Tutorial

*This content is taken (with minor readability tweaks) from the Official Tutorial. If you follow the help commander (below) then you will not have any trouble. This game requires patience to get acquainted with but it is a blast once you are ready.*

## Introduction

This tutorial is meant to guide you through the first steps in AD2460, and help you get to know the interface. It may seem like a lot at first, but once you get to know how it works, you will find that you navigate around the game with greater ease and speed. Take your time in the beginning. Look around. Initially there is nothing you can do that will cause any harm to your Homeworld or your game progression.

In addition to this tutorial, there is also a question mark button in the lower left corner of the main interface ('?'). Clicking this will let you know what the purpose of the main panels in any game section.

There are also a number of smaller buttons with a question mark on them around the interface. These have valuable information about specific settings, tell you what certain stats mean, and include some good information about what certain terms mean in AD2460. We encourage you to click these and read the help-text, even if you think you know how it works. You may learn something you didn't already know.

## Getting started

Here is a quick list of things that will get you started!

### Build the Hassium Refinery Addon

* Open your 'Facilities' panel by clicking on it.
* Find the 'Refinery' facility from the facility list in the bottom left panel section. Click on this.
* Select the 'Hassium Refinery' from the visual representation in the lower right section of the display. Press 'Build' in the top right section.
* Notice that the cost for each resource is shown around the 'Build'-button itself. This is the same all through AD2460.
* Notice that the countdown until this facility is complete can be found in the bottom part of the user interface.

### Research Improved Gunnery

* Open your 'Research' panel by clicking on it.
* Select the first icon in the 'Available Projects' list at the bottom left section.
* Click 'Order' in the top right section, and the research will be initiated.
* You can now check your current resource holdings at the top to see how much you have left of each resource.
* **Note:**By following the tutorial, you will not waste any resources unnecessarily when starting up.
* The timer for the initiated research is now visible in the bottom section of the interface. Most of the processes that take time will be listed here.

### Develop Standard Outpost

* Open your 'Development' panel by clicking on it.
* Find the 'Standard Outpost' in the 'Available Projects' list at the bottom left section.
* Click 'Order' in the top-right section of the panel. The Development is now running.
* The timer for the development is now visible in the bottom section of the user interface.
* Once the development is complete, you will be able to produce your first outpost station, getting you well on your way to claiming your first resource planet.

### Produce Prospector

* Open the 'Production' panel by clicking on it.
* Find the 'Prospector'. It is listed under 'Utility Ships' in the 'Available Units' list at the bottom left section.
* Click on this and then click 'Build' in the top-right section of the panel.
* You should be getting an idea about how these panels are structured now. Most of them follow the same pattern.

### Rename, Prospect, Produce an Outpost

* Rename your Homeworld (Homeworld -> Click on the name of your Homeworld and type away! Submit your name by pressing Enter)
* Prospect your home-cluster (Starmap -> HOME-button -> Click the silver C-button (top right) to view your local cluster. -> Click 'Prospect Now').
* While you are waiting for the prospecting to complete, you should produce your first outpost (the development of the outpost needs to have completed to do this). Find the outpost on the Production panel, and build one.

### Social, Scouting, Claim a Planet

* If you want, this is a good time to start getting social on the chat. Say 'Hello' in the chat. Press 'Chat Panel' and click in the text entry field to start typing your message. Get to know other players, ask questions about the game. We expect you will get helpful answers from seasoned players most of the time.
* Develop Scouts. You do this the same way you developed your 'Standard Outpost'. Click on the 'Development' panel.
* Produce a Scout. Same procedure as for the 'Prospector'.
	+ Click on the 'Production' panel.
	+ Once the scout has been produced, you can use it to gain information about other players' homeworlds or outpost planets.
	+ You can send the scout by selecting the planet you want to send the scout to in the solar system view of the Starmap.
	+ The Starmap will be explained in more detail later, but feel free to have a look.
* When the prospecting is done, look for a good outpost-planet to claim with your Outpost Level 1.
	+ Consider going for an EVEN planet (look for the icon with a '=') or one with a good bit of Hassium (HS).
	+ Also, at the bottom of the planet information, there is an indication of how much resources a planet will produce per hour.
	+ This output potential should be as close to 10/10 as possible (See the 'Setting up your first Outpost' section for more information on this).
	+ To look through the planets in your local cluster, press 'Starmap', then 'Home'. You can now click on any planet in your local solar system.
	+ There might be a planet there that will do. If not, you should "zoom out" to your local cluster.
	+ Click the C on the grey bar in the top right corner of the solar system, and you will navigate to the Cluster view. A cluster is made up of 16 solar systems.
	+ You can now click any of the 16 squares to view the solar system and its planets. Navigate back out by clicking the C again.
	+ You should be able to find a decent resource planet in your local cluster.

