________________________________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ _________ __ / _____// |______ _______ \_____ \\ __\__ \\_ __ \ / \| | / __ \| | \/ /_______ /|__| (____ /__| \/ \/ _________ __ .__ \_ ___ \ ____ _____/ |________ ____ | | / \ \/ / _ \ / \ __\_ __ \/ _ \| | \ \___( <_> ) | \ | | | \( <_> ) |__ \______ /\____/|___| /__| |__| \____/|____/ \/ \/ _____ _____ \_ \\_ \ / /\/ / /\/ /\/ /_/\/ /_ \____/\____/ ________________________________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Complete Guide Version: 1.23 Author: Tristan Glaeser E-Mail: orzinvasion[at]fastmail[dot]fm []------------- Table of Contents --------------------------------------------[] -.-.-.- 1.01 - Introduction -.-.-.- 1.02 - The Controls -.-.-.- 1.03 - Gameplay Tips -.- The Walkthrough -.-.-.- 2.01 - Welcome to Earth -.-.-.- 2.02 - Early Mining -.-.-.- 2.03 - Visiting the Pkunk -.-.-.- 2.04 - Rallying Cry -.-.-.- 2.05 - Thanks, Delta Tauri! -.-.-.- 2.06 - The Twilight Zone -.-.-.- 2.07 - Unfriendly Reception -.-.-.- 2.08 - Slylandro Self-Destruct Code -.-.-.- 2.09 - Talking Pet Turns Rabid -.-.-.- 2.10 - Creating the Ultimate Flagship -.-.-.- 2.11 - VUX Petting Zoo -.-.-.- 2.12 - Subduing the Thraddash -.-.-.- 2.13 - Yehat Revolution -.-.-.- 2.14 - Repairing the Ultron -.-.-.- 2.15 - The Syreen-Mycon Conflict -.-.-.- 2.16 - Finale -.- Afterword []------------- 1.01 - Introduction ------------------------------------------[] As a kid, I played through more games across different platforms than I care to remember. Among these, Star Control 2 was my favorite by a mile. Even after more than a decade from its release, I have not played another game with dialogue and story as unique and memorable. Seeing that there there was no full walkthrough for my favorite game anywhere on the internet, I sat down and produced this guide. In case you don’t already know, there’s a perfectly legitimate freeware version of Star Control 2 that plays the same as the original, but for legal reasons is titled "The Ur-Quan Masters" (abbreviated as UQM). This guide is written based on UQM, not the old DOS version of Star Control 2. UQM can be downloaded from this website: http://sc2.sourceforge.net/ The walkthrough has long, detailed sections that can lead you from beginning to end without any real planning on your part. The longer sections of it are followed by brief summaries for your convenience. If you’re new to the game or just plain terrible at it and want to be led straight through, I recommend keeping this guide open while you play and alternating between it and the game. Or better yet, print the whole thing out. Star Control 2 is not completely linear so you don’t have to follow the order of events as I have listed them to beat the game, but this way works well. This guide was originally submited to GameFAQs on October 8th, 2004. I have altered it many times and no longer feel the need to annotate every last change. Any given website may host this guide. I do not need to be contacted regarding this. []------------- 1.02 - The Controls ------------------------------------------[] The mouse is not used in this game. Everything is performed on the keyboard. [IN FLIGHT] Accelerate ---------------------------- Up Arrow Rotate clockwise ---------------------- Right Arrow Rotate counter-clockwise -------------- Left Arrow Open menu ----------------------------- Spacebar [MENU] Change highlighted item --------------- Arrow Keys Access highlighted item --------------- Enter Back/Cancel --------------------------- Spacebar [STAR MAP] Move cursor --------------------------- Arrow Keys Zoom In ------------------------------- Plus ( + ) Zoom Out ------------------------------ Minus ( - ) *Search by star name ------------------ Slash ( / ) Select destination -------------------- Enter Close star map ------------------------ Spacebar [CONVERSATION] Fast forward dialogue ----------------- Right Arrow Rewind dialogue ----------------------- Left Arrow Cycle through dialogue options -------- Up & Down Arrows Say something ------------------------- Enter View summary of conversation ---------- Spacebar [PLANET LANDER SEQUENCE] Accelerate ---------------------------- Up Arrow Rotate clockwise ---------------------- Right Arrow Rotate counter-clockwise -------------- Left Arrow Fire stun gun ------------------------- R-Shift Return to flagship -------------------- Escape [COMBAT] Accelerate ---------------------------- Up Arrow Rotate clockwise ---------------------- Right Arrow Rotate counter-clockwise -------------- Left Arrow Primary weapon ------------------------ R-Shift Secondary weapon ---------------------- R-Ctrl **Flee -------------------------------- Escape [ANYWHERE] F1 ------------------------------------ Pause F10 ----------------------------------- Opens quit menu *You'll have to type in the constellation you're looking for. A neat feature nonetheless. **Fleeing from combat has a few complications to it, all of which I go over in the Gameplay Tips section. []------------- 1.03 - Gameplay Tips -----------------------------------------[] Saving/Loading: Above all, SAVE YOUR GAME OFTEN. There are dozens of dangerous places I could tell you to save your game within the walkthrough, but I leave that for you to figure out. If your planet lander kicks the bucket, it’s time to load. Lose any escort vessels early on? Load. Have you angered a normally friendly species into attacking you? Definitely load. Planets: The planets in the game are numbered in roman numerals, starting from the closest to the sun and counting up. I'm not sure why exactly, but this guide will refer to planets the same way. RUs: This stands for Resource Units. These are the building materials for your fleet. You'll be scouring a lot of planets for minerals to create them. A small amount of RUs is also gathered by defeating enemy ships in battle. Hyperspace: In hyperspace, time elapses quickly and hostile ships prowl about so DO NOT just sit out there or wander aimlessly. As soon as you enter hyperspace, always open up a menu - this pauses the game. You’ll mostly travel by opening up the star map, choosing your destination, and letting auto pilot get there for you. If a ship looks like its going to intercept you, you’ll need to manually steer out of the way and pilot yourself until you’re in the clear again. Homeworlds: Never attack an alien homeworld. These are guarded by an infinite number of ships. If you visit such a place and get attacked yourself, flee. Be aware that there is one exception to this in the game, but the opposition will specifically mention that they're sending ten ships at you. Flagship and fleet modification: When you reconfigure your flagship and fleet, it’s worth noting that you buy and sell for equal value. This is because the star base isn’t trying to profit off you. Since you can’t lose anything from buying and selling parts, I encourage you to experiment with the setup until you’ve got things just the way you want them. Regardless of whether you follow the walkthrough or not, upgrading thrust modules and turning jets should be one of your first priorities. Fuel: Buy lots of fuel and always keep a careful eye on how much you’ve got. That huge ship you’re flying chugs fuel like you wouldn’t believe while moving through hyperspace. Notice on the star map how there’s a highlighted area around your present location? That’s how far you can get with your current fuel. I wouldn’t try flying out that far, however, as you need enough to get back to Earth. If that’s not bad enough, landing on planets takes a small cut of fuel. For this reason, you want to make as few trips to the surface of any given planet as possible. Fortunately, there are multiple sources from which you can obtain fuel. These will make your life a little easier. Mining: A warning: The information in this section is valuable, but I did get a little carried away trying to cover every last detail. You might want to skim. You can carry minerals off planets with your planet lander and trade them in at the star base for RUs. Most of your resources will be earned through this. Here is a list of each of the mineral types: COMMON (Turquoise) - 1 RU each. Dead weight. CORROSIVE (Dark Red) - 2 RUs each. Dead weight. BASE METAL (Grey) - 3 RUs each. Usually not worth it. NOBLE GAS (Blue) - 4 RUs each. Worth it. RARE EARTH (Green) - 5 RUs each. Worth it. PRECIOUS METAL (Yellow) - 6 RUs each. Scoop them all up. RADIOACTIVE (Orange) - 8 RUs each. Scoop them all up. EXOTIC (Pink) - 25 RUs each. Jackpot! The color of a star determines its temperature. Hotter stars have richer mineral worlds, but you should know that these systems are more dangerous for your planet lander. Supergiant stars are also much hotter than regular sized ones. The temperature order of stars goes as follows in order of coldest to hottest: Red Orange Yellow Green Blue and White. So in theory, a white supergiant star is the best place to go digging. However, by the time you have all the lander upgrades needed to safely land on such planets, you won’t really need to. Star temperature and mineral wealth do not directly correlate all the time, so you're better off just checking most of the planets yourself. Every planet has a dotted line that loops around the system, showing the planet's orbit. The color of this indicates the planet's general temperature. Blue and grey orbits imply that the planet is extremely cold. This is a good thing since cold can't hurt you. A green orbit is ideal for supporting life. An orange orbit will have many hot-spots on it which can be dangerous. Lastly, a red orbit means extremely hot. If your lander isn't heat shielded yet, skip red orbiting planets completely. When you enter a system on a mining mission, you’ll want to check almost every single moon and planet. Large planets and gas giants have moons fairly often. Gas giants and grey worlds will never have valuable minerals, so skip 'em. Orange and yellow worlds are almost always loaded with nice stuff. Pink, cyan, red, blue and green are less reliable but they’re worth checking. Purple worlds are almost always bad except for one variety that sometimes has a tiny amount of exotics. Each planet has a set of statistics. Before you try landing, the ones you should really pay attention to are Temperature, Weather, and Tectonics. It is these things that damage your lander. Do not land on a planet if... * It has a temperature that goes past 400 degrees. * It has a weather rating higher than "4". * It has a tectonics rating higher than "5". * It has more than one element near the above limits. Example: 320 temperature, 3 weather, 4 tectonics. If you’re dead set