Basic Gameplay Instructions
Bootcamp
Welcome recruit to cruiser command academy. A bootcamp to learn the basics required to become a proficient member aboard any Battlecruiser.
After completion of this course you should be qualified in
->communication
->using a console
->finding the hangar and hangar console
->launching small ships
->basic mining and wraith skills
->Economy Fundamentals
Communication
Firstly cruiser command requires strong team work and this means communication. So if you enlist aboard any Battlecruiser make sure you hop onto Teamspeak3 (IP: merwins-island.dyndns.org), even if you don’t have a microphone, come anyway, communication is a 2 way street; listening is just as important!
If you take the encumbersome road and decided not to use voice chat, then make sure you type! Let everyone on your team know what you are doing, what minerals your mining, what console you are using and why, what offensive ship you are flying around in, anything you plan to do. This allows your team to organize and also gives veterans a chance to advise you on how to better fulfill your duties or how your actions may jeopardize your teams chances of victory.
Know that some responsibilities not properly filled will mean a quick death for you and your team, so be aware of chatter directed towards you, and if you are confused let your team know asap!
You should also know some common abbreviations.
| Abbreviation | Extended | Description |
| CC | Cruiser Command | The game you are learning about! |
| Nav | Navigation | Refers to the navigation console, one of many different consoles you can use. |
| SS | Small ships | Any ship that isn't the Battlecruiser. |
| Cpt | Captain | The player usually voted at start to be in charge of overseeing tactics. |
CONGRATULATIONS, you have hopefully learned that communication is important in teams!
Using a console
Know that in cruiser command you are a marine with access to powerful weapons, ships and technology. To interact with all these things you use consoles, computer terminals scattered around the Battlecruiser. To access these consoles simply walk your marine into the blue beacons in front of the console you wish to use. When you are using a console the beacon will turn green and you will be able to use the consoles abilities and features.
To get off a console simply press escape while you have the console selected or select your marine and move away.
Only one person can use any console at a time, which may lead to a dire situations; your team needs to access a console to save your Battlecruiser from getting blown to pieces but some rookie is too busy reading everything the console has to offer. This is why communication is important! If someone is occupying a console that is critical to a situation and they don’t respond to the team, it can lead to the teams demise.
Generally it’s advised to familiarize yourself with the different consoles in solo play, higher level skirmishes require great optimization and efficiency; severe brutality against the beginners!
CONGRATULATIONS, you have hopefully learnt what a console is, how to access it and the responsibility you take while you occupy one. I also hope you take 15minutes in a solo match and just access each console and see what they have to offer.
Finding the hangar
As a less informed enlistee you will generally be advised to take roles that don’t involve consoles, which ironically requires you to first use a console. Roles such as mining and attack pilot all require you to get to a hangar console located at the hangar. The hangar console allows your marine to interact with small ships. Small ships are every other ship besides your Battlecruiser, these include but are not limited to miners, wraiths and corvettes.
There are 2 main ways to get to the hangar
- Use the goto menu/directions tab that is displayed bottom right of your HUD above the command card. Click hangar and your marine will automatically be ordered to move to the hangar (don’t give any commands while your marine moves otherwise you will have to click hangar again). Once your marine arrives you should easily see a hangar console.
- Move your marine manually to the hangar. First get your marine from the spawn location to an elevator (orange circles on either wing of your Battlecruiser). The elevator will take you from the upper deck where you spawned to the lower deck where the hangar is located. Once through the elevator simply walk down abit and you should be at the hanger, where you can jump onto one of the 6 hangar consoles available.
CONGRATULATIONS, you have hopefully learnt how to navigate your marine inside your Battlecruiser to a hangar console.
Launching small ships
Hopefully at this stage you can manage to get to a hangar console, because from this console you will be able to launch your own small ship. When you access the hangar console select the appropriate ship for your assigned duty, if you’re a miner click a free miner, if you’re an attack pilot select either a wraith or corvette. A small ship is free in a sense that someone else hasn’t already launched it from the hangar, ships that have already been launched will have an icon displayed, so select a ship that is both appropriate to your role and doesn’t have this icon. Once you have the ship selected click the LAUNCH button bot left of the hangar console UI.
You should now have launched a small ship, and your camera should shift to "space view", where you can see other small ships, your Battlecruiser and hopefully asteroids. Asteroids are the rocks in space and inside each asteroid is one type of mineral, the resources needed to do almost everything!
To fly a small ship isn’t difficult a very basic overview is (For default hotkeys)
| Hotkey | Icon | Effect | Description |
| W | http://i.imgur.com/Jk1HP7u.jpg | Accelerate | Speed your ship up.
Have to spam click it. |
| S | http://i.imgur.com/9FXPnuM.jpg | Decelerate | Slow your ship down.
Have to spam click it. |
| X | http://i.imgur.com/Ztofm85.jpg | Cut Engines | Slow your ship down till its not moving.
Click only once. |
| D/C | http://i.imgur.com/1eJrHTz.jpg | Dock | Docks your small ship with the Battlecruiser.
