Long time no see!

I took a look and it seemed that even though they were very far away, by sheer luck, one player detected the other.  That wasnt my intention so I changed some code on the server side that limits a ships ability to see things out to 5 times their detection rating times 50Km, so a ship with detection rating 1 could conceivably see things out to 250Km, but its a small chance.

Also, a strategy tip, you can do mini-jumps within the same sector to quicken things up if you see a ship far away, there is a minimum jump length however, which is set right now to 50km.

I'll try to post other updates as necessary.

Thanks,

Mark

HOW DO YOU GET RESOURCES

All resources will originate from planets.  They are the only source.  As such, by extension, other than the initial ship(s) you get when the game restarts, all things you build will use resources gotten from a planet. Each planet has an abundance rating for the three lowest-level resources in the game:  ORE, MINERALS, and OIL.  Based on that level, it will be determined how easy it is to mine those resources from the planet, how costly it will be to buy/sell those resources from/to the planet, and even whether you can even buy them at all.  It also will be taken into account when you ask a planet to build a structure or unit for you, since the resource makeup of a ship will determine its price.  Obviously, you will see that prices will be different planet to planet for the same things.

That said, there are realistically three ways you can get resources:

- BUY from a planet.  Certain units can access the planetary market and using money from your treasury you can purchase materials.  In turn, you can also SELL to a planet.  The price of a resource fluctuates based on certain attributes of a planet, which each planets differs on:  resource abundance, population level, technology level.  All of those factors are used by the engine each turn, along with how much of a certain resource the planet has in its own coffers, to determine a price.  generally, lower level resources will be far less costly than each level of resource above it.  I will explain the different resources later on down.

- MINE from a planet.  If you have made the necessary agreements with a planet, you can eventually build your own factories and mines on a planet (or have the planet build it for you for a price).  Each turn your mines will extract a certain amount of resource from the planet depending on its abundance rating.  To make higher level resources, which are needed to build ships and stuff, you will have to construct higher level factories.

- SALVAGE from wreckage.  After all the work has been put into a nice shiny ship, and it has been destroyed by nefarious forces lol, you can salvage the wreckage of the ship and take some of the resources that made up that ship (cargo in its hull and other ships onboard contribute to the amount of resources in the wreckage).

HOW DO YOU GET PLANETS TO DEAL WITH YOU?

To summarize, for any planet that you want to deal with, your LEADER must first pay the planet to ESTABLISH AN EMBASSY.  The cost of the embassy is a base cost that is affected by your current standing with the planet.  In fact everything you do with a planet is affected by that relationship.  I will explain the relationship part later.

After you establish an embassy, the embassy can then get certain agreements with the planet in place:

BUILDING RIGHTS allow you to build structures on the planet yourself (using construction ships) and allow you to order ships/structures directly from the planet.  If you see a planet has nice abundances you would want this right, because if the planet has high abundances, your mines will produce more resources per turn.

TRANSPORTATION RIGHTS allow you to not have to worry about distances between your factories and your warehouses, where the resources are kept.  You dont need this right, but if you dont have it, you will have to physically move your stuff around or make sure all your stuff is physically very close to eachother.  I believe the distance is 2000m on the planet surface or 5000m in space/orbit. 

TRADING RIGHTS allow you to buy/sell resources to/from planets and allow you to contract a planet to produce resources for you.  For planets with very high prices or very low prices of certain resources, obviously you would want this right so you can take advantage of the price differential and make profit.

WHAT AFFECTS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH PLANETS?

Each planet has a certain relationship with you.  The health of the relationship is determined by the "damage" you have incurred against that planet.

Things that make your relationship worse with planets (add damage):

- declaring war on a person who was not at war with you will add damage with every planet.

- causing damage to other ships in the planet sector causes damage with the planet at that sector

Things that make your relationship better with planets (lower damage):

- you get a small sympathy bonus from all planets if you are declared war upon.

- the monetary value of anything you buy or sell from a planet or the amount you pay for services brings down your damage

- time passing will remove damage as well, although small.

Every time you bring your damage down to zero, then raise it again, it becomes harder and harder to repair the damage, so try not to piss off planets too many times or it becomes impossible to deal with them.  Realize however, that once you have gotten rights with a planet to build stuff, you can pretty much ignore your planet relationship as long as you use all of your stuff and never ask the planet to provide you with anything.

