Basic ship operation

Assumptions

This guide assumes that the reader either has a ship, or is interested in learning more about how ships work before purchasing one. We assume that the reader’s ship is landed in some hangar (whether it be on a planet, in a station, or inside of another ship).

Entering a landed ship

Before following any of the instructions in this guide, you’ll want to enter your ship. You can do so using the enter command from within a hangar.

Note

Entry to ships is restricted based on identity and/or corporate affiliation. Make sure you’re entering your own ship.

Depending on the size of the ship you are entering, you will either hop straight into the cockpit, or find yourself in one of the ship’s rooms (probably the airlock). Fighters and some Frigates are small enough to only have a single “section”, the cockpit. Larger ships have multiple sections/rooms within, so you’ll need to find the Bridge. A ship’s Bridge is functionally equivalent to a smaller ship’s Cockpit, it’s just much bigger and can hold quite a few people.

Tip

The only place a ship may be controlled from is its Cockpit or Bridge.

Inspecting your ship

The best overall indicator of your ship’s status and general health can be found via the status command. This will show you a quick, high level view of things such as:

• Where your ship is.
• Armor and Shield levels.
• Any special conditions being applied to the ship (jammed, warp scrambled, etc.)
• A very brief weapons/module readout.

Warning

Show some example command output here.

You’ll want to consult your status readout during combat to help keep track of how you’re holding up.

Launching from a Hangar

Your ship should be sitting in a hangar of some sort at this point. To take off and get into space, you’ll want to use the launch command.

After a short delay, you’ll find your ship floating out in space by whatever planet/station/ship you launched from.

Note

Many ship commands aren’t available while landed/docked.

Sensors and Scanners

Whether you are in a single-seat Fighter or a massive Carrier, your only reliable view of the outside world comes courtesy of your ship’s sensors. To see what other ships or objects are near your ship, you’ll use the contacts command. Only ships that are in the same location as you will be shown with this readout.

Warning

Show some example command output here.

Some basic details on what each object is are returned, along with its unique numerical ID. You will use this numerical ID with any command that interacts with objects in space.

Scanning ships/objects in space

To get more details on something that neighbors you in space, use the scan command with the ship/object’s unique ID number. For example, if a Fighter in your location has the ID 1835, I could scan it like this:

scan 1835

This will return a readout very similar to your own status command. The big difference is that some of the information will be less specific, or omitted altogether.

Note

Any time you scan another ship, its sensors may notice. This depends on your scanner and your target’s sensors. Know that some pilots take scanning as an aggressive action.

Navigating Solar Systems

Your ship should now be outside of whatever planet/station/ship it launched from. You are now flying around in a Solar System. You can see which Solar System you’re in via the status command. Solar Systems are inter-connected by Jump Gates, which we’ll cover in more detail later.

Solar Systems are partitioned into Locations. For example, “Near Station J12”, “Near the Sol Jump Gate”, or “In Asteroid Belt 12”. These are roughly equivalent to a traditional MUD’s Rooms. If Location is to Room, Solar System is to a traditional MUD’s Areas or Zones.

Ships can only interact with other ships that are in the same location. For example, it’s not possible to fire at a ship that is near the “Sol Jump Gate” from your position in “Asteroid Belt 12”.

Warping to Locations

Almost every ship in the game is equipped with a Faster-Than-Light warp drive. These drives are the way you get from Location to Location within a Solar System. To see your current location, you use the status, or the warp command with no arguments.

To see a full list of locations that you may warp to, use the warp command with no arguments.

Warning

Show some example command output here.

Note that each Location has a unique ID number, just like ships do. You’ll use this number with the warp command to warp around the system. For example, let’s say we have a Location called “Asteroid Belt 12” that has a unique identifier of 1832:

warp 1832

This would fire up our warp drive, and after a brief delay, we’d appear in the Asteroid Belt.

Traveling to Different Systems

To travel to different systems, you’ll first need to warp to a Jump Gate. Jump Gates are large, stationary mass accelerators that fling you to distant locations.

Once you have picked out and warped to a Jump Gate, you’ll actually jump through it with the jump command. Note that it is not necessary to specify any arguments with the jump command, as we can infer that you moved to a specific Jump Gate by warping there.

After a short delay, you will find yourself far from where you started. You are then free to warp around your new Solar System, or jump back to your previous location.

Docking/Landing

It is very unwise to leave your ship floating out in space when you retire for the night. It is unlikely that your neighbors will resist the temptation to destroy your ship (with your character in it).

You may dock or land your ship on Planets, Stations, or other Ships. Your options will vary based on who you are, your corporate affiliation, and your personal and corporate standings.

The easiest way to find likely places to dock is to look at your warp list for Locations that look like Planets or Stations. Warp to either of these, then use the dock command with no arguments to see a list of docking/landing options for your current Location. Like almost everything else, each location has a unique ID, which you can use with the dock command:

dock 1293

After a short delay, your ship ends up in whatever hangar you selected.

Note

Your docking options may vary based on your identity and corporate affiliation.