### Tech Points, Promote Commander, Develop/Produce Transport

* Don't worry about your first tech-points if you don't know what to go for, there is plenty of time to learn and look around.
* Promote available commanders (Military -> Commanders -> View War Academy Recruits -> Click on one recruit -> Promote). These will be useful later for creating your military fleets. You can rename your commanders as well if you like. Simply select a commander from the list, and then click on the name of the commander to change his or her name.
* Develop Small Transport Design.
* Produce Small Transport so you can start getting resources from your Outposts. You can use the 'Auto-transport'-button in the Outposts-section to automatically send your transports to bring home the stored resources at your outposts.

### Homeworld Resources, Levels 4 & 7, Join an Alliance, Build/Upgrade Refinery

* Remember that your Homeworld and your outposts produce resources every 15 minutes.
* When you reach level 4, you can attack (and steal) other outposts and your outposts can be attacked (and stolen) by others.
* When you reach level 7, you can attack (and rob) other homeworlds, and your Homeworld can be attacked (and robbed) by others.
* Consider joining or forming an alliance. Being active in the chat comes in handy right here.
* Build the other Refinery Addons (Level 1).
* Upgrade your main Refinery Facility to Level 2. This will ensure that you have a steady income of resources to continue your growth.
* Read the entire Tutorial here, not just Getting Started!

## Prospecting

Prospecting is essential for gathering information about the planets in the galaxy. By prospecting clusters you will gain information about each planet, which resources it has available, and how much you can expect to extract from it per hour. You will need a lot of resources as the game progresses, and you should be looking for the highest possible potential in a planet before sending your outpost there.

* In order to start a prospecting-mission you will first need a Prospecting Ship. These are always available for production, and you can start building one from the Production panel in the Homeworld section.
* Once the prospecting ship has been built, you will need to enter the Starmap to make use of it. On the right side below the Starmap itself is a box with your prospecting options.
* In order to start a prospecting-mission, you will need to be at the Cluster-view zoom level. You should prospect your local cluster first.
* Press the 'Home'-button on the Starmap. This will take you to the solar system where your Homeworld is located.
* From here, press the Cluster-tab in the top-right corner to zoom out a level, into the Cluster view.
* At this point the prospecting-button will be active, and, provided you have a ship available, you can initiate the mission.
* Directly beneath the icon is listed the amount of time the prospecting mission will take.
* Press 'Prospect Now' to start the mission.

Once a mission has been started, it will be listed in the Prospecting List. Press 'Prospecting List' to see this list. This list also shows the last five completed prospecting-missions. The Starmap will also show any ongoing and completed prospecting missions in the Sector-view zoom level. This way you will always be able to see which clusters have been prospected, and which are still unexplored.

## Setting up your first Outpost (Important!)

In order to progress in AD2460 you will need resources. Lots of resources. You will need to create an Outpost and start transporting resources to your Homeworld.

* The first thing you will need to do is to develop your Outpost.
* Open the 'Development'-panel in the 'Homeworld'-section.
* Select the Outpost development, and initiate it.
* Once this has completed, open the 'Production'-panel, and start building the Outpost.

This is where you spend some time doing prospecting, as described earlier in the tutorial.

* Find a planet that suits your needs. An Outpost with balanced production is preferable as a first outpost.
* You claim outpost planets from the Starmap.
* Zoom in to the Solar System view and find the planet of your liking. Select it by clicking on it.
* At the bottom of the information section of the planet, you will see a stat called 'Output Potential'.
	+ This is an indication of how much the planet will give you of total resources per hour.
	+ The value should be as high as possible. 1/10 is bad, and 10/10 is definitely one you should be getting.
	+ Your first outpost planet should probably also have an even distribution of resources. This will give you enough of everything to keep building.

Once you select a technology to focus on, you will want to find resource planets that give more of a certain resource.

* On the right side, right beneath the planet-image, you will see a tab with 'Claim Planet' on it. Click this.
* You can now select from the three Outpost types you can place.
* You have only one to select from, so click on this.
* Once you do, the Outpost is transported through your local jumpgate and placed in orbit around that planet.
* Congratulations, you now have an Outpost. Guard it well.