HOW DO YOU DO STUFF?

Summarized:

- establish embassy with planet

- get build rights

- get transpo rights (optional)

- get trading rights if you want to get resources from the planet (optional)

- either ask the planet to build a factory for you or you build it yourself by using construction ships.  the construction ships will need resources to build the factory/mine, so you either have to have the resources on hand or buy them from the planet

- once the mine is built, give it a BUILD GOODS order. Each structure has limited storage capacity so it may be smart to have cargo ships or warehouses close by (or anywhere in the sector if you have TRANSPO RIGHTS).

- repeat the process for any higher level factories you need that turn raw materials into the higher level resources

- once you have the highest level components, use a vehicle assembly plant or shipyard to produce the units for you

- NOTE you can also just pay planets to build stuff for you.  if you do this, you need to have built or purchased a special structure called a DEPOT on the planet already.  That is where your new stuff will show up.

RESOURCES

Each resource can either be produced by you or bought/contracted from a planet.

BOUGHT means you buy directly from a planet, its immediate but the planet may not have any on hand because of its own economy.

CONTRACTED is not immediate, it takes time, depending on how much labor you pay for, but it is guaranteed to be done.

RESOURCE TYPES

ORE, MINERAL, ORE

Raw materials produced by ore mines, mineral mines, or oil wells

Metal:  Produced by combining two ORE with a METAL FORGE unit

Chemicals:  Produced by combining two MINERAL with a CHEMICAL PLANT unit

Petroleum:  Produced by combining two OIL with a PETROLEUM REFINERY unit

Plastics:  Produced by combining 0.6 CHEMICAL and 0.4 PETROLEUM by a PLASTICS PLANT unit

Electronics:  Produced by combining 0.2 METAL with 0.8 PLASTIC by a ELECTRONICS PLANT unit

The last five are top level components that are the building blocks of all units in the game

Chassis:  Produced by combining 8 METAL, 1 PLASTIC, 1 ELECTRONICS by a Chassis Assembly Plant.  Used as a component to build ships and as a component used by ships to repair hull damage.

Armor:  Produced by combining 5 METAL, 4 PLASTIC, 1 ELECTRONICS by a Armor Assembly Plant.  Used as a component to build ships and as a component used by ships to repair hull damage.

Tech:  Produced by combining 1 METAL, 1 PLASTIC, 8 ELECTRONICS by a Tech Assembly Plant.  Used as a component to build ships and as a component used by ships to repair hull damage and to repair shield generators (and later grav wells if i make them damageable).

Propulsion:  Produced by combining 3 METAL, 1 PLASTIC, 6 ELECTRONICS by a Propulsion Assembly Plant.  Used as a component to build ships and as a component used by ships to produce fuel.

Weapons:  Produced by combining 3 METAL, 2 PLASTIC, 5 ELECTRONICS by a Weapons Assembly Plant.  Used as a component to build ships and as a component used by ships to repair damaged weapons and as a component used by ships to produce warheads.

Each factory type except for the mining ones (ore mine, mineral mine, and oil well) have a in-orbit counterpart so you could have hidden space facilities that are harder to detect but obviously have to be supplied to keep running.

OTHER SPECIAL UNITS

CONSTRUCTION SHIPS - used to build structures either on a planet surface or in space

VEHICLE ASSEMBLY PLANT - land based.  used to build land units and fighter type stuff and any capital ship that cant carry fighters and is atmosphere capable

SPACE VEHICLE ASSEMBLY PLANT - space based.  used to build fighter type stuff and any capital ship that cant carry fighters.  cannot build land units.

SHIPYARD and MOBILE SHIPYARD - space based.  used to build any unit other than land units or structures

DEPOT - land based.  when you contract the planet to build you a unit, it will either show up at the depot or in orbit directly above it (if it is a non-atmosphere capable ship)

Thanks,

Mark

Currently we are conducting a pure battle scenario where every new member can start to get a feel on how the game interface works and get some knowledge on the gameplay mechanics.

please visit the GalSim website at http://galsim.nickersonm.com .  There you will find some information on how to join, the ships and weapons included in the game, and some background and features.  There is also a FAQ page where I am putting alot of the questions I am getting from the players.  Please check it out.

