Your ship panel is easy to read: on the top, you'll find a radar. Always keep an eye on it; pay attention to objects' colors and moves! Often, it'll just be a matter of a couple of seconds, before somebody strikes you to death.
Below the radar, you'll see your speed bar. It tracks your current velocity; you can see how your maximum speed increases as you fetch appropriate goody objects. The bar's color will change when you'll get red barrels (shown later), and you'll be able to thrust and turn more rapidly.
Then, there is the shields bar. Every clash will make it decrease, because of an energy loss in your ship's system. If the bar goes below its half, maybe you're already having troubles! The color will change with red barrels, meaning you'll own tougher shields.
The Ammo bar shows the firing capacity of your cannons. This bar too will be incremented as you fetch the right goodies (shown later).
