The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

First off, am very happy with this alpha.  It's better than a lot of beta stuff I've toyed with  ;D.  

Anyway, on to the question-

Is there any sort of strategy guide to SC2/UQM?  Yes, I've googled on this and the links that came back weren't extremely helpful, to say the least.

I wasn't lucky enough to play it back when it was new, and am sort of lost as to the order things should be done in.

Any help would be appreciated.

Ry
(wishing for ports of Space Vikings & Dreadnoughts)

GameFAQs has a few FAQs on Star Control II.

It's not a strategy guide, but there are quick walkthroughs in there.

Oh, and this might help:

http://www.uhs-hints.com/uhsweb/starcon2.php (http://www.uhs-hints.com/uhsweb/starcon2.php)

Thanks-

Those did help some.  I guess I'm looking for more tips on combat than anything else really.  :)

Hmm... the best way to learn combat is by experience.  I suggest spending many hours in Super Melee pitting all kinds of different ships together, with Awesome Cyborg as your enemy.

Parker is right. To master combat you need to spend lots of time working in melee. However, there is a guild at http://www.classicgaming.com/starcontrol/shptoshp/ which will give you data on ships and suggestions on how to use them in combat. It might get you going a little faster, intead being stuck having to learn each ship before being able to master their abilities like the rest of us had to do.

Heh.  Yep.  That's what I've been doing.   Lots of melee.

I am also curious as to which additional modules are the best to add to your ship early on - extra fuel pods, thrusters, etc.  And what exactly does the dynamo do?  I don't notice a ready increase in speed...

Thanks for the helpful responses thus far.

early on i go for thrusters/turn jets and fuel tanks.  leave melee to your minor ships till you have hellbores =)

As for dynamos, they speed up your weapon charge rate.

I usually max out on thrusters right away.  This enables me to run away from all the dark beady spots in Hyperspace early on to counter my lack of combat skills.   ;D

Funny.

I don't use my ships (all I have is an Eluder and two Furies).  I just go in with the Vindicator and kick butt. ;D

At the start I clear out all the planets in Sol then buy lots or cargo modules and get another crew module. Then I go down and mine the Centuri systems (specially Alpha Centuri, two of its planets are covered with exotics). You should have just enough room and crew.
After that I go up to the Spathi, kill off the evil ones, mine some resources and get some credits for tech. On the way back I then go via the orz to get some good fighting ships :)

Yup, thrusters are very important. They speed up melee, planet to planet travel, and hyperspace travel (they make it so it takes less time to get from one solar system to another). However, I find that maxing them out is a waste of RU. If you fill up all slots but two you will be able to run from all ships (the Slylandro probe doesn't count as it can always catch you). And don't forget to mix in some control jets while you're at it. They're your only chance to beat a Slylandro Probe early on, mainly because your Spathi ship is hard to master in this Alpha version. Then make sure you have 1 or 2 extra crew pods (I prefer one at first) and 2 total fuel tanks. Once you're semi-battle ready I would recommend adding some storage bays, so you can go on long missions without having to return to your starbase right away. Some might suggest building up your fleet and that is a good idea, but since you're new to this you'll have to run alot and so you'll want to be able to take as few hits as possible in the process (killing the enemy ship and running while the ditty is playing is a good way if the enemy ship is as fast as you).

I don't bother with weapons on the flagship until you've got hellbores, furnaces and those tracking modules. Until then I use other ships as it's cheaper and they're better anyway.

IMO the best way to take probes out is with the cruiser. Shoot two missiles then do a grav whip and keep shooting until you've finished it off.

I agree upgrading your weapon is pointless in the beginning (unless you don't have enough RUs and want to get the talking pet). But, how you beat probes with an Earthling cruiser is beyond me. It's possible to do once or twice, but sooner or later the probe will warp in near you and take out your hard earned RUs in seconds.

Yeah that's true. Normally I would use Fwiffo but since the Eluder is bung in this alpha the cruiser is the next best option. I haven't had much time to play so far but I've only meet two probes which I took out easily and I've already got Orz ships.

The most rewarding aspect of finishing this game when I played this game was figuring it out for myself. It took a lot of time, yes, and I got really frustrated at times, but it was really satisfying to overcome challenges.

You can download the pdf manual and the strategy guide from fileplanet or www.replacementdocs.com

I usually scavenge for minerals briefly and work on maxing thrusters right off the bat.  I will also work on getting an extra crew pod or two and more fuel.  

Other then that, my first priority is to make contact with the Spathi, and purchase a few extra Eluders.  At that point I usually find it profitable to make a few trips to VUX space and exact some vengence on those cyclopsed tenticaled abominations.   The Spathi Eluder is excellent at killing Vux Intruders and it doesn't take long to collect a large amount of resources from debris.  

Just find a nice well populated system and start blasting.  If an Eluder gets low on crew(which happens since Vux warp in on top of you usually),  warp that Eluder out and replace it with a fresh one.. after the battle transfer more crew from the flagship and your good to go.

The Spathi Eluder is excellent at killing both types of Ur-Quan, and the Vux.  And if flown right just as deadly against the Mycon, Umgah and Thraddash.  It can out fight pretty much any old Heirarchy member.   I usually stock up on several early on for use later in the game.    

<shrugs>

Is this the case in the alpha?  In the original I always could outrun the probes, but it would take time.

Actually, if your thrusters are maxed out, the Slylandro Probes can't catch you at full speed.  Which means if you're running for a long distance in Hyperspace, and get a good enough lead to have no problem dropping into a system while the Probe is still way back, you can potentially never have to fight him.  This was very important for me when I started because I couldn't beat the Probes without a lot of effort and until I got a lot of ships; even though I can beat them, only having the Tobermoon to take them on early on means a lot of dying.  Especially cause you only have a small window of oppurtunity to damage Probes with Earthling Cruisers thanks to the MX Nukes' disappear length and the point at which the Probe starts zapping you up.   :-/

Once the second alpha comes out, theoretically with the Spathi collision detection fixed (which I hear is already done), I might be able to not worry so much.

I've been compiling the CVS version of the Win32 client and forwarding them to Sun - you don't need to wait for the 0.2 release.  He recently posted the link again if you want to get the latest and greatest.  And yes, the collision bugs are fixed, along with numerous other additions and bug fixes. (Check out the planet orbit and scan screens - they're great!)