SPACE
Keywords: SPACE
=== USER MANUAL ===
Overview:
Space is the sub-system that governs spacecraft, starsystems,
stellar objects, and ship combat. If you want to fly a ship,
dogfight other pilots, visit planets, or ferry a carrier
across the stars, the commands in this helpfile are where
you start.
This entry is a high-level primer. Every command referenced
has its own detailed helpfile -- help <command> for specifics.
Ship Roles and Seats:
Every ship has designated rooms that gate different commands:
Cockpit ............ Pilot's seat. Controls flight
(accelerate, course, land, launch,
calculate, hyperspace, radar,
gate, autopilot, autotrack).
Gunner / Turret ... Weapons station. Handles target,
shipfire, autocombat, deploy,
interceptor, scanship.
Engine room ....... Maintenance + special ops: repairship,
installmodule, removemodule, wormhole.
Entrance room ..... Airlock / hatch. openhatch cycles the
hatch from here; boardship enters from
outside.
Try to walk each ship you fly once so you know where every
station is before the fight starts.
Getting a Ship:
1. Stand in a shipyard (ROOM_SHIPYARD) for spacecraft, or
a garage (ROOM_GARAGE) for land vehicles.
2. buyship to list available hulls. Ships are filtered by
your race -- only compatible models appear.
3. buyship <model> to purchase. The ship is docked at
your feet with your character registered as owner.
4. Personal fleet cap is 3 ships; sellship or
scrapship old hulls to make room.
For shared ships, the owner grants access with addpilot
(up to 2 extra pilots); rempilot revokes access.
Leaving the Ground:
1. boardship -- walk up to a docked ship, name it, and
enter through the hatch. Hatch must be open; the pilot
can open it with openhatch.
2. Navigate to the cockpit.
3. launch -- lifts the ship into space. Heals the ship
fully on take-off (a notable feature).
4. accelerate <speed> -- set sublight speed (0 to maxspeed).
5. course <x> <y> <z> -- point the hull toward a destination.
Situational Awareness:
radar ................ Passive scan of the whole starsystem.
Shows stellar objects, missiles, ships.
Silent -- won't reveal you.
ping ................. Active short-range scan. Reveals
cloaked ships within 1500u but announces
your position and drops your own cloak.
scanplanet <name> .... Detailed readout on one stellar
object (type, governing clan, lifeforms,
gate info).
scanship <name> ...... Spec sheet on another ship (class,
stats, weapons, installed modules, crew).
shipstat ............. Your primary dashboard. Shows
current hull / shield / energy / speed /
heading / target / weapon cooldowns /
installed modules.
Pre-engage flow: radar for awareness, scanship on any
contact for intel, then commit.
Combat Loop:
From the gunner chair or turret:
1. target <ship> -- begin lock (2 seconds). Successful
lock decloaks you, so only lock when ready to engage.
2. shipfire <weapon> -- manual fire. Weapon types:
laser, missile, cannon, rail. Each has
range, energy, ammo constraints.
3. autocombat -- engage auto-fire on the locked target.
Every offensive module fires as its cooldown cycles.
Pilot seat complements:
4. autotrack -- keep the nose on your target while you
handle speed manually.
5. autopilot -- full hands-off cruise + retaliate-when-hit.
Combat prerequisites:
- Main guns fire forward only for non-station hulls.
Use autotrack to keep aim.
- Cannot fire while in a disruptionweb or hyperspace.
- Low energy cuts off laser/railgun shots; ammo weapons
need magazine capacity.
Inter-System Travel:
Two alternative paths:
Hyperspace .......... Arm jump with calculate <system>
<x> <y> <z>, then hyperspace to
engage. Costs energy proportional to
distance. Invisible in transit.
Gates ............... Pre-built structures. gate <name>
within 200u to transit; uses the gate's
linked destination. Zero energy, but
noisy.
Special options if your hull is an Arbiter:
- foldspace <ship> -- pull an allied ship to your
location.
- wormhole <system> -- open a 10-minute two-way
shortcut.
Landing:
1. Fly within 200u of a planet/station/ship with a
landing pad.
2. land <target> to start the sequence. If there's only
one valid pad, you land there; otherwise you'll be
prompted for a specific pad name (land mars lancaster).
3. Docking at a shipyard refills ammunition.
To dock inside another ship (carrier/station), that target
needs open baydoors and an available hanger bay.
Modules and Upgrades:
Ship performance is a function of its chassis plus installed
modules. Modules unlock weapons, boost stats, and grant
special capabilities (cloak, webber, interceptor bays,
regeneration, etc.).
- Dock at a shipyard, go to the engine room.
- installmodule <item> from inventory. Item is
consumed.
- removemodule <#|name> unbolts and returns a fresh
module item to your inventory.
- shipstat shows installed modules and effective
stats after bonuses.
Modules are bought separately (from a modulemart) or
extracted from salvaged ships.
Repairs and Recovery:
repairship hull ..... +100 hull per 15-second run.
repairship drive .... Clear the disabled / sabotage state.
repairship launcher . Reset missile state.
repairship primary .. Reset laser/railgun state.
repairship energy ... Refill to max instantly.
Shortcut: launch or shiprecall both fully heal the
ship as a side effect. If you're willing to land at a
shipyard, that's faster than piecemeal repair.
Special / Rare Ships:
Arbiter ............ Wormhole + Foldspace.
Science Vessel ..... shieldmatrix (250 tempshield
buff on allies).
Corsair ............ disruptionweb (60-second enemy
lockdown).
Carrier ............ interceptor fighter building +
deploy for launches.
Each has a signature ability that requires specific crew
positions. See their individual helpfiles.
Quick-Reference Cheat Sheet:
Find your ships .... shiplist
Get to cockpit ..... openhatch, boardship <ship>,
walk.
Leave pad .......... launch
See what's around .. radar, scanplanet <obj>,
scanship <ship>
Move ............... course <x y z>, accelerate
<speed>
Fight .............. target <ship>, shipfire
<weapon>, autocombat
Jump system ........ calculate <sys> <xyz>, hyperspace
or gate <gate>
Go home ............ land <planet> <pad>, or shiprecall
<ship> from any pad.
Fix things ......... repairship <target>, or redock
and launch.
Further Reading:
Every command above has its own helpfile with exact error
messages, requirement lists, and strategic notes.
Related Helpfiles: BUYSHIP, LAUNCH, LAND, SHIPSTAT, RADAR, SHIPFIRE, AUTOCOMBAT, AUTOPILOT, AUTOTRACK, TARGET, CALCULATE, HYPERSPACE, GATE, REPAIRSHIP, SHIPRECALL, INSTALLMODULE, SCANSHIP, SCANPLANET, SHIPLIST, ADDPILOT
=== END MANUAL ===