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Star Control 3 Demo Manual September 13, 1996 ********************************** *** Use the UP and DOWN arrow *** *** keys to scroll this text *** *** file and ESC key to return *** *** to the menu. *** ********************************** STAR CONTROL 3 (TM) CD DEMO MANUAL ---------------------------------- For technical help, or information on installing and running Star Control 3, please consult the README.TXT and HELP.ME files. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction II. Quick Start III. Captain's Mission Briefing IV. Using Star Control 3 V. Title Screen VI Hyper Melee A. Hyper Melee Configuration Screen B. Remote Play C. Fleet Setup Screen D. Fleet Selection Screen E. In Melee VII. Adventure Game A. Quadrant Screen B. System Screen C. Orbit Screen D. Colony Screen E. Control Screen F. Dialogue Screen VIII. Game play tips & hints A. Exploring B. Interstellar Communications C. Fuel Management D. Example Of Play E. General Hints IX. Customer Service X. Legal Mumbo Jumbo ---------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the STAR CONTROL 3 CD DEMO. In this playable demo, you begin your exploration of the Kessari Quadrant and meet some of the aliens who will be your allies and enemies. The adventure in this demo continues to first major turning point in your quest to save the universe. In the demo, only the first few aliens you meet will have speech and animation. In the full game you'll have over 11 hours of negotiations, 24 different alien races presented with full speech, and photo-realistic alien animations. The full game also has glorious SVGA animated introduction and cut scenes and the complete quest to save the universe from its dire fate. The demo also includes fast action Hyper Melee star ship combat that can be played separately from the giant adventure game. In the demo, you can choose from 7 distinctive star ships and play against the computer, or against a friend on a single computer or over a modem, serial link, or IPX network. In the full game you will be able to choose from 25 wildly different ships in Hyper Melee combat. For the most up-to-date information on installation and configuration of Star Control 3, please consult the README.TXT file in the SC3DEMO directory of the CD. Take Control! Get Star Control 3 and explore a whole universe of excitement and adventure. Available September 1996 at stores everywhere or call 1-800-245-7744 to order or for more information. See you in the stars! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- QUICK START ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Insert the Star Control 3 disc into the CD-ROM drive. After the CD has been recognized, run the INSTALL program and the SETSOUND utility from the SC3DEMO subdirectory. Go to the path you have installed the game under and run SC3DEMO. For more detailed instructions, check out the RUNNING STAR CONTROL 3 section of the README.TXT file. To get help on how to use the game, press F1 from almost any screen. To get a hint on how to proceed in the adventure game, press F5 and ask ICOM. To find the name of an item or icon, hold the pointer over it for a moment without pressing any buttons. For more detailed instructions, check out the USING STAR CONTROL 3 section. Have fun! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CAPTAIN'S MISSION BRIEFING ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SFC-TM-4165 Mission Sequence 377 Directive: Brigade Commander Vladimir Or-Kochav PRIORITY ALPHA ONE, CAPTAIN'S MISSION BRIEFING LEAGUE OF SENTIENT RACES EXPLORATION AND COLONIZATION MISSION TO THE KESSARI QUADRANT While knowledge of the Captain's mission is wide-spread, the mission objectives have not yet been divulged to the general public. The Captain may not discuss any component of this document with outside sources. Acceptance of this mission implies compliance with Star Control authority. If the Captain fails to conform to the strictures of this mission guideline, he agrees to return to the home quadrant, relinquish control of his Colony ship, and accept punishment as specified in Star Control disciplinary guidelines. COMMAND AUTHORITY: You are in command of the exploration and colonization mission from the League of Sentient Races to the unexplored Kessari Quadrant. All League ships, colonies, and resources are under your control. BACKGROUND: Utilizing the Precursor Warp Bubble Transport system in a one-time, supercharged mode, colonization groups from 11 League races were "thrust" from the League's home quadrant to the Kessari Quadrant near the galactic core. RESOURCES: You have a single Precursor colony vessel with a Warp Bubble Transport system. This is the only League ship that can travel between the stars. The colony vessel can transport a fleet of up to 25 ships between the stars. If this ship is destroyed, your mission has failed. Your Precursor vessel is equipped with an Interconferencing and Monitoring system known as ICOM. This system will monitor and transmit all important League intelligence and can assist you in planning League operations. Consult ICOM frequently. Each of the League races has a colony group with a small number of ships already in the Kessari Quadrant. Your colony vessel carries Colony Landing Pods that can create additional colonies or dig sites for excavating Precursor artifacts. Your Tech Teams will continuously take sensor readings and collect unusual objects, both in space and on the ground. Tech Teams will analyze what they find and report when they have significant findings. Because of the great distances involved, there can be no communications between your mission and the home quadrant. Due to interference from Inter-Dimensional Fatigue, your star map may be incomplete. The Kessari Quadrant will certainly contain new alien races that may help or hinder your mission. PRIMARY MISSION GOALS: (1) Find the cause of Inter-Dimensional Fatigue, and reverse it to restore Hyper Space travel. (2) Make sure the vision where "all sentient life in the galaxy dies screaming" does not come to pass. SECONDARY GOALS: (1) Explore the Kessari Quadrant (2) Colonize worlds in the Kessari Quadrant to maximize each race's productivity. (3) Contact new alien races and expand the League of Sentient Races. (4) Find ancient Precursor technological artifacts. (5) Research these artifacts and utilize their technology. FIRST