Terra-Firma Ver 7.00 Hints


        It is VERY easy to get wasted in the Terra-Firma Universe! This
file will make it a bit easier to cope.

        
        This small file is in two parts. Part 1 being how to stay alive!
Part 2, How to best put some of the more obscure features to good use.
        
        
                
                
                
                   Section One: How to stay alive.......        
        
        
        
        Always check ahead to the next sector you are planning to visit!
There are four very good reasons for this. One is that the sector may 
contain a Black Hole, Nova or Neutron Star. Your Colony ship is not designed 
to be any where near these type of stars. Because of this Bounders were
developed. Bounders are designed to jump ahead into the next sector and
check for these types of conditions before your onboard ship computer lets
your ship enter. Bounders are great but limited! They will not help you
with Space Pirate attacks or Satellite attacks.

        The second reason is Space Pirates! Most of the time they travel in
small groups of under one hundred ships. Which you Colony fighter ships can
easily handle. However there are Space Pirate War Lords cruising through
the Universe and they can be very tricky! They may let it look like there
are just a few Pirates in the sector, but hidden behind Planets and Moons
could be a rather large fleet! Be careful! These fleets have been known to
be over 20,000 Space Pirate fighter ships!

        Thirdly, be on the alert for other players Satellites. Once a 
Satellite has more than 100,000 fighterships on it. The Satellite will scan
for two sectors around it and attack anything that enters those sectors!

        Once your Colony Ship has reached a level where you can carry 50,000
or more fighter ships. You are fairly safe from being destroyed by Space
Pirates or Satellites. However, you must be on a constant guard for the 
three star type sectors mentioned above.

        Fourth, if you are out Colonizing or just planning to orbit a planet
for supplies you MUST know if you are in Hostile Sector or not! The various
scanners will report on whether or not you have entered a hostile sector. 
Most Hostile sectors will let you pass through unharmed but if a sector is
considered hostile, it is because the planets have banned together in an
effort to stay safe. Some planets will of course be more able to defend
themselves and will be able to launch more Fighterships in defense. In the
Terra-Firma Universe it is very unlikely for a planet to launce more than
30,000 fighterships.

        Remember to leave you ship in the vicinity  of one of your Satellites
as other players must get through it's defense force before they can get to
your ship.



                        Section Two: Obscure and strange things
                        I have found about the game........

        To win Terra-Firma or just to become the most powerful player, you
need suppllies from one of three space stations in the Universe. The 
location of only one of these Space stations is known. So if one were to
block off the access to these Space Stations by orbiting powerful Satellites
in the near by sectors, one could control access to these Space Stations!

        Co-Pilots have some undocumented (except here) features. Whether this
is due to planning or some strange programming quirk will never fully be
understood or known? 
        
        Colonizing hostile sectors can be expensive in fighter ships. 
Not to mention dangerous!  Co-Pilots can colonize these sectors for you
while you are off line. For some strange reason they can get in and out
of these sectors without a problem......Also, the planet defenses don't seem
to affect things either! Copilots can also sneak around Space Pirates without 
a problem. Obviously, the builders and programmers at the Space Stations 
know somthing we don't. That however doesn't matter. What does matter for us 
is that it works!

        A few things to have in mind before you move, Make sure you have
some bounders on board as they are destroyed when they hit a bad sector!
Make sure you have scanned ahead. I always scan ahead to check for Space
Pirates. If I fly into a new sector, the first thing I do is launch
a scout ship to check the planets out. This scout ship will report back
anything it finds including wether or not you are in a Hostile secter! In
the normal scanner report you will see a heading intitled ships. If there
is a (00) double zero the sector is safe from pirates. If you see a (01) it
may be one Space Pirate or another player. Anything over (01) will be 
a fleet of Space Pirates. Remember that this may be a ruse, as there could
be other unscanned Pirates hiding.

                         Ending thoughts:

        Terra-Firma is a dangerous place. As is real life. I and many others
who have gotten into the game believe it is more realistic this way. It lends
an element of danger to the game, that other Space games may not have.

        Remember to read the Player.docs completetly as there lots of things
mentioned in there that I have not re-written here.

        I love player suggestions and incorporate many of them into the game.
Please let me know if you have a great original idea. I do not except
suggestions that are anything like other Space games.


                                        Dave Wendling
                                        Voice 413-442-7296
                                        FiDoNet 1:321/227
                                        BBS 413-443-8788
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