Beginner's Guide

Lacking a comprehensive tutorial, Interstellar Pilot 2 may be difficult for a new player to master. Worry not, for this page is a guide for those who are not familiar with the game to create a dominating empire from scratch.

## Opening moves

With the exceptions of starting as a "Refinery Owner", "Empire", or "Enemy","Oman", the player starts as a lone ship with few credits. The universe is also not explored at all. Trade and passenger routes rely on stations available, so it is crucial to gather information to advance. There are two main ways to accomplish this.

### Missions

Doing missions for already established factions is a good way to earn some credits while exploring the universe. First, fly towards a neutral or friendly station, then dock with it. All stations with the exception of Bars offer missions of various natures.

The best missions to accept at this point are "Courier needed" missions, which require the player to transport cargo to another station, usually in another sector. Accept the mission, pick up the cargo, then dock at the destination station. The destination is automatically added to the player's database. While flying to the destination stations, the player ship's scanner will recognise any stations, asteroids, and galaxy en route. The credits offered will be added to the player's wallet upon completion of the mission.

### "Explore" command

A lazier way to gather intel would be to order the ship to "explore universe". The ship will travel randomly throughout all sectors in the universe. This is mildly risky, as while exploring, a ship can come under attack by enemy factions. Be aware that any exploring ships may become a target for raiders, and equip them accordingly, a cloaking device and fleet settings set to “perfer to cloak” would make this much safer, be wary that sonar mines can reveal you when your cloaked

## Gaining credits

After gaining access to several sectors with refineries, factories, and trade stations discovered, it is now possible to engage in the wider economy.

Credits are needed for any improvements on one's assets, and for purchasing any ships and stations. Many mission rewards are minimal, and are inadequate for rapid expansion.

The two main ways of gaining credits in Interstellar Pilot 2 at a consistent rate are trading and transporting passengers.

### Trading

Trading ships buy commodities from a station and sell them to another station for a higher price. The price difference is the profit gained by the ship's owner.

The price for commodities fluctuates based on the player's relations to the station owner's faction, and how much goods of the same type is already in the station. To check relations, click on **Log,** then **Factions**. The more to the right and greener the faction relations bar is, the friendlier the faction is to the player. Conversely, the more to the left and the more yellow-orange the factions relations bar is, the more hostile the faction is to the player.

It is not possible to sell goods to a station that sells the commodity you wish to sell to them.

To trade manually, dock at the station, click on the **Trade** tab on the left, then select the commodity desired, drag the bar to buy or sell the desired items, and press **OK**.

A simpler way to trade is to issue the **Trade** order to a player ship. The ship will automatically search for trade routes, and trade goods with the station.

### Transport passengers

Transporting passengers requires a ship to have a **Passenger Module** installed. To transport passengers, dock at a station, click on the "Passengers" button on the left, and select the group of passengers to pick up. The destination will be set as the player's waypoint.

The "Transport Passengers" order automatically does the same thing.

## Obtaining more ships

To grow a faction, obtaining more ships is a must. There are two ways to get ships: Buying ships, and claiming abandoned ships.

### Buying ships

Buying ships is straightforward: Go to a station, click on **Buy Ship** on the right, then select the desired ship class.

Not all stations offer the same classes of ships, however. For example, **Trade Stations** offer all scouts, fighters, and frigate-class ships, while capital ships are only available in **Shipyards**.

### Claiming abandoned ships

Abandoned ships are generated sometimes when a ship is heavily damaged. The crew escapes, and the ship becomes factionless and inactive.

To claim an abandoned ship, fly to within 100 metres of the ship, then click on the bottom left square button. Click on "Target", and then "Claim".

Be aware that other factions can also claim abandoned ships.

## Servicing ships

Ships are not buy-and-forget assets, and need periodic attention. Sometimes, ships run out of munitions, or are damaged. The stock equipment that comes with the ship may not be ideal for the player. Here is the way to maintain a fleet of effective ships.

To check a ship's status, one must scan it. To target a ship, click on the bottom left square button, click "target" and "scan".

### Upgrading a ship

To upgrade a ship, fly it to a suitable station, dock with it, then select "equipment". Scroll down the right box, and select the desired upgrade, and confirm the purchase.

Equipment shops and Magnus-EQ class ships offer the full range of equipment, while Trade Stations and Refineries offer low-tier equipment and mining equipment respectively.

#### Custom ship variants

It is possible to define a set of equipment for a ship type, so that one does not have to set up the same equipment upgrades for the type of ships every time a purchase is made.

To do so, open the "Buy ship" dialogue box. There is a "Custom ship variant" button on the bottom. Click on it, then select the base ship type. Set up the equipment upgrades, give the variant a name, and add a brief description. Click confirm, and the variant is stored.