### How many Outposts can I have? How do I defend an Outpost? How do I find my Outpost?

* The number of outposts you are able to hold is dependent on your Advancement Level.
	+ Defend an outpost by allocating ships or PDU to the outpost 'fleet'
	+ Setting up a fleet to be available for such defence is done in the Military-section.
	+ Clicking on the coordinates of the Outpost planet in the list will open the Starmap and bring you directly to the solar system for that Outpost.
	+ Here's how many outposts can be active, based on level:

Level 1: 1 outposts

Level 2: 2 outposts

Level 3: 3 outposts

Level 4: 3 outposts

Level 5: 4 outposts

Level 6: 5 outposts

Level 7: 5 outposts

Level 8: 6 outposts

Level 9: 7 outposts

Level 10: 8 outposts

Level 11: 9 outposts

Level 12: 10 outposts

Level 13: 10 outposts

Level 14: 11 outposts

Level 15: 12 outposts

Level 16: 13 outposts

Level 17: 14 outposts

Level 18: 15 outposts

Level 19: 15 outposts

Level 20: 16 outposts

Level 21: 17 outposts

Level 22: 18 outposts

Level 23: 19 outposts

Level 24: 20 outposts

Level 25: 21 outposts

## Missions

Once you have created and placed your first outpost, it is time to have a look at the missions in AD2460. These tell various stories concerning your Homeworld, and are also a great source of experience points, resources and sometimes even ships and other units that may be of use to you.

* Player missions are all initiated from the 'Missions'-section of the game.
	+ Click on 'Missions' in the main menu, and a section will slide in. There is a list of available mission packs here.
		- The ones with a green icon are open to you.
		- The icon will turn orange once you have completed one or more missions within, indicating that it is 'ongoing'.
		- Red icons show you packs that have requirements that you do not yet meet.
* Select the first mission pack, 'The First Steps'.
	+ Once you do this, the packs will slide away and reveal a list of missions for the pack.
	+ On the right side you will see some padlock icons. These missions are unavailable until you complete specific missions in the pack.
	+ There are also link-icons on the right side, indicating that some missions are sequential. A lot of missions are sequential, but not all.
* Select the first mission, 'The Missing Frigate'.
	+ Now you will get some information about the mission underneath the Pack-image.
	+ The mission description describes the situation, and to the right of that, are some of the parameters for the mission, such as what type of mission it is, what you need, and how long it will take to attempt it.
* For the mission 'The Missing Frigate' you will need to build a scout ship.
	+ Once you have done that, you can press the button that says 'Prepare'. This will take you to the next screen, where you choose how many scouts you want to use (this increases your chances), and what options you would like to go with.
		- These options change your mission time and your success chances. They will sometimes also give you an outlook point. More on that later.
		- Add a scout to the mission, select your option, and 'Launch' the mission. Good luck.
* Once the mission completes, you will be notified (you can't miss it) of how the mission went, and if you press the notification in the news section of your interface, you will be taken directly to the summary for the mission.
	+ You can also navigate back to the specific mission normally, select the mission, and press 'Summary' to see the results.
* There are five types of missions initially: Scout, Espionage, Diplomatic, Reconnaissance and Combat missions.
	+ The first four are fairly similar, with different requirements. These are explained in the mission description text. Read it carefully. It will often provide information or clues as to how to do a mission.
	+ Combat missions are a bit more elaborate, and require you to set up a fleet in the military section, and use this in the mission.
	+ Diplomatic missions require you to have an available commander that is not assigned to any fleet.
	+ Espionage missions will require you to have upgraded your 'Intelligence Branch'-facility under 'Diplomatic Office'

We hope you enjoy the first few missions. We are sure you will do fine.

**Note:** Using Scouts and Prospecting Ships in missions is not the same as using them from the Starmap. Their use in the Starmap section is described elsewhere.

## Using Scouts

Using the Scout on a planet is the most basic way to gather information about player-owned planets. The Scout will report back any activity around a planet, as well as any information about the resources available and resources stored there.

* In order to start a scouting mission you will need to build a Scout Ship.
	+ This is always available from the production panel in the Homeworld section of the game.
* Once these have been created, you will need to open the Starmap and zoom in to the specific planet you want to scout.
* Once you have found this, click on the 'Agent'-icon.
	+ This gives you all the possible Intelligence-missions. If you have a Scout Ship available, it will be listed here.
* Press the scout-button. A panel opens up now showing you the details of the mission you are about to launch.
* To start the mission, press 'execute'.
* The mission is now active and you can access the details of the mission in the 'Intelligence'-panel in the Military-section of the game.
* Once the scout mission has completed, you will also see the scout-report in the Intelligence-log.

## Team up or go it alone (Alliances)

Anyone can start an alliance. To join one already started, you must be invited by a member with access to invitations. There are 10 different ranks inside an alliance, and the leader will decide which rank has access to what. You can leave an alliance by clicking on the big "Leave Alliance" button in the center-right of the alliance home screen, reached from the main menu.