on mining an extremely dangerous planet, here’s something you should keep in mind: position the crosshair as close to the middle of a clump of valuable minerals as you can. When you land, scoot to grab the closest mineral or two (if its close enough) then hit the Escape key. Repeat. This is horribly inefficient with fuel, especially on high gravity worlds. You won't be doing any of this if you follow the walkthrough, but it is worth it on planets loaded with exotics. I usually opt for as few trips to the surface as I can get away with to conserve fuel. That means loading up your lander’s cargo bay completely before you take off, and skimping on the less valuable metals. A planet's gravity affects how much fuel it takes to land. High gravity planets take more fuel. When you're choosing where to drop your lander, the game will tell you how much fuel the trip will take. Don’t shoot minerals when you go planet crawling, that ruins them. Also, if your lander's storage bay is 99% full, don't pick up a gigantic deposit. You'll only receive a fraction of it due to cargo limits, and the mineral will disappear for good. In short: Early on in the game you should choose where to mine by how safe a planet is and how easy it is to get to. Don't be too picky about mineral quality, just live off what you can get. Once you've upgraded your lander and have plenty of fuel, the focus should be on grabbing the best minerals you can find. Alien lifeforms: Many planets have little critters running around on the surface. Some of them can attack and destroy your lander, but typically they aren't that great of a danger. The lander's stun ray can put these into suspended animation and store them aboard your ship just like with minerals. Why bother with all these animals? See below. Melnorme Trade Ship: You can meet these guys very early in the game by going to any of the supergiant stars and searching around for a circular grey ship that wanders around. In exchange for data on alien lifeforms, these guys will sell you fuel, upgrades for your flagship, and information. It is nearly impossible to win the game without their assistance. If you don't plan on using the walkthrough, many of their hints will help tremendously if you write down or memorize what they tell you. Diplomacy: If you encounter an alien fleet and have the choice of conversing or attacking, always converse. Every species in the game (including the ones that hate you!) can give away useful information. Also, this should go without saying, but try not to piss off aliens if you can help it. Even the friendly races will attack you if you’re rude enough. If you’re not using the walkthrough you should play with paper and a pen nearby. When someone mentions a set of coordinates or specific location, make a note of that. Combat: Combat in this game is always a series of one-on-one duels. When it begins, you pick one of your ships to go up against one of theirs. The winner of that match-up has to continue fighting enemy reinforcements until it retreats or dies horribly. Because the fights must be one-on-one, strength does not necessarily lie in numbers. One powerful ship will do you a *lot* more good than twelve weak ones. Fighting in this game takes practice and good reflexes, but the most critical aspect of it is which ship you choose to fight with. For instance, if you send a Zoq-Fot-Pik Stinger against a Yehat Terminator, that Stinger is going to get plastered no matter how good you are. If you find yourself getting killed over and over, you may need to learn the controls better. Another possibilty is that you're going up against an enemy that is too strong for you at the moment. The best thing to do if you're getting beat down is to go into Star Control's combat simulator (which is included with the game) and practice various ship match-ups. During all fights, there are always several asteroids and one planet that appear seemingly at random. The asteroids are harmless, but crashing into the planet damages you heavily. If you fly right by the planet, however, you'll send your ship sailing at a high speed. Turning your thrusters on will decrease your extra speed back down to normal, so let the momentum carry you if you want to take advantage of this effect. This maneuver has been dubbed the "Gravity Whip". You can bet the computer will use it to gain the upper hand against you every chance it gets, so you need to take advantage of this maneuver too. Fleeing from combat: Retreating is a story game trick so this doesn’t apply to Super Melee at all. As soon as you’ve worked out a deal with Hayes at the star base near the start he’ll install a warp unit onto your ship, and at that point this section applies. Near the very end of the game the warp unit is removed again so be mindful of that. If you want to run from a battle, you’ll need to have your precursor vessel out in combat and hit Escape. When you do this, your ship will freeze in place, lose its ability to attack and flash for 5.5 seconds. This can be very dangerous; whoever you’re fighting will try to get in some free shots before you get away. The best time to retreat is immediately after you destroy an enemy ship because of the "victory dance" each ship does when it wins a duel. This will cut the time you are vulnerable to the next enemy down to almost nothing. If you’re fighting a particularly slow enemy, just get far away before you start the warp sequence and you should be okay. It costs 5 fuel to pull your fleet away. The warp unit also allows for tactical withdrawals. What this means is that if you hit escape while an escort is fighting it will do the same flashy thing the flagship does to retreat. When it has escaped, you get to pick another ship to fight in its place. When used correctly, this is critical for keeping your fleet intact during a big fight. Thankfully, a tactical withdrawal does not cost you any fuel. The "Cyborg" setting: Cyborg is an option within the main game that makes the computer fight battles for you. You still choose which ship fights and tell it when to retreat, but that’s about it. The three settings make the fights go at regular, double, and quadruple speed. At the highest setting, you don’t even see the fight occurring. In my opinion, cyborg is lame. Why skip combat, one of the best aspects of the game? Furthermore, a cyborg ship doesn’t fly as well as a player that knows what they're doing. You can use this feature if you really want to, but don't count on it to win fights that you can't. Time Limit: There is a time limit but it’s not too bad if you know what you’re doing. From the start of the game of February 17, 2155, you have four years until something very bad starts to happen. By the last quarter of the year 2159, the game will be over. There’s an event you can trigger that pushes this time limit back a year to 2160. The biggest drain on time within the game is hyperspace travel by far. With that in mind, try to make long distance travel as efficient as possible. o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o | The Walkthrough | o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o This section has some spoilers, but within reason. I don't spoil anything that happens far ahead of time, and I never give away the ending. []------------- 2.01 - Welcome to Earth --------------------------------------[] You will probably want to change the name of your captain (which is you) and flagship. Open the menu, go into "Game", then "Settings" to get to where you can change these. If you’re not very creative, go with your last name and call the ship something like "Excalibur" or "Tugboat". At the beginning, your ship has very few thrust and turning modules, so expect flight to be a little wonky for the time being. Now head for Earth. When you get near, an automated drone will approach and broadcast a message. Regardless of what it says, don’t panic - you haven't screwed up yet. The Earth is surrounded by a huge red force field for some reason, so go to the star base orbiting it instead. The nice fellow who answers your transmission, Commander Hayes, needs you to pick up some radioactives. He suggests you go to Mercury for this. There’s an even better world to mine radioactives from, but for now Mercury will suffice since I want you to mine it anyway. Take care to avoid earthquakes and hot-spots when you touch down on the surface. Pick up every mineral deposit you can find. Go back to the star base. As far as conversation with Hayes goes, you can say pretty much anything without repercussion so go with whatever suits you best. Supposedly there’s a hostile fleet on the face of the moon and you’re supposed to prove yourself to him by destroying it. Go there and land on the surface. The metals there are kind of crappy but pick them up anyway while you’re here. You can shoot the harmless little droids wandering around, but there’s no need to. Now head for the abandoned installation. Having checked the moon, return to the star base. That drone you encountered earlier has brought back a damaged Ilwrath Avenger which will engage you in combat regardless of what you say to it. Either of the two ships you have can bring it down, but it’s better to use the little cruiser. The procedure for this fight is simple: turn and face the Avenger, then fire off two missiles. If for some reason you start a little too close to the enemy, accelerate away from him before you turn and fire. The star base will be your center of operations from this point on. Hayes will be much more willing to answer questions now and I suggest you take advantage of that if you don’t already know the story. Once you’ve done that, trade in the minerals you picked up. Go ahead and buy yourself a little more fuel, then attach a few extra thrust modules and turning jets. Go to pluto and land. Pick up the little pink mineral. It’s classified as an exotic, so even a few of these are worth a lot. Now head over to the ship that’s landed in the corner. He’ll inflict some damage on your lander before opening a transmission. Say hi to Fwiffo! There are two ways you can handle this conversation: patiently listen to Fwiffo’s life story and get him to join you, or become angry and attack him. If you have the attention span required to appreciate this guide, you’ll probably find the conversation interesting anyway so do the former. His Spathi Eluder vessel really comes in handy throughout the game. It’s time to clean out the system. Pick up every last mineral deposit on the following worlds: --- Neptune’s moon "Triton" --- Saturn’s moon "Titan" --- Jupiter’s moons "Io" and "Europa" --- Mars Return to the starbase. Exchange your minerals then get your