Hotkey C for wraiths, D for all other small ships |
| RMB | Steer | Right mouse button, aims your ship where you want to go. |
Note that when you dock your small ship, its hull will be instantly repaired and you can then relaunch the ship from a hangar console. Also when you dock your small ship becomes safe from enemy fire, thus its safer to be closer to your Battlecruiser.
Know that time is important, as soon as your marine spawns you are on a clock and should be off the Battlecruiser in your small ship in under 30 seconds.
CONGRATULATIONS, you have hopefully learnt how to launch small ships from the hangar console. You should also have a basic idea on flight controls and steering small ships as well as the effect of docking.
Basic mining and wraith skills
Firstly you should know that moving a small ship costs energy, the faster you move the more energy that is used. If you run out of energy in a small ship you will experience a blackout until power has been restored. During this time you will be completely defenseless.
Miner
You have nominated yourself to be a miner the backbone of your teams economy. To mine
- Launch your miner from the hangar console.
- Find an asteroid.
- Accelerate your ship (default hotkey w) until you reach the asteroid.
- Cut your miners engines (default hotkey x).
- Wait till your miner has stopped.
- Use the mine ability (default hotkey e) on the asteroid.
- After you collected some minerals send back what you have collected using the return ability (default hotkey r).
Note that the asteroids that are flying around at the start contain rare green Kermiculite minerals and if you get a chance, even if it's for just a few seconds as they swoosh past, you should mine these moving asteroids.
To determine what mineral the asteroid you are mining contains, simply look at which mineral is filling your ships inventory as you mine. The ships inventory is bottom right above the command card. When telling your team what mineral you are collecting don't worry about complicated mineral names, instead just inform them on the color of the mineral.
Note a miners role is not just to mine asteroids it is also to survive, be wary of the red pings close to you and if you see someone spamming pings close to your miner, hightail it back to your battlecruiser. Losing a miner early is a devastating blow.
Wraith
You have been selected to be an offensive pilot, and either you will protect your miners or assault the enemies economy. To wraith
- Launch your wraith from the hangar console.
- Stick close to your allies.
- Fire your wraiths "plasma cannons", default hotkey f, at enemies.
- Use the wraiths "side boost" abilities to dodge and escape enemy fire, default hotkeys a and d.
- Watch your wraiths energy levels
- Watch enemy movements, the red pings from your teams scans.
- Use your "miners ping" to scan for enemy miners and chompers.
Recruit! as a less experienced player facing off against higher skilled pilots you will need to compensate for your disadvantage. Either stick tightly with your team or play defensively around the safety of your Battlecruiser. Begin a hero will only get yourself a new clone and lose your team an offensive ship. Make sure you repair your hull by docking with your Battlecruiser when your ship takes considerable damage.
Also wraiths should load flares into its inventory before launching, this may be too difficult a task starting out, ask a veteran player to load flares into your wraith for you and then launch when you are given the green light to go.
CONGRATULATIONS, you should now be familiar with 2 primary starting roles, the miner and wraith, you should be aware that ships use energy to move, and be considerate on how important it is to not get your small ship blown to dust.
Economy Fundamentals
- Your teams economy is based on the amount of minerals that flow to your Battlecruiser.
- Your team uses refined minerals to upgrade, buy new ships, construct items and even in some abilities such as loading the Yamato cannon.
- Minerals are collected in their unrefined form from asteroids, rocks found in space.
- Miners and Chompers are the only ships that can collect unrefined minerals from asteroids.
- There are 4 mineral types each identified by its color;
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- Each asteroid contains only 1 type of mineral.
- When a miner/chomper collects unrefined minerals from asteroids, the team will only be able to spend them once they have been refined at the refinery aboard your teams Battlecruiser.
- The refinery process is automated however unrefined minerals must be manually ferried to the refine area aboard the Battlecruiser.
- Unrefined minerals aboard your ship appear as colored cylinders and can be carried in your marines inventory.
- Miners can send cargo drones to return the unrefined minerals they have collected back to the Battlecruiser, to do this use the miners "return minerals" ability. The unrefined minerals will appear below the hangar and from there, the minerals will have to be carried to the refining area.
- Chompers don't have a "return minerals" ability, to get the unrefined minerals aboard the Battlecruiser, the Chomper must first dock, and from the hangar Console the minerals must be transferred to the marine, at which point they can be carried to the refine area.
- Resources are shared across all your teams players, the values displayed top right of your HUD can be spent by any player on the team.
- Using your marines pickup/drop items ability is a fast way to manage unrefined minerals inside your inventory while ferrying them to the refinery.
CONGRATULATIONS, you hopefully should be able to distinguish between refined and unrefined minerals. You should also be aware of how minerals are transferred from asteroids to your Battlecruisers refinery where they can be spent on a multitude of areas, and that all the minerals are shared across your team.
CONGRATULATIONS, this is the end of the basic gameplay instructions; you have successfully completed basic training.