STEP: Find and contact the colonies of all the League Races in the Kessari Quadrant: Chmmr, Human, Mycon, Orz, Pkunk, Spathi, Supox, Syreen, Ur-Quan, Utwig, Vux OVERSIGHT: Your decisions will be subject to review by the members of the League Steering Council and the League Ethics Council. If your actions violate League rules, these Councils may give you warnings, or in severe cases, render judgments against you. LEAGUE RULES: The Primary League Rules are: (1) Sentients should never attack other sentients without cause. (2) No sentient should enslave another sentient. PERSONAL NOTE: You may have been the hero of the last war, but I think you are in over your head this time. You're on your own, so talk to everyone and explore every possibility. Good luck. We're all pulling for you. - Vlad ---------------------------------------------------------------------- USING STAR CONTROL 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Most choices in Star Control 3 are made with the mouse. The icons on the right side of the screen control perform most functions in the game. ACTIVATE AN ITEM OR MAKE A CHOICE: Put the mouse pointer over the item or icon and click the left mouse button. This is referred to as "Click the item". EXIT A FUNCTION OR CANCEL A CHOICE: Click the right mouse button or press the Escape key. This is referred to as "Right Click the item". GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT AN ITEM: Hold the mouse pointer over the item or icon and don't click any buttons. After a moment, information will be displayed relating to the item or icon. This is referred to as "Scanning the item". ADJUST A SLIDER: Put the mouse pointer over the slider, press and hold the left mouse button and move the pointer to reposition the slider. Release the left mouse button. Sliders are used when the user has a range of options, and are often accompanied by a numerical read out of the value controlled by the slider. This is referred to as "Adjust the Slider". USE THE KEYBOARD: The keyboard can only be used to make certain choices. The Escape key cancels or interrupts an action. While saving, loading, or exiting the game, the keyboard is used to confirm your choice (Press Y for yes and N for no.) In Hyper Melee, the keyboard may be used to control star ships in arcade space combat or to configure the user's view of the battle. You can get help using the game by pressing F1. You can save or load the adventure game from most screens by pressing F2 or F3 respectively. You can access ICOM for clues from most screens within the adventure game by pressing F5. See the Control Screen for details on Saving and Loading games. GET HELP: Press F1 on most game screens to get a walk-through of the actions that can be performed from that screen. GET A CLUE DURING THE ADVENTURE GAME: Press F5 on most adventure game screens to speak with ICOM, your colony ship's onboard computer. ICOM synthesizes all the information gained during your mission and can suggest likely courses of action. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TITLE SCREEN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The icons on the right side of the title screen perform these actions, in order from top to bottom: START HYPER MELEE: Click the Hyper Melee icon to go to the Hyper Melee Configuration Screen. Hyper Melee is fast action arcade starship combat. Each player chooses a fleet from 7 different starships. In the full version of Star Control 3, each player will have 25 wildly different starships to choose from. In battle, each player chooses a ship from his fleet and faces off in a series of one-on-one combats, until only one fleet remains. START ADVENTURE GAME: Click the Start New Game icon to play the Adventure Game. The Adventure Game puts the player in command of the League of Sentient Races' exploration and colonization mission to the Kessari Quadrant. There, the player engages in exploration, negotiation, and arcade space combat to decide the fate of all sentient life in the galaxy. LOAD SAVED ADVENTURE GAME: Click the Load A Game icon. This option lists the description of all saved games. If there are more saved files than will fit on one screen, move the pointer to the top or bottom of the screen to scroll the list. Click on a saved game to load it. Confirm the load by typing Y for yes or exit by pressing N for no. You can load a game from many game screens by pressing F3. VIEW CREDITS: Click the Credits icon. QUIT GAME: Click the Quit icon to exit the game to the operating system. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- HYPER MELEE ---------------------------------------------------------------------- HYPER MELEE CONFIGURATION SCREEN ------------------------------- SETUP PLAYER 1: Use top 5 icons. SETUP PLAYER 2: Use second 5 icons. START A BATTLE: Once all human players have picked a fleet, click the Fight icon and go to the Fleet Selection Screen. RETURN TO TITLE SCREEN: Click the Quit icon. Setup Player Options: SET HUMAN/COMPUTER PLAYER CONTROL: Click the first of five icons. CHOOSE YOUR FLEET: Click the fifth of five icons and use the Setup Fleet Screen. If you choose Human Control: KEYBOARD CONTROL: Click the Keyboard icon (second of five icons). SETUP KEYBOARD: Click the highlighted Keyboard icon. Follow on-screen instructions. Press keys for: Rotate Left, Rotate Right, Thrust, Fire, and Special Ability/Secondary Weapon. Click OK to accept the new keys or RESET to accept the default key definitions. Choose carefully to avoid assigning multiple functions, or functions from both players, to the same key. JOYSTICK CONTROL: Click the Joystick icon (third of five icons). CALIBRATE JOYSTICK: Click the highlighted Joystick icon. Follow the on-screen instructions. MOUSE CONTROL: Click the Mouse icon (fourth of five icons). SETUP MOUSE: Click the highlighted Mouse icon. Follow on-screen instructions. Click the Relative or Absolute controls for Thrust and Rotation. Click OK. If you choose Computer Control: SET STANDARD COMPUTER PLAYER: Click the second of five icons. SET GOOD COMPUTER PLAYER: Click the third of five icons. SET AWESOME COMPUTER PLAYER: Click the fourth of five icons. REMOTE PLAY: ----------- STARTING A NETWORK GAME: Run Star Control 3, then click on the HyperMelee icon inside the game. From the Fight Setup menu, select REMOTE PLAYER by clicking on the Player 2 icon until the REMOTE PLAYER symbol appears. Choose the