precursor vessel set up with the following parts: --- 11 Thrust modules --- 4 Turning jets --- 1 Full fuel tank --- 1 Full crew pod --- 2 Storage bays --- 1 Planet lander Notice that your main vessel is now completely unarmed. This is intentional. With all those thrust modules you are in little danger of being caught so you don’t even have to worry about combat for the moment. Now you’re set to head out into hyperspace. There’s no special button for that, you just need to fly far out of the system. o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o | Summary: | | | | Go to the star base orbiting Earth. | | | | Mine all of mercury. | | | | Land on the moon, mine it, and check the abandoned structure. | | | | Return to base and slay an Ilwrath with your Earthling Cruiser. | | | | Go to Pluto and get Fwiffo on your side | | | | Mine Triton, Titan, Io, Europa and Mars. | | | | Fly back to base to get your flagship and fleet reconfigured. | | | | Leave the solar system. | o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o Q: Can I just leave the system at the start of the game and not bother with this part? A: Yes, but don’t expect to get very far. You’re slow, without decent firepower, and the Slylandro Probes are going to spawn 50 times more often than if you had actually followed the plot. Q: Do I need to keep the Earthling Cruiser? A: To be honest, no. But there are a few enemies it's good against later in the game, so I like to hold on to it. Q: I want to deploy the Earthling Cruiser against X ship. How exactly should I use it? A: o---------- The Earthling Cruiser ---------------------------------------------o \ / / This is a slow, long ranged ship so you'll usually want to try and keep away \ \ from your opponent above all else. While doing this, turn and fire nuclear / / missiles at the enemy with the primary fire button. The Cruiser also has a \ \ point-defense laser, but its usefulness is limited. Hold down secondary fire / / to use it. The point-defense laser will automatically chip away at a nearby \ \ opponent and can even shoot down asteroids and some enemy projectiles. If / / there's nothing nearby, turning the laser on will have no effect. \ \ / o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o []------------- 2.02 - Early Mining ------------------------------------------[] Be aware that anywhere in hyperspace Slylandro Probes can appear and try to chase you down. All ships appear as black dots, but the Slylandro are the fastest. It’s entirely random when they show up so you have two ways of dealing with them right now: 1) Learn to shoot them down with either the Earthling Cruiser or Spathi Eluder. This is *not* recommended for newbies. 2) When the combat screen appears, choose the flagship and start the escape sequence immediately. You'll lose roughly 10 crew members in damage before you get away, which is not all that bad. You will be able to kill Probes properly not too long from now. A good move at this point would be to mine all of the Centauri stars since they’re nearby and have plenty of good minerals. Start by setting a course in the star map for Delta Centauri. Yes, that's Ilwrath territory. Ilwrath are slow so you should have no trouble avoiding them. From now on you’re going to be more picky about what minerals you gather. Commons (Turquoise), Corrosives (Deep Red), and Base Metals (Grey) are nothing but dead weight, so avoid them. If you end up getting any by accident, go into the cargo menu and dump them out by hitting "Enter" over the highlighted mineral type. Mine the following worlds: --- Delta Centauri VI --- Delta Centauri V --- Delta Centauri IV Head over to planet II’s moon (Delta Centauri II-A). Why look, this planet has radioactives AND weird critters on it! You’ll want to capture everything on the map. This can be dangerous but it’s worth it. Land near the very top or bottom of the planet and just camp out waiting for giant killer bees. Be patient, they will go after you eventually. After you’ve stunned and captured 6 swarms, you’re safe to roam the area. Stay out of earthquakes and don’t bump into the big honkin’ beasts you see ambling about and you’ll be fine. Travel around picking up minerals and capturing the other life forms. To be more efficient, don’t take off again until you’ve filled both the mineral and critter cargo bays. This planet should take four trips or so. That’s all for that system. The other Centauri stars are slim pickings, so I'll go over this quick: --- Beta Centauri I-C --- Beta Centauri III-C --- Zeta Centauri I --- Zeta Centauri I-B --- Zeta Centauri I-C --- Epsilon Centauri I Since we're following a pattern anyway, go next to Alpha Centauri. It has several rich planets, but none of them are safe to land on! There is a ship you want to meet in this system so scour the area until you see him. This is a Melnorme trade vessel you've bumped into, so be nice. Once introductions are over, offer to sell information on alien life forms. Using the credits he gives you, buy two technology upgrades. Use all remaining credits to buy fuel. One last planet before you're done: --- Gamma Centauri I. That's all the mining you need right now. Go back to the star base at Sol. Exchange your minerals and set your flagship up like so: --- 11 Thrust modules --- 8 Turning jets (+4) --- 2 Full fuel tanks (+1) --- 1 Full crew pod --- 3 Storage bays (+1) --- 1 Planet lander Now that your flagship's flying capabilities are maxed out, flight should be much more pleasant. o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o | Summary: | | | | Watch out for Slylandro Probes and Ilwrath patrols. Flee if caught. | | | | Mine Delta Centauri VI, V, IV and IIA. | | | | Mine Beta Centauri I-C and III-C. | | | | Mine Zeta Centauri I-B and I-C. | | | | Mine Epsilon Centauri I. | | | | Visit the Melnorme at Alpha Centauri and get purchase two tech upgrades | | along with some fuel. | | | | Mine Gamma Centauri I. | | | | Return to Sol. Sell what you've acquired, make upgrades, refuel and restaff. | o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o Q: Why are you telling me to flee from Ilwrath ships? The Spathi Eluder I've got can beat them easily. A: That's true, but it takes a long time. Fighting the Ilwrath is usually a drawn out game of cat 'n mouse what with the cloaking devices they use. If you know how to fight those ships and have the patience for it, be my guest. Q: I have a sizable amount of extra RUs from that trip even after buying everything you've listed. What else should I buy? A: If you find yourself with a big surplus of RUs, spend it on whatever you want. But if your funds are too low to buy required parts later on, be prepared to sell these extra things. []------------- 2.03 - Visiting the Pkunk ------------------------------------[] Both Hayes and the Avenger captain you killed off hint that the Ilwrath are currently preying on another species. These aliens have a sphere of influence that crosses over the very bottom part of Ilwrath territory. So the best way to make contact with this species is to fly to a point down from the Ilwrath sphere without crossing into it and wait for someone in hyperspace to intercept you. Do just that. As you can see, the Pkunk are a little goofy but they mean well. Notice how the guy you talked to was even nice enough to direct you to his homeworld! Head straight there. As soon as you open communications, they give you a Clear Spindle artifact. What's it do? You'll find out eventually. Be polite and ask for their help. They won't make a formal alliance, but they'll give you four of their vessels. If you want to, talk to Pkunk patrol fleets and the homeworld itself again if you want to learn more about them, but their advice has little practical use. Mine the following on your way back to Sol: --- Gamma Krueger III --- Delta Krueger I-B --- Delta Krueger I-C --- Eta Giclas II --- Alpha Giglas VII-B That's enough mining for what you need. Return to the star base to trade in minerals and examine the Clear Spindle. The technicians here won't know what to make of it. Now sell all four Pkunk Fury's and get your flagship set up to meet these specifications: --- 11 Thrust modules --- 8 Turning jets --- 2 Fusion blasters in front (+2) --- 2 Dynamo units (+2) --- 2 Full fuel tanks --- 1 Full crew pod --- 3 Storage bays --- 1 Planet lander o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o | Summary: | | | | Avoid Slylandro Probes and Ilwrath. | | | | Make contact with the Pkunk just below Ilwrath territory. | | | | Proceed to their homeworld, then mine planet III. | | | | Mine Delta Krueger I-B and I-C, Eta Giclas II, and Alpha Giclas VII-B. | | | | Return to Sol. Exchange minerals and reconfigure your fleet. | o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o Q: Why aren't you using the Pkunk ships at all? A: The Fury has potential, but it's one of the more difficult ships to use effectively. If you've taught yourself how to fight well with it against all foes, odds are you've already beaten the game and don't really need this guide. However, you will be employing these near the end of the game for a special purpose. []------------- 2.04 - Rallying Cry ------------------------------------------[] With the newly acquired fusion blasters you put in, your Precursor ship is now able to shoot down Slylandro Probes. When you engage them from now on, fly close to it, face the probe and rapidly press the fire button. You'll fire in triple bursts that cover a lot of space, so you don't need to be terribly precise. Unless you completely miss and empty your battery, the Probe will fall to pieces without inflicting much harm on you. This is by far the easiest way to fight Probes, so even after you acquire better escorts you should always use the flagship against this enemy. At this point in the game, Hayes will have already mentioned that someone or something is broadcasting a signal from the nearby Rigel system, so that's where you're going next. If for some reason he hasn't, go there anyway. When you get there, find the lone ship meandering around and talk to it. The Zoq-Fot-Pik scout will tell you all about their species and request that you visit their homeworld. If you look at the star map, you'll notice the Zoq-Fot-Pik are a long distance away and the Spathi are directly between you and them. The Spathi avoid violence at all costs, so it's probably safe to visit them. Fly into their territory and chat with one of their patrols. Yup, they're safe alright! So head for the Spathi homeworld. Fwiffo gave you the coordinates for this, but seeing as how you probably don't remember that I'll just tell you: Epsilon Gruis I-A. Apparently the