The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

I just started playing the Ur-Quan masters... and well I'm stuck... I keep trying ot mine worlds but only like one or two in both ALpha Centuari and Sol seem even remotly liveable through, almost all the worlds have nonstop flames and earthquakes... is this supposed to be or am I just unlucky and crappy at driving a lander. Any hints on choosing good worlds would be appreciated. Thanks

Scanning a planet gives you information about techtonics, temperature, etc. The PC version actually had text, but in this version it's only icons. They're pretty easy to figure out, though.

Later in the game, you'll be able to land on more worlds.

Try starting with Delta Centauri. I think it has a Treasure World and some other relatively valuable minerals there. Bring more than one storage bay if you want to get everything in one trip since going there twice is hardly worth it. It's in Ilwrath space though, so watch for hostile vessels.

I never send down a lander to a planet with tectonics greater than 4 or weather greater than 3 either until later in the game or unless there is something extreeemely valuable down there.

Other than that, just use good judgement when deciding whether to send a lander down. Sometimes you'll have to pass up some awesome resources because you'll die trying to get them. But as matt mentioned, later in the game you'll be able to land on just about any world without worry.

Matticus

All planets in all supergiant stars like Alpha Centauri have these "hotspots" (the flame things).

Yeah, I think we all instinctively went to the big stars first and lost a couple landers.  They're just so much BIGGER !  If only they didn't incinerate you.

Ah, but when you find that ruby world orbiting a supergiant, it makes it all worth while - the one planet that I'll always clear even before I've got the tech to go on hot worlds.

If you're looking for easy planets though, most treasure worlds have no atomosphere and tetonics of only 1 or 2, and there are a whole slew of them in Orz space.

Metal and shattered worlds are also very nice, but tend to either be too hot, or have evil tetonics (especially the shattered worlds).

Try to visit one or two of the rainbow worlds ASAP in the game. Use the credits to buy as much tech as possible from the Melnorme and life will be a lot easier when mining.

Yeah, but those first-time players aren't gonna find a Rainbow World anytime early in the game without cheating.  Unless you go download a cheat file, they're like (unofficial odds estimate) one in 80 star systems or something.

You have to admit though, when you see the pair of Ruby Worlds in Alpha Centauri and their mega-sized deposits, it's really hard not to brave the hotspots to fill up your cargo holds. I usually self-impose a rule to make my gameplay 'fairer', which is to never visit worlds unless they've been referred to directly by someone I've talked with, and never reload a saved game after a failed mining trip.

Agreed - in fact, I have been playing a game in which I keep a log of everything I've been doing, as if I were actually the captain. On long voyages, I have to worry about keeping the crew from dying of boredom... and when we're in Alpha Centauri I have to worry about keeping them from dying. When I kept sustaining losses, the morale issue was serious. I always justify my decisions as to where to fly. Of course, using the advice that Hayes gives you about rich planets and stars really helps justify going to the best systems since they are in clusters of highly attractive stars.

I only stopped because version 0.2 was too unstable on my system :(

btw -- Kohr-Ah Primat -- how does it feel to be the only declared female around? I guess if you're here you're used to it by now.

I'm used to it to be honest, being the geekish sort. When I  come to sites and forums like these, I tend to get a lot of flak from folks that to say "there's no way you are female" because "girls don't know how to use the net" and all of that similar nonsense. It's all old hat to me, really.

To actually answer your question though, I'm a little amused by it but that's about it. It's not like I'm intimidated or anything. After all, I'm here to chat about a game I like playing.

Yeah, well your Kohr-Ah pic is squished. It's possible that you did that intentionally to show that it was a female Kohr-Ah with an eating disorder that caused it to be skinnier and therefore more attractive to male Kohr-Ahs, but something tells me that's not the case.

I think I'm gonna try and ignore what you said... perhaps you weren't trying to be offensive, but to me you came off that way... *shrugs*  That's why I'm ignoring it.

I don't think it's a big deal that there's a new female member at the boards.  What I mean is that it's great to meet you and see you're really contributing to these boards, K-P, but your gender to me isn't a big deal.  I think it's great to know that at least there's one girl out there who likes SC2 just as much as us guys, but other than that it's nothing out of the ordinary.  I guess there are a few more guy geeks out there than girls, but I've met lots of girls on forums like these.  Still, it's gotta be pretty cool to be one of the few here.  You have a monopoly.   ;D  You've already contributed a great deal to this forum, K-P, and I hope you continue to do so in the future!

Yes, I was thinking of taking an existing Kohr-Ah screenshot and modifying it with Photoshop or something similar to match the dimensions they ask for, but ever since I moved, I've only Windows Paint to work with, and this version doesn't seem to save files in jpg or gif form. I suppose I could've downloaded some program or other, but I am too lazy to do so. And yes, it did cross my mind once or twice that the Kohr-Ah looked a bit anorexic, but it wasn't an intentional decision on my part.


Thank you for the welcome and your compliments, Omni. I don't know about it being 'cool' or anything of the sort; like you said, it's not a big deal. As for contributing to the forum, that's what we're all here for, right? But I do thank you again for the compliment.

I tried to do this myself (for the obvious reasons) but I couldn't get the comm image to look better than absolutely terrible. Scaling is either tiny or squished. Cropping loses the arms... the captain image looks pathetic. So what were you planning to do?

Scaling down to tiny, really.