Starting as a New Citizen

When you start playing Shores of Hazeron, you can elect if you wish to start founding your own empire or if you wish to join an existing one.

This topic describes what to do when you start the game as a new citizen of an existing empire.

Please note, that this guide assumes that the city you spawn in, which is also known as an empire's homeworld, has basic spacecraft production capabilities. If it doesn't the empire you joined is most likely still very new and has not yet archived space travel. This might not necessarily be a bad thing though. It might mean, that the empire is even more in need of some help and it will give you the opportunity, to help in some of the steps, needed to get the empire into space, which is an interesting experience and also a good way to learn, how things work out. Possibly, you can even take a major role within your new empire, helping it to go even farther. If you have any questions or need any help, you should ask the Emperor. You can find out, who is in your empire and who hold which position, by looking at the Governance screen. This is opened by either clicking on the small torch icon, or by pressing F12.

The Home World

Your new avatar appears at the town square of a city on your empire's homeworld, this is usually also the empire capital city.

Points of Interest in the Capital City

Exploring the capital city is always a good place to start, since cities are created by players, no two cities are the same. There are a few buildings in particular you will want to know where are.

These are:

• The bank
• A broker
• The airport terminal
• A design studio
• Spacecraft factories
• An arena

Bank

At the bank you will be able to get money. You will need money to get started doing anything fun.

You can take a loan free of charge, which should be able to cover all your basic needs for the beginning, while you are getting set to make real money. The credit limit you are getting, depends on your reputation and also on the return policies of the bank. In most cases, you should however be able to get at least some money, to get some basic needs.

Broker

The broker is a store, where you can buy anything and everything. There are other stores like the cantina, the retail store, and grocery store, which also sell some wares. However, these stores only sell wares, specific to them. So the cantina is selling drinks, the grocery store does sell food, and so on. The broker is the only place in a city, that sells everything.

For more detailed information on how trading works, see the Trade page.

Airport Terminal

The airport terminal is the place, where new passengers and colonists arrive and depart. It does connect the city with others as well as with other worlds, where your empire has colonies. However, more important for you is, that the airport terminal is equipped with transporters, which allow you easily get into space.

You can also request a transporter beam from the city in order to easily get to the airport when stuck in the wild or in orbit. However, in order for the transporter to work, there must be sufficient energy available in the city.

Please note: while the transporter of an airport terminal is able to receive you or to beam you into space, other units, like ships and stations are not necessarily equipped with a transporter. If no transporter exists, you will get a response over the comm, saying so.

Design Studio

The design studio is used to design new spacecraft designs. You can try your skills here and design your very own spacecraft. Please note, that you need to have permissions, to finally build your designed ship, or you need to have the money, to have it built as a company spacecraft, given that your empire does allow production of such. Still, it is an interesting experience, to play around with the designs.

For more information about the design studio and how it works, see the Spacecraft Design page.

Spacecraft Factory

The spacecraft factory produces spacecraft of all types and sizes. For it to work, you must be in possession of a ship design, stored on a blank piece of paper or on a blank data disk, unless there is already a design stored in the factory for you to use.

You can make your own designs or burn existing designs on a blank data disk or on a blank paper, using the design studio.

The Spacecraft Factory does allow production of Fleet Ships or Company Ships. In order to produce a fleet ship, you need proper permission. If the empire does allow production of company ships you can order them from here too. However, since they are paid for, you are probably lacking the funds for the time being.

Difference between a fleet ship and a company ship is, that the latter one is owned by you and that you pay for all its costs, while the fleet ship is property of the empire. You don't have to pay for its construction, nor for its maintenance.

Spaceships, once built, appear either on a nearby road slab, or - if they are too big - in space. You might be lucky, and the emperor may have left some fleet ships on the connected slab, which you may be permitted to use. If that is not the case, you should probably get into space to see if there are any ships there, or look for another way to make money, so you can buy a company ship.

Arena

The arena is used to hold simulated spacecraft duels. This is a good place to train your combat skills and gain reputation. It is also a good opportunity, to see your ship designs in action, before you are taking your ships out into real space, with all its dangers.

When you exit an arena duel, your health and inventory is returned to the same state it was in apron entering. In other words, you don't lose anything while in the arena.

Command a Spacecraft

Assume command of a spacecraft. Start by locating a spacecraft that is waiting for a captain and crew.

Spacecraft are manufactured at the capital city of most empires. Other cities may also manufacture spacecraft. Spacecraft are manufactured on the ground and in orbit. Go to the spaceport to find a new spacecraft that has been manufactured on the ground. New spacecraft spawn on a paved slab next to a spacecraft factory when they are manufactured on the ground. Top-down view (Backspace) may help find the spaceport.

If no spacecraft is found on the ground, look for one in orbit. New spacecraft, that are too big, to spawn on the ground, always spawn near a [[space station], after they have been manufactured in orbit. Go to a space station to find a new spacecraft that has been manufactured in orbit.

