(-o-) This symbol, which looks a bit like a tie-fighter, is going to be my way of saying that this box isn't viewed text in the tutorial. It's going to include some details about what might happen next during the game or just my general thoughts on crap going on around it.

Some fore-thoughts: The tutorial is going to be a lot more dynamic and "cool" than the boring "And this box does this! :D Why not click it? :o" route I original went with.

Introduction

Welcome, commander, to the galaxy. There's no time to waste, we need you to choose a race and profession right away. Your decisions will impact your role in the galaxy far into the future, so choose carefully. There will be opportunities in the future to change your race and profession.

 (-o-) Okay, so we've got our race and profession now. Now either this could mix in a little bit with training legions, or for just the tutorial part of the game we could have sort of an 'NPC' legion so that the player can explore the leader/officer controls without messing up an established legion.

 #Race# #Profession#... Very interesting. I'm afraid I don't have much time to go into details, but the short story is; we're under attack and we need your help. Now that your ship is up and running, we'll have to run through some basics with you... Your neural uplink was damaged during the attack so we'll have to teach you the old fashioned way.

(-o-) So I'm just spit-balling with the idea that perhaps you, the player, have been either "woken up" or perhaps even "created", but you obviously don't know much. Fuzzy science can be thrown around here to get the gist across to the player than this is tutorial.

Here we have your news feed. On the left you've got the galactic news which will keep you informed of current events in the galaxy. On the right you have your Ship's Log; this includes information on, among other things, recent trading to and from your cargo hold and important alerts from your fellow legion members. Feel free to explore the different news tabs and when you're ready, click on the Ship tab along the control bar.

(-o-) So our player can mess around with this menu and see what's what in this part of the game. I think that, at least at the beginning of the game, the other tabs (I.E. Battle, Trade, Planets, etc...) should be "locked" so that they player doesn't get ahead of the tutorial. Keeps things running nice and smoothly. The next bit will show up when the player has clicked on the ship tab.

This is your main means of checking up on information about your ship. From here you can see how much deck space you have and how much, if any, is available for use. The tabs you see taking up most of the screen are different menus where you can see various modules, assorted by category.

Down the left side we can see information which might have immediate relevance to you. They should speak for themselves. You can also view you ship's stats, such as number of battles and number of planets occupies, and the medals you have been awarded during your career.

If we loo-- *EXPLOSIONS*

Damn it, they're back. Quick, click on the weapons menu and install some cannons. We need you to get into the fight! When you've installed some weapons, click on the Battle tab so we can see what we're up against.

 (-o-) Oh dear, we're under attack... So this gets the player moving quickly. They can spend as much time as they like, really, playing around with this tab, but canonically they should have a sense of urgency about them. They'll throw on a few auto-cannons and then they'll head off to the battle tab.

Crimson Stalkers! Two of them! Commander, press the target button to select those ships and DESTROY them!

Quick! Press the attack button to fire cannons! Brace for return fire!

Excellent! One down, one to go. I knew we could count on you, commander.

Both of them are nothing more than rubble now! Excellent work. You seem to have gained some experience from that; you'll be flying through the ranks in no time.

You suffered some heavy return fire, go back to the ship tab so that we can repair your hull.

 (-o-) This fight shouldn't take them too long. 2-3 (30 energy, max) shots per NPC should do it, I think, with a low enough damage that they don't end up disabling the player ship.

On the left hand side there is a repair option. Fixing your ship doesn't come cheap. As you install more advanced modules, this cost will increase. Keep an eye on your credits.

*comm chatter* Repeat, I thought I heard... *comm chatter* ... We've got a problem. The Kelethor is in-bound to our base. Commander, those auto cannons aren't going to cut it. Head to the research tab.

You'll need to spend some research points to gain access to some better cannons. Click on the Advanced Weapons box below and gain access to some better weaponry!

When you're ready, return to the Ship tab.

(-o-) Maybe not the Kelethor. Maybe a new Crimson elite more appropriate to a rank one ship. Also, I know the forced research on weapons might seem a little bit rail-roady, but whatever, sue me.

Quickly, sell off those old cannons and install some of the new Heavy Autocannons. You might also find an Auto-Pilot console or two of use in this fight; these can be found by click on the Defenses / Shields menu below. Configure these however you please, but do it quickly! We need you to intercept the Kelethor.

Go to the Battle tab when you are ready, commander.

(-o-) Alright, again the player can take however long they like and they can configure their modules in whatever way they see fit, just to get them into the idea of juggling some modules about.

There it is... The Kelethor. Target that ship, but don't attack immediately.

