Game Controls
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Space Interface
This is intended to be a sort of all-in-one Beginner's guide to The Universal. It therefore may contain information already listed elsewhere File:Space Interface.JPG
- Movement: Arrow keys tilt the spacecraft up and down as well as rotating it side-to-side. The PGUP and PGDN keys control the ship's thrusters, holding shift while pressing them increases their affect. Press Home will automatically put the thrusters to full. To access a world, you must literally 'crash' into the side of it (this doesn't actually hurt you or your ship in anyway)
- Weapons: Tab key fires lasers which travel on a linear path and have a range of about 15 parsecs (varies with ship/target speed). Maneuvering the cross hairs in the general direction of another player will cause a missile lock to establish, that player will be highlighted by a box for the duration of the lock. Pressing Shift+Tab will launch a missile at the target which cannot be avoided by evasive tactics and must stopped using a ECM (countermeasure). ECMs can be used either by clicking on the ECM button that appears when you are targeted by an incoming missile or by pressing the Delete key. Keep in mind that missiles and ECMs must be purchased individually at a space station to be used.
Communications: (General) Simply type in the message you wish to say and press Enter. Your messages along with those of other players will be displayed in the window at the bottom. The window can be expanded by pressing F2.
- (Long-range) It is best to join an active chat channel to keep in touch with people when venturing out into deep space. To do so type in ?setchat followed by the name of the channel (ex. ?setchat Public1). If you are a member of an official guild (not to be confused with a player-made clan) then you will have a chat tab available labeled 'guild' this can be used to contact all other active players in that guild. Typing ?chat (or ?guild in the case of guild channel) will display who is currently on the channel. Note: these channels can also be used from the surface of a planet.
- (Immediate range) Players also have access to a an in-system chat channel that connects everyone who is in your current star system. Like the guild channel, this is given its own tab at the bottom. If you wish to have a private conversation with a player in your system you may do so by clicking on their name under the In-System list on the right side of your screen. They will then appear in your target window with some buttons. One of these buttons is for a 'comm channel', clicking this will send out a request to the other player. If someone is requesting a private channel with you, their name will flash red on the side of the screen, click it and then the 'Open channel' button to begin speaking in a private channel. This channel will only be usable while you are both in the same system (planetside does not count).
Traveling: Due to the general bigness of space, you cannot access every part of it using your conventional propulsion drives. To access another star system you have several options. To start off with you are provided with a L4 (Level 4) 'stardrive' and a Fipro (short for Finite Probability Drive).
- Stardrives are rather simple operate, simply click the star system you wish to go to in the F6 menu and hit the 'Stardrive' button in the upper-left corner of the screen and after a short animation you will find yourself there. However, you are limited in the systems you can currently stardrive to by the level of your stardrive (corresponds to its max distance) and the amount of uridium you have (1 uridium corresponds to 1 unit of length).
- The Fipro can be very useful, especially to new players. Clicking the 'Fipro' button brings up a menu displaying a small list of planets that have been pre-selected and a little bit of information about each. If you wish to visit one of these worlds click on it and your instantly teleported there.
Easy, no? Note: this drive (and the Infimp) requires a great deal of energy to use and so your ship is unable to warp more than the ship itself and its equipment. This means you cannot use it while carrying any sort of cargo.
- The Infimp which is short for Infinite Improbability Drive, is a step up from the Fipro. It is in many ways identical to it, except that in order to select a destination you must type in the name of the world you wish to go to. Making the number of different worlds you can visit limitless.