## How to Create a Fleet & Ship Details

In order to start any military action against other players, guard your outposts, or escort your transports, you will need to set up a fleet capable of moving.

* Your initial fleet is your Homeworld fleet, and is not able to move. This is where you put all your defensive ships and installations.

* To set up an additional fleet, you will first need an available Commander.
	+ Go to the Military-section of the game and open the Commanders panel.
	+ If there are no Commanders available on the list you will need to recruit one.
	+ Assigned commanders have a green light on the left side of the list, while unassigned commanders are lit up red.
	+ If none are available on the list, press 'View War Academy Recruits', and select one of the available Commanders, and activate the one you prefer

* Once you have an available Commander, close the Commander panel and open the Fleet Management panel.
	+ On this panel, press 'Create New Fleet' to add a Fleet.
		- The first available Commander on the list will be added as the Commander for this fleet.
		- The fleet will be on your fleet list as 'New Fleet'.
		- You can rename this fleet by clicking on the name of the fleet in the top right section, once it has been selected.

### Adding and Reassigning Ships

In order to add ships to this fleet you will need to assign some ships to it.

* If your Homeworld fleet has ships available you can reassign them from there, or if you have several fleets at your Homeworld, you can reassign from any of those as well.
* Select the fleet that you want to transfer ships from and click the 'Reassign'-button on the top-right section.
* You will now get a panel sliding up showing the available ships in the selected fleet.
* Select the type of ship you would like to reassign.
* Once this has been done, you will need to go to the middle section of this panel and select the location of the fleet you would like to add ships to, and then select the specific fleet you want the ships to move to.
* Once this is done, you select the number of ships you want to move.
	+ Each 'block' is a ship.
	+ Highlight as many as you want, and then press 'Set Reassignment'.
	+ Repeat this step for each type of ship you would like to move.
	+ Each time you press 'Set Reassignment', the selected ships will be added to the 'Reassignments Ready'-section.

* Once you have made all your reassignments, you can initiate the ship movements by pressing 'Initiate Reassignments'.
* Once this is done all the selected ships will be moved to their new fleets.

If you have moved a ship from your Homeworld fleet to a new fleet, you will now have a fleet that can move around the galaxy.

* Each fleet can also be set up with it's own specific tactics and behavior.
* You can set the fleet to be available for defending your outposts.
	+ If you have an outposts that you have decided to defend, it is important that you also have fleets that are set to do defending.
	+ The game will match up your fleets to the incoming force as much as possible.

### Ship Upkeep

Once you get a few ships built, you should be aware that each unit (ship or defensive) requires a certain amount of resources to remain active. We call this upkeep.

* For the smaller ships in your fleets, the cost is low, but as you progress to more powerful units, you will notice that the Production at your Homeworld alone is no longer enough to sustain your fleet.
* Making sure you have enough resources available for the upkeep of your fleet will become more and more essential.
* We also encourage you to take note of how much resources you have available at your Homeworld before logging off, to make sure you are able to pay for the sustained health of your fleet while you are offline.
* You can view your ship upkeep from the main information panel in the 'Military'-section.
* You can also see it in the 'Economy'-section. From there you can also compare it to your Homeworld and Outpost production.
* If you cannot pay your ship upkeep, some of your ships may start to become damaged.
* If the upkeep fails to pay for all the ships over a longer period of time, some ships may also be completely destroyed.

### Ship Repairs

Damaged ships need repairs.

* At your Homeworld, all ships will be repaired automatically, over time.
* If you have a fleet of ships that have been in battle and need repairs, move that fleet home. Repairs happen every hour.
* If you have developed the Repair Ship, you will be able to make repairs to your fleet regardless of their location.
* Each Repair Ship allows for a certain amount of damage to be repaired per hour.

### Ship Stats – What are they?

Below is a brief description of the stats presented for the units in AD2460, what they mean, as well as how they relate to each other in a battle.

#### Defensive

* **Strength** – This is a 'summary-stat' that is merely the result of the other stats. It gives you a rough indication of how strong a ship is, at a glance.
* **Hull** – This is the total amount of damage the ship can sustain before being destroyed.
* **Absorbs** – This is a set amount of damage that the Hull will absorb/negate before calculating how much incoming damage is subtracted from the Hull value. Absorb has a lower limit, so it will never reduce incoming damage to 0.
* **Shield** – In order to do damage, a shot must first penetrate the ships shield. The shield absorbs a certain amount of the damage before letting the remaining through to hit the hull. At the same time, the shield value is reduced, and once it reaches zero, all incoming damage is applied directly to the hull. Shields recharge all the time, but at different speeds depending on the ship type. Shields of different types also react differently to what type of technology incoming damage is based on.
* **Maneuverability** – This is how fast the ship can move, and how easy/hard it is to hit. When being shot at, it's always good to have a high maneuverability stat.