Click on the Actions tab here and send out a distress alert to the legion; we'll need some help on this one.

When you're ready, let them have it! Attack that ship! You can click on the Combat Log to see which ships have done damage, and how much, and you can click on the Status tab to see what sort of condition the enemy ship is in.

(-o-) So the ships gets "alerted" to the legion. Two NPC legion-mates will do 33% damage each (Their locks) and it is up to the player to do the rest. This should take the player no more than 10 shots (Bringing total used energy to 80, which I believe is the starting energy). The kill should rank up the player.

Woo-hoo, yeah! We got 'em! Superb work, commander. Look! You ranked up. Your energy bar has been replenished and your hull and shields fully restored.

Hey, what's that you got from the wreckage? Some strange artifact? Let's take a closer look. Click on the Trade tab.

(-o-) The player got some shiny new artifact now. What is it? I'm thinking it's a Planetary Aegis. For the purposes of the tutorial, I'll continue on assuming that it is indeed a Planetary Aegis. When the player navigates to the trade tab, the artifact menu will be already open.

Well would you look at that? I haven't seen a Planetary Aegis in a very long time. If you use this on one of your colonies, it will be protected from harm for quite some time. Hover your cursor over the question mark next to it's name to get some more information. When you're ready, click on the Ship tab.

(-o-) So far we've explored the following tabs: Research, Trade (artifact), Battle (NPCs), News and Ship. I still want to cover: rank points (going to cover this in the next step), the minerals tab, the legion tab, the missions tab and the planets tab (Who would've seen that list coming?).

Alright, commander. Open up the Ship Crew & Size menu.

For reaching rank 2, you've been awarded 5 rank points. There are a number of ways you can spend these points. Feel free to use them however you see fit.

Deck space will allow you to install larger and more numerous modules onto your ship; cargo space is where you'll store your minerals, uninstalled modules and any artifacts which might come into your possession.

Engineers will increase your maximum energy; tactical officers will increase your attack power; helmsmen will improve your defensive capabilities and scientists will work in the labs and generate research points for you to spend on new modules.

You don't have to spend these now and you don't have to spend them all at once. Meet me in the missions tab when you're ready to continue.

(-o-)Alright, Rank points didn't take too long. The rest should be over and done with quickly as well, I hope.

Now that the crimson blades have been held back... For the time being... We can look into what other tasks you can take on.

Here are a list of missions which are available for you to complete. Check back here regularly as you rank up; some missions won't be available to you until you have proven yourself more capable.

If a Mission Briefing button is grey, this means you are not eligible to attempt that mission. Hover over the grey button for more detail.

It looks like there is a dynite shortage currently on a near-by colony. Click on the mission briefing.


Hmm... This is concerning. They mention your planetary production, but you haven't colonised any planets yet! Well, we'll have to change that.

Click on the ship tab when you are ready to continue.

(-o-) Alright, so this mission is going to lead on to covering planets, production and then the minerals tab quite nicely. Following that we've just got PvP and the legion tab to cover. We all good so far?

Select the Devices menu below and install some modules to help with scanning, you're going to need them. You can uninstall other modules to make space, if you don't have enough deck space.

When you have installed some scanning modules, click on the Planets tab.


Welcome, commander, to your star chart. It's a little bare right now, but we'll fix that in no time. Click on the Scan For New Planets button in the top left.

This is where you scan new planets from. Planets can also enter your star chart database when using certain artifacts, completing missions, or when their location is alerted to you by another legion member. Click the Scan Now button until you find something.

Great job, you've found a planet. Click on the planet so that we can take a more detailed look.

(-o-)The Scan Now button should turn grey when this first planet is scanned OR the dialogue box popping up should at least prevent any other buttons from being clicked until it is closed. Should this be a genuinely random planet or should we have some sort of "newbie" planet which pops up? Alternative: The planetary aegis is automatically in your cargo from as soon as you start the game and The Kelethor (Or whatever) drops an artifact which reveals the location of another planet, like the Vorigar planets. Open for discussion. I am personally in favour of the first scan being a pre-determined planet and the Kelethor dropping the aegis. I'm going to continue under the assumption that the stats are pre-determined.

Planets have a lot of information surrounding them, commander. Let's take a look at the information at the top of this window first. We can see the name of the planet, which is randomly generated, in accordance with Celestial Body Emergence By-Law 13 sub-section 15G, but I'm sure you already knew that.

We can see the planet is a large Terra planet and that it is unoccupied. Before we go making hasty decisions, let's check out what our scans picked up about the resources... Click on the resources tab.