Use the Jobs window to find spacecraft in need of a captain. New spacecraft of your empire automatically broadcast jobs requesting captains. Hence, you should be attentive to the Comm Channels, to see, if and which ships are in need of a new captain.

Once you are finally aboard a new spacecraft, you should go on and read Commanding a Spacecraft, for more details and information on how to proceed.

Here are some suggestions for things to do with your new spacecraft and crew.

• Transport Passengers. There is no cost to board Passengers and you make money when they debark somewhere else, than where they boarded. The most money is made when Passengers debark in a different solar system from where they boarded.

• Trade Cargo. Trading cargo has some risk as prices vary according to supply and demand. The officer in command spends money from the ship's fund to buy cargo and then tries to sell that cargo for a profit somewhere else.

• Explore the Galaxy. Your empire may even reward exploration. Open the Governance (F12) window and select the Rewards tab to see what rewards your emperor has set for exploration activities. Note that rewards accumulate as a personal debt to your character. You must go to a bank of your empire to collect the rewards you have earned.

• Colonize Worlds. Your empire may permit and even reward colonization of new worlds. Colonization requires you to build a new city on a new worlds, that is not yet owned by your empire. Open the Governance (F12) window and select the Policy tab to see whether your empire allows players to build cities. Explore the harsh inferno and frigid worlds for rare materials.

• Military Conquest. Your empire may have enemies that need to be crushed. Open the Governance (F12) window and select the Diplomacy tab to view the political stance of your empire toward other known empires. Use troops and spacecraft to destroy enemy units and conquer enemy cities.

• Command a Fleet. As a result of colonization, or other activities, you may become the administrator of a sector of space. Every habitable world in your sector can produce an officer that is in your chain of command, if it has an airport terminal, a university and a spacecraft factory. Place each officer in command of a ship and crew. Use them for military conquest or set up trade missions to transport passengers, trade cargo, and patrol the space in your domain.

• Adventure. Use the Comm (F3) window to check for jobs available. Some jobs are only available to spacecraft captains.

Note: Story lines for adventure are not yet complete, except Targoss' simple start-up tutorial. This notice will be removed when more adventures become available.

Boarding a Space Station

To get aboard a space station, hail it on the comm. Open the Comm (F3) window and select the Hail channel. If necessary, open a new Hail channel using the list of standard channels. Press the Hail button to broadcast a hail message.

Each space station in range will answer by opening a new channel on your comm that is the name of the station. Select a station's channel and request a beam-up. The space station will initiate a transporter beam if it is equipped with a transporter room and it is orbiting the planet you are on.

If a space station has no transporter room, locate a vehicle that can take you there. At the spaceport there may be a space fighter or a space rocket that has spawned on a paved slab next to an aircraft factory. Use one of these vehicles, by pressing the E key, to directly fly to the space station. Note: You should bring a can or two of hydrogen with you, in case something happens and you need to refuel your vehicle. You can use the K key, to refuel your vehicle from your gear at any time.

Space Stations orbit a planet in geo-syncronous orbit, usually directly overhead the city. If you look up into the sky on a clear day you might be able to see it. Fly around the planet outside the atmosphere to find the space station. A navigation beacon on the station helps you find it.

Space stations maintain stocks of useful equipment, such as Environment suits. Once aboard the space station, go to a cargo hold or living quarters. Use the Cargo (F5) window to transfer an environment suit and EV helmet into your inventory. Use the Personal Equipment (F4) window to wear the environment suit and the helmet. Make sure, to close the Environment Suit Visor, right-clicking on the helmet icon in your Personal Equipment window, or the EV Suit will not protect you in the vacuum of space!. You can drag all items to the appropriate spots, in order to wear them.

Hitch Hiking

An alternative to commanding a spacecraft is to join the crew of an existing vessel. This can also be helpful when there are no spacecraft available in your home solar system. It will also give you the opportunity, to interact and work together with other members of your empire, who can help you getting settled and started.

To join the crew of a spacecraft, request a berth aboard it, using the communication channels. Open the Comm (F3) window and select the Hail channel. If necessary, add the Hail channel using the list of standard channels. Press the "Request Berth" button, which is the thumbs up one and select a desired berth, to broadcast a message.

Berth requests may be transmitted on any comm channel. The Hail channel is used in this example to contact everyone in your current solar system. It would also be appropriate to use the Friend or Empire channels, or any other channel on which someone is listening.

An officer, be it a (NPC or an avatar), assigned to the spacecraft may accept your berth request. However, depending on the ship policies, it may be, that a berth request for all or specific positions does require approval of an actual avatar. If this is the case, either try requesting a different berth or try your request on a different spacecraft.

After your berth request is accepted, initiate the Recall Home ability, by either pressing the respective button (a square with a face on it), or use the keys ALT+Bacspace. Make sure the message "There's no place like home." appears on the screen. After some time of warming up, you will eventually appear in your berth aboard the newly assigned ship. Press E to leave the bed and go ahead, exploring your new vessel.