Spathi are all living on their homeworld's moon because deadly predators they call "The Evil Ones" have invaded the place of their birth. They say they'll ally with you if you can get rid of these. So fly over planet I and land on it. As long as you don't drive right into one of the creatures, they remain completely docile. I suspect these things are in hibernation at the moment. Capture all of them, then go back to the moon. The Spathi high council needs a little time to determine if you're telling the truth, so fly away from the moon, then come back. Upon your return, the Spathi council isn't too keen on living up to their end of the bargain, but they'll reluctantly make an alliance with you when you point out that you still have the Evil Ones alive in suspended animation. The Spathi High Council will now be willing to provide a lot of information, some of it useful. With that detour out of the way, head for Alpha Tucanae I. Be aware that the fleets around Zoq-Fot-Pik territory are none other than the dreaded Ur-Quan. Do not run into them under any circumstances. There's a lot of them, but they're slow. When you arrive, the Zoq-Fot-Pik will gladly join up with you. To be honest, they need your help more than you need theirs. They don't have a lot of information except that two powerful species battle around their territory. Before you leave, mine these planets: --- Alpha Tucanae I-A --- Alpha Tucanae III Go back to the star base at Sol for refueling. If for some reason you run out of fuel before getting there, the Melnorme will approach you after you've been stranded in hyperspace for a few days. You should have enough spare credits with them to afford the fuel to get back home. The wonderful ship you're flying was built originally on Vela I. Well, let's go back there and see how the nice research team you left behind is doing. Find the supergiant star "Zeeman", and zoom in on it until you see the small yellow star beside it. Set a course for it. When you arrive at the planet, you're in for a bit of a surprise. Confront the battleship you see around the planet. This Ur-Quan Dreadnought is more than a match for your flagship at the moment, but your Spathi Eluder can kill it if flown correctly. If you're not yet adept at melee, this will take a couple tries. Stay clear of the fighters it launches at you at all times. Fly in and out of the Dreadnought's range to get a feel for how far its fusion cannon can reach. Once you're familiar with how it fights, use the technique below. o---------- The Spathi Eluder -------------------------------------------------o \ / / Use this maneuver to attack: fly straight at your opponent, then before you \ \ enter their weapon range (or get too close for comfort if you're fighting a / / long-ranged enemy), swing around and drop a few guided bombs as you fly \ \ away. Repeat these bombing runs until your opponent explodes. This is the / / ideal way to use this ship. The primary gun on the Spathi Eluder is \ \ mostly useless. / / \ o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o If you asked the Spathi High Council enough questions, they'll have told you their neighbors, the Androsynth have somehow been replaced by a species called the "Orz". If you're really curious as to what happened to the Androsynth, check their homeworld of Eta Vulpeculae II. Anyway, try and meet an Orz fleet around the nearby Vulpeculae stars. Wow. Pretty screwed up, huh? Weird as they may seem, they're friendly. Notice that if you mention the Androsynth, they'll get a little tense and tell you not to bring it up again. Take that advice - ask too many questions about the Androsynth and the Orz will attack you relentlessly. Regardless of that, try and make an alliance with them. Orz space is absolutely loaded with good minerals and also has a few critters. Scour the following worlds: --- Zeta Vulpeculae VII --- Zeta Vulpecuale VI --- Zeta Vulpecuale III-A --- Zeta Vulpeculae V-A --- Zeta Vulpeculae V-C --- Zeta Vulpeculae V-D --- Delta Vulpeculae VIII --- Delta Vulpeculae III --- Delta Vulpeculae II-C II-C is under guard by the Orz. If you made an alliance with them like I asked you to, you should have no trouble getting clearance to land from them. While you mine the planet, make sure you pick up the artifact there too. The Orz don't mind if you take it. Before returning to Sol, go to the nearby gas giant of Alpha Vulpeculae and find a Melnorme trader. Buy two technology upgrades but no fuel. Head back to Sol. Drop off your cargo, then buy another Spathi Eluder and two of the new Orz Nemesis vessels. Get a refill on crew and fuel as well. o---------- The Orz Nemesis ---------------------------------------------------o \ / / To use the Orz's most dangerous weapon, hold down the special key and press \ \ fire. This launches an Orz Space Marine which tries to board the enemy ship / / and kill everyone inside - and they're pretty good at it! This trick needs \ \ both keys because the Orz actually have three abilities: fire cannon, rotate / / cannon, and launch a marine. To turn the cannon, hold special and press the \ \ left or right arrow keys. The cannon is best left facing forward in most / / situations, but you can do a weaker imitation of "Spathi-Fu" if you turn the \ \ cannon backwards and fight like that. In most situations, it's bad to launch / / a pack of marines all at once because then they will be flying at the enemy \ \ all from the same direction, making them easy to run away from or shoot / / down. I prefer to launch two, fly somewhere different, launch another pair, \ \ and repeat until the enemy has been slaughtered. If you think you can do / / this without getting hit, fly by the enemy for a brief period and pound them \ \ with your cannon to get in a little extra damage. / / \ o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o | Summary: | | | | Make contact with the Zoq-Fot-Pik scout at Rigel. | | | | Acquaint yourself with the Spathi, then go to their homeworld of Epsilon | | Gruis I-A. Remove the "Evil Ones" from the face of planet I, then make an | | alliance. | | | | Carefully make your way to Alpha Tucanae I. Seal another alliance, then mine | | I-A and III of this system. | | | | Return to Sol for refueling. | | | | Go to Vela I and defeat an Ur-Quan Dreadnought. | | | | Seek out the Orz, near the Vulpeculae constellation. Ally with them. | | | | Mine Zeta Vulpeculae VII, VI, V-A, V-C, V-D and III-A, Delta Vulpeculae | | VIII, III and II-C. Don't forget to pick up the Taalo device on that last | | one. | | | | Go back to Sol again. Add escorts to your fleet, refuel and restaff. | o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o Q: So what really happened to the Androsynth? A: It should be obvious, but the Orz (or something closely tied to them) wiped them all out. So sorry. If it's of any consolation, know that the Androsynth were jerks anyway. Q: Why aren't you using any Zoq-Fot-Pik Stingers? A: They aren't much good in a fight compared to the awesomeness of the Spathi and Orz, that's why. []------------- 2.05 - Thanks, Delta Tauri! ----------------------------------[] If you've been wondering what star system in the game is the richest, this is for you. Fly over to Delta Tauri (above Ilwrath territory) and mine these planets: --- Delta Tauri VII --- Delta Tauri IV --- Delta Tauri III --- Delta Tauri II --- Delta Tauri I Refit your flagship like this: --- 11 Thrust modules --- 8 Turning jets --- 2 Fusion blasters in front --- 3 Dynamo units (+1) --- 3 Full fuel tanks (+1) --- 2 Full crew pods (+1) --- 3 Storage bays --- 1 Planet lander You should have plenty of RUs to spare after that. []------------- 2.06 - The Twilight Zone -------------------------------------[] Around this point in the game, the Zoq-Fot-Pik fall under attack. Hayes should have already mentioned this to you unless you've been following my instructions faster than I performed them myself. If that's the case, let your ship sit out for week of game time or something and check back. Head for Alpha Tucanae I, obviously. Again, don't run into any patrols around there. You could probably survive a tangle with multiple Ur-Quan at this point, but you're better off keeping a low profile. When you get there, you'll meet a weird new strain of Ur-Quan. This so-called Kohr-Ah will challenge you right away to a fight. The best ship to use against him is a Spathi. You'll want to use the same "Spathi-Fu" strategy you did against the Ur-Quan Dreadnought from before, except this enemy will be a lot harder since the spinning blades he launches at you have a very long reach. When you win, go into Menu, Manifest, and Roster to transfer crew from the flagship to the Eluder you just used so it's at full crew again. From now on, always replace lost crew in your escorts after a battle. Instead of going back to Earth, go to fly into that clump of stars which includes the Orionis constellation (Up-left of your position on the map) since that's where the Umgah are. Again, don't collide with any Ur-Quan or Kohr-Ah patrols but you should meet up with another hyperspace bubble once you enter the right area. When you do, ask them to "reveal [their] secrets" and they'll tell you about a crashed Ur-Quan Dreadnought in Alpha Pavonis. Now try to get them to ally with you. Okay, that didn't go so well. You'll have to fight multiple Umgah Drones now. Drones are slow and easy to destroy, but they can extend an anti-matter cone in front of their ship that can really bite into you if you end up in it. Also, they can zip backwards extremely fast in short bursts and will try to maneuver so that you end up in their cone of death. They're pretty good at it, so expect to take some damage against these guys eventually. The best way to kill an Umgah is with your Spathi Eluders using the usual technique, but Orz work well here too. IMPORTANT: If the escort you're using ends up at half crew or less, withdraw it immediately after you beat your current opponent. Remember this from now on. Now that you have the Umgah on your star map, head for Alpha Pavonis. It's a green star up+left of Umgah territory. The planets in this system are all a little bit too hot to mine, so just cut to Planet VII and bring your lander over to the crashed Dreadnought. The Warp Pod on the ship is still intact, so the lander team decides to bring it with you. Your next stop is Beta Pegasi. Check Planet I but don't land on it. Scanning this planet will do you good with the Melnorme later. There's a small blot of hyperspace I want you to camp out in for a while nearby. Fly close to Gamma Circini (it's down from your current map position) and stay put for a while. There's a