death:

;'''Pick Your Battles'''
: Do not attack [[AI]] which are a significantly higher level than you are. If you choose to do so, do so near a [[space station|station]] at which you can dock before you die, or near a [[wormhole|gate]] where you can safely exit the [[galaxy]]. If you have a fast ship, you may be able to run from enemies if they are too powerful. Note that many AI will be aggressive to you whether you have attacked them or not, and that there may be no way to avoid these AI. Avoid [[Player Vs Player|PVP]] action until later in the game. If you choose to PVP, seek advice from an experienced player first. See Also: [[Aggro]]

;'''Use Good Equipment and Tactics'''
: Better gear is oftentimes expensive, but the costs are worthwhile. A higher [[shield]] bank means you will not die as quickly and you will be able to fight more AI at once, meaning you can take on swarms. Better ships often come with inbuilt [[resists|resistances]] and [[mods]] which will make you harder to kill. A good [[augmenter]] setup will make you even more powerful, and good [[weapons]] mean you can kill enemies before they are able to deal much damage against you. [[Slaves]] and [[drones]] not only aid fighting, but can take hits for you, allowing damage to be spread out over more shields. [[Secondary Skills]] can increase the base statistics of your equipment, ships, slaves, drones, and can allow you to focus on one particular style of combat. [[Neuro Tweak|Neuro tweaks]] can give you a boost when you need it, and forming a [[squad]] or joining a [[team]] means you can fight alongside others. You can also use [[Fighters]] or [[Missiles]] to your advantage, the first dealing large damage over time using little energy and the second capable of destroying many ships at once. Finally, a good [[energy]] bank means you can shoot longer and deploy drones easier, and a good [[radar]] allows you to target enemies better.

;'''Dodge'''
: Learning to dodge your foe's attacks will make you harder to kill. There are several tactics for doing this. Juking to avoid bullets is one, and ''kiting'' is another. Some tactics are better suited for fast ships like light fighters while others are better for slow ones like freighters and some capital ships. Using your environment is another key skill to learn: hiding behind [[planets]] and other solid objects and shooting with an [[ethereal]] type weapon allows you to hit your target without ''getting'' hit. Having a good [[engine]] is always a good idea, though some players can fight well without much maneuvering (see: [[Drone Mastery|Drone Masters]], [[Sniper Class|Snipers]]). Because there are more play styles than space to write with on this page, it is advisable to seek advice from an experienced player about what works best for you.

A good pilot can learn how to survive in almost any situation, with any ship, and against any enemy. Becoming a good pilot requires dedication and skill, taking risks, and making mistakes. The number one rule is to learn from your mistakes, and the best advice is always to never enter into a fight you know you can't win.

== Slaves, Drones, Missiles, and Fighters ==

;'''Drones'''
: Drones are destroyed when their shields reach zero, but they can still be recovered. A destroyed drone can be repaired either by going 60 seconds without taking damage and not firing your weapons or by docking at a base. Repairing while undocked will also cost twice as much as repairing in a base. To repair a drone, right-click on it in your inventory and select repair. You will be charged a fee based on the type of drone it was.
: Some AI drones can be [[capping|captured]] rather than killed by reducing their shields to near-zero and killing them with a [[radiation]] weapon.

;'''Slaves'''
: When a slave dies, one of two things happens. It is either completely annihilated and therefore irrecoverable, or it is placed into stasis. Ships that are captured and not yet docked explode upon death. Slaves created by activating a controlbot while docked enter stasis.

;'''Missiles and Fighters'''
: Missiles can in fact be destroyed mid-flight, and are naturally unrecoverable. Fighters cannot be recovered once destroyed.

== See Also ==

* [[Death Debt]]
* [[Stasis]]
* [[Suicide]]

[[Category: Gameplay]]

Killed

2014-03-23T16:27:20Z

captainGarfield: /* Slaves and Drones */

Being [[killed]] means having your ship put into [[stasis]] or having your [[escape pod]] destroyed.

The conventional method of getting killed is to have your [[shields]] reduced to zero. At this point you are removed from your [[ship]]. If you have an [[escape pod]] equipped, you will be placed into that. If you lack a pod, you will enter into [[spirit]] form. There are consequences to both of these, which will be explained in detail below.

When you are killed, the ship you were piloting goes into stasis. It will remain in stasis until one of two things happens: the shields fully regenerate on their own, or 5 minutes elapse. When your ship first enters stasis, it will be blue. While it is blue you cannot reenter it. After one of the prior conditions are met, it will turn yellow, and at this point you can reenter it by hovering over it and pressing the '''Dock''' key (default '''R''').

== Consequences of Death ==

;'''Losing Items'''
: In previous versions of Star Sonata, players over level 15 would drop items when killed. [[Gear Glue]] was used to prevent this, but that whole system has now been replaced by [[durability]]. Items can no longer be dropped, but items do become damaged and less efficient each time you die.
;'''Losing Credits'''
: Whenever you die, by being removed from your ship or having your pod blown up (colloquially ''podded''), you drop [[credits]]. The amount you drop is a portion of your ship's repair cost: and, if you die without a pod, a percent of your funds on-hand. The best way to avoid this is to store your credits in the [[TSL]]. Another way to avoid this is to store most of your credits inside a [[base]], but this incurs the risk of having that base blown up and losing those credits. A final option is to store credits inside a [[team]], but unless you own the team you may not be able to get them back or someone else may take them.