NETWORK PLAY icon (not MODEM or SERIAL) from the icons below the REMOTE PLAYER icon on the screen. STARTING A MODEM GAME: Run Star Control 3, then click on the HyperMelee icon inside the game. From the Fight Setup menu, select REMOTE PLAYER by clicking on the Player 2 icon until the REMOTE PLAYER symbol appears. Choose the MODEM PLAY icon (not NETWORK or SERIAL) from the icons below the REMOTE PLAYER icon on the screen. Click on the same icon again to choose the correct COM port and baud rate. If someone calls you, using HyperMelee to connect with your modem, leave the ANSWER radio button highlighted and click OK. If you are dialing another number, highlight the DIAL radio button, type in the correct phone number, and press OK. When done, <Esc> back to DOS and restart if you want to play again. STARTING A SERIAL GAME: Run Star Control 3, then click on the HyperMelee icon inside the game. From the Fight Setup menu, select REMOTE PLAYER by clicking on the Player 2 icon until the REMOTE PLAYER symbol appears. Choose the SERIAL PLAY icon (not NETWORK or MODEM) from the icons below the REMOTE PLAYER icon on the screen. Click on the same icon again to choose the correct COM port (usually COM Port 2). When done, <Esc> back to DOS and restart if you want to play again. FLEET SETUP SCREEN ------------------------------- DECIDE HOW LARGE A BATTLE WILL BE: Human players mutually decide how many points of ships to choose. Each player should watch the Fleet Point Totals to stay within those limits. These limits are maintained by the honor system so players can easily handicap one player against another. If players are evenly matched, give each player the same number of points. If one player is much better than another, give the opponent an extra 100 points in ships to balance out the battle. If a single human player chooses a fleet and begins a battle, the computer player automatically picks a fleet of approximately the same size. CHOOSE SHIPS: Click on one of the 7 ship icons in the Ship List. In the full game, you can place the pointer over the up and down arrows to scroll the list and reveal all 25 ships. Choose ships until you have reached your mutually decided upon point limit. REJECT SHIPS: Click on the ship picture in the Fleet Window. COMPARE FLEET STRENGTH: Compare the point total for Player 1's fleet with the point total for Player 2's fleet. SAVE FLEET: Click the Save A Fleet icon. This option lists the description of all saved fleets. Click on [New Save File], type a description, and press ENTER to create a new saved fleet. Click on an old saved fleet, type a description, and press ENTER to replace it with the current fleet. If there are more saved fleets than will fit on one screen, move the pointer to the top or bottom of the screen to scroll the list. LOAD FLEET: Click the Load A Fleet icon. This option lists the description of all saved fleets. If there are more saved fleets than will fit on one screen, move the pointer to the top or bottom of the screen to scroll the list. Click on a saved fleet to load it. REJECT WHOLE FLEET: Click the Reset Fleet icon. RETURN TO HYPER MELEE SETUP SCREEN: Click the Done icon. FLEET SELECTION SCREEN ------------------------------- Once a battle begins, each player chooses a ship from his fleet and faces off in a series of on-on-one combats until only one fleet remains. CHOOSE A SHIP: Click on a ship picture in the Fleet Window on the left side of the screen. The opponent in the next battle, if known, is shown as an icon on the right side of the screen. RECONFIGURE: Click the Exit icon to go to the Hyper Melee Configuration Screen. IN MELEE ------------------------------- In Hyper Melee, the controls are as simple as possible, just turning, thrusting, and firing. But finding the right strategy for each of the 25 ships with their wildly varying weapons and abilities, is a blast. Default Controls: Player One Player Two Left (left arrow) C Thrust (up arrow) V Right (right arrow) B Primary Weapon CTRL X Secondary Weapon/ ALT Z Special Ability Player 1's race, crew, ship, and hits are displayed on the top left of the screen. Player 2's race, crew, ship, and hits are displayed on the top right of the screen. The following keyboard commands are available in Hyper Melee: RECONFIGURE: Press the ESCAPE key to go to the Hyper Melee Setup Screen. NORMAL SPEED / LIGHTNING MODE: Press F4 to toggle between playing at normal speed or in hyper-fast lightning mode. ISOMETRIC VIEW / OVERHEAD VIEW: Press F5 to switch views. ISOMETRIC VIEW STAR PLANE: ON / OFF: Press the F6 key to toggle the star plane in isometric view. OVERHEAD VIEW SCROLLING: CONTINUOUS / JUMP: Press the F7 key to toggle scrolling in the overhead view. ZOOMED VIEW / COMPLETE VIEW: Press the F8 key to toggle the zoom level. ORDER AGGRESSIVE COMPUTER ATTACK: Press the F9 key to make the computer-controlled ships attack aggressively for a short time. Use this to break up long fights where the computer-controlled ships are acting too defensively. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ADVENTURE GAME ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Press Escape or Right Click to completely bypass any video in the game. Some videos have many sections. Click to bypass the current section of video. COMMON CONTROLS ------------------------------- The following controls are available are in the lower right hand corner of the icon bar on all major game screens. The game clock is shown in the lower left hand corner of the screen. GO TO QUADRANT SCREEN: Click the Quadrant icon. GO TO SYSTEM SCREEN: Click the System icon. GO TO ORBIT SCREEN: Click the Orbit icon. GO TO COLONY SCREEN: Click the Colony icon. GO TO CONTROL SCREEN: Click the Control icon. ADJUST GAME SPEED: Click on the clock to reveal a slider that sets the speed that time passes in the game. When the slider is to the left, time passes slowly; to the right, time passes swiftly. Adjust the slider to the desired rate. Click anywhere outside the slider to re-engage the clock. QUADRANT SCREEN ------------------------------- Quadrant Activity Checklist: + Click on the star map to see which stars you can travel to + Don't make one way trips (in red) to stars that don't have fuel depots + Click on a green star to warp there. - Vlad ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This screen shows a large 3D star map on the left side, a column of icons on the right side, and