#### Offensive

* **Primary Weapon** – This shows the number of primary weapon guns.
* **Range** – This shows the range of the weapon. Higher values indicate longer range.
* **Damage** – This is the average damage dealt by each shot with the weapon.
* **Targeting** – This is how accurate the weapon is. It relates to the maneuverability of the target ship.
* **Rate of Fire** – This shows how many times during a normal combat round the weapon can fire.
* **Secondary Weapon** – Also known as missiles. Shows the amount of simultaneous launches available. Range, damage, targeting and rate of fire are the same as for primary weapons.
* **Tertiary Weapons** – Commonly referred to as turrets, or anti-fighter weapons. Shows the number of turrets/simultaneous shots available. Range, damage, targeting and rate of fire are the same as for the other weapons.

#### Miscellaneous (Cargo, Hanger, Jump Range, Special Effects)

* **Cargo Capacity** – Shows how many units of resources the ship can carry.
* **Hangar Capacity** – Shows how many fighter or corvette-wings the ship is able to carry within its hangars.
* **Jump Range** – Not yet properly implemented. Disregard this stat for now. 0 only means that the ship is incapable of jumping.
* **Primary Special Effect** – This is individual for certain ships.
* **Secondary Special Effect** – This is individual for certain ships.

## Tech Points and Tech Trees

Tech points in AD2460 are used to enable special bonuses and ships. You select from several possible options, and place your tech points in these to gain the bonuses.

* There are 3 different tech trees. Each tree corresponds to one of the main technologies in the game: InTech, StronTech and NeoTech.
* The more points you put into one of the trees, the deeper you will specialize in that technology. As a general rule of thumb you will want to concentrate your tech points in one tech area rather then assigning tech points through all three trees. You can switch techs any time.

### InTech

The InTech tech tree specializes in hull and cargo/hangar capacity. The main secondary resource used by this tree is Indium.

### StronTech

The StronTech tech tree specializes in shields and primary weapon damage. The main secondary resource used by this tree is Strontium.

### NeoTech

The NeoTech tech tree specializes in maneuverability and special effects. The main secondary resource used by this tree is Neodymium.

### Acquiring and Using Tech Points

In order to place a point in any tech tree, you will need to have a point available. These points are gained by completing researches, claiming outposts and various other small achievements. You will figure it out.

* If you have available points, open the tech tree by clicking on the Tech Tree menu button.
* Now click on any icon in the 'available bonuses' areas in any tree. This will open a small panel.
* Use + and – to add/adjust the amount of points you wish to allocate. Do this for as many points as you have.
* Once you are content with the distribution of points, press the 'Commit'-button at the bottom. This will lock the points and assign any bonuses connected to your point allocation.
* Once you have committed your points, you cannot undo the allocation unless you reset all your points. Keep in mind that a reset will have a cost.
* Take some time to familiarize yourself with the various bonuses and ships you can get through the allocation of tech points.

## Basic Combat

Combat is a natural and integral part of AD2460.

* You can attack Outposts and habitable Homeworlds.
* If you win a combat at an Outpost, you claim the Outpost and can start mining-operations there.
* If you win a combat at another Homeworld, and remember to bring transport-ships, you can rob the target player AND a part of his alliance-bank-holdings, if he has any.

Before you try your first combat, there are a few basic things you should know:

* The combat is split into rounds or turns.
* At the beginning of every turn, the first thing that happens is 'Target Allocation', where each ship must decide what to target, based on the chosen tactics.
* Capital ships must decide between moving and firing their primary weapon (they can't do both in one turn due to energy-requirements).
	+ So if a ship has been assigned a target by the Commander which is out of range, the ship will move towards it.
	+ If it IS in range, it will fire.

* Since secondary weapons may be fired regardless of movement, the ship may be assigned other targets while en-route to the point where they are in range.
	+ So even though your Cruiser is told to target (and move towards) an Orbital Defense Station, it may fire it's secondary weapons at other targets within range while moving.

* After all ships have been assigned with targets, the turn unfolds and ships take their selected actions.
* Some weapons have a Rate Of Fire of 1, which means that weapon will fire 1 time per turn.
* Other weapons have a Rate Of Fire of a lot more, and it will then fire many times in that same turn.
* To avoid all ships on one side targeting the same ship, the Commander will determine when enough ships have been allocated to a specific target, and will try to maximize your ability to inflict damage by assigning others.