== Avoiding Death ==

Dying is something most players experience at some point in the game. However, it is advisable to avoid death as much as possible. Dying means losing money, paying repair bills in order to regain lost durability, and incurring death debt. Here are some tips to avoiding death:

;'''Pick Your Battles'''
: Do not attack [[AI]] which are a significantly higher level than you are. If you choose to do so, do so near a [[space station|station]] at which you can dock before you die, or near a [[wormhole|gate]] where you can safely exit the [[galaxy]]. If you have a fast ship, you may be able to run from enemies if they are too powerful. Note that many AI will be aggressive to you whether you have attacked them or not, and that there may be no way to avoid these AI. Avoid [[Player Vs Player|PVP]] action until later in the game. If you choose to PVP, seek advice from an experienced player first. See Also: [[Aggro]]

;'''Use Good Equipment and Tactics'''
: Better gear is oftentimes expensive, but the costs are worthwhile. A higher [[shield]] bank means you will not die as quickly and you will be able to fight more AI at once, meaning you can take on swarms. Better ships often come with inbuilt [[resists|resistances]] and [[mods]] which will make you harder to kill. A good [[augmenter]] setup will make you even more powerful, and good [[weapons]] mean you can kill enemies before they are able to deal much damage against you. [[Slaves]] and [[drones]] not only aid fighting, but can take hits for you, allowing damage to be spread out over more shields. [[Secondary Skills]] can increase the base statistics of your equipment, ships, slaves, drones, and can allow you to focus on one particular style of combat. [[Neuro Tweak|Neuro tweaks]] can give you a boost when you need it, and forming a [[squad]] or joining a [[team]] means you can fight alongside others. You can also use [[Fighters]] or [[Missiles]] to your advantage, the first dealing large damage over time using little energy and the second capable of destroying many ships at once. Finally, a good [[energy]] bank means you can shoot longer and deploy drones easier, and a good [[radar]] allows you to target enemies better.

;'''Dodge'''
: Learning to dodge your foe's attacks will make you harder to kill. There are several tactics for doing this. Juking to avoid bullets is one, and ''kiting'' is another. Some tactics are better suited for fast ships like light fighters while others are better for slow ones like freighters and some capital ships. Using your environment is another key skill to learn: hiding behind [[planets]] and other solid objects and shooting with an [[ethereal]] type weapon allows you to hit your target without ''getting'' hit. Having a good [[engine]] is always a good idea, though some players can fight well without much maneuvering (see: [[Drone Mastery|Drone Masters]], [[Sniper Class|Snipers]]). Because there are more play styles than space to write with on this page, it is advisable to seek advice from an experienced player about what works best for you.

A good pilot can learn how to survive in almost any situation, with any ship, and against any enemy. Becoming a good pilot requires dedication and skill, taking risks, and making mistakes. The number one rule is to learn from your mistakes, and the best advice is always to never enter into a fight you know you can't win.

== Slaves, Drones, Missiles, and Fighters ==

;'''Drones'''
: Drones are destroyed when their shields reach zero, but they can still be recovered. A destroyed drone can be repaired either by going 60 seconds without taking damage and not firing your weapons or by docking at a base. Repairing while undocked will also cost twice as much as repairing in a base. To repair a drone, right-click on it in your inventory and select repair. You will be charged a fee based on the type of drone it was.
Some AI drones can be [[capping|captured]] rather than killed by reducing their shields to near-zero and killing them with a [[radiation]] weapon.

;'''Slaves'''
: When a slave dies, one of two things happens. It is either completely annihilated and therefore irrecoverable, or it is placed into stasis. Ships that are captured and not yet docked explode upon death. Slaves created by activating a controlbot while docked enter stasis.

== See Also ==

* [[Death Debt]]
* [[Stasis]]
* [[Suicide]]

[[Category: Gameplay]]

Killed

2014-03-23T16:22:29Z

captainGarfield: /* Avoiding Death */

Being [[killed]] means having your ship put into [[stasis]] or having your [[escape pod]] destroyed.

The conventional method of getting killed is to have your [[shields]] reduced to zero. At this point you are removed from your [[ship]]. If you have an [[escape pod]] equipped, you will be placed into that. If you lack a pod, you will enter into [[spirit]] form. There are consequences to both of these, which will be explained in detail below.

When you are killed, the ship you were piloting goes into stasis. It will remain in stasis until one of two things happens: the shields fully regenerate on their own, or 5 minutes elapse. When your ship first enters stasis, it will be blue. While it is blue you cannot reenter it. After one of the prior conditions are met, it will turn yellow, and at this point you can reenter it by hovering over it and pressing the '''Dock''' key (default '''R''').

== Consequences of Death ==

;'''Losing Items'''
: In previous versions of Star Sonata, players over level 15 would drop items when killed. [[Gear Glue]] was used to prevent this, but that whole system has now been replaced by [[durability]]. Items can no longer be dropped, but items do become damaged and less efficient each time you die.
;'''Losing Credits'''
: Whenever you die, by being removed from your ship or having your pod blown up (colloquially ''podded''), you drop [[credits]]. The amount you drop is a portion of your ship's repair cost: and, if you die without a pod, a percent of your funds on-hand. The best way to avoid this is to store your credits in the [[TSL]]. Another way to avoid this is to store most of your credits inside a [[base]], but this incurs the risk of having that base blown up and losing those credits. A final option is to store credits inside a [[team]], but unless you own the team you may not be able to get them back or someone else may take them.

== Avoiding Death ==

Dying is something most players experience at some point in the game. However, it is advisable to avoid death as much as possible. Dying means losing money, paying repair bills in order to regain lost durability, and incurring death debt. Here are some tips to avoiding death:

;'''Pick Your Battles'''
: Do not attack [[AI]] which are a significantly higher level than you are. If you choose to do so, do so near a [[space station|station]] at which you can dock before you die, or near a [[wormhole|gate]] where you can safely exit the [[galaxy]]. If you have a fast ship, you may be able to run from enemies if they are too powerful. Note that many AI will be aggressive to you whether you have attacked them or not, and that there may be no way to avoid these AI. Avoid [[Player Vs Player|PVP]] action until later in the game. If you choose to PVP, seek advice from an experienced player first. See Also: [[Aggro]]

;'''Use Good Equipment and Tactics'''
: Better gear is oftentimes expensive, but the costs are worthwhile. A higher [[shield]] bank means you will not die as quickly and you will be able to fight more AI at once, meaning you can take on swarms. Better ships often come with inbuilt [[resists|resistances]] and [[mods]] which will make you harder to kill. A good [[augmenter]] setup will make you even more powerful, and good [[weapons]] mean you can kill enemies before they are able to deal much damage against you. [[Slaves]] and [[drones]] not only aid fighting, but can take hits for you, allowing damage to be spread out over more shields. [[Secondary Skills]] can increase the base statistics of your equipment, ships, slaves, drones, and can allow you to focus on one particular style of combat. [[Neuro Tweak|Neuro tweaks]] can give you a boost when you need it, and forming a [[squad]] or joining a [[team]] means you can fight alongside others. You can also use [[Fighters]] or [[Missiles]] to your advantage, the first dealing large damage over time using little energy and the second capable of destroying many ships at once. Finally, a good [[energy]] bank means you can shoot longer and deploy drones easier, and a good [[radar]] allows you to target enemies better.

