This is the spoiler-free guide for players who want to enjoy the game without a Game Master or are just interested.

Setting

You and your crew have been sent to the Krepios System by Colonel John Doe, your superior in the Human Navy. Your task is to contact Wright Hartman, the Commander of the Krepios Sector, to offer him help and follow his command.

You find yourself in the Krepios System, a mining sector that has seen its golden years half a century back and is now mostly abandoned. Only few miners who are too poor or too stubborn to leave are still working for the Saiku Mining Corporation (SMC) to extract the last remaining ores from the asteroid belt. Alcoholism, Poverty and Crime are a daily occurrence.

You have been sent on an old gunboat that is below the standards that you are accustomed to. But the old ship blends in with the dated and decaying structures and ships you find around you.

Hints for Stations

Relay is probably the most stressful station for this scenario – part of the stress might be caused by all the typos you might encounter. But over all the Relay Officer will have most of the things to do, especially during the starting phase. I personally would put a more experienced Officer on that station.

Helms and Weapons are probably less involved except for special occasions. If you do not want to have a dedicated Captain one of those could take over that role. Using the Tactical screen might also be an option to make the station more intriguing.

Here are few things the stations should know that are scenario specific:

Helms

  • Sorry, you got a bit of a crappy ship at the beginning. Ask your Relay Officer to buy Upgrades that help you maneuver the ship better.

  • Your Engineering Officer can also overcharge some systems to let you better handle the ship.

Weapons

  • You might already have noticed that you are not on a frigate. Your Relay Officer can buy Upgrades from stations to allow you to store more missiles and turn your ship into a better fighter.

  • Missiles have to be bought at stations by your Relay Officer. Let them know if you need a refill.

  • You can mine asteroids in the range of the ships beam weapons by using the according button. Don’t overdo it as it uses an insane amount of energy and generates a lot of heat.

Science

  • I recommend not using the classic Database. Information on factions and ships could spoil the fun for you. And you won’t need it.

  • Instead you have access to in-game information through custom menus. To access them, click the Scanning button on your screen and select Other. Don’t ignore that! It will help your crew a lot:

    • You have a mission for a station or nebula your crew has not discovered yet? Look up its sector in the Stations or Nebulae menu.

    • To find rewarding trading routes check the Products menu for buyers, sellers and average prices.

    • To get an overview at what Upgrades are known in the Sector check the according menu.

    • If your captain decides to buy a Jump Drive, you can calculate vectors to known stations and waypoints set by relay.

  • Scanning asteroids might reveal a (figurative) gold mine. Asteroids with higher mineral content increase the chances to mine ore from it.

Relay

  • I recommend to add the Main Screen Controls to your station. Some of the communications you have could be interesting for your captain and you could bring them up on the main screen.

  • There are communication requests that you can not Ignore as these are important story drivers. If the communications are important for the main story it will also automatically appear on the main screen.

  • The Missions button is your friend. Use it often. It will show you what missions you have accepted and your next step to complete them.

  • Quick Dial opens communications to stations that you already discovered even if they are inside the Fog of War. More will be added as you dock to them for the first time.

  • The ship log might pick up interesting chit-chat from ships around you.

  • Scan Probes do not automatically restock at stations, but you can buy them from a trader at most stations.

Engineering

  • You also manage the Storage Room of the ship which could be used for trading. Please note that products could take up more than one unit of storage. Your Science Officer has information of the size of products.

Captain

  • Your task is to make yourself useful in the sector. Try to ask the stations around you for missions, go mining or trade.

  • Your Relay Officer can tell you all current missions that you have. Ask them regularly if you do not know what to do next.

  • Use your earned RP to buy Upgrades from stations to improve your ship. But always keep some spare – missiles have a price.

  • The game has a defined timer-based end. Try to have as much fun as possible until then. :)

How Mining works

Mining engages most stations and is a viable source to get ore and plutonium. Basically, the Helms Officer needs to navigate the ship in a way that an asteroid is in reach of one of the Beam Weapons. The Weapons Officer can then start the mining process that takes a few seconds to charge the lasers. During that time the Engineering Officer will see an immense power drop that is needed to charge the lasers followed by a spectacular discharge on the closest asteroid.

This will knock a junk of minerals off the asteroid that can be collected like any supply drop. If you are lucky it contains value ores – if not it was just a waste of your time. To prevent this, your Science Officer can scan asteroids for their minerals – a concentration of 20% or more marks a promising target. The higher the concentration, the higher the probability to find valuable minerals. Still, you can be out of luck even on the richest of asteroids, but you can always try mining again. Just have an eye out on the dropping mineral concentration after mining.

During the collection of minerals the engineer should have an eye on the storage. Once it is full no further minerals can be picked up and they are automatically destroyed.

The Fluff

Krepios

Krepios is the planet in the center of the Krepios System. Up until 150 years ago it was mostly know for its military facility that was rumored to develop new weapon system for the Human Navy. But then a gigantic explosion in one of the research facilities made the whole planet uninhabitable. The atmosphere turned into plasma and killed everyone close to the epicenter in the blink of an eye. Massive earthquakes traveled the planet and damaged Terran structures all over the planet. The explosion also ripped the planets crust and catapulted minerals from within the planet into space. This debris formed the asteroid belt around the planet.

The Human Navy quickly abandoned the planet as the increase of surface temperature and radiation made it a hostile environment for any biological life. Instead many opportunists came to the sector to make quick money by mining the readily accessible ores from the asteroids around Krepios. Many companies tried to dominate the sector, but at the end the newly formed Saiku Mining Company (SMC) came out on top.

About 60 years ago the golden age of mining in the Krepios Sector where over, as it became more and more expensive to mine less and less ore from the asteroids. Interest in the sector declined and stations where abandoned or reconstructed in other sectors.

Today less than 10% of the former population still live in the asteroid belt of Krepios. Most of them are miners or traders who live on the stations with their families and are too poor, too old or to stubborn to leave the sector. Many of them have debt that was often caused by excessive drinking or gambling and they need to work under harsh conditions with little profit to make a living.

Wright Hartman

Wright Hartman is the Commander of the Krepios System. He has been stationed there 20 years ago for disciplinary reasons. Years of boredom and cheap alcohol have turned him into a cynical commander who is counting the days to his retirement.

John Doe

John Doe is your superior in the Human Navy. He does not have any remarkable traits and you always seem to forget what he looks like.