a game clock in the lower left hand corner. The Quadrant Screen shows all the stars in the Kessari Quadrant. ROTATE STAR MAP ON / OFF: Click the Rotate icon. SET STAR MAP ORIENTATION: Click the Orientation meter below Rotate icon. VIEW STARS BY NAME: / BY LABEL: Click the Name icon to toggle between star names and star labels. Star labels describe the stars based on the game information the user has discovered there. Explored stars are displayed as "+" and unexplored stars are displayed as a dot. VIEW SELECTED STAR NAMES: Type star's name one letter at a time to filter the star names displayed on the star map. Backspace to erase the letters in the filter. For example, type HEL and only Helios is displayed. Backspace once and Helios, Hecaton, and Hestia are displayed. Backspace three times and all star name are displayed. VIEW ALL STAR NAMES: Backspace until all the letters are erased from the name filter. Click the Display icons until they are all grayed out. Click the Name icon until all star names are displayed. NAVIGATE TO ANOTHER STAR: Click within the star map to enter Navigation Mode, move the cursor to select your destination, click to warp there. Right click to exit Navigation Mode. CHECK FUEL RANGE: In Navigation Mode, Green stars indicate you have enough fuel to go there and return. Red indicates you can make a one-way trip. Purple indicates a star is out of range. Because the map is three dimensional, some stars inside the green circle are coded red or purple and some stars inside the red circle are coded purple. Note the color of the line that connects to your destination to confirm how much fuel the trip will require. DISPLAY ICON CONTROLS: These displays may be mixed and matched to view the information necessary at any time. Objects on the star map are coded with a colored square: green = friendly, blue = neutral, red = enemy. VIEW KNOWN COLONIES: Click the Colony icon to toggle Colonies on / off. VIEW KNOWN ARTIFACTS: Click the Artifacts icon to toggle Artifacts on / off. VIEW KNOWN SHIPS: Click the Ships icon to toggle Ships on / off. VIEW KNOWN FUEL SOURCES: Click the Fuel icon to toggle Fuel Sources on / off. SYSTEM SCREEN ------------------------------- System Activity Checklist: + Scan each planet to look for colonies or anomalies (text in yellow) + Go to friendly colonies and pick up fuel. At the colony: ++ Ask questions of the owners. ++ Add new ships to your fleet. Leave some ships behind to defend the colony. + Check out the colony from the Orbit and Colony Screens. + Go to enemy fleets or colonies and deal with the aliens. + Go to planets with anomalies, deal with any aliens, and dig up artifacts. - Vlad ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This screen shows the star system containing the user's colony fleet. The System Screen is divided into 3 windows and the icon bar containing the common controls on the right side. The System Window at the top of the screen shows a stylized view of the star and all planets and moons in the system. The system name is listed in the upper right corner of this window. Important planets will be labeled on this display. The System Radar in the lower left window displays an over view of all planets and fleets in the system. These are color coded by alignment: green = friendly, blue = neutral, and red = enemy. The active fleet is highlighted in yellow. The Fleet Display in the lower right hand window shows all the ships in the active fleet, along with the crew carried by each ship. GET SENSOR INFORMATION: Scan a planet or moon in the System Window to get basic sensor information. Colonies, dig sites, and sensor anomalies representing potential dig sites are displayed in yellow. MOVE COLONY FLEET: Click on a planet or moon to move the colony fleet there. When the colony fleet is in orbit about a planet, that planet rotates. Click on rotating quasi-space portals to travel through them. SELECT AN ACTIVE FLEET: The active fleet is displayed in yellow. The colony fleet is active by default. Right click in the System Radar to de-activate all fleets. When no fleet is active, click on any green fleet to activate it. MOVE THE ACTIVE FLEET: Click on a planet or fleet in the system radar to move the active fleet there. JOIN TWO FLEETS: If you move one fleet to another fleet, the fleets join. The maximum size of a fleet is 25 ships. If the combined fleet would be bigger than 25 ships, some ships join and the rest form a separate fleet. MOVE SOME SHIPS IN THE ACTIVE FLEET: Click on ships in the Fleet Window to highlight them. Click on a planet or fleet in the System Radar to move the highlighted ships there. If no ships are highlighted, the entire fleet moves there. Right click to un- highlight all ships. Click and drag the mouse pointer over the System Radar to highlight many ships at once. Click on a highlighted ship to un-highlight it. ORBIT SCREEN ------------------------------- Orbit Activity Checklist: + At friendly colonies, transfer some crew and Resource Units to your ship so you can make more colonies + If there's an anomaly, make a dig site and unearth an artifact + If there's nothing on the surface and the planet has lots of resources, scan the surface and see which races would make good colonists. + If one of those races is on board, make a new colony with that race. - Vlad ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This screen shows the items, crew, and ships that are with the colony fleet and a sensor scan of the planet the fleet is orbiting. The Orbit Screen is divided into 4 windows and the icon bar with the common controls on the right side. The Inventory Window at the top of the screen is divided into 3 areas. The first three icons on the top row display the amount of Resource Units, Fuel, and Colony Pods carried by the Colony Ship. The rest of the icons in the top row are the objects the Colony Ship is carrying, including ICOM, the all purpose advisor. If the Colony Ship is carrying more than 14 objects, then a slider below the objects is displayed. Adjust the slider to display the desired objects. The second row of icons in the Inventory Window displays the various races of alien colonists that the Colony Ship can carry. The number of crew carried is shown below each icon. The Ship Window, below the Inventory Window, displays all the ships orbiting the planet. The Colony Ship is always the first icon in the top row. If the Colony Fleet