To buy the variant ship, open the "Buy ship" dialogue box, and click on the variant.

### Rearming a ship

Stations that trade ammunition include Trade Stations, Equipment Shops, and Sector HQs. To rearm a ship, fly it to the station, and click "Trade". Select and purchase the desired amount of ammunition.

### Repairing a ship

Dock the damaged ship to a Trade Station, Equipment Shop, Repair Shop, Sector HQ, or a Shipyard. Click on the "Repair" button on the left.

Repairing at Repair Shops is recommended, as it offers a 50% discount.

## The First Sector

With a sizeable trading fleet, the next step of establishing a faction is to build stations and claim a sector.

### The first station

Purchasing and upgrading a ship constitutes the largest expense in early game. As player-owned stations cost the player the least in ship purchases and upgrades, the first station should ideally be one that addresses this problem, either that or it can help filling the credit pool

If you want to reduce cost of ship purchases and upgrades, you should get an Equipment Shop, Pick an isolated, preferably asteroid sector with enemies cleared out. Build an **Equipment shop** near the wormhole. Controlling an asteroid sector would be very profitable in the long run.

To build a station, click on the blue button on the bottom left on the screen, then click **Build**. Choose the station, select the location of the station, and confirm the construction. Stations take time to construct, during which they are vulnerable to attacks.

If more ships isn’t needed to defend the sector and the sector is filled with H type asteroid with a planet/have a wormhole connected to a plantery sector than you can choose to build a Laboratory, as it is the cheapest factory available to build and it is quite profitable as impulse is rather expensive, put it down near a refinery (remember it need to be in an H asteroid sector and the sector needs to be near a plantery sector or else not enough trader traffic for it to be worth while) and viola! A more or less stable source of income that will pay itself off in no time

Build four **Medium Weapons Platform** around the station. This should be adequate to fend off most early threats, however you will still need to check up on the station in case of a bandit raid

### Factories and Refainy

**Attempt this step only after saving at least 6,000,000 credits**

The ultimate source of all commodities is asteroid mining. Thus, all goods originate from asteroid sectors, and controlling them will be greatly beneficial.

If there isn’t one in the sector already, you probably shouldn’t build a refinery right away as Refineries require a lot of investment and takes quite a while to pay itself off and the credit fluctuations will be very volatile early on, owning a trade station for stable income in a planetary sector is recommended here before moving on to make the supply chain steady, if there isn’t one already a refinery in the asteroid sector though then go ahead and build the refinery

Build a **refinery** inside an asteroid field. They are usually found inside nebulae. Upon complete construction, buy 2 Mining M- class miners. Fit them with 2 advanced mining lasers, a Generator 35.0, a Frigate Engine 32.0, and a Shield 650 each. On the "Order settings" dialogue box, set their base as the Refinery, and limit their jumps to 0. Order them to mine asteroids. These should provide the refinery with a steady stream of ores.

A refinery converts ores to refined products. Factories can further increase profit by processing the raw products. Depending on the type of asteroid sector, construct the appropriate factories between the refinery and the wormhole. For ice asteroids, construct an Orbital Farm and a Rations Factory. For metal asteroids, construct either a **Hypersleep Pod Factory**, a **Vehicle Plant**, or an **Arms Factory** ,for Ice asteroids you should build either a laboratory or a brewery, note that the brewery needs in an orbital farm in addition of the refinery we were talking about for it to start producing commodities, as such, Metal Asteroid sectors are usually a better place for you to set up shop compared to water asteroid sectors

These stations will provide a steady stream of income, as the sale of processed goods bring in a high price.

### The Sector HQ and claiming a sector

When viewing the **Universe Map** and clicking a sector, a sentence **Controlled by XXX faction** is present in some sectors' information. This is because an **Empire** faction owns a Sector HQ in the sector.

Controlling a sector generates some income, as every transaction made in a controlled sector will yield an additional 10% credits for the controller as "tax". Thus, any invasions of a sector would usually target the Sector HQ first.

In anywhere inside the sector, preferably near an already constructed station, build a **Sector HQ**. Protect this station by constructing four **Medium Weapons Platform**, as this station will become the primary target for any invaders.

## Further development

With a sector as a base, and a sustainable economic base, the player can now develop freely as they wish.
Build **Shipyards** for cheaper capital ships, and **Repair Shops** for cheap repairs.
To secure a station, build **Medium Weapon Platforms** around stations. Building these weapon platforms near wormhole entrances will protect the sector from small-scale enemy incursions reliably.

Head over to Advanced Guide for more advanced and complicated strategies!