Combat in single-player missions is done in exactly the same way as combat between players. It is therefore a good idea to do some combat missions to familiarize yourself with the launching of an attack, and to read about what the different tactical settings do, and how they affect the battle itself.

### Attacking

At some point you will want to attack someone. Even if it's just for spite.

* All attacks are made from the solar system view on the Starmap. Find the planet you wish to attack and select it.
* On the icon-menu for the planet, click on the center icon. This is the attack-icon. Pressing this will not initiate an attack, so just press it.
* This opens the launch-panel for the attack. This is where you select which of your available fleets will be involved in the attack, as well as set up your tactical plan for the attack.
* Click on any fleet in the list to highlight it. Any highlighted fleet will join the attack.
* Notice that this list can include alliance-fleets that your alliance members have made available.
* The Commander for the attack will be the highest ranking officer available from the selected fleets.
* Once you are happy with your selection and reasonably sure you might win, press 'Launch' and watch the battle unfold. Good luck!

### Levels, Strength, & Multiple Targets

* Players who have not yet reached level 4 can not attack or be attacked at all.
* Players who are level 4-6 can only attack Outposts and only their Outposts can be attacked.
* Players who have reached level 7, can attack (and be attacked at) both Homeworlds and Outposts.
* You may only attack players who are within 75-133% of your own strength. Use a SMART fleet, rather than a big one!
* The less strength you attack someone with, relative to their

strength, the more XP you get and the more efficient your fleet is!

* You may not launch attacks on 2 different targets at the same time. Your jumpgate does not allow it. So you must wait for one attack to finish before you launch the next.
* If you attack someones Homeworld, no one can attack the same player's outposts while this combat is being simulated.

### Fleet Tactics – The Basics

When attacking another player, it is important to have an idea about how you would like to use your fleet, and how the acting Commander should prioritize his moves. Below follows a brief introduction to the various tactical options and what they do.

* ***Target Priority -*** This is an indication of how you would like to take out the enemy.
	+ **Total Firepower**will take out the ships with the overall highest damage output first. Keep in mind that this is a relative value, and that the ship with the highest total might not be the ship doing the most actual damage.
	+ **Primary Firepower** will focus your efforts on taking out the ships with the most lethal primary weapons. These are the most deadly weapons on a ship and are wise to deal with. Keep in mind that ships with high primary weapon damage are most likely to have longer range, and your ships may have to move to reach it, forfeiting their own ability to fire their primary weapon.
	+ **Least Hull** will normally take out the smaller ships first, or the ships that are already severely damaged.
	+ **Most Hull** will try to take out the really tough ships first. These are also usually the types that deal a lot of damage. Keep in mind that focusing on tough ships can leave you vulnerable to a lot of incoming damage from smaller ships while you work on the big ones.
	+ **Least Maneuverability** will take out the slower ships first. These are generally also easier to hit, and your relative effectiveness with all weapons will be higher. Slower ships are also likely to be farther back on the field of battle, and you may need to move a lot to get there. **Note:**Utility-ships are not targeted while there are other available targets.
	+ **Most Maneuverability** will focus on the fastest ships first, and try to eliminate them. If you have high Targeting values on your ships, this can be useful. Keep in mind that if you have low Targeting values on your weapons, you will be wasting a lot of your shots early on in the battle.
	+ **Closest Ship** will simply let each ship on the field fire at the ship that is closest to it until it is destroyed. **Note:**This is the default setting. For smaller combats, this is ideal. Once combats get more complex, the other options may yield better results.

* ***Target Switching*** - Select whether or not your ships should consider shooting at a different target than the one they have selected, even though they have not destroyed it yet. It relates to the chosen target priority.
	+ For example, if a ship moves closer to one of your ships that the one it is currently firing at, and Target Switching is set to 'yes', it will change to the closest one. If Target Switching is set to 'no', it will keep firing at its current/original target.
	+ In short: If target switching is enabled, each ship will re-evaluate targets every round, according to the priority setting.

* ***Fighter Priority*** - These are specific orders for the fighters only.
	+ **Corvette defence** will work to eliminate fighters targeting your Corvettes and intercept incoming secondary weapons that passes within range.
	+ **Capital ship defence** will assign ships to protect Capital ships by eliminating Fighters/Corvettes that come within range, and shoot down incoming secondary weapons fire.
	+ **Defend all** will assign ships to protect both Capital Ships and Corvettes, and shoot down incoming secondary weapons fire.
	+ **Ship-to-ship** will assign ships to engage other Fighters/Corvettes at will, concentrating on taking out hostile minor ships. Some fighters will prefer a Corvette-target, and some will prefer a Fighter-target. Fighters can still shoot down incoming missiles, but to a much lesser degree.