dimensional portal that opens during on 17th of every month and lasts about three days. While you're waiting for that, there's a good chance you'll encounter an Arilou fleet. They're friendly, so don't worry about it. Once the portal opens, charge right in. Okay, this is a little weird. Open the star map. There's a batch of portals around that are all titled "Unknown", but there's a much larger portal separate from the rest that's far above. That's where you wanna go. This is the Arilou homeworld. Other than trying to attack them, you should run through every coversation option the game gives you. They will tell you to pick up a Warp Pod so that they can make you something useful. When you show them that you already have it, they'll make you a Portal Spawner. That's all you need from them, so say goodbye. Quasispace is basically a short-cut dimension to help you get to places faster and with less fuel use. You want to get to Sol, so take the portal that has is located at 506 x 474. You won't end up in Sol, but this is close enough. Actually, while you're out here you should intercept the Pkunk fleet. They're trying to meet up with the Yehat, which is a tragic mistake. Tell them your Ouija Board is acting up and the goofy birds will turn right around and head back to their home stars. These guys won't listen to reason so this is the only way. When you finally return to the star base, Hayes will tell you a dozen different things and three Arilou Skiffs will join your party. The hyperspace fluctuations he mentions are just the Pkunk fleet, so don't worry about that. Sell all your Zoq-Fot-Pik and Arilou ships, they aren't needed. The only thing you need now is crew and fuel, so refill those. o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o | Summary: | | | | Return to the Zoq-Fot-Pik homeworld to help defend it | | | | Acquaint yourself with the Umgah. | | | | Pick up a Warp Pod from Alpha Pavonis VII. | | | | Find a rainbow world on Beta Pegasi I. | | | | Go through a dimensional portal near Gamma Circini, then make your way to | | the Arilou homeworld. Obtain the Portal Spawner from them. | | | | Enter the quasispace portal that ends up just below Sol. | | | | Persuade the Pkunk to delay their journey to Yehat space. | | | | Return to Sol to refuel and restaff your fleet. | o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o Q: While I was off doing your crap the Spathi disappeared off the map. What's going on? A: This will be investigated next, but you should know that there's no way to prevent them from doing this. Q: Why are you selling all the Arilou ships? A: Arilou Skiffs are powerful, but you need to be extremely skilled to get any mileage out of them. They only have 6 crew, so they die far too easily for general use. If you *really* want to, go ahead and hold on to one of their ships. []------------- 2.07 - Unfriendly Reception ----------------------------------[] The first thing you should do is head for Epsilon Gruis and see what's going on with the Spathi. Observe the slave shield around the home planet, then land on their moon. Pick up the exotic and the device planted on the surface. Yep, I'm afraid the Spathi have weaseled out of their oath to remain allies with you. By now you've heard mention of many other races but never met them yourself. I've had you avoid contact with many of these because they all attack you or give you the cold shoulder, but now is a good time to see what they're up to. The first of these is the VUX. They're down+right of Orz space, so hang around there until one of their patrols confronts you. If you try to reason with the VUX captain, he'll tell you most VUX despise humans with one exception - their greatest Admiral named ZEX. That's the only valuable thing these guys will ever tell you, so say goodbye. And with that, you've got another battle to wade through. VUX Intruders are pathetically slow and only harmful at close range, so the Spathi, Orz and Earthling Cruiser work well here. Now head right of VUX territory for a ways into that big clump of stars which includes the Scorpii and Copernicus constellations and wait for a hyperspace bubble. Not only are these Mycon hostile, they can't make any sense. But unlike the VUX, they know how to put up a good fight. Orz are the best choice, but the Earthling Cruiser can also cover your back if you get really desperate. Stay clear of their huge plasma bursts and attack with your long range weapons. You'll probably have to switch in a different ship after you win a bout or two, so be ready for that. Go to the clump of stars below the VUX sphere of influence, you know the routine. The first group of Yehat you meet will not attack, but half of the encounters with them afterwards will carry hostiles so be wary of that. Anyway, try to pressure the group you meet into helping you. He won't, but he'll refuse to attack you even though they're all under orders to do so. Visit the system Zeta Sextantis while you're out here. It's in the down-right corner of VUX space. The first planet to the sun is another Rainbow World. It's safe on the surface, so go ahead and mine it. Next stop: Delta Gorno. Since that's not near anything of importance, the coordinates are 290 x 026. This is the Shofixti home system. Almost everyone in the game will tell you they're dead, but that's not quite accurate. Scour this system until you encounter a lone Scout. Unfortunately, his ship's sensors are so badly damaged he thinks you're an Ur-Quan! Instead of reasoning with him like you've been doing with everyone else for the entire game, insult him. When battle ensues, pick the flagship and flee. Go back and insult him again. Repeat this until he realizes you can't be an Ur-Quan, as Ur-Quan never cuss people out like that! Once he acknowledges who you are, he'll be more friendly. Unfortunately there's not much he can do to help so leave him alone for now and enter hyperspace. Open the Devices menu and use the Umgah Caster. This gets the attention of the Melnorme, so sit and wait for them to arrive. When he shows up, exchange all the stuff you've picked up. Get a full refueling, then purchase as many technological upgrades as you can get. Go back to Sol. Drop off the scant few minerals you've picked up and ask Hayes to analyze the Umgah Caster. Get rid of your old fuel pods for two of the new high efficiency models as well as two more crew pods. Refuel and re-crew. o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o | Summary: | | | | Investigate Epsilon Gruis I-A. | | | | Find the VUX. | | | | Meet the Mycon. | | | | Confront the Yehat. | | | | Mine the Rainbow World of Zeta Sextantis I. | | | | Seek out the last Shofixti at Delta Gorno. Do not harm him under any | | circumstances. Get him on your side. | | | | Get the Melnorme's attention in hyperspace using the Umgah Caster. Buy fuel | | and tech upgrades. | | | | Return to Sol to refuel and restaff your fleet. | o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o Q: You said the Earthling ship was good against VUX, but those things crucify Earthlings in Super Melee! What gives? A: The VUX have a special ability that lets them start right next to an opponent every battle they jump into. This gives the VUX an edge against humans and many other ships in the Melee simulator, but they don't have this trait in the main game. Q: What happens if the Shofixti captain dies? A: His brother shows up in the system a month later, giving you a second chance. []-------------- 2.08 - Slylandro Self-Destruct Code -------------------------[] About time you shut these things up, eh? Go out into hyperspace and use your Portal Spawner to enter quasispace again. Take the portal at 520 x 514. Go to Beta Corvi, which is slightly up+right of your position. Fly right into planet IV. Yes, I do mean that red gas giant. Against all odds, the Slylandro themselves are actually quite friendly. They've got a ton of conversation lines for you, so you might be here a while. Or you could just get to the point and keep the conversation strictly on the probes. Eventually you'll end up with something you can transmit during conversation every time you meet a probe that kills them instantly. Fly away from the planet for a day of game time, then return and Slylandro will tell you they've cooked up a way to wipe out all of their probes. The presence of these will decline rapidly from this point on. []-------------- 2.09 - Talking Pet Turns Rabid ------------------------------[] The Arilou said they had obtained one of the Ur-Quan's Talking Pets, but gave it to the Umgah. The Umgah in turn noticed the creature was capable of sentience, so they began messing with its genetic code. By now the creature has regained concious thought so it may be able to help you bring down the Ur-Quan. From where you are now, fly into Umgah space and meet another of their patrols. Ask them what they've been up to, and how the talking pet is doing. Apparently, "IT DIED". The Umgah aren't feeling too well at the moment. Amazingly, if you say goodbye they'll let you go in peace. So do that. For those of you not following the guide step by step, you must have the Taalo Device for this next part! If you do not, pick it up on Delta Vulpeculae II-C from the Orz. Assuming that you do have it from where you are now, the next step is to go to Beta Orionis I. The talking pet answers your transmission and tells you to go away. Ask it questions until he gets mad and orders a batch of ten Umgah drones to attack you. This is what we've been keeping two Spathi Eluders for. Use one to kill as many Umgah as possible, then withdraw. Do the same with the second. If you haven't won yet, bring in your Orz ships and then finally the flagship as a last resort. After the battle, the Dnyarri will plead for his life and offer to help you against the Ur-Quan. He's pure evil, but you will need his help so accept. He'll make himself a nest in an empty storage room on board and you'll be able to speak to him at any time via the Devices menu. Return to the Umgah homeworld where you receive a hero's welcome for freeing them from Dnyarri mind control. Regardless of whether you respond modestly or arrogantly, you'll end up with 1,000 credits worth of bio data. They'll be happy to answer any questions you ask, but when you try to leave they'll once again turn hostile and try to kill you. They also give you four of their ships. Don't ask why, the Umgah are just weird. This next fleet they send after you is infinite, so retreat. Head down from Umgah space so they aren't following you and give your Hyperwave Caster a toot. When the Melnorme trader arrives, exchange the Bio data and purchase all remaining tech