;'''Dodge'''
: Learning to dodge your foe's attacks will make you harder to kill. There are several tactics for doing this. Juking to avoid bullets is one, and ''kiting'' is another. Some tactics are better suited for fast ships like light fighters while others are better for slow ones like freighters and some capital ships. Using your environment is another key skill to learn: hiding behind [[planets]] and other solid objects and shooting with an [[ethereal]] type weapon allows you to hit your target without ''getting'' hit. Having a good [[engine]] is always a good idea, though some players can fight well without much maneuvering (see: [[Drone Mastery|Drone Masters]], [[Sniper Class|Snipers]]). Because there are more play styles than space to write with on this page, it is advisable to seek advice from an experienced player about what works best for you.

A good pilot can learn how to survive in almost any situation, with any ship, and against any enemy. Becoming a good pilot requires dedication and skill, taking risks, and making mistakes. The number one rule is to learn from your mistakes, and the best advice is always to never enter into a fight you know you can't win.

== Slaves and Drones ==

;'''Drones'''
: When a drone dies, it cannot be recovered. Some AI drones can be [[capping|captured]] by reducing their shields to near-zero and killing them with a [[radiation]] weapon.

;'''Slaves'''
: When a slave dies, one of two things happens. It is either completely annihilated and therefore irrecoverable, or it is placed into stasis. Ships that are captured and not yet docked explode upon death. Slaves created by activating a controlbot while docked enter stasis.

== See Also ==

* [[Death Debt]]
* [[Stasis]]
* [[Suicide]]

[[Category: Gameplay]]

Stasis

2014-03-23T16:18:14Z

captainGarfield: forgot to mention wild slaves

A [[Stasis]] Field is a protective, impenetrable field that envelopes a [[ship]] when its shields have been depleted. In order to prevent the destruction of the ship, the ship goes into stasis right before hull breach. Stasis fields are deadly to life forms, so the pilot must be ejected from the ship in an [[Equipment|escape pod]]. If an escape pod is not equipped, then the pilot is killed by either the vacuum of space or the stasis field, depending on how unlucky they are. After this happens, the player becomes a [[Spirit]]. In either case, the player can reclaim the ship once it has left stasis.

Both player ships and [[Slaves]] can use stasis fields, and every ship has the capability to use one. [[AI]] and Wild Slaves on the other hand do not have stasis fields and are lost forever once destroyed. The same is true of [[Fighters]], though [[Drones]] can now be repaired once destroyed.

== Types of Stasis ==

{| width="0" border="1" align="right" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"
|-
|
[[Image:HeavyStasis.png|Heavy Stasis]]

''Heavy Stasis''
|
[[Image:LightStasis.png|Light Stasis]]

''Light Stasis''
|}

A stasis field exists in one of two states: heavy stasis, where the ship cannot be interacted with as the [[Shields]] regenerate, and light stasis, where the stasis field is lowered and the ship can be reclaimed.
After being killed, a ship always goes into heavy stasis first. Heavy stasis appears blue and will remain for as long as it takes the shields to recharge, or until 5 minutes have elapsed - whichever is shorter.
Following heavy stasis, the ship enters into light stasis and can then be reclaimed. Light stasis appears yellow and the pilot can dock their escape pod or spirit by getting close and pressing the '''R''' key. A prompt will appear, asking the pilot if they wish to reclaim the ship where it lay, or have it towed to the nearest applicable galaxy.

== Additional Information ==
Here are further details on the nature of stasis fields and how they work:

''Stasis Field Decay''

Due to the caustic nature of stasis fields, a ship that has remained in stasis too long will decay, making it impossible to recover. A decaying ship will no longer belong to the player it used to and can be destroyed with any weapon in a single shot as the shields are no longer functional. Finally, a ship in its final stages of decay will eventually phase out of existence, its hull ground to dust by the stasis field.

Because of this, it is advisable to reclaim any ship in stasis before too much time has passed.

''Slave Stasis''

Slaves will enter into stasis when killed the same way as a player ship. Once a slave has entered light stasis, it can be reclaimed by targeting it and pressing the '''X''' key and clicking ''Leave Stasis''. Slaves in stasis will continue to take up [[Remote Control]] slots and will still appear in the player's ''Possessions'' tab. Also through this tab, slaves can be told remotely to leave stasis or to be destroyed permanently.

Slaves in stasis will also decay like a player ship if left alone.

See also: [[Killed|Death]], [[Death Debt]], [[Suicide]]

[[Category:Gameplay]]

Stasis

2014-03-23T16:16:21Z

captainGarfield:

A [[Stasis]] Field is a protective, impenetrable field that envelopes a [[ship]] when its shields have been depleted. In order to prevent the destruction of the ship, the ship goes into stasis right before hull breach. Stasis fields are deadly to life forms, so the pilot must be ejected from the ship in an [[Equipment|escape pod]]. If an escape pod is not equipped, then the pilot is killed by either the vacuum of space or the stasis field, depending on how unlucky they are. After this happens, the player becomes a [[Spirit]]. In either case, the player can reclaim the ship once it has left stasis.

Both player ships and [[Slaves]] can use stasis fields, and every ship has the capability to use one. [[AI]] on the other hand do not have stasis fields and are lost forever once destroyed. The same is true of [[Fighters]], though [[Drones]] can now be repaired once destroyed.

