Game Guide

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Introduction

So you want to play AstroWars? This guide is an introduction to the basics of the game, to help you survive the first days and understand how things work. You will see many words in gold, these are links to other pages offering more detail about that topic.

To learn about the game controls, read the Control Panel help page before you start. If you want a deeper insight into a specific part of AstroWars, you are invited to visit the FAQ and Glossary, where each article gives more details than you will find here.

Contents

 

Mission Statement

  • AstroWars wants to achieve:
    • fair play.
    • communication between players.
    • social interaction between players.
    • epic battles in the end.
    • a game requiring strategic and diplomatic skills to win.
    • easy to learn and interesting in the long run.
  • AstroWars does not want to achieve:
    • multis and cheaters.
    • no communication.
    • a big single player game where the only interaction is to compare points.
    • all about the first player/alliance to win.
    • a game where a single player with perfect build up skills can win with no contacts.
    • difficult to learn and becomes boring.

Game Objective

Expansion of your own space empire and/or the supremacy of your own alliance by means of war, diplomacy and planet development. As you colonise further planets, so your total points will increase and your level of development and ranking will improve. The winner is the first player to reach or exceed 500 points for a total of seven days, or the first alliance to reach or exceed 360 points for a total of three days. See Countdown for more details.

Translators please see Talk:Game_Guide for changelog.

Getting Started

Game Interface

There are seven main screens in the interface, accessed from tabs located along the top of the page. These also lead to other screens used to perform specific tasks within each activity type. Collectively these make up your Control Panel.

News screen

When you log in, this is the first page you see. It shows your news alerts for the last seven days, presented five to each page, covering every activity which affects your game. For details of how this screen works, see the News Screen page.

Map screen

This displays all the star systems within your range of travel. Here you can view details of the owner, population and starbase level for all planets in each system shown. For details of how this screen works, see the Map Screen page.

Planet screen

This is where you manage your planets, and spend Production Points on buildings and ships. At the start of the game you should first buy Robotic Factory, to generate more production points at a faster rate. For more help, see Planets Screen.

Science screen

This screen manages your Research Lab. Research is important as it can give you better ships, more planets etc. You can only research one science at a time, but can change your selection at any time. For more help, see the Science Screen.

Trade screen

Once you reach player level 1 you can use this page to buy and sell Artifacts, Supply Units, and Production Points. You can also make Trade Agreements with other players to earn bonuses. For more details, see the main Trade Screen help.

Alliance screen

If you gain a certain level of dollars and Player Level 1, this appears in the interface. If you are an alliance member, this shows the development and activity of all your allies. More details on this can be found on the Alliance Screen page.

Fleet screen

Here you can control your fleet and launch attacks on other players. The screen shows the quantity and location of each ship type you own, and lists all your launched fleets with their arrival times. For more details, see the Fleet Screen page.

Basic Activities

Planets

You start the game with a planet. Each hour you can gain points which accumulate over time to increase your Production, Population, Science and Culture. To earn more points each hour you can build four types of Buildings: Hydroponic Farm, Robotic Factory, Galactic Cybernet and Research Lab. Each one helps you improve a different area of your development.

  • Read More: learn about building up your planet using the Planets Screen.

Sciences

As you increase your planet's buildings and production, you will also want to increase your science. Sciences are used to develop stronger fleets and defenses, see more of the map, and increase your Culture so you can colonize more planets.

  • Read More: learn about developing your sciences using the Science Screen.

Using the map

If you click on Map and after that on the Star in the middle you can see your direct neighbors who share your Starsystem with you. By clicking on their names you can see details about them and how to contact them.

  • Read More: learn about seeing around you using the Map Screen.

Sending fleets

As well as increasing your buildings, you can use your production points to buy ships to attack other players. Each war ship type has a different level of weapons and armor, but at the beginning you can only use Destroyers.

  • Read More: learn about sending fleets using the Fleet Screen.

Daily updates

Various updates are applied to the game and your development each day. Updates to production points and new levels of development occur every fifteen minutes; scheduled game updates take place at 11:00 GMT, 23:00 GMT and 03:00 GMT.

Note: during Daylight Saving Time, all scheduled updates occur one hour earlier than stated above. In this game, Daylight Saving Time begins on the last Sunday in March at 01:00 GMT and ends on the last Sunday in October at 02:00 GMT.

This is the end of the section on Getting Started. You now know about the first screens you can use, and should be able to survive the first days. Have fun and enjoy the game!!

Back to Astro Wars


Advanced Help

Building up

As you earn production points, you can spend them on all your buildings or concentrate on a single building to increase its level. The higher level a building reaches, the more points it will produce each hour. Each building affects a different area of your development, but each level costs more to reach:

Using a race

If you want to, you can make a race when you first log in to the game at the start of the round. Creating a race allows you to choose your strengths and weaknesses by taking bonuses or maluses in specific areas of your development.

You might choose to become a Trader or start with a level 12 Research Lab, or perhaps you wish to take a bonus in some area of your development. The areas you can choose are: Growth, Science, Culture, Production, Speed, Attack, Defense. Note: This is a very advanced feature intended for experienced players, as getting it wrong can spoil your game.

  • Read More: learn about choosing a race by reading the Race article.

Expansion

There are three ways of building up your empire, described below:

Pacifism

This is the passive method, achieved by sending messages to all the players in your system offering them non-aggression pacts. You then only take over planets that are unclaimed (Free Planet), or have been abandoned (unknown), or that are owned by inactive players (still showing population level of 1 after a week of game play, or only 1 or 2 logins per day). The objective is to build an empire without antagonizing others as a means of self-preservation.

Hostility

This is the aggressive approach, by which you try to take over the planets of other players in your system as quickly as possible. As the strategy requires skill, timing and a good understanding of the races and attributes of others, it is not recommended for inexperienced or new players. The objective is to be aggressive, not seeking friends or alliances, caring only for the expansion of personal empire.

Alliance

The third and most popular method is a mixture of the first two. This is achieved by registering an alliance with *some* of the players around you, then taking over the ones who are weakest. The objective is to pursue the principle of survival of the fittest by working with those who are strong, to build an empire collectively.

Diplomacy

Diplomacy is the key to success in this game, and there are three types of basic diplomacy:

Alliance

Everything you do is for the alliance, if they are stronger it makes you stronger. You protect them, help out in need, just as the other members of your alliance do for you. To be able to win the round an alliance must have 5 or more members.

NAP

With a NAP (Non Aggression Pact), you only mutually agree with other players and/or alliances not to destroy each other. Often it is a detailed written agreement, with sections covering the sharing of systems, how to end the NAP, relations with each other's friends and allies, aiding the enemies of the other NAP partners, etc.

Coalition

This falls between the other two. Coalition members exchange destroyers in friendly fire to increase Player Level, have a NAP, share information about battle plans, enemy races and locations, execute joint operations against common enemies.

Need further help?

Don't forget to read the Glossary for more detailed information on all areas of the game. This will answer most advanced questions which you may have as you continue to play Astro Wars. If you still have a question after reading there, then the Astro Wars Forums are a great source of information with many helpful contributors among the experienced players. Please use the forum search tool first to see if the question has been asked before, and check the archived section.

Important Links

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