upgrades available and get a refuel. You should have a big stack of credits remaining for you to leech fuel with from now on. Go back to Earth. Whether you use quasispace portal 506 x 474 or fly back the casual way doesn't matter. Analyze the Dnyarri along with the probe self-destruct code. Replace lost crew and sell those awful Umgah ships that tagged along. Go out into hyperspace and call the Melnorme over with your Umgah Caster for refueling. o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o | Summary: | | | | Fly to Umgah space and converse with one of their patrols. | | | | Go to Beta Orionis I, defeat the large Umgah fleet and capture the | | Talking Pet. | | | | Re-establish communications with Beta Orionis I to receive a reward of Bio | | data. Flee when the Umgah attack again. | | | | Leave Umgah space and get in touch with the Melnorme for fuel and | | technology. | | | | Return to the star base to fix up your fleet once again. | | | o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o []-------------- 2.10 - Creating the Ultimate Flagship -----------------------[] This chapter is purely optional. What you'll be doing are some extra errands to obtain more RUs since what you've got right now isn't enough to pay for all the modules. You'll end up with godly firepower that no enemy in the game can stand up to. I personally like fighting my battles using the escorts instead for the sake of challenge. If you decide not to do this chapter, just add one shiva furnace to the current setup and you'll be good to go. Here's what to do in any case: Take a look at the Pkunk fleet on your map. Have they started migrating again? If so, intercept them and say that it's bad luck to travel right now because it's during the month of the swollen moon. Go to the Pkunk home planet of Gamma Krueger I to get four more Pkunk Furys. Even if the fleet is absent, the homeworld will be repopulated if it's returning. Typically the homeworld won't give you ships when you arrive because they have something or other they want to tell you. So leave and return to the planet as many times as necessary until they give you ships. It's time to mine Alpha Centauri. With all these funky lander upgrades, this should be child's play now. Mine these planets: ---Alpha Centauri VIII ---Alpha Centauri III Then head back to Sol. Exchange the minerals and scrap the Pkunk ships, then adjust the modules on your flagship into this: --- 11 Thrust modules --- 8 Turning jets --- 2 Hellbore cannons in front (+2) --- 2 Automated Tracking systems --- 3 Dynamo units --- 4 Shiva furnaces (+4) --- 2 Full high-efficiency fuel systems (+2) --- 2 Full crew pods --- 1 Storage bay (-2) --- 1 Planet lander From now on, try to buy your fuel from the Melnorme and not the starbase unless you want to do some more mining. Q: If shiva furnaces are better than dynamo units, why are you using both? A: They do different things. Dynamo units make your battery recharge rate faster, such as one battery point recovered every two seconds instead of one every three seconds. Shiva furnaces give the recharge intervals more power, but they will still happen at the same speed. It's pointless to buy more than three dynamo units since more than that has no effect. In other words, the best way to go about buying battery modules is to get three dynamo units plus however many shiva furnaces you can conveniently fit. Q: You don't like point-defense lasers much, do you? A: No, I don't. They have extremely limited use. If you're wondering what they do, they're functionally the same thing as the Earthling Cruiser's secondary ability. Adding multiple point-defense lasers increases the damage, but does not protect you from most enemy projectiles. I have tried using six lasers at once to see if point defense could shoot down Ur-Quan fusion blasts. It doesn't work. So if you must use one of these, use ONLY one. []-------------- 2.11 - VUX Petting Zoo --------------------------------------[] The VUX said one of their generals actually liked humans, so let's meet him. ZEX is on Alpha Cerenkov I. When you get there, he'll reveal that he has a dozen Shofixti females in stasis and that you're no doubt after them. Make chit-chat with him, then suggest that you'll go get a certain creature for his personal zoo if he'll give the Shofixti to you. The hint about where it's at that he gives is odd, but simple. I'll repeat it for you: "It basks in yellow light within the constellation Linch-Nas-Ploh. We have translated 'Linch-Nas-Ploh' to mean approximately 'the long, thin creature who has swallowed the huge beast.'" There's a constellation that looks just like this called "Lyncis" in the upper middle of the map. So the critter would have to be on one of the three yellow stars within that. I'm sure you're not reading this guide for riddles so I'll just tell you where it is. Leave the system and use your Portal Spawner. Enter quasispace portal 448 x 504. Go to Delta Lyncis I. Hunt and trap all the life forms on this planet. The creature ZEX is after kind of looks like an evil green head and moves really fast. If you have all the lander upgrades he's not that hard to bring down. Once you've got all those critters, leave the system and enter quasispace again. Take portal 516 x 466 to get as close to VUX space as any of the portals can take you, then return to Alpha Cerenkov I. No matter what you argue, ZEX will manage to have you send the beast to him before the Shofixti maidens are even moved from containment. Not only does ZEX not follow through with his half of the bargain, but he decides to go after you with his fleet. Fortunately for you, the idiot VUX don't have a cage that can securely contain the creature you just sent so it breaks free and kills everyone, saving you the trouble. Go down to the surface of the now vacant planet and capture all creatures, then pick up the maidens. Set a course for Delta Gorno. The Scout from before should still be here, so track him down and give him the maidens. He'll thank you profusely then leave the system. Don't worry, you'll hear from these guys again a while later. o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o | Summary: | | | | Meet Admiral ZEX on Alpha Cerenkov I. | | | | Go to Delta Lyncis I and capture all lifeforms there. | | | | Return to Alpha Cerenkov I. Take the Shofixti Maidens off the surface of the | | planet. | | | | Bring the Shofixti Maidens to the Shofixti captain in Delta Gorno. | | | o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o []-------------- 2.12 - Subduing the Thraddash -------------------------------[] You're probably a little low on fuel, so leave the system and use the Umgah Caster to draw out the Melnorme. Exchange your most recent batch of biological data, then get a full refuel. Use your Portal Spawner, then enter quasispace portal 476 x 458. Check your star map. Sucky spot, huh? That's as close to Thraddash space as any quasispace portal is going to take us. Head up+left into the clump of stars that contains the Apodis constellation and wait for a hyperspace patrol. The Thraddash are not friendly, but unlike most hostiles they will give you an honest answer to every question you ask. The objective here is to obtain an artifact called the Aqua Helix on Zeta Draconis I. The Thraddash keep it under guard by an infinite fleet, so taking it by force is out of the question. There are three ways to get the artifact: 1) Manipulate the Ilwrath and Thraddash into going to war. Since they are of equal power and ferocity, this ensures the annihilation of both species. You're going to end up doing this later no matter what, but it takes a long time for them to kill each other so this is out of the question right now. 2) Convince the Thraddash to attack the Kohr-Ah in an effort to impress their Ur-Quan masters. While they're gone, steal the artifact. This is the quickest and easiest route, but where's the fun in that? If you don't feel like fighting, do this by chatting with any of the patrols until the suggestion comes up. 3) Start killing Thraddash fleets left and right. After you've crushed about 25 of their ships, they will be very impressed that such a small group of ships could decimate them so efficiently and declare you their "Great Teacher". This will result in some funny dialogue and you can land on Zeta Draconis I freely, but they will hate you for taking the artifact and turn hostile towards you again. When you become their teacher, it's worth visiting a few of their patrols to see what they say to you. When fighting Thraddash, do not chase them around! Stay put, turn to keep your gun on them, and fire when they come to you. The Thraddash blaster weapon is so weak it doesn't really matter if you take a few hits from it. The afterburner flame jets on the other hand hurt like hell, so holding position is a must. Your Earthling Cruiser is the best at this, with the Orz being a decent alternative. Spathi are a poor choice here. The flagship can slice through them with ease, but I prefer not to use it. o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o | Summary: | | | | Call the Melnorme over for refueling. | | | | Take quasispace portal 476.0, 458.0, then fly into the Apodis star cluster | | to meet the Thraddash. | | | | Kill 25 Thraddash ships over the course of many battles. | | | | Pick up the Aqua Helix on Zeta Draconis I. | | | o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o Q: What happens if the Thraddash attack the Kohr-Ah? A: The Kohr-Ah obliterate most of the Thraddash starfleet in a couple weeks without taking any noticeable losses, then the Thraddash retreat back to their home stars humiliated. Not much of a surprise, really. Q: Can I buy Thraddash Torches for my fleet when they become my "students"? A: Yep, and they're pretty good against the AI in this game if you weave around in front of the enemy leaving after-burner flame trails. As soon as you've stolen the Aqua Helix, the Torches abandon you so it's really not worth it. []-------------- 2.13 - Yehat Revolution -------------------------------------[] Take quasispace portal 506 x 474 then fly back to Sol. The Pkunk may be heading for Yehat space again, but this time let them go. Even after that diversion with the Thraddash, odds are the Shofixti have not yet returned to the star base. So call in the Melnorme for fuel out in hyperspace and wait 10 days of game time afterwards. If the Shofixti still haven't appeared when you talk to Hayes again, wait ten more days in hyperspace. It shouldn't take too long. Once they've returned, buy a Shofixti Scout and re-crew everything. The Scout is weak and expendable, but you're not bringing this along