== Types of Stasis ==

{| width="0" border="1" align="right" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"
|-
|
[[Image:HeavyStasis.png|Heavy Stasis]]

''Heavy Stasis''
|
[[Image:LightStasis.png|Light Stasis]]

''Light Stasis''
|}

A stasis field exists in one of two states: heavy stasis, where the ship cannot be interacted with as the [[Shields]] regenerate, and light stasis, where the stasis field is lowered and the ship can be reclaimed.
After being killed, a ship always goes into heavy stasis first. Heavy stasis appears blue and will remain for as long as it takes the shields to recharge, or until 5 minutes have elapsed - whichever is shorter.
Following heavy stasis, the ship enters into light stasis and can then be reclaimed. Light stasis appears yellow and the pilot can dock their escape pod or spirit by getting close and pressing the '''R''' key. A prompt will appear, asking the pilot if they wish to reclaim the ship where it lay, or have it towed to the nearest applicable galaxy.

== Additional Information ==
Here are further details on the nature of stasis fields and how they work:

''Stasis Field Decay''

Due to the caustic nature of stasis fields, a ship that has remained in stasis too long will decay, making it impossible to recover. A decaying ship will no longer belong to the player it used to and can be destroyed with any weapon in a single shot as the shields are no longer functional. Finally, a ship in its final stages of decay will eventually phase out of existence, its hull ground to dust by the stasis field.

Because of this, it is advisable to reclaim any ship in stasis before too much time has passed.

''Slave Stasis''

Slaves will enter into stasis when killed the same way as a player ship. Once a slave has entered light stasis, it can be reclaimed by targeting it and pressing the '''X''' key and clicking ''Leave Stasis''. Slaves in stasis will continue to take up [[Remote Control]] slots and will still appear in the player's ''Possessions'' tab. Also through this tab, slaves can be told remotely to leave stasis or to be destroyed permanently.

Slaves in stasis will also decay like a player ship if left alone.

See also: [[Killed|Death]], [[Death Debt]], [[Suicide]]

[[Category:Gameplay]]

Galaxy Map

2014-03-19T05:19:13Z

captainGarfield: minor grammar edit

The [[Galaxy Map]] is a interactive map that allows pilots to navigate the [[Universe]] with ease. Every player has one, though each person's map only shows them the places they have already been. Some parts of the Universe are explored by default, and can be considered the starter map. These places include the [[Nexus]] and parts of the [[Celestial Garden]] and [[Earthforce]] space.

When a player enters a galaxy for the first time, that galaxy will be added to the map for future reference and they will receive a [[Experience Points|5xp bonus]] for exploration.

There are some things a pilot ought to take note of, however:
* The Galaxy Map does not show [[DG|Dungeons]] as unique galaxies, though red dots on a node indicate the existence of them,
* The Universe is divided into several layers, meaning one must be conscious of how each layer connects to another and,
* Galaxy Maps are shared between Characters on an Account.

In addition, docking at a [[Bases|Team HQ]] that belongs to your [[Team]] will update your map using the maps of other teammates who have also docked there. This is a quick way to find galaxies you didn't know the location of without having to do all the exploration yourself.

==Using the Galaxy Map==

Every galaxy on the Galaxy Map is represented by a circular node and connections between galaxies are shown using lines.
Galaxies with Dungeons inside of them will have red dots next to their node - the number of dots is equal to the number of dungeons.

Hovering the mouse over a node on the map will cause a Info Box to appear, which gives the following information about that galaxy:
* The number of [[Wormholes]] inside, not including those belonging to Dungeons and other special Wormholes,
* The [[Danger Factor]] of that galaxy and,
* The number of [[Stations]] inside that galaxy, including Player [[Bases]].

Galaxies which are [[Owned|owned]] by a Team - be it [[AI]] or human - have a white circle around their icon. Similarly, [[Protected]] galaxies have a large "P" in the center.

The yellow and white bars along the outside of the circle represent the stations in that galaxy. Yellow stripes are for Player Bases, green stripes for Bases your Team owns, and white stripes for AI Stations.

If a galaxy serves as a connection between two layers of the Universe, it will have a large arrow in the center. An arrow pointing up indicates a connection to a higher layer of the Universe, while a down pointing arrow indicates a connection to a lower one.

Finally, the Galaxy Map can be interacted with in a number of ways:
* Using the vertical slider or the mouse wheel, the map can be zoomed in and out,
* By clicking and dragging anywhere inside the map, the map can be panned in any direction,
* By clicking the starship icon, the map can be centered on the player's location,
* Using the up and down arrows, the layer the map displays can be changed,
* By double-clicking on a galaxy, the [[Autopilot]] can be engaged to take the player there provided they have sufficient [[Astral Travel]] to do so,
* Using the three buttons along the top the map can be resized or expanded to fit the screen,
* Clicking and dragging the border of the map will resize it manually,
* Clicking and dragging the map itself will move it across the screen and,
* Holding shift and right clicking on a galaxy, your [[Autopilot]] will ignore that galaxy whenever planning a course.

===List of Previous Galaxy Maps===
*Unimap June 27 10 Earthforce.jpg
*Unimap June 27 1 Wild.jpg
*Unimap June 27 03 Perilous.jpg
*[[:Image:Unimap_3-14-09_Earthforce.jpg]]
*Unimap_3-14-01 Wild.jpg
*[[:Image:Unimap_3-14-09_Perilous.jpg]]
*[[:Image:Unimap_3-7-09_1_and_2.jpg]] *temp uni*
*[[:Image:Unimap_3-7-09_3.jpg]] *temp uni*
*[[:Image:Unimap_3-7-09_4.jpg]] *temp uni*
*[[:Image:Unimap_Sept_27_08.jpg]]
*[[:Image:Unimap 6-28-08_2.jpg]]
*[[:Image:Unimap_3-22-08_rev.png]]
*[[:Image:Unimap_11-26-07.jpg]]
*[[:Image:Unimap_11-17-07.jpg]] *temp uni*
*[[:Image:Unimap_8-5-7.jpg]]
*[[:Image:Unimap_5-6-7.jpg]]
*[[:Image:Unimap1tagged.jpg]]
{{stats}}
{{cleanup}}
[[Category:Star Systems]]

Rumble 3

2014-03-19T04:04:07Z

captainGarfield:

Rumble 3 is a galaxy where fine pilots can advance their [[piloting]] skill even further by killing a swarm of AI and collecting the Chrome Knobs that drop. Due to how dangerous it is, only pilots level 250 or higher are allowed to enter.