Also, please dont hesitate to ask questions.  I will create an official question thread.  Just add your questions there.

Thanks again,

Mark

1) I jump in a Corona, 25 Star Vipers and 8 R41 Starchasers (see fig 1)

2) For a turn my Corona fires and hits every time with its  3 TLC4 and 1 IC4

3) At the same time my fighters all take one cycle of shots at the Bayonett and then fly away for some reason (See the line of corpses in fig 2 for their flight path)

4) By calculation I've now done enough damage to take down the Bayonet's shields. This is assuming that the damage and shots/cycle info is accurate and that when it says 'x HIT y with a TLC4' in the log it means all the shots in the fusilade (a TLC4 has 4 4x75 strength shots per cycle) hit.

5) While this has been going on the Bayonet and Correlian ship have been destroying fighters and do some damage to the Coronas shields

6) New turn

7) from the report below the Bayonet has now taken enough damage to be destroyed

So my questions are three fold:

Why did the fighters fly off and come back?

Why isn't the Bayonet dead?

Why did the Corona only use its LC4 battery once and miss?

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q200/Deathblane/OddFighterBehaviour1.jpg

fig 1: Everything jumped into the location of the Corona

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q200/Deathblane/OddFighterBehaviour2.jpg

fig 2: The fighters then flew off to the left of the Bayonet, as can be seen by the lines of corpses

And finally the report:

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by HTLB4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by LC4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by IC2 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with IC4

 

Turn: 209 Cycle: 2

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by HTLB4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by LC4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by IC2 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with IC4

 

Turn: 209 Cycle: 3

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by HTLB4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by LC4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes a critical hit.  Onboard System(s) destroyed

 

SVIPER New SVIPER destroyed

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by IC2 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with IC4

 

Turn: 209 Cycle: 4

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by HTLB4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by LC4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes a critical hit.  Onboard System(s) destroyed

 

SVIPER New SVIPER destroyed

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by IC2 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with IC4

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

Turn: 209 Cycle: 5

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by HTLB4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by LC4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes a critical hit.  Onboard System(s) destroyed

 

SVIPER New SVIPER destroyed

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by IC2 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with IC4

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

Turn: 209 Cycle: 6

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by HTLB4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by LC4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by IC2 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes a critical hit.  Onboard System(s) destroyed

 

SVIPER New SVIPER destroyed

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with IC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger misses TF New TF with LC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits TF New TF with LC4

 

LOST CONTACT with TF New TF at S:50100,50100 pos:5023287,5068795 (DESTROYED)

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

Turn: 209 Cycle: 7

 

R41 New R41 missed by HTLB4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

R41 New R41 hit by LC4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

R41 New R41 takes SHIELD damage

 

R41 New R41 takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by IC2 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with IC4

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

Turn: 209 Cycle: 8

 

R41 New R41 missed by HTLB4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

R41 New R41 hit by LC4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

R41 New R41 takes SHIELD damage

 

R41 New R41 takes HULL damage

 

R41 New R41 takes a critical hit.  Onboard System(s) destroyed

 

R41 New R41 destroyed

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes a critical hit.  Onboard System(s) destroyed

 

SVIPER New SVIPER destroyed

 

SVIPER New SVIPER missed by IC2 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with IC4

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

Turn: 209 Cycle: 9

 

R41 New R41 missed by HTLB4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

R41 New R41 hit by LC4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

R41 New R41 takes SHIELD damage

 

R41 New R41 takes HULL damage

 

R41 New R41 takes a critical hit.  Onboard System(s) destroyed

 

R41 New R41 destroyed

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by IC2 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes a critical hit.  Onboard System(s) destroyed

 

SVIPER New SVIPER destroyed

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with IC4

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

Turn: 209 Cycle: 10

 

R41 New R41 missed by HTLB4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

R41 New R41 missed by LC4 from BYONET Spearhead

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes a critical hit.  Onboard System(s) destroyed

 

SVIPER New SVIPER destroyed

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by IC2 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes SHIELD damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hit by TLC4 from CLGUN Patawotomie Creek

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes HULL damage

 

SVIPER New SVIPER takes a critical hit.  Onboard System(s) destroyed

 