is orbiting a colony with a Star Base, then an orbiting Star Base icon is displayed below the Colony Fleet. Ships in the Ship Window are displayed with their current and maximum crew. Ships in the colony fleet have a small marker representing the colony ship in the upper right of their icon. The Text Window, below the Ship Window, displays information about the objects in the inventory, messages from the Colony Ship's Tech Teams, sensor information, and other information as appropriate. The Sensor Scan at the bottom left of the System Screen displays a color coded habitability scan of the planet the Colony Fleet is orbiting. The surface of a planet may be empty, may have an anomaly, may have a dig site, or may have an active colony. If the Colony ship is carrying one or more Colony Pods and an appropriate number of crew, it can create dig sites and colonies. Each planet may only have one colony, and each colony is controlled by one race. A colony will be populated by crew of that race, make that race's ships, and allow the Colony Fleet to communicate with members of that race. Some planets have buried artifacts of scientific value. These register as anomalies on the sensor scan. The Colony Ship may send down a party to dig for artifacts at the site of the anomaly. GET ADVICE FROM ICOM: Click the ICOM inventory icon. Click Talk To and have a dialogue with ICOM. MANIPULATE AN INVENTORY OBJECT: Click on an inventory item to get the options for that object. Click on the option you want to execute or right click to cancel all options. TRANSFER CREW: Click on an alien icon to bring up the Crew Transfer Box. Adjust the sliders to transfer crew between the Colony Ship on the left side and the colony, dig site, and ships on the right side. Click outside the Crew Transfer Box to complete the transfer. TRANSFER RESOURCE UNITS: Click on the Resource Units icon to bring up the Resource Units Transfer Box. Adjust the slider to transfer Resource Units between the Colony Ship on the left side and the colony on the right side. Click outside the Resource Units Transfer Box to complete the transfer. UPGRADE SHIPS: Ships can be upgraded at a friendly star base if the user has found and researched the appropriate upgrade artifact and has 1000 Resource Units. Click on the Star base, then click on the ship to be upgraded. Upgraded ships can have increased maneuverability, energy, crew, or firepower. CHECK HABITABILITY: Scan the mouse pointer over the sensor scan and note the colored bars below each alien race icon in the Inventory Window. The more bars displayed, the more productive that race's colony would be in that location. No bars is the least productive location. Five green bars is the most productive location. CREATE A COLONY: The Colony Fleet may send down settlers to create a colony on an uninhabited world. Scan the mouse pointer over the sensor scan to find the best site for the new colony. Click on the site of the colony. Click on the icon of the alien race who will populate the colony. From the Create Colony Box, adjust the sliders to transfer crew down to the new colony. Click outside the Create Colony Box to complete the transfer. CREATE A DIG SITE: Click on the site of the anomaly to target the location of the dig site. Choose which alien race will crew the dig site. From the Create Dig site Box, adjust the sliders to transfer crew down to the dig site. Click outside the Create Dig Site Box to complete the transfer. Completing the dig will take some time. A completion percentage is listed on the Dig site icon. The Colony Ship may wait in orbit, or continue exploring and return when the dig is completed. When the dig is completed, the crew is transferred back to the ship along with all the objects they uncover. Those artifacts of immediate interest are transferred to the Inventory Window. The ship's Tech Team or ICOM may make a report on the new artifacts. Other objects of lesser immediate interest are not transferred to the Inventory Window. The Tech Team will report at a later time if they discover important information about these other objects. COLONY SCREEN ------------------------------ Colony Activity Checklist: + If you don't know what finished goods you need, don't worry about adjusting anything. By default, colonies grow on their own and will manufacture some of everything. + If you know which finished goods you want most, set that slider to maximum. - Vlad ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This screen shows the colony on the planet the Colony Fleet is orbiting. The screen shows the colony facilities in the window on the left side of the screen, the output of the colony in the top 6 icons on the right side of the screen, and the common controls in the bottom 5 icons on the right side of the screen. The three icons at the top left of the screen display the Colony Ship Inventory. Colonies produce the materials the Colony Fleet needs to complete its mission in the Kessari Quadrant. A colony produces four kinds of finished goods: Crew, Resource Units, Ships, and Colony Pods. The user can adjust the manpower priority assigned to each of the seven facilities in a colony. No matter how big the population of the colony, manpower and resources will be assigned according to the priorities set by the factory sliders. Manufacturing finished goods takes time. The colony will continue to produce finished goods according to the priorities set by the user. The Colony Fleet may wait in orbit, or continue exploring and return as finished goods are completed. COLONY FACILITIES Colonies can be created on any planet or moon. For simplicity, we will refer to all colonies as being on planets. The productivity of a colony depends on where it is situated and how it is managed. ADJUST COLONY PRIORITIES: Adjust the sliders controlling the manpower priorities of the facilities to control the productivity of the colony. Move the slider to the left to reduce the priority, move it to the right to increase the priority. The manpower assigned to each facility is displayed above and to the right of the slider. If every facility could utilize an infinite amount of manpower, and the user assigned them all maximum priority, then all would have equal priority and get equal manpower. Also, if the user assigned them all minimum priority then all would have equal priority and get equal manpower. However, if all facilities but one are set to