=== Tips ===
*Rumble 3 has [[Monochrome Hue]]s, [[SawtoothX]]s, and several different [[multifiring]] types of [[Slumberchrome]]s
*Use drones to draw fire away from yourself
*A swarm of slaves or a couple powerful ones may make things easier
*If your slaves can shoot Missiles or launch Fighters, you can kill off more AI faster and avoid taking on so much damage
*You may consider upgrading your Shields before attempting Rumble 3 alone
*Asking a teammate or higher level player to help you may be a smart option

====Skills====
;Final Flight School
*[[Piloting]]: Max level 19, requires 20 [[Chrome Knobs]]
*[[War Mongering]]: Max level 3, requires 10 [[Chrome Knobs]]

====Unique Items====
*[[weapons|Super Nova]]

{{pic}}

[[Category:Star Systems]]

Category:Drops

2014-03-19T03:47:17Z

captainGarfield: most of the info written here previously, can be found elsewhere on the Wiki; so I cleaned it up and removed the redundant bits. Did I do the right thing? Dunno. Did I do it? Yes I did.

In the strictest sense, '''Drops''' are anything left behind when a ship is destroyed. The more commonly accepted usage of the term applies only to items of particular interest or value. Occasionally, [[Credits]] are considered to be Drops as well.

For the purposes of this category, only Drops of interest are counted and regular items, such as but not limited to those found at [[Stations|AI Stations]], are not included.

== Additional Information ==

*Some [[AI]] have a [[Self-destructor|self destruct]] mechanism. These AI, when killed, will drop nothing but Credits.
*[[DG|Dungeons]] are seen as a primary source for Drops. Particularly, the last level of the Dungeon has a boss that will generally drop at least one rare item when killed in addition to a number of Credits. The rarity, usefulness, value, and [[Tech Level]] of the item dropped depends upon that Dungeon's [[Danger Factor]].
*Some Dungeons are considered to be unique due to the items generally dropped inside of them. Dungeons with bosses like, but not limited to, [[Marco Columbus]], [[Sputty Nutty]], and Copper Queen are believed to have a higher drop rate for rare items. Some items may include the [[Blueprints]] for various Demented [[Augmenters]], rare [[Augmenters]], and so forth.
*The area known as the [[The Serengeti|Uber Zone]] is considered to have good drop rates for some rare or useful items.
*In addition to regular items, [[:Category:Modifications|modified]] items are more often than not obtained through Drops. [[Commodities|Bindomite]] allows players to modify their items in a similar fashion, but doing so Neurobinds the item to the player. Modified items dropped from AI do not have this limitation.

[[Category: Gameplay]]

Red Photon Carrier Blueprint

2014-03-15T05:30:13Z

captainGarfield:

{{printbox
|pagename = Red Photon Carrier Blueprint
|backgroundcolor = midnightblue
|fontcolor = white
|Tech = 21
|Size = 1
|Weight = 1,000
|Manhours = 5,000,000,000
|MaxWorkforce = none
|Uses = 1
|Produced = [[Red Photon Carrier]], 2 [[Complicated Factory Parts]]
|Initial = <ul>
<li>1,500,000,000 Credits
<li>100,000 Metals
<li>2 [[Complicated Factory Parts]]
<li>1 [[Earthforce Dreadnought]]
<li>1 [[Adamantium Reinforced Energy Dampener+]]
<li>3 [[Harmonic Shield Focusers Blueprint|Harmonic Shield Focuser]]
<li>2 [[Shield Lattice Intensifiers Blueprint|Shield Lattice Intensifiers]]

</ul>
|Periodic = <ul>
<li>200,000,000 Metals
<li>2,000,000 Microchips
<li>200,000 Silicon
<li>200,000 Baobabs
<li>50,000 [[Personal Computers]]
<li>10,000 [[Fembot]]
<li>1,000 Peasants
<li>1,000 [[Titanium]]
<li>1,000 [[Laconia]]
<li>50 [[Bacta]]
<li>100 [[Quantumum]]
<li>1,500,000,000 Credits
</ul>
|Source = Beta Antares Mission
|Price = N/A
|SkillNeeded = none
|Description =
}}

{{clear}}

Panther Blueprint

2014-03-15T05:23:57Z

captainGarfield:

{{printbox
|pagename = Panther Blueprints
|backgroundcolor = midnightblue
|Tech = 20
|Size = 1
|Weight = 100,000
|Manhours = 2,400,000,000
|MaxWorkforce = 100,000
|Uses = infinite
|Produced = [[Panther]]
|Initial =
<ul>
<li>1,000,000 [[Metals]]
<li>1,000,000,000 Credits
<li>250 [[Promethium]]
<li>1 [[Adamantium Damage Module]]
<li>1 [[Adamantium Fading Module]]
<li>3 [[Adamantium Sheet]]
<li>3 [[Primal Panther Powercore]]
<li>1 [[Primal Panther Ship Remains]]
<li>5 [[Zebra Armada Crest]]
</ul>
|Periodic =
<ul>
<li>2,500 [[Promethium]]
<li>1,000,000 [[Metals]]
<li>10 [[Zebra Armada Crest]]
<li>1,000,000,000 Credits
</ul>
|Source = [[Princess Ragitagha Kilrathi]]
|Price = N/A
|SkillNeeded = [[Infinite Knowledge|IK]] 20
|Description = Stealth Kill.
}}
<noinclude>
[[Category:Individual Blueprints]]
[[Category:Ship Blueprints]]
<noinclude>

User:CaptainGarfield

2014-03-15T04:54:33Z

captainGarfield:

Panther

2014-03-15T04:37:17Z

captainGarfield:

{{shipbox
|Class = Light Figher
|Tech = 20
|Hull = 350
|Speed = 135
|Augs = 4
|Weaps = 5
|Size = 64
|Weight =525,000
|Visibility = 7
|Reflectivity = 52%
|Lresist = 67%
|Eresist = 10%
|Hresist = 32%
|Presist = 44%
|Rresist = 20%
|Sresist = 32%
|Mresist = 44%
|Tresist = 0%
|Lsoak = 0
|Esoak = 0
|Hsoak = 0
|Psoak = 0
|Rsoak = 0
|Ssoak = 0
|Msoak = 0
|Tsoak = 0
|InbuiltElec = 0
|SkillNeeded = none
|DockingSpeed = 10
|InbuiltItems = [[Aura_gens#Built-in_Auras|Panther Ambush]]
|Mods = Improves: Hostility -20%, Damage +30%
|Source = '''BP'''
|Price = N/A
|ItemSize = 100
|Description = Stealth Kill
|Capturable = No
|Radex = ?
|Imagepagename =
|imagesize =
}}
The '''Panther''' is the only light fighter ship that inhabits the [[The Serengeti|Serengeti]]. Swift and deadly, its low visibility, numerous weapon and augmenter slots and high resistances makes it a very dangerous opponent. The [[Blueprints|blueprint]] and [[Commodities|commodity]] needed to build this ship drops from [[Princess Ragitagha Kilrathi]], who pilots the [[Primal Panther|primal]] version of the Panther.

The Panther is used to great effect by high level [[Speed Demon]]s and [[Seer]]s, it is generally stated that it works equally as well for either class.

The ''panther ambush'' item that comes built-in on this ship increases recoil by 400 percent, decreases visibility by 99.8 percent for 8 seconds, increases damage by 100 percent for 7 seconds, and deactivates itself for the next 45 seconds.

The panther spawns with this gear.

*Panther Paws (Weapon)
*Panther Fangs (Weapon)
*Panther Skin (Shield)
*Panther Will (Energy)
*Panther Prowl (Engine)
*Panther Charger
*Panther Weapon Overloader
*Panther Instinct (Radar)
*Panther Darkness (Cloak)
{{:Panther Blueprint}}
[[Category: Light Fighters]]
[[Category: Player Ships]]
[[Category: AI Ships]]
[[Category: UZ]]
{{stats}}

Team Score

2014-03-15T01:36:57Z

captainGarfield:

The [[Team Score]] is a measure of how successful a [[Team]] is.

The team score is a compilation of a number of other scores. Each individual score is a comparison to the top team in that category.

For example, the team with the highest team-funds would have a Wealth score of 100 points. If the second-place team has a wealth score of 74, their team funds are 74% of the top team's team funds.

== Overview ==

The different scores that make up the Team Score are:
*'''Stations''' - Total number and strength of [[Bases]].
*'''Trading''' - Total value accumulated through [[AI]] trading.
*'''Loyalty''' - The permanence of team members; how stable the team's roster is.
*'''Ownership''' - Count of the number of owned [[Owned|galaxies]].
*'''Deadliness''' - Total level of AI killed by a team.
*'''Population''' - Total population of all owned [[Colony|colonies]].
*'''Mining''' - Total value of [[Mining|mined]] goods.
*'''Activity''' - A measure of how active a team is.
*'''Experience''' - A measure of levels recently gained by members.
*'''Production''' - Total value of team production.

== Detailed Score Breakdown ==

*Stations
To determine the raw score, each teamed base's tech is cubed, and then added in to the team's total. Because the tech is cubed, high tech bases always have a higher point to slot ratio than lower tech bases.
*Trading
The added value of all trades between AI and the team's bases. The value of items bought from AI is divided by 8. Decays over time.
*Loyalty
Loyalty points are built up over time from activity points. When a team member leaves a loss of 1/(team size) is applied, with a minimum of 5% lost. Decays over time.
*Ownership
Count of the number of owned galaxies.
*Deadliness
Total level of killed AI from team members. Kills from a user base or permanent drone do not count. Decays over time.
*Population
Total population of all colonies with team bases on them.
*Mining
Total value of scooped mined goods, based on server prices. Decays over time.
*Activity
Activity points are gained at a rate of 1/(team accounts) per action. Each type of action is on its own timer on each account, with the longest being 24 hours.
Actions that give activity points include:
*Being online
*Chatting
*Killing an AI
*Scooping debris
*Jumping to a new galaxy.
Decays over time.
*Experience
Teams gain a point towards this every time a team member levels up. Decays over time.
*Production
Total server value of any [[Blueprints|build]] that finishes on a team owned station. For built items, the server adds up the server value of all items from their Blueprints. Decays over time.

Trading, Deadliness, Mining, Activity, Experience, and Production all decay at a rate of .1% per 5 minutes.

{{cleanup}}
[[Category:Teams]]

Rumble 3

2014-03-15T01:21:40Z

captainGarfield:

[[Rumble 3]] is a [[Star_System|galaxy]] where fine pilots can advance their [[piloting]] [[skill]] even higher. Because of its dangerous nature, only pilots above level 250 are allowed to enter. It has [[Monochrome Hue]]s, [[SawtoothX]]s, and all different [[multifiring]] levels of [[Slumberchrome]]s.

====Skills====
;Advanced Pilot School
*[[Piloting]]: 19, requires 20 [[Chrome Knobs]]
*[[War Mongering]]: 3, requires 10 [[Chrome Knobs]]

====Unique Items====
*[[weapons|Super Nova]]

{{cleanup}}
{{pic}}

[[Category:Star Systems]]

Colony

2014-03-15T01:12:30Z

captainGarfield:

[[Colony|Colonies]] are settlements on [[planets]]. Owning a colony can provide a wide range of benefits to a player - for example, they can be a good source of monetary income and can provide rare or powerful items through [[Ruins]]. Most planets also contain [[Commodities]] which can be extracted using the appropriate [[Base Items]]. These commodities can then be sold or used to build other items using [[Blueprints]]. Some commodities are also necessary for training [[Skills]] and can only be obtained through extraction or trade with a colony.