for combat purposes. Now that you have it, fly into Yehat space and meet one of their patrols. Show them the Shofixti ship, and watch the Yehat captain flip out. After that, the Yehat will split into two factions. The majority of them will try to kill you, the rest will donate ships if you ask. Yehat Terminators, while powerful, are best left in the hands of an expert so I won't ask you to use them. You should meet with one of the rebel groups anyway, if only for conversation. You'll most likely end up in a fight against the particularly deadly Yehat loyalists. The ultimate flagship (if you have it) can wipe them out if you get in range and empty your whole battery into them. Orz can also do the job, but almost every other ship you have at this point stands no chance. Even with the recommended ships these guys are a huge pain, so feel free to run from them when you meet them. Go back to the starbase. Sell the Shofixti and Yehat ships then replace crew. Go out into hyperspace for another Melnorme fuel call. o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o | Summary: | | | | Pass time until Hayes says the Shofixti have returned. | | | | Buy a Shofixti Scout. | | | | Go into Yehat territory and find one of the patrols. Show them the Scout. | | | | Go around meeting Yehat fleets until you find a group of rebels. Talk to | | them and obtain four of their ships. | | | | Return to the star base. Refit your fleet. | | | o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o Q: Can I keep the Scout? A: Yes, but it's not going to win you any battles. Q: Can I keep a Terminator or two? A: Since you don't need the RUs, go ahead. You'll find that the Utwig ships you get later can do everything the Yehat do, only better. Q: Uh, aren't you forgetting about the Pkunk? A: Now that the Yehat revolution has started it's okay to let the Pkunk meet their siblings. Q: In my game the Pkunk made it to the Yehat before the revolution. Are they screwed? A: No. You'll see the Pkunk later as long as the Yehat have their civil war. []-------------- 2.14 - Repairing the Ultron ---------------------------------[] Go out into hyperspace, use your Portal Spawner and enter quasispace portal 530 x 528. Fly around the Aquarii stars and as usual, wait for a patrol to intercept you. Say "Hi" to the Utwig. Talk with him as much as you want, then head over to the Beta Librae system left of Utwig territory. Intercept one of the fleets here, or just go to planet I to meet the Supox. These are the Utwig's sidekicks, I guess. They'll give you the Ultron, the device the Utwig are whining about so much. To repair the Ultron, you'll need three things: the Clear Spindle, the Aqua Helix, and the Rosy Sphere. You should already have two of those. To get the last one, we have a little more work to do. Take quasispace portal 516 x 466. You will need two Mycon Egg Cases. These can be found on the first worlds of both Gamma Brahe and Beta Copernicus. The Egg Case will be somewhat difficult to find on a map since base metal deposits and the Egg Cases look similar. The difference is that artifacts are always square, while deposits are circular. After you do this, head for Epsilon Scorpii I and ask the Mycon at the homeworld about the shattered worlds. It's critical that you do this to unlock a certain conversation choice later on. Since the Mycon are jerks, they'll attack you when you try to leave. This is a homeworld, so flee instead of fighting them. Once that's out of the way, take quasispace portal 488 x 538. Go to Zeta Persei. Meet a Druuge fleet here, then make your way to planet I. You can make a lot of different deals with these traders, but ultimately there's only one worth making. Offer to sell a Mycon Egg Case to them, and they'll ask if you want the Rosy Sphere for it instead of the usual Druuge Mauler ship. Accept. Most other deals with the Druuge involve selling your crew to them as slaves or giving up insanely valuable tools for a few of their moderately useful ships. You need that other Egg Case you picked up, so don't sell them that. This late in the game you have no need of their services, so cut communications with them. You now have all the items needed to repair the Ultron. Use all three of them and the device will be fixed automatically. Believe it or not, the Utwig aren't lying to you when they say this device is special. If you need proof that it actually does something, take it over to the star base and ask Hayes to perform tests on it. Otherwise, take quasispace portal 530 x 528 and give the Ultron to any passing Utwig fleet. Both the Supox and Utwig will become your allies at this point and they'll send their fleets at the Kohr-Ah to wreck havoc on them. Unlike the Thraddash, these two species will manage to do some degree of damage to the Kohr-Ah fleet before retreating. The Utwig also said they have a gift for you on Zeta Hyades VI-B, so go there next. A Druuge fleet has already arrived to take whatever it is the Utwig have promised you. The Druuge will try and persuade you to let them have it. Naturally, you should tell them to screw off. They'll attack. Druuge Maulers have incredible range and firepower, but when they fire it sends the ship reeling backwards. And while they can shoot very far, their weapon is not all that accurate at a distance. Spathi Eluders have no chance whatsoever against Druuge, but your Earthling Cruister dominates them with ease. Orz can also do a pretty good job if used right - drop a couple Marines in the Mauler's path, then when he sends himself sailing away from them, fly around to the opposite side and launch another pair to cut him off. The key here is to keep your distance from the Mauler so they can't land a decent hit on you while launching missiles/marines. You now have a really huge bomb. Whatever you do, don't go into the menu and try to activate it, that will kill you. Go back to Sol and buy two Utwig Jugger ships. Fill your crew and fuel once again. While you're here, make sure you ask the Hayes to analyze the artifacts you've picked up. o---------- The Utwig Jugger --------------------------------------------------o \ / / Hold down the secondary button to activate the absorption field on this \ \ ship. While this device is on, you are impervious to almost all forms of / / attack. This will slowly drain the battery down to nothing. The Utwig \ \ battery starts halfway full every battle and does NOT regenerate. Once it / / runs out, that's the end of it. Fortunately, whenever the field absorbs an \ \ attack, the battery gets a boost. Effective use of this ship involves timing / / the "block" to match enemy attacks perfectly. Hold down the primary button \ \ to unleash rapid energy bursts directly in front of you. The guns on this / / ship do not drain your battery at all, but you can't fire while blocking. \ \ The Jugger makes for a wide target and flies at only an average speed. / / Despite that, this is one of the deadliest ships in the game. \ \ / o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o | Summary: | | | | Quasispace to the upper-right corner. | | | | Meet the Utwig, then the Supox. Get the broken Ultron from the Supox. | | | | Quasispace to Mycon space, then get Mycon Egg Cases from Gamma Brahe I and | | Beta Copernicus I. | | | | Inquire about the shattered worlds at Epsilon Scorpii I. | | | | Quasispace to Zeta Persei I and trade a Mycon Egg Case to the Druuge for a | | Rosy Sphere. | | | | Put the parts together, then give the Perfect Ultron to the Utwig. | | | | Go to Zeta Hyades VI-B. Defeat the Druuge fleet you meet there. | | | | Quasispace back to Sol. Buy two Utwig Juggers, then refuel. | | | o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o Q: Crewmen are pretty cheap, are you sure I can't trade some of them for stuff with the Druuge? A: You can, but don't. Hayes will hear about what you did, yell at you, and crew will become a lot more expensive afterwards. If you must trade with the Druuge, do it by selling items to them instead. Q: The Druuge offered to sell me a Glowing Rod and/or Wimbli's Trident. What do those do? A: Nothing. They're worthless, don't buy them. Q: How can I get the Druuge to sell me stuff again? They hate me now. A: After you take the Utwig Bomb, they'll attack you on sight. This cannot be reversed and you absolutely do need that bomb. Q: Should I get a Supox Blade? A: If you want. If you use one, make sure you don't get too caught up using that sideways/backwards thrust ability. It will hurt you more than help most of the time. []-------------- 2.15 - The Syreen-Mycon Conflict ----------------------------[] Okay, see the huge Ur-Quan sphere of influence? Find a little blue star that's just outside on its lower left edge called Betelgeuse. Fly there. Go to the first planet's star base to meet another former ally species, the Syreen. Say whatever you want to Talana - your dirtiest remarks come off as "cute" to her. Talk to her enough and the option to talk about the Mycon "Deep Children" will come up. This is of course assuming you asked the Mycon at Epsilon Scorpii I about the shattered worlds you've been to. If the option doesn't come up, go do that now. She'll give you a shuttle full of Syreen captains and send you to find the vault holding their ships. Simply put, it's on Epsilon Camelopardalis I-A. If you bump into any Ur-Quan or Kohr-Ah on the way, use your Utwig ships to *WTF PWN* them. The key to winning an Ur-Quan or Kohr-Ah vs. Utwig fight is to get in their face and keep the absorption field up most of the time, dropping shields occasionally to fire back in short bursts. When you get back to the Syreen star base, you can simply leave for the next task or you can say "What about us?" to Talana and get an implied sex scene with her. Do whichever. This next part many people have problems with, and it's because they assume the world which the Mycon refer to as their "special place" is their homeworld. It is not. The Mycon homeworld is, once again, Epsilon Scorpii I. Go there and tell them about the world in the Organon system. Over the next few weeks the Mycon will send their fleet over there, and half of it will be destroyed before they abort their mission and flee back to their native area. The "special place" just so happens to hold an item you dearly need. Go there, to Beta Brahe I. Now that you've tricked the Mycon into sending their fleet to Organon, there are only five Podships guarding this planet. Use your Utwig ships to decimate them. If you end up unlucky, fall back on the Orz. Once that's over with, land and grab the Sun Device. Fly back to Betelgeuse, but don't enter the system. Wait for the Mycon fleet to get trashed before