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- OUTPOST TIPS
-
- ** WARNING: You may not want to read this note unless you're really
- having a hard time getting your colony started. **
-
-
- IF YOU'RE HAVING TROUBLE KEEPING YOUR COLONY ALIVE
-
-
- SEED FACTORY AND ROBOMINER
- Use the Elevation Map on the site map window to choose a landing area.
- The clear terrain is marked in black, so the best locations are black
- with red diamonds (which mark potential mines identified from orbit).
-
- When you place the Seed factory, a red "X" will appear on the diamond-
- shaped tile map. Run a turn by left clicking on the small planet in
- the lower right hand corner of the screen, then the turn numnber will
- appear below the planet. When you see the Seed lander on the map (in
- place of the red "X"), you can start running turns to get the Seed
- factory started. Construction tiles and pre-fabricated tubes will
- appear.
-
- While the Seed factory is building itself, place a robominer from the
- tile selector window on one of the red mining beacons nearby. If you
- don't see a mining beacon, scroll to that position on the map by
- clicking on the tile map arrows and watch the box on the site map to
- line it up with a red diamond. When you place a robominer on the red
- mining beacon, you will see the robot replace the beacon. It will
- take several turns for the first level of the mine to be dug, after
- which it will automatically move resources to the Seed factory.
-
- As you run your first turns, keep using the robodozer to clear
- terrain around your Seed factory. Also place a robodigger at the
- end of one of the tubes at the Seed factory construction site so
- that it can start digging your first underground level. When the
- robodigger is finished digging, the robodigger on the map will be
- replaced with the top of an air shaft.
-
- EARLY CONSTRUCTION
- In the Construction section of the manual, it is suggested that you
- build your first few structures in this order: Agricultural Dome,
- CHAP, power facility, storage tanks, residential units. If your
- morale is falling fast, you may want to build a residential unit or
- two to slow the fall of morale before you build a power facility
- (since the Seed provides power for about 150 turns).
-
- Because a SPEW facility provides resources from the sewage generated
- by residential units, this is also a good structure to build early
- on, along with a warehouse and a robot command facility to make use
- of robots built by your Seed factory. Gradually add more mines to
- keep your resources flowing. Remember that an operating SPEW will
- generate MPG, which will take the place of any resources you may
- temporarily be missing. MPG is stored at the SPEW facility and used
- automatically when necessary to maintain existing structures.
-
- SEED FACTORY COLLAPSE
- Remember also that you will lose your Seed factory units (power,
- smelter, robot factory) after 150 turns, so you must built structures
- to account for this loss if you want to maintain those functions.
-
- Before the Seed factory units collapse, make sure that your tube
- connections will be maintained between structures. Tubes are required
- to carry power and air, both for construction of new buildings and
- maintenance of those buildings.
-
- SAVE GAMES
- Note that games can only be saved from the main game screen where you
- see the diamond-shaped map. If you encounter a problem saving a game,
- try running another turn before you select the Save Game option. This
- will complete the internal processing steps required so that you can
- save the current state of the game. Running a single turn is
- accomplished by left-clicking on the small planet icon in the lower
- right-hand corner of the main game screen. This screen is the only
- place where games can be saved.
-
- ROBODIGGERS AND ROBOMINERS
- To extend a mine shaft to a deeper level on planets where this is
- possible, place a robominer directly on an existing underground mine
- shaft. This will not affect the functioning of the existing mine.
-
- To extend an air shaft to a deeper level on planets where this is
- possible, place a robodigger directly on an existing underground air
- shaft.
-
- WHEN ROBODIGGERS DIG
- On the surface of the planet, a robodigger can only dig a new level
- when it starts next to a surface tube connecting it to its home
- colony. Because the robodigger constructs the air shaft for the
- underground levels, the tube connection is required to carry air and
- power to underground structures.
-
- WHEN PEOPLE ARE DYING TOO FAST AFTER LANDING ON A NEW PLANET
- It is often wise to leave your colonists in orbit for the first 20
- turns while your Seed factory and its robots are doing their jobs to
- get the colony started. This number will vary somewhat depending on
- how much life support and food you brought with you on the starship
- (you packed it at the Ship Configuration screen before leaving on the
- trip to the new planet).
-
- After you bring your first colonist lander down to the surface of the
- planet, you have about 20 more turns in which to make sure that a
- CHAP facility is built. Some people may die in the meantime due to
- accidents or old age, depending on the hostility level of the planet
- you've chosen.
-
- RESOURCE MOVEMENT FROM MINES TO COLONY SMELTERS
- Mined ores are stored at each mine shaft until a full load is ready
- to be moved by the truck assigned to that mine. When built, each
- mine has one truck to automatically move ores to the Seed factory
- smelter or to the high-capacity smelter you can build yourself.
- Storage tanks are also required to receive the smelted resources
- and make them available to the colony.
-
- TRUCKS
- Trucks can be produced by your surface factories. These trucks will
- make a slight difference in the speed of your resource movements
- between the mines and the smelters and the storage tanks. These
- trucks are not affected by the robot command facility limit of ten
- robots each.
-
- ROADS AND MONORAILS
- Although there are no roads or monorails in this version of Outpost,
- resources are moved automatically from place to place as necessary.
- Each mine has a truck assigned to it when built, which will move a
- new load after enough ore has stacked up at the mine.
-
- SOUND CARDS
- Any sound card supported by Windows will work with Outpost. During
- the Installation process, the question regarding the Roland sound
- cards (MT-32, etc.) is asked so that the special music file for those
- sound cards can be loaded instead of the standard music file.
-
- READ THE READ.ME
- And be sure to read the read.me file included with the game on the
- "Outpost Launch Control Disk" for more information.
-