==Creating a Colony==
In order to create a colony, a player must first decide on a suitable planet. [[Scanners#Planet_Scanners|Planetscanners]] are typically used for this purpose. A number of different factors may influence the decision making process, and it is impossible to provide an entirely comprehensive guide in such a brief article. One may seek the help of a more experienced player, or make the decision based off of what they know and what they hope to accomplish. [[Suitability]] is one of the most important factors to consider.

Once a planet has been selected, a player must establish a [[Base]] on it. For more information on setting up bases, follow [[Planets|this link]]. After the Base has been built and made operational, a Trading Bay ought to be equipped. The Trading Bay is the primary avenue through which a Colony will interact with the player.

After having a Trading Bay set up, the next step is to build a [[Colony Blueprint|Colony module]]. This will establish the Colony itself. Following construction of the Colony, a ''Colony'' tab will appear the next time the player docks.

==Maintaining a Colony==
''Commodities: Buying and Selling''

Colonies will buy and sell the commodities offered by the Base's Trading Bay. The current prices a Colony is willing to pay are displayed under the ''Colony'' tab. A Colony will attempt to buy or sell what commodities it desires if the prices, and a few other factors listed below, are appropriate.

As an example, if the Base is selling Rations for 100 credits each and the Colony is willing to buy Rations for 150 credits each, the Colony will buy the Rations since the Base is asking for less than the Colony's buying price. If the prices were reversed, then the opposite would be true: the Colony would attempt to sell Rations to the Base.

The number and amount of commodities a Colony will buy or sell is based off a number of factors:
*The Population of the Colony
*The prices the player has set
*The prices the Colony will pay
*The Suitability of the Colony

''Rations''

Colonies, like [[Bases]], need [[Commodities|Rations]] to survive. It is important to ensure that the prices for Rations are balanced such that neither the Base or the Colony will run out and starve.

''Peasants and Population''

A Colony's Population will grow the more [[Commodities|Peasants]] it gains. Colonies will produce Peasants at a certain rate on their own, but this growth rate can be supplemented by selling Peasants to the Colony.

==Ruins==
[[Ruins]] are ancient objects found buried somewhere on the planet and will occasionally crop up when you least expect them. They range from extremely valuable to worthless, so consult someone before paying too much for something your don't know about. Once a colony uncovers something, you can add it to your trading bay's menu to check out the stats. Every class of item except [[Augmenters]] can be found in Ruins, from commodities to [[ships]]. There seem to be a limited number of units of each ruin that they find, and a single planet may hold as many as six but as few as one Ruin item. Not all planets have ruins though; planet scanners can be used to discover them, but only the most powerful will show the really rare ones.

==Tips ==
Suitability, Suitability, Suitability... Suitability affects many aspects of the colony; the higher the suitability rating, the better. The [[Colonial Administrator]] [[skill]] raises the suitability for any colonies owned by that character and can be very useful to that end. For more information, see [[Suitability]].

See Also: [[Colony_Blueprints|Colony Blueprints]] and [[Terraforming Project Blueprints]]

[[Category:Bases]]
[[Category: Colonies]]

Galaxy Map

2014-03-15T00:02:59Z

captainGarfield: cleaned up a bit, made it more indepth - not removing cleanup tag yet because i dont know what to do with the list

The [[Galaxy Map]] is a interactive map that allows pilots to navigate the [[Universe]] with ease. Every player has one, though each person's map only shows them the places they have already been. Some parts of the Universe are explored by default, and can be considered the starter map. These places include the [[Nexus]] and parts of the [[Celestial Garden]] and [[Earthforce]] space.

When a player enters a galaxy for the first time, that galaxy will be added to the map for future reference and they will receive a [[Experience Points|5xp bonus]] for exploration.

There are some things a pilot ought to take note of, however:
* The Galaxy Map does not show [[DG|Dungeons]] as unique galaxies, though red dots on a node indicate the existence of them,
* The Universe is divided into several layers, meaning one must be conscious of how each layer connects to another and,
* Galaxy Maps are shared between Characters on an Account.

In addition, docking at a [[Bases|Team HQ]] that belongs to your [[Team]] will update your map using the maps of other teammates who have also docked there. This is a quick way to find galaxies you didn't know the location of without having to do all the exploration yourself.

==Using the Galaxy Map==

Every galaxy on the Galaxy Map is represented by a circular node and connections between galaxies are shown using lines.
Galaxies with Dungeons inside of them will have red dots next to their node - the number of dots is equal to the number of dungeons.

Hovering the mouse over a node on the map will cause a Info Box to appear, which gives the following information about that galaxy:
* The number of [[Wormholes]] inside, not including those belonging to Dungeons and other special Wormholes,
* The [[Danger Factor]] of that galaxy and,
* The number of [[Stations]] inside that galaxy, including Player [[Bases]].

Galaxies which are [[Owned|owned]] by a Team - be it [[AI]] or human - have a white circle around their icon. Similarly, [[Protected]] galaxies have a large "P" in the center.

The yellow and white bars along the outside of the circle represent the stations in that galaxy. Yellow stripes are for Player Bases, green stripes for Bases your Team owns, and white stripes for AI Stations.

If a galaxy serves as a connection between two layers of the Universe, it will have a large arrow in the center. An arrow pointing up indicates a connection to a higher layer of the Universe, while a down pointing arrow indicates a connection to a lower one.

Finally, the Galaxy Map can be interacted with in a number of ways:
* Using the vertical slider or the mouse wheel, the map can be zoomed in and out,
* By clicking and dragging anywhere inside the map, the map can be panned in any direction,
* By clicking the starship icon, the map can be centered on the player's location,
* Using the up and down arrows, the layer the map displays can be changed,
* By double-clicking on a galaxy, the [[Autopilot]] can be engaged to take the player there provided they have sufficient [[Astral Travel]] to do so,
* Using the three buttons along the top the map can be resized or expanded to fit the screen,
* Clicking and dragging the border of the map will resize it manually and,
* Clicking and dragging the map itself will move it across the screen.