Not bad, not bad at all... We can see that the planet is Rich in all of its resources. Do you want to colonise this planet, commander? If so, click on the Colonize Planet button. This will cost 15 energy and some of your credits.

If you do not wish to colonise this planet then you can close this window and click on the Scan For New Planets button to look for another one, but we will not be able to continue until you have colonised a planet.

(-o-)Alright, we can't continue until our player has colonised something, so the tutorial will continue once they have colonised a new planet. Possible issue: Enemy planets showing up if the player decides to continue scanning. Maybe make it so the player can only scan unoccupied planets? The max scan they can attain right now is 25, which is about 10 planets. Doesn't seem game-breaking to me. Tutorial continues once a planet has been colonised.

Great! You've established a colony on the planet. This planet now belongs to you; keep an eye out for any enemy ships who might want to invade this planet. If you scan enemy planets, you can also attempt to invade them by attacking the planet to reduce the population until you are able to invade.

Click on the Structures tab and then click "Build New Structure".

From this menu you can choose which buildings to place upon your planet. There are structures which will boost production; without these, your planet cannot produce anything.

There are structures to increase maximum population as well; the higher the population on a given planet, the more difficult it is to invade.

Lastly, you can build structures which will improve the attack, defense or cloak of your planet. More attack means your planet fights back harder against potential invaders. Defense makes your population harder to reduce. Both attack and defense decrease the chances of your enemy successfully invading your planet.

Lastly, cloak hides your planet from other ships when they are scanning for new planets. If your cloak power is higher than their scanning power, your planet is effectively invisible to them. If your cloak power is lower than their scanning power, they have a chance of scanning your planet but this chance decreases with more cloaking.

You need to decide which structures to build and reach a balance you deem fit. Do you want to produce lots of different resources or just one? Do you want to dedicate space to defending or cloaking your planet or do you want to risk an enemy invasion but dedicate all of your space to producing resources?

When you're finished building structures, click on the Actions tab.

This tab gives a few useful options for interacting with your planet. You can alert the planet to your legion if you need their assistance in defending it or if you want to show off. Below this are buttons to use artifacts. Use Planet Artifact will take you to a menu where any artifacts in your cargo which you can use on this planet will appear and you can use artifacts as you see fit.

Use Player Artifact will take you to a similar menu, except this one shows any artifacts in your cargo which will have an effect upon your ship. The Abandon Colony button allows you to do just that and abandon this planet which will cause it to become unoccupied.

You can add a flag to your planet, which could be one of various colours, so that it stands out better in your database for organisation. Use Ability opens up a menu similar to Use Planet Artifact. This menu will display all abilities available for you to use and includes both abilities which will affect the planet and also your ship.

Lastly, there is the analyze option. Sometimes, a planet will have something to analyze and a button will appear here for you to click on and discover what qualities this planet has. This can include, among other things, if the planet has moons or rings.

When you are ready, close this window and click on the trade tab so that we might continue.

(-o-) Alright, that was a little long-winded. I might come back and cut it down a bit.

Your planet hasn't produced anything yet. When it does, the resources will appear here for collection. If your planet is producing research then this will appear in the research tab for use.

Remember the Dynite shortage on a near-by colony? To help them out, first we will need to purchase some Dynite. Enter the number '10' into the Quantity box and then click on the Buy button next to the Dynite.

You will notice now that there is an option to sell the Dynite. When you receive mineral shipments from your planetary production, you can sell these minerals to gain credits; this will be your main source of income.

Head back over to the Missions tab when you are ready.


Click on the Mission briefing for Dynite Shortage.

You will need to spend some energy to get the Dynite to the colony. Click on the Start Mission button to take the Dynite to the colony.

Well done! As thanks, the colonists have given you some credits. You have also gained some experience. If you wish to continue with this mission, then you will need to purchase more dynite.

Take as much time as you need and when you have the time, click on the Legion tab.

Alright, just PVP and the legion tab to go. I'll might go back and do the PvP bit right after defeating the Kelethor or something, not sure yet.

Ah, commander, I see you are ready to continue with your training. I suppose it's time that you learned how to command a legion and the subtle nuances of politics within the legion and with other legions.

The main area of this interface is the legion roster. This is your list of all of your fellow legion members. In the columns we can see some very basic information about their ships.

On the right there are three different buttons. These give you options to promote these members to a higher rank, demote them to a lower rank, or to kick them from the legion. These options will only be available to leaders and sometimes officers, depending on the legion rules.

You can click on the name of one of your legion mates to view their ship. Do this now so we can continue.

From this window you have an image of your ally's ship, some slightly more detailed information about them in the top right and then there are a series of tabs for interacting with this ship.