* ***Understanding Ship-to-ship -*** Minor ships have a somewhat more specialized targeting priority than your Capital ships.
	+ **Fighters**will prefer to target enemy Corvettes, because they are more likely to hit them, and of course to prevent the damage-output from the Corvettes. They will go for the nearest Corvette (unless kill-claimed by other fighters or tertiary weapons).
	+ **Corvettes**behave a little differently, as they will want to attack the closest Capital ship. Again this is to maximize their damage-output and deliver those missiles successfully. They will thus NOT follow the priority set for the 'fleet' as such, and they will avoid targeting some big ship in the back and focus on the enemy front-lines. If they did not, they would be torn to bits by the tertiary weapons of that very front-line.So with lots of Corvettes, your fleet can still be set to 'take out the big gun in the back' ,and your Corvettes will try to take out

the front-line Frigates.

* ***Corvette-priority***- Sets the priorities for Corvettes.
	+ **Defence** will assign Corvettes to work in the same way as the Fighters, selecting a target to escort/protect, and working to take out incoming secondary weapons fire. This is at the same time as firing their own missiles at the nearest hostile Capital ships within range.
	+ **Offense** will assign Corvettes to work to actively move towards and engage the nearest enemy Capital ships.

* ***Retreat Condition*** - This section sets the rules for leaving combat.
	+ Keep in mind that retreat is not instant at the start of a battle.
	+ During the first 3 rounds, **retreat is not possible for the attacking force.**
	+ **Percentage Value** reflects the chosen stat to monitor for retreat. The default setting is 60% of Capital Ships, which means your fleet will retreat when 40% of your capital ships have been lost (and only 60% remain).
	+ There is also a selection for avoiding a retreat if both sides are losing an approximate equal amount. This keeps the fleet from leaving a battle that could be won, even if the retreat-criteria are met (i.e. both sides have lost 40% of Capital Ships.)
	+ **Retreat if Unwinnable** is the option for those instances when the opposing force is overwhelming, thus reducing potential losses.

### Defending

Defending is a more passive action than attacking. Basically, ships present at a location being attacked will fight back to defend it. As defending outposts has some additional features, we will go over that a few lines down.

#### Defending your Homeworld

In essence, all fleets present at your Homeworld will try to take on the attackers. That said, if your commanders agree that you are really well protected, some of the present fleets will be allowed to sit out, to avoid revealing your exact and entire fleet to the attackers.

* When your Homeworld is attacked, the tactic-setup is determined by the tactics set for your Base-fleet, regardless of other present Commanders or fleets. This way you are in full control over how your Homeworld is defended at all times.
* Please note that if your Base-fleet has a dead Commander, one that you have not yet replaced from a previous battle, your fleets may not use any Commander-Effects in combat.
* Any Scouts, Prospectors or other non-combatant units will NOT take part in the defense.
* If your defending force loses the fight, either through being obliterated or retreating, the attackers may steal your resources (if they brought transport-ships).
* **Note:**Consider upgrading your Resource Vault facility to protect more of your resources.
* **Hint:** Planetary Defense Units are by far the most efficient defense you can build for your Homeworld.

#### Defending your Outposts

Outpost-defense is a bit more tricky. Rather than placing one fleet on each outpost for defense, your outposts have the ability to 'call for help' when attacked.

* This must be set for each Outpost, as it may prove beneficial to only enable this for your most valuable outposts.
* So, if you go to Outposts, the list on the left contains a 'Shield-icon' that acts as a toggle for outpost defense. Make sure you enable this for your most valuable outposts.
* Then you need to select which fleets should respond to incoming attacks on those outposts. You do this by setting your fleets to 'Assist with outpost-defense'.

#### Numbers and Complications

And now it's time for some numbers and some complications. As you can understand, once a fleet is busy defending against an incoming enemy, it can not do anything else at the same time. For this reason, there are a few scenarios you will want to avoid:

* You do not want to send out 4 Frigates to take on 6 Cruisers and 2 Battleships, as it would be suicide.
* You do not want to send out your 3 Cruisers and 14 Frigates to take on 1 tiny Frigate, as it would leave you open and defenseless.