===List of Previous Galaxy Maps===
*Unimap June 27 10 Earthforce.jpg
*Unimap June 27 1 Wild.jpg
*Unimap June 27 03 Perilous.jpg
*[[:Image:Unimap_3-14-09_Earthforce.jpg]]
*Unimap_3-14-01 Wild.jpg
*[[:Image:Unimap_3-14-09_Perilous.jpg]]
*[[:Image:Unimap_3-7-09_1_and_2.jpg]] *temp uni*
*[[:Image:Unimap_3-7-09_3.jpg]] *temp uni*
*[[:Image:Unimap_3-7-09_4.jpg]] *temp uni*
*[[:Image:Unimap_Sept_27_08.jpg]]
*[[:Image:Unimap 6-28-08_2.jpg]]
*[[:Image:Unimap_3-22-08_rev.png]]
*[[:Image:Unimap_11-26-07.jpg]]
*[[:Image:Unimap_11-17-07.jpg]] *temp uni*
*[[:Image:Unimap_8-5-7.jpg]]
*[[:Image:Unimap_5-6-7.jpg]]
*[[:Image:Unimap1tagged.jpg]]
{{stats}}
{{cleanup}}
[[Category:Star Systems]]

Celestial Garden

2014-03-14T23:21:33Z

captainGarfield: Created page with "The Celestial Garden is a permanent feature in every Universe. It holds a number of important galaxies, including Ring, Free Market, [[Labyrint..."

The [[Celestial Garden]] is a permanent feature in every [[Universe]]. It holds a number of important [[Star System|galaxies]], including [[Ring]], [[Free Market]], [[Labyrinth]], and [[Glass Matrix]].

The galaxy ''Earthforce Celestial Garden Outpost'' serves as a bridge between [[Sol]] and [[Deep Space]]. Sol is the entrance to the Earthforce layer of the Universe while Deep Space is the entrance to the [[Nexus]] layer of the Universe, making this a very important galaxy for new players.

More experienced players are commonly interested in the large number of [[Bases|player-buildable]] galaxies in this layer of the Universe. Due to their close proximity to Sol, these galaxies are a desirable location for any shopkeeper or [[Team]] to have a stake in.

Prawn Pieces

2014-03-14T22:48:41Z

captainGarfield: Created page with "Prawn Pieces are used by the Prawn Blueprint. There are 8 pieces in total, named alphabetically from A to H. {{cleanup}}"

[[Prawn Pieces]] are used by the [[Prawn Blueprint]]. There are 8 pieces in total, named alphabetically from A to H.

{{cleanup}}

Prawn Blueprint

2014-03-14T22:46:26Z

captainGarfield:

{{printbox
|pagename = Prawn Blueprint
|backgroundcolor = midnightblue
|fontcolor = white
|Tech = 20
|Size = 10
|Weight = 1,000
|Manhours = 6,000,000,000
|MaxWorkforce = none
|Uses = 1
|Produced = [[Prawn]]
|Initial = <ul>
<li>25,000,000,000 Credits
<li>500,000 [[Metals]]
<li>100 [[Promethium]]
<li>10 [[Prawn Pieces|Prawn Piece A]]
<li>10 [[Prawn Pieces|Prawn Piece B]]
<li>10 [[Prawn Pieces|Prawn Piece C]]
<li>10 [[Prawn Pieces|Prawn Piece D]]
<li>10 [[Prawn Pieces|Prawn Piece E]]
<li>10 [[Prawn Pieces|Prawn Piece F]]
<li>10 [[Prawn Pieces|Prawn Piece G]]
<li>10 [[Prawn Pieces|Prawn Piece H]]
</ul>
|Periodic = <ul>
<li>100,000,000 [[Metals]]
<li>5,000,000 [[Cyanure]]
<li>10,000 [[Promethium]]
<li>50 [[Master Pirate Crest]]
<li>5[[Towel]]
<li>25,000,000,000 Credits
</ul>
|Source = [[Captain Kidd]]
|Price = N/A
|SkillNeeded = none
|Description = Command and Control
}}
<noinclude>
{{clear}}

Astro-Grinch Sleigh

2014-03-14T07:01:17Z

captainGarfield:

A Heavy Fighter [[Ship]] obtained during Christmas. The Astro-Grinch Sleigh is similar in stats to an [[Ships#Heavy Fighters|Agamemnon+]] but is more Berserker oriented. It makes an ideal ship for low level Berserkers due to its inbuilt [[Energy|electricity]], [[Electric Tempering]] reduction, and [[Multifiring]] boost.

Last known person to own one is Beelzebub.

Asteroid Shipper

2014-03-14T06:58:23Z

captainGarfield:

Not much is known about this [[Ship]] at the moment. It appears similar to the [[Asteroid Freighter]].
What is known:
*This ship cannot be captured.
*It launches two missiles called Asteroid Collision.

Alliance

2014-03-14T06:55:46Z

captainGarfield:

An '''Alliance''' is an elevated state of peace, where if one of the parties in an alliance is threatened, others will back them up. However, this is not universally applicable if a member of the alliance acts aggressively and without provocation. Under certain alliance agreements, other teams in the alliance might not support an aggressive ally.

Alliances are not official, and are agreements honoured by a player's reputation. However, informal treaties can be made by marking members of an alliance as team friends.

See Also: [[Team]]

[[Category: Teams]]

Ablution crystals

2014-03-14T06:52:02Z

captainGarfield: Redirected page to Ablution Crystals

#REDIRECT [[Ablution Crystals]]

Copperlings

2014-03-14T06:49:58Z

captainGarfield: Redirected page to Small Copperling

#REDIRECT [[Small_Copperling]]

/mc

2014-03-14T06:49:33Z

captainGarfield: Redirected page to Game Controls#Chat Commands

#REDIRECT [[Game_Controls#Chat_Commands]]

Ai stations

2014-03-14T06:48:48Z

captainGarfield: Redirected page to Stations

#REDIRECT [[Stations]]

AI station

2014-03-14T06:48:44Z

captainGarfield: Redirected page to Stations

#REDIRECT [[Stations]]