The Stats tab will show you a list of data about this ship, such as how many planets they occupy or how many battles they have taken part in. Next is the Ship tab.

The Ship tab allows you to view the different modules your ally has installed upon their ship, sorted by category, however it does not reveal exactly what these modules do. Next is the Actions tab.

From this tab you can see the number of actions they have remaining; this is the number of times that an enemy ship can perform certain offensive actions against this ship. From this tab you can also repair your ally, access the abilities window or view the medals which have been awarded to this ship. Next is the Comm tab.

Comm is short for Communications. Here you can view public messages sent to this ship from other ships. You can also send messages of your own, for 5 energy. Lastly is the Effects tab.

From this tab you can see any active effects upon the ship you are viewing; these include any permanent effects granted by modules or temporary ones provided by abilities and artifacts.

Feel free to explore this window some more and interact with your allies. When you are done, please close this window and then click the "Diplomacy" button on the left side of the legion tab.

(-o-) I knew this was going to be the longest part of the tutorial... It's a pain in the backside. I'm thinking of moving all of the details about interacting with other players to the PvP part of the tutorial, just to spread it out a bit, and then summing up this tutorial with a nice simple "You can interact with allied ships in your legion the same as enemy ships on the battle tab, except that offensive capabilities have been removed."

This'll just spread it out a bit, but if I don't do this then I think that the PvP tutorial is going to be lacklustre.

This window is quite simple, commander. From here you can view, and manage, different pacts with other legions. There are three tabs, for incoming pact requests which you can approve or deny;

We have a tab for currently active pacts your legion has with other legions which you can break if you choose.

Lastly, there is a tab for broken pacts which you can dismiss from this list. Now, close this window when you are ready and click on the Legion Base button.



Here we have the window which allows you to interact with your legion's base. Let's take a look at the information at the top of this window first. On the left we have an image of your legion's base and on the right we have some more details. Here we can see the name of the base, the base's level and the funds your base has along with how much of these funds your base requires for daily upkeep, similar to your ship.

First let's take a look at the stats tab. From here we can see the base's hull value, shields value, attack score, defense score and also ability points which we will look at in some more depth later on. We can also see the number of times this base has been disabled. Continue to the production tab.

This tab details how many resources the legion base is producing. Depending upon the legion rules, these resources will be allocated to the members of the legion evenly or it will depend upon their contributions to the base according to the Upgrade tab, which we will look at shortly. These resources may be automatically delivered to each member of the legion or they may need to be manually collected from this tab. Continue to the Modules tab.

This tab details how much Space or Special Space your legion has, and how much of it is currently being used, very similarly to your ship's deck space. Below this we can also see which modules are installed on the base and the bonuses they give to the base. New modules can be constructed by click on the Build new Module button and modules can be sold directly from this list at a loss to their original construction cost. Depending on legion rules, any member can sell modules from this list. Continue to the upgrade tab.

On this tab we find details of which ships have contributed what resources, in the form of Energy, Complex Tech Parts and Exotic Matter, and in what amounts towards upgrading the base. Their contributions are then summed up as a percentage of all contributions ever made to the base, which may determine how much resources they are entitled to from the base production. You can also contribute resources towards the base yourself from this window; these resources will be taken from your ship. Next is the actions tab.

The functions of this tab are very similar to those of the Actions tab of other ships, however some of the options are different. You can deposit credits, or withdraw them if the correct module is installed, and you can access other areas of the base when you have researched them, such as the Collective Theory Lab. Use Base Abilities will access a unique window where you can activate abilities available to the base; using these abilities costs Ability Points which can be seen from the Stats tab. Move on to the Effects tab.

Like the Actions tab, the Effects tab for the base is incredibly similar to the effect tab for ships. There's not much to say here; we've said everything that needs to be said about the effects tab. Move onto the Log tab.

The Log tab is a way of viewing significant events to do with the legion base or the legion as a whole from the last 72 hours. This includes artifacts which have been used upon the base, abilities which have been activated and upkeep which has been deducted from the legion funds. Lastly, click on the Rules tab.

Here are the rules of the legion; a way of allocating permissions to different ships by their Legion Position or deciding upon the allocation of resources. Only the Leaders of the legion can alter the Legion Rules.

(-o-) Yeah, long winded, and I hate it... But there's a lot going on with the legion tab and some players might feel a bit lost if it's not explained to them. Any suggestions of ways to change this tutorial? Even just cutting it down a bit. All that's really left to do now is PvP, and maybe a tiny bit of "You can also do x, y and z from the legion tab."