So there is a system in place that will try to select the best possible match between the attacking force and your defending fleets. So, in steps, the system will look for:

* A defense fleet with Strength between 1.15 - 2.0 times the Strength of the attack
* A defense fleet with Strength between 1.0 - 2.5 times the Strength of the attack
* A defense fleet with Strength between 0.9 - 3.0 times the Strength of the attack
* A defense fleet with Strength between 0.8 - 4.0 times the Strength of the attack
* A defense fleet with Strength between 0.8 - 5.0 times the Strength of the attack
* A defense fleet with Strength between 0.8 - 6.0 times the Strength of the attack
* A defense fleet with Strength between 0.8 - 8.0 times the Strength of the attack
* A defense fleet with Strength between 0.8 - 10.0 times the Strength of the attack
* A defense fleet with Strength between 0.8 - 15.0 times the Strength of the attack
* A defense fleet with Strength between 0.8 - 20.0 times the Strength of the attack
* A defense fleet with Strength between 0.8 - 30.0 times the Strength of the attack
* A defense fleet with Strength between 0.8 - 1000 times the Strength of the attack

If there are still no valid fleets found, no individual defense fleet is sent to the Outpost. However, the system will also look for combinations of fleets to meet the criteria.

* If you have two defense fleets at 0.5X the incoming attack strength, they will be dispatched together as they meet the 1.0X requirement of the second check.
* If a fleet was found, it is dispatched to the outpost for defense.

**Tip:** It makes sense to set up multiple fleets for Outpost-defense, with different strengths. Early on, after you reach Level 4, something like this can be recommended:

* One fleet with 2 Frigates
* One fleet with 5 Frigates
* One fleet with 'as much as possible'

==== Then you should be moderately well prepared for the normal initial attacks against your outposts!

Defending your allies ====
If your alliance has developed Alliance Defense, it is possible to park fleets at allied homeworlds to assist in their defense. The most common case is helping out with defense of the Grand Admiral and Admirals to help protect the Alliance-bank.

* To do this, all you need to do is go to Military -> Fleet Movement and move your desired fleet to the desired Homeworld. That is all.
* The fleet will remain there until recalled.
* Keep in mind that when it ends up in a fight, defending the intended target, **the Base-fleet of the target will decide the tactics used**.

## Credits and game-time

*Note: This information is as of 1/24/2015, and is subject to change as currency exchange changes.*

AD2460 is a free-to-play game. It wasn't free to develop, it isn't free to run, it isn't free to keep adding stuff to it, it isn't running on free hardware and we actually need to pay our bills, wages, rent, hosting etc.

* **First of all. Credits will not be able to buy you an advantage over other players in AD2460.**
* We do have certain features that require the use of credits. Purchasing and spending credits helps keep the game alive, and we have added a number of items that require spending credits. Most of them are there to add to your enjoyment of the game, your ability to personalize your fleets, outposts and planets, as well as engage in some fun dueling. Put a bounty on another player to get even when you are unable to dish out the punishment yourself.

Here's a list of all the things you can currently spend credits on:

* Renaming your homeworld.

* Choosing a new visual for your homeworld planet.
* Renaming an outpost.

- Renaming a commander.

* Changing face and uniform of a commander.
* Issuing a wargame with another player.
* Resetting your tech-tree.
* Service charge for issuing a bounty on another player.
* Pressing the 'Win'-button.
* Sending alliance-wise messages.
* Going in vacation (pausing your account)

**V.I.P Pack**

The V.I.P. pack is a simple solution for anyone who wishes to add a little extra to their AD2460 experience. by purchasing a V.I.P. pack you become a V.I.P for 30 days. During this time many of the credit features in the game become free.

* This is what you get in the 30 days you are V.I.P.:
* All renaming is free.
* All commander customization is free.
* All wargames are free to issue.
* Choose a custom icon shown in chat, player info and forums.
* Choose your own chat name colour.
* Homeworld planet visual selection is free.

Depending on how many you purchase, the cost of one such credit is approximately: 0.10 €, 0.13 £ 0.08.

Of course, the actual price will vary with currency-fluctuations, which payment-method is used, and how many credits you buy. This means that 1 month of playing should be about 3 €, 4 £

2.40.

## Where no man has gone before

There's a huge galaxy out there to explore. Don't try to see it all at once. Get to know your local cluster, or perhaps even your own sector. Get to know other players. Fight. Conquer. Win. Lose. And rebuild your fleet from the ashes.

There are still vast areas of the game that have not been described in this tutorial. The Alliance system is a big part of the game, and has its own section, once you enter into an Alliance. There is also a lot more to learn about the Military section and the Starmap. We hope that the Help sections provided inside the game are good enough, now that you have familiarized yourself with the game somewhat. If something is unclear, or you need help, use the forums and most importantly, the chat. Friendly people are everywhere.

## Communication with AD2460 Support

We want your opinion, we want to know about outright bugs, we want to know if things behave differently than you expect, and we want to know that in the forums. If a reported bug requires a screenshot, grab one by clicking ALT+PrintScreen on your keyboard, open Paint (or similar program), select Paste, save the image, and send it to support@ad2460.com.