you talk to Talana again, otherwise she won't have much to say to you. Talk to her afterwards to gain an official alliance. Go back to Sol. Recrew, refuel. o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o | Summary: | | | | Go to Betelgeuse I's star base to make contact with the Syreen. | | | | Tell the Syreen about the Mycon Deep Children. | | | | Go to Epsilon Camelopardalis I-A and open the vault of Syreen Penetrator | | ships. | | | | Return to the star base at Betelgeuse. | | | | Go to Epsilon Scorpii I and tell the Mycon of Organon. | | | | While the Mycon are gone, attack the guardians at Beta Brahe I and take the | | Sun Device. | | | | Leave Mycon space and wait for the Syreen trap to play out. | | | | Gain an alliance with the Syreen at Betelgeuse. | | | | Return to Sol for refueling. | | | o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o Q: What happens if I stay in the Organon system during this event? A: Nothing. You aren't actually supposed to be anywhere near there when it happens. Q: Can I put a Syreen ship in my fleet? A: Yes, but they're not as lethal as what you've already got. Besides, right now it doesn't much matter what you use. []-------------- 2.16 - Finale -----------------------------------------------[] You've accomplished much, but there's still no way of bringing down the Ur-Quan in sight. There's one last species around to ask for help and we're going to go meet them. Unfortunately, they're in the middle of Ilwrath space under guard by an infinite number of Avengers. Go to Alpha Tauri, the hidden Ilwrath home system. When you get there, use your Umgah Caster. You'll automatically set the thing up to impersonate their gods Dogar and Kazon. During this conversation, you can even tell the Ilwrath to rename themselves the Dillrats, but sadly this change doesn't show up on the star map or anything drastic like that. Anyway, order them to "SEEK NEW PREY" and they'll leave our next destination open for your interference. That destination is Procyon II. The star base around this planet is completely vacant when you check it, so approach the planet itself and use the 'Caster. When you're done talking to the Chmmr, what you must do next should be apparent: use the Sun Device. Once you've gone through all the dialogue and end up back at Sol, you'll need to set up your flagship and fleet again. Take two high efficiency fuel tanks and two crew pods for your flagship. You won't be using it for combat so you don't really need much on it. There are a lot of different ships you can bring along here, and but I suggest this: sell all your old escorts and bring along nine Chmmr Avatars. Avatars are not the best choice against what you'll face, but they're just too cool to not use. It may sound strange, but those empty ship slots will make the coming battle easier. o---------- The Chmmr Avatar --------------------------------------------------o \ / / The Chmmr Avatar can obliterate most enemies without much effort while \ \ taking minimal damage. It has three satellites orbiting it that / / automatically fire on nearby enemy ships as well as incoming projectiles. \ \ When you hold down the primary fire button, a stream of energy will reach / / out about as far as the length of the Avatar and do massive damage to \ \ anything caught in it. The secondary function is a tractor beam that drags / / in enemy ships for the kill. All you have to do when using this vessel is to \ \ fly straight at your opponent, hold down the tractor beam to bring it in / / faster, then hold down the fire button to shred it to atoms. You are not \ \ manueverable enough to dodge enemy fire, don't even try. When it comes to / / fighting enemies faster than you, wait for them to fly close before you turn \ \ on the tractor beam or else you'll waste your battery. / / \ o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o Take quasispace portal 520 x 540. The system the Ur-Quan hide their trophy battleship--your last destination--is Delta Crateris. When you enter the system, talk to the Dnyarri. He will at last make himself useful by telepathically forcing the thousands of Ur-Quan ships flying around into leaving the system. Approach the red planet they were circling. The ship still has three of both Ur-Quan and Kohr-Ah guardians around, but they're not much. For once, don't bother withdrawing any of your escorts. Let your Chmmr companions fight this out to the death. If you did all of the Yehat sub-plot, Pkunk and Yehat ships will fill all of the empty slots you have after that last fight as reinforcements. The ones that really matter are the Pkunk -- they're so fast the Sa-Matra's passive defense systems can't even catch them! Almost every other ship will get mowed down fast, so stick to Pkunk here. o---------- The Pkunk Fury ----------------------------------------------------o \ / / This effete, flowery looking thing is actually the fastest known ship in \ \ space. The primary fire button will cause it to shoot out metal bits at a / / very short range to the left, right and front of the ship. If you turn in \ \ place while firing you'll shower a small circular area around you with / / gunfire and create a rather pretty looking pattern while doing so. Attacking \ \ drains the Fury's battery quickly and that power reserve does not regenerate / / by normal means. You will need to hold down the secondary button to make the \ \ Pkunk crew recharge the ship's power supply with their minds while sending / / out rude transmissions to the enemy ship. The fast battery drain and slow \ \ recharge rate force this ship to make multiple attack runs against enemies. / / When destroyed, the Fury has a 50% chance of reviving with full crew to \ \ fight again. / / \ o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o The Sa-Matra launches two defense mechanisms: gravity balls and plasma balls. The gravity balls do little damage, but when you collide with them they send you reeling into the distance. The plasma balls are much faster and tear right through you doing large amounts of damage. Once all the shields are down, the Sa-Matra stops launching projectiles but you still need to destroy what's already out there before you bring in the now helpless flagship. What you want to do here is use a Pkunk Fury to fly by the Sa-Matra's shield generators and pelt them with a sideways attack, recover energy, and repeat. You will have to do this many, many times to wear the ship down. Even with the Pkunk this is going to involve a little fancy footwork, so stay on your toes. Once the generators are all down, let your current Pkunk vessel be destroyed seeing as how a full warp sequence is impossible to survive. Bring in Chmmr and Yehat ships to sweep up the remaining obstacles with their superior weaponry. When the coast is clear, call in your flagship and fly it into the large gap in the Sa-Matra's protective barrier. That's that, you've beaten the game! If you're playing on UQM version 0.4 or higher, you should have the ending video, out-takes and credits kick in. o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o | Summary: | | | | Go to Alpha Tauri. Use your Hyperwave Caster to order the Ilwrath to seek | | out new prey. | | | | Go to Procyon II. Use your Hyperwave Caster to talk to the inhabitants below | | the slave shield. | | | | Use the Sun Device to draw out the Chmmr. | | | | Refit your flagship and fleet for the final battle. | | | | Go to Delta Crateris. Speak to the Dnyarri when you get there. | | | | Slay the Sa-Matra's protectors. | | | | Destroy the Sa-Matra according to the Dnyarri's directions. | | | | Enjoy the ending. | | | o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o Q: Can I bring something to the final battle other than Chmmr Avatars? A: Yes, go ahead and bring anything you can kill Ur-Quan and Kohr-Ah with if you want. A much smaller number of Spathi or Utwig would be the most devastating. Again I must stress the importance of leaving some of your fleet open for Yehat and Pkunk reinforcements. Q: That sure was fun, but I wish I hadn't spoiled the game by using your walkthrough! How do I erase my memory so I can play it again for real? A: Uh, that's a little hard for me to solve. Don't touch the game for 2-10 years, then go back and play it again. You won't remember where stuff is. Q: Is there anything in the game that you missed during the walkthrough? A: A few things, but they are trivial. I avoided using many of the ships available in the game and left no advice on the ones I didn't use. I did not find all the rainbow worlds as there was no need for additional Melnorme credits. Rainbow worlds appear as the first planet in these systems: --- Alpha Andromedae --- Beta Leporis --- Beta Pegasi --- Epsilon Draconis --- Epsilon Lipi --- Gamma Aquarii --- Gamma Kepler --- Gamma Reticuli --- Groombridge --- Zeta Sextantis I only picked up two of the Mycon Egg shells on Beta Copernicus and Gamma Brahe. The third one is on Gamma Scorpii. This could be used to buy a Druuge Mauler. There is also a Burvix Caster on Arcturus I-A. This performs the same function as the Umgah Caster, but the Druuge are eager to buy only this one from you in exchange for a free fuel refill. Sounds like a gyp? It's supposed to be, but here's a way to turn that around on them: A popular prank to pull on the Druuge is to equip every slot of your flagship with High Efficiency Fuel Systems which you leave empty except for 25 fuel. Use the Portal Spawner and take quasispace portal 488 x 538, then proceed to the Druuge homeworld of Zeta Persei I. When you sell the Burvix Caster, they will have to give you just under 1,600 units of fuel to keep their end of the bargain! The reaction you get for this is hilarious, and you can sell all that fuel back at Sol for more RUs than you'll ever know what to do with for the rest of the game. o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o | Afterword | o------------------------------------------------------------------------------o I offer a show of respect to Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III, the creators of the original Star Control 2. This gesture also goes out to those that put in all the hours to make The Ur-Quan Masters what it is. People who’ve helped me put this monstrosity together: Stefan Elliot - Helped tweak the content early on, giving me an idea of how to proceed while making it. John Szczepaniak - Sent me WinSyntax, the program I made this guide with. Tore Aune Fjellstad - Beta tested the guide, pointed out a couple of glaring errors that would have made me look bad. I used a little program from http://www.network-science.de/ascii/ to make the ASCII title.