outpost_1:outpost_1_manual:how_to_play

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outpost_1:outpost_1_manual:how_to_play [2017/05/27 23:09] – [Probes and Satellites] leeor_netoutpost_1:outpost_1_manual:how_to_play [2017/05/28 00:41] – [How to Play] leeor_net
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-====== How to Play ======+====== The Journey Begins ======
  
 ==== Getting Started ==== ==== Getting Started ====
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 If you have packed ULBI probes, data will begin arriving while you are between Jupiter and your star system of choice. These data will provide information about specific planets within the star system. Since you can’t change your mind if you drop down to a planet and decide it looked more hospitable from orbit, you’ll need to make the right decision the first time about which planet to colonize. ULBI data can be very helpful. If you have packed ULBI probes, data will begin arriving while you are between Jupiter and your star system of choice. These data will provide information about specific planets within the star system. Since you can’t change your mind if you drop down to a planet and decide it looked more hospitable from orbit, you’ll need to make the right decision the first time about which planet to colonize. ULBI data can be very helpful.
  
 +The tutorial in Chapter 9 walks you through the launch sequence and contains recommended levels for each cargo item.
  
-==== The Windows of your World ====+Once you’ve chosen which planet looks the most promising, you can send out an interstellar flyby probe if you’ve packed one. An interstellar flyby probe will provide detailed information about the planet you’ve selected. A planet with a low hostility level can have as many as 25 possible landing sites; hostile planets can have as few as one. 
 + 
 +When you arrive in orbit at your destination, you’ll launch the satellites and probes you brought with you. If you drop everyone down to the planet without deploying your probes and satellites, they won’t launch themselves. Don’t forget to launch them before you leave the starship forever, or you’ll have wasted your resources and your colonists will think you’re an idiot. 
 + 
 +==== What You Get is What You See ==== 
 + 
 +Now that you’ve finally made your decision as to which planet to colonize, the top left corner of your screen shows the planet you’ll call home. If you right-click within the planet window, you will be able to replace the default planet name with one of your own choosing. Click on the center button for a stationary view of the planet. Possible landing sites are shown on the planet as tiny rectangles. These have the best geography, potential mining locations, and environment for colony placement. When you click on one of these rectangles, you have chosen a possible site for your first colony. 
 + 
 +After you’ve made an informed or not-so-informed decision about a landing site, two more windows will appear on the screen. The middle window, or “Tile Picker,” shows a Seed Factory tile. The top right window shows your chosen landing area from an orbital perspective. The red dots you see are potential mining locations. This window is called the “Site Map.” You can right-click here and rename your site, view the Elevation Map, or close the Site Map. You can study up to four Site Maps at once. 
 + 
 +{{:outpost_1:outpost_1_manual:tile-map1.gif |}}When you find a good location for your new colony on the Site Map, near a group of potential mine locations or beside a single mine, left-click on that spot. The small square box that formerly appeared in the top left corner of the landing Site Map will now move to that location. The diamond-shaped Tile Map that takes up most of your screen shows the specific area highlighted on the Site Map by the small square. 
 + 
 +The four arrows around the Tile Map will move you in any direction within the confines of your landing site. This will allow you to make small steps to put tiles down on the perfect terrain. Larger moves should be made on the Site Map, but the Tile Map is where you’ll spend most of your time, since it shows the structures you’ve built or are currently building. 
 + 
 +When selecting a plot to land the Seed Complex, the main thing to remember about the false color Elevation Map is that black areas represent clear terrain. You can reach the Elevation Map if you right-click on the Site Map, then select the Tools and Elevation Map options. The best area to start your colony is black with a red diamond (mine marker) nearby. 
 + 
 +After you land, colored markers identify locations on the Site Map. Red diamonds mark potential mines, white diamonds mark depleted mines, light blue dots mark your colonies, and a dark blue triangle marks the rebel colony. If you don’t have an Orbital Observer Satellite, a rebel colony will remain invisible on your Site Map unless it becomes abandoned, in which case the marker will change into a light blue dot.
  
 === Mouse Clicking === === Mouse Clicking ===
 +
 +Clicking on windows will become second nature as you play Outpost, but here’s a crash course on what your mouse can do. Right-clicking anywhere in the main screen window will display a default dialogue box.
 +
 +Selecting System permits you to do a normal Windows Minimize or Close of the game, which will give you the option to exit. If you select File, a standard windows Save or Save As will be presented, as well as Exit, which is the same as Close under the System menu.
 +
 +{{ :outpost_1:outpost_1_manual:mouse-commands1.gif |}}
 +
 +Under Control, you can run a single or multiple turns, arrange icons, and make personal game operating choices if you select Preferences. The Preferences box will enable you to turn on or off the animated sequences, animations of individual tiles, music, and sound effects. You can view the surface or underground levels you have developed by selecting Level.
 +
 +{{ :outpost_1:outpost_1_manual:mouse-commands2.gif |}}
 +
 +A right-click on the Planet Display Window will enable you to Move, Minimize or Close the window. Selecting Tools permits you to rename the Planet, toggle the Elevation Map, or get Help.
 +
 +When you right-click on the Tile Picker window, you’ll be able to Minimize or obtain Help.
 +
 +Right-clicking on the Site Map will open a System menu similar to the ones discussed above. Selecting Tools gives you the ability to rename the site, and Help is self explanatory.
  
 ==== Your First Move: The Seed Factory ==== ==== Your First Move: The Seed Factory ====
  
 +{{:outpost_1:outpost_1_manual:seed-factory.gif |}}When you’ve located a spot you think is suitable for building, click on the Seed Factory in the Tile Picker window. The arrow cursor will change into a diamond shaped cursor. Now you can position the cursor on the Tile Map, and left-click the mouse. The Seed Factory Landing Marker will appear on your Tile Map. Nothing else will appear on the Tile Picker screen.
 +
 +A Seed Factory is an automated, unmanned manufacturing facility capable of making more factories. When the Seed lands, four robots (a robominer, a robodigger, a robodozer, and an explorer) roll off and begin working without your intervention. If you have disabled Automatic Trucking from the difficulty screen, you will also start with four trucks. After a turn, the digger, miner, and dozer become available to you. You can set these robots down to do your bidding at a site of your choice.
 ==== Turns ==== ==== Turns ====
  
-==== Help ====+{{:outpost_1:outpost_1_manual:turns.gif |}}You’ll find an icon on the bottom right corner of the screen. You will left-click on this icon, a planet with an orbiting moon, when you want Outpost time to advance one unit. Time advancement will allow mines to be excavated, food to be harvested, roads to be built, factories to be constructed, and other types of progress to be made. Time advancement also furthers plagues, natural disasters, and the decay of your manmade resources; what’s more, morale will drop if your population feels that progress isn’t being made quickly enough. Advance a turn only when you’ve done all you can during the current move.
  
 +When tiles are available for placement on the Tile Map, they appear in the Tile Picker window. When you have made all the moves allowable in one "turn", an unspecified unit of time, no tiles will appear in the window, and a message reading "None Available" will appear. When this happens, you must advance time by clicking on the icon at the bottom right of the screen. This will advance the number of turns, and hence the units of time, by one.
  
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