SVIPER New SVIPER destroyed

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with TLC4

 

CORONA Pricked Finger hits BYONET Spearhead with IC4

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

SVIPER New SVIPER hits BYONET Spearhead with LC4F

 

FIND YOUR SHIPS

when you first join the game you are looking at the center of the galaxy and probably cant see your ships on the map.  To quickly find your ships (you probably only have one), go to the left side of the screen and hit the FLEETS link.  This will list all units you have.  Any ships you start off with will probably be under the UNASSIGNED UNITS link.  Click that.  Then click whatever ships are under there, and a Unit Display will show up on the left, showing the ship's name, its position, its status.  A useful think to do is hit the ZOOM TO UNIT link which will zoom down to the tactical level.

PLAY AROUND WITH THE MAP

The map has two modes, strategic and tactical.  You get to tactical by double clicking on a sector from the strategic map.  You get to the strategic by double RIGHT clicking on the tactical map.  You can drag the map with the right mouse button, you can center the map on a location by clicking the middle mouse button, and you can zoom by using the mouse wheel or the Z and shiftZ keys

CHECK ON YOUR EDIT TIME

any thing you do, like change orders, has to be saved to the server using the SAVE button on the main menu.  BUT, you must save any changes you make BEFORE the current turn ends.  IF you dont save your changes and the turn changes, all your changes will be lost.  That may seem harsh, but if you saw the code and issues I would have trying to merge your new data with changed data from the game engine it would make your head spin, so I dont like it, but its a necessary evil.  So, always check the Main Menu, each time you look it shows how much time is left in the current turn.  If you dont have enough time to do the stuff you need to do, you should wait until the new turn begins, hit REFRESH until you see the new turn come up, THEN do your orders.

CHANGE YOUR PERSONAL INFO

There is a link on the main menu to change your password.  You can also edit your TITLE.  Titles are just for your own sake right now, no one else can see your title.  You can also change your username at any time as well.  You can never change your Login ID, and you will always use that to log in to the GUI.

CHECK FOR ANY REPORTS FROM THE GAME ENGINE

You will probably already have a report waiting for you after you login.  You can find the report file in the REPORTS directory in the directory you are running GALSIM out of.  Most likely you wont have anything important on your first order, except for it telling you how much money you have to spend on units.

ORDER NEW UNITS

From the main menu you can specify which ships you want to buy.  I would recommend going to the UNIT SPECS link first and seeing all the ships and their prices.  Once you decide on what you want to buy you click the ORDER UNITS FROM GM link on the main menu, and simply type in the # and name of the ship you want, like 10 XWING.  After you order them, hit SAVE (hopefully b4 the turn ends) then when the next turn happens you will have those ships waiting there in your home sector

GIVE ORDERS TO YOUR UNITS

Once you have some ships, play around with the different orders you can give.  You can order your ships to JUMP to another location, either within the same tactical sector or to another sector altogether.  MAKE SURE to check the JUMP order after you give it to make sure you arent going to far (it will give you an estimate of how many seconds it will take the ship to get there).  The game runs 10 cycles every 45 minutes of real world time, so obviously 1000s of seconds is NOT A GOOD THING.  If so, just cancel the order or change the destination to something closer.  TRY out an escort mission.

GET YOUR FEET WET IN BATTLE

This phase of the game is intended to test the battle code and the user interface, so when you feel up for it, give your ships orders to JUMP to 50100,50100 and see what happens.  The game will get alot more crazy once you enter the battle zone but you will learn quick.

First, you must have an alive LDR to do this order. 

Second, put the LDR in a FLEET!  only ships in FLEETS will have their orders processed.

There are two ways to access this order.

1.  from the main menu select the "Order Unit From GM" link.

2.  select your leader unit, Add Order, select "Order Unit From GM" order type

All you have to do is then type in what you want, using a number then a space then the unit type:

2 XWING

or

1 NFRG

etc

(the unit type must be the exact abbrev for the ship class)

after turn ends, the engine will take your order and place it in your home sector where i created your original ships.  In your REPORT.txt file you can see how much of your allotment you have left.

These orders will stay around until you have enough allowance to build the ship, so you can submit the order even if you dont have enough space but as soon as you do, they will be created.