HOW TO PLAY Although there are many other keys to learn, these are the main keys you need to operate the game. Some keys do the exact same thing, such as the bracket keys or page up/page down keys. This will mostly be your preference, and possibly what sort of keyboard your computer has. At the top of the screen you’ll find three boxes displaying your current resources, which include minerals, gas, and energy. You will need to collect more of these, which we’ll get into later. 255 is the maximum number of resources you can store at any given time. Next to the resources is a running clock showing how long the game has been going. On the bottom you’ll find your current coordinates. This is very important for knowing where your units are, especially in relation to the enemy bases. More on this later. The bottom three windows are there to give you different types of information. SWITCHING BETWEEN UNITS In this game, you will be controlling dozens of different units, so it’s important to know how to switch between them. There is more than one way to accomplish it, and you should learn all of the ways. Browse - If the unit you want to control is visible on the screen, you can press Return to enter browse mode. At this point, a small box-like cursor will appear on the screen. Use the arrow keys to move this box around until it is positioned on the unit or building you wish to select, then press Return again. You can even select enemy units, but you can only look at their status, not control them. Cycle Units - For things like tanks, builders, and frigates. If the unit you want is not currently visible and you don’t feel like driving to the unit, you can press the Tab key to cycle to the next unit, wherever it may be. The cycle is based on unit number, so sometimes it may seem there is no rhyme or reason as to which unit it goes to next. You can also use the plus and minus keys on the keyboard to move forward and backwards through your units. With practice, this is the fastest way to switch between units. Cycle Buildings - For things like factories, smelters, and radar stations. If the building you want is not currently visible, you may press Page-up / Page-down to cycle back and forth between them, very much like the unit cycle. You can also use the bracket keys [ and ] to accomplish the same thing. Solar panels are purposely skipped during the cycle because there are often numerous panels and you can’t actually control them anyway. If you want to select a solar panel you must use the browse feature. Hot Keys - You can use the number row 0-9 at the top of your keyboard to assign spe- cific units or buildings that you need to access more quickly. Press Shift + Number to assign a number key to the current unit. You can then use that number key to quickly switch to the assigned unit. This will be especially useful during battles. CONTROLLING UNITS Your first order of business after starting the game should be establishing infrastructure and collecting resources. Without them, you won’t be able to do much. You’ll need all 3 types of resources: Minerals, Gas, and Energy. It may require some hunting around the map to find the minerals and gas, so we’ll talk about those first. You can find these on the map. There are usually deposits of minerals clumped together. Some maps have a lot, and some have very few, so use them wisely. In this screenshot, you can see several rocks and crystals in a formation. Both the rocks and crystals can be used as mineral sources. The formations that look like volcanos are gas vents. You will need to build a refinery on top of them. The more the better. Different types of rocks will process at different speeds and also have different yields. Also, the minerals can look somewhat different depending on which graphics mode you are in. This chart shows each one and how many minerals you can expect to get as a result of mining each kind. Different types of rocks will process at different speeds and also have different yields. Also, the minerals can look somewhat different depending on which graphics mode you are in. This chart shows each one and how many minerals you can expect to get as a result of mining each kind.