minimum and that one set to maximum, the minimum would get zero manpower and the maximum would get all available manpower. Use the relative settings of the sliders to set the colony's priorities. Each facility has a maximum manpower capacity. When a facility is just an empty foundation its capacity is zero. The user should still set the facility's priority so when it's completed it will be assigned manpower. As a facility expands, its capacity increases. The total manpower assigned to colony facilities is limited by the colony's population. The total manpower assigned to all facilities may be slightly less than the total population of the colony to reflect management and overhead. TYPES OF FACILITIES Fuel Refinery: This facility processes Ore Units into Interstellar Fuel for the Colony Fleet. Star ships do not require fuel to travel within a star system, but the range of the Colony Fleet's Warp Bubble interstellar drive is limited by fuel. All fuel at a friendly colony is automatically transferred to the Colony Fleet in orbit as soon as it is produced. Refinery: This facility processes Ore Units into Resource Units or RUs. Resource Units are a universal currency and are required to create facilities, ships, and colony pods. The Colony Fleet may take RUs from a friendly colony and transfer them to another colony, use them to upgrade ships, or give them to other races. Mines: This facility digs up Ore Units from the planet or moon. The productivity of the mines is based on both the manpower assigned and the Resources of the planet. Find the Resource level by scanning the planet in the System Window of the System Screen. The more Resources a planet has, the faster ore will be produced. However, if a planet has zero resources, then ore will not be produced. Factory: This facility processes Resource Units into new and expanded facilities. The factory will produce facilities first according to need. If the mines, refinery, or population is almost full, then these will be expanded first. If none of these facilities are close to capacity, then the facilities will be built and expanded according to their manpower priority. When all facilities in a colony have been built and fully expanded, the factory manpower capacity is reduced to zero. Star Base: This facility processes Resource Units into new Star ships. Completed star ships are added to a fleet orbiting the planet. Landing Pod Factory: This facility processes Resource Units into new Colony Pods. Each Colony Pod produced at a friendly colony is automatically transferred to the Colony Fleet in orbit as soon as it is produced. Research: This facility discovers the secrets behind some of the unusual artifacts found in the Kessari Quadrant. To research an object, click on the object in the Inventory Window of the Orbit Screen and click on Research. Once the research is completed, click on the object again and click on Examine to discover its function. No manpower is assigned to Research until there is an object to study. However, the user should set this slider so that when their is an object to study, the appropriate manpower will be assigned to complete the work swiftly. ICONS Population: This icon represents the race that controls the colony. The number lists the population of the colony. The bar beneath the icon displays how close the colony is to full capacity. As the population increases, the Factory will build new barracks to provide additional capacity. Ore Units: This icon represents the Ore Units produced by the Mine. The number lists the number of Ore Units in storage. If the number is increasing, the colony is producing Ore Units faster than it is consuming them. The bar beneath the icon displays how close the colony is to full capacity. As the amount of ore in storage increases, the Factory will build new storage to provide additional capacity. Resource Units: This icon represents the Resource Units produced by the Refinery. The number lists the number of Resource Units in storage. If the number is increasing, the colony is producing Resource Units faster than it is consuming them. The bar beneath the icon displays how close the colony is to full capacity. As the amount of Resource Units in storage increases, the Factory will build new storage to provide additional capacity. Factory Progress: This icon represents what the factory is building and its progress. The number and bar beneath the icon displays the progress toward completion of the facility. Ship Built: This icon represents what the star base is building and its progress. The number and bar beneath the icon displays the progress toward completion of the star ship. Research Artifact: This icon represents what artifact is being researched and its progress. The number and bar beneath the icon displays the progress toward completion of the research. CONTROL SCREEN ------------------------------- This screen shows the options for controlling the game. SAVE GAME: Click the Save icon. This option lists the description of all saved games. Click on [New Save File], type a description, and press ENTER to create a new saved game. Click on an old saved file, type a description, and press ENTER to replace the old save with the current game. Confirm the replacement by pressing Y for yes or exit by pressing N for no. If there are more saved files than will fit on one screen, move the pointer to the top or bottom of the screen to scroll the list. You can save the game from many game screens by pressing F2. LOAD SAVED GAME: Click the Load icon. This option lists the description of all saved games. If there are more saved files than will fit on one screen, move the pointer to the top or bottom of the screen to scroll the list. Click on a saved game to load it. Confirm the load by typing Y for yes or exit by pressing N for no. You can load a game from many game screens by pressing F3. CONFIGURE SOUND: Click Configure. Set Music Volume: Click on the Music bar to set the music volume, full left equals music off. Set Sound Effects Volume: Click on the Sound bar to set the sound effects volume, full left equals sound effects off. Set Voice Volume: Click on the Voice bar to set the voice volume, full left equals voice off. Set Text With Voice On / Off: Click on the option to switch the alien dialogue text on or off. Exit Configuration With New Settings: Click OK to go to the Control Screen and accept the changes. Exit Configuration With Old Settings: Click Cancel to go to the Control Screen and ignore changes. RETURN TO ADVENTURE GAME: Click the Continue Playing icon to go to the last game screen. QUIT ADVENTURE GAME: Click the Quit icon to go to Title Screen. Confirm by pressing Y for yes or exit by pressing N for no. DIALOGUE SCREEN ------------------------------- Many times during the game, events will trigger a dialogue. The captain can talk to representatives of different races, his crew, or ICOM. The dialogue screen is divided into a large view screen with the dialogue and responses displayed below. The ICOM screen displays the dialogue and responses at the top of the screen. While someone is talking, click to advance to their next statement. When they are finished talking, the user is given a list of choices. Click on a choice to advance the dialogue. Greyed-out responses are ones you've chosen previously. Choose a greyed-out response to review a previous answer or check for additional information on a return visit. If you are playing with "Text With Voice" set to "Off" and "Voice" set to "On", then you will only see your choices, not the alien statements. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GAMEPLAY TIPS AND HINTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- There are lots of ways to have fun while completing your mission and winning Star Control 3. All of them are right! You're playing the right way when you're having the most fun. You can concentrate on exploring everything in reach or creating a web of colonies on the most promising planets or building a massive fleet to seek out fleets of enemy ships. Or just wing it and do some of each. You'll find your most important skill is finding and negotiating with alien races. You can help them settle crises throughout the Quadrant. In doing so, they can help you achieve your mission. Listen for clues you get while talking to the aliens. You can follow up on them in almost any order. The clues will show you how you can complete your mission and win the game. Exploring: --------- Remember your mission goals in the Kessari Quadrant include both exploration and colonization. Some of the time you will be dashing back and forth between stars trying to solve crises. If there are no immediate crises to deal with, explore new stars, dig up buried Precursor artifacts, upgrade your ships, and create new colonies to maximize your productivity. Stars you have visited are displayed as a + on the Quadrant screen, un-visited stars as a dot. New crises will come soon enough; fulfilling your mission goals will help you be ready for them. Interstellar Communications ----------------- Most races have special communications systems, built with rare Precursor technology, so they may communicate between their colonies. Most of the time, when you communicate with a race's colony, you are speaking to the leader of that race, even though most leaders stay on their home worlds. Some races can also communicate between their colonies and their fleets. When you speak to these races' fleets, you are actually speaking to the leader of the race. Other races do not have this ability, so you will speak to the fleet commander. Judge carefully who you are speaking with when communicating with a fleet. The League has a limited ability to send messages from the colonies to the Precursor Colony Ship. Most League-to-Colony Ship communications are limited to very short messages. The League has not yet discovered how to send messages from the Colony Ship so, the Colony Ship must physically travel to a destination to have a two-way conversation. Fuel Management --------------- It is possible to warp into a system and not have enough fuel to return to a friendly colony. This strands the player's ship. Here are some things you can watch out for and do to help avoid and/or solve the problem. How To Avoid Running Out Of Fuel: The easiest way to avoid running out of fuel is never to make jumps to stars marked in red unless you know there is a friendly fuel source. When you put your pointer over a star in navigation mode, the color of the line connecting your source and destination will be red if you only have enough fuel for a one way trip. The destination system displays all known fuel sources (if any) in the system; friendly fuel sources have a green marker. A good way to make sure you have as much fuel as possible is to visit your allied colonies regularly. It is not sufficient to visit the system; you must orbit the friendly colony planet to pick up fuel. Besides, they'll be happy to see you, and may have new questions to ask, or new information for you. Sometimes you get caught because of changing circumstances: an ally defects and won't give you fuel, or you accidentally choose the wrong destination star and don't end up at a fuel source. When you go into navigation mode there are no friendly fuel sources within the green or red range. Now you have a problem. How To Get Fuel: There are two ways out of the problem; make more fuel, or jump somewhere that has fuel (even if that fuel isn't showing now). You make more fuel by creating a colony in your current system and waiting for them to make some. To make a colony you need a colony landing pod, a planet with resources, and colonists that can work on that planet. Scan all the planets in your system and find the one with the most resources. Go there and check the habitability to find out which races can work there effectively. Remember that you can pull crew off your ships to work in your colony. If you've got a pod, an appropriate planet, and appropriate crew, put down the colony. Set the mine, refinery, factory, and fuel refinery to max, and everything else to minimum until you build a fuel refinery. Then set everything but the mine and the fuel refinery to minimum and wait for the refinery to make enough fuel to get you back to another friendly colony. To minimize the wait, set the clock to maximum. Don't forget to evacuate the colonists, re- crew your ships, and reset your clock before you leave. The other way out of your dilemma is to jump to a star and hope there is an undiscovered League colony there. Check with ICOM to see if there are any transmissions from League colonies to follow up on. If not, save your game, and trust your luck. If you can't make a colony, and there are no undiscovered League colonies within range, you may be stranded. You'll have to reload your last save and watch your fuel more closely next time. Example Of Play: --------------- Check out Helios, the system you start in. Fly to the colony on Helios 3. Talk to the commander and join up with the cruisers. Check out the alien ship orbiting Helios 4 and defend yourself if necessary. There's also an anomaly on the surface; dig it up and see what's there. Return to Helios 3 to get fuel. When the colony fuel refinery is on-line, check out how far you can warp on the quadrant map. When you've got the fuel for a round trip, warp to Goshen, the nearest star. Check out everything in Goshen, then continue your exploration of the Kessari Quadrant from there. General Hints: ------------- When you start at Helios, go to the System Screen and talk to the colony. For your first few trips between the stars, follow the Checklist in the manual for each game screen. Experiment! Click on planets and stars and items to see what they do. Anytime you're unsure what could happen next, press F2 and save your game first. Use descriptive save names to chronicle your journey. If you're not sure what to do next, press F5 and ask ICOM for a hint. Only fight with the colony ship if you're certain you'll win the battle. You can only meet your primary mission goals by meeting and interacting with lots of different aliens. In the beginning, don't worry too much about the passage of time. If you're not comfortable with how fast time is passing, adjust the speed of the game clock. You are the Leader of the expedition, trust your computerized staff: * Your Tech Teams will call when they find important information. * ICOM remembers everything important that happens. * Your colonies develop on their own and manufacture some of everything you might need. * The computer can even fight your star ship battles for you. You have lots of different resources, don't be afraid to use them to fulfill your objectives: * Early on, you'll need as much fuel and raw ore as your colonies can make. * Use surplus Resource Units from established colonies to make new colonies grow faster. * Like fuel or colony pods, ships are an expendable resource. * Don't waste colony landing pods on inhospitable planets with 0 resources. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CUSTOMER SERVICE ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The latest technical support issues are listed in the HELP.ME file. Consult that document for the most up-to-date information on installation and known problems with the program. Please refer to the README.TXT file for the most up-to-date addenda to the manual. On-line Support: Accolade gives customer service, news, demos, technical support, and other information on the following on-line services: America On-line: Industry Connection, keyword: Accolade Compuserve: Game Publishers' A Forum, GO GAMAPUB Internet: techelp@accolade.com WWW: http://www.accolade.com Contact Us Directly: Accolade provides help by telephone Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm Pacific Standard Time. Call 1-408-296-8400 (voice) or 1-408-246-0231 (FAX). You may also write us at the following postal address: Customer Service Accolade, Inc. 5300 Stevens Creek Blvd., Suite 500 San Jose, CA 95129 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LEGAL MUMBO JUMBO ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Star Control 3 and ACCOLADE are trademarks of Accolade, Inc. (c) 1996 Accolade, Inc. All rights reserved. Star Control 3 is based upon characters created and used under license from Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford. DOS 4GW Professional used under license agreement with Tenberry Software, Inc. Acrobat and the Acrobat logo are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated which may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Windows and Windows 95 are registered trademarks of Microsoft in the United States and/or other countries. WATCOM C++ used under license agreement with WATCOM, Inc. AIL 3.5 portions of the game code used under license agreement with Miles Design, Inc. General MIDI timbres for Yamaha OPL-2- and OPL-3-based sound cards were produced by The Fat Man TM and developed by K. Weston Phelan and George Alistair Sanger. (c) 1993, The Fat Man TM. 90 DAY WARRANTY Accolade, Inc. warrants for a period of 90 days from the date of purchase by the original purchaser of the Software that the recording medium on which it is recorded will be free from defects in materials and workmanship. Defective media which has not been subjected to misuse, excessive wear or damage due to carelessness may be returned during the 90-day period without charge. After the 90-day period, defective media may be replaced in the United States for $10 (U.S. dollars, plus 8.25% sales tax if the purchaser resides in California). Make checks payable to Accolade, Inc. and return to Accolade, Inc., Attn: Customer Service, 5300 Stevens Creek Blvd., Suite 500, San Jose, CA 95129. (To speed up processing, return only your CD-ROM. Please do not return collateral materials. LICENSE AGREEMENT This computer software product (the Software) and user manual is provided to the Customer under license from Accolade, Inc. and is subject to the following terms and conditions, to which the Customer agrees by opening the package of the Software, user manual and/or using the Software. Granting of this license does not transfer any right, title or interest in the Software, or user manual to the Customer except as expressly set forth in this License Agreement. The Software and user manuals may not be copied for any reason. The Customer may not transfer or resell the Software or user manual. The remedies provided above are the Customer's sole and exclusive remedies. In no event shall Accolade, Inc. be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages with respect to the Software or the user manual. Except as provided above, Accolade makes no warranties, either express or implied, with respect to the Software or user manual, and expressly disclaims all implied warranties, including, without limitation, the warranty of merchantability and of fitness for a particular purpose. ********************************** *** Use the UP and DOWN arrow *** *** keys to scroll this text *** *** file and ESC key to return *** *** to the menu. *** ********************************** **********************************************************************