How to Play Starlink: Battle for Atlas

This article will become detailed guide on how to play *Starlink: Battle for Atlas*, to be written by the community.

## Production Update Notice - April 3, 2019

Physical editions of Starlink technology will not continue in the Spring Update and beyond.

(Though not specified in the notice, reasonable consequence would likely lead to current physical Starlink technology (Lance, Pulse, Levitator, Pilot packs, etc.) to fall out of production as well, unfortunately.)

## Getting Started

Welcome to Starlink, pilot! Once you've launched the software through your console's home menu, you'll be set and ready for launching in no time. First, we'll need to find out the difficulty you plan on facing, then we'll need to identify what method of control you plan on using.

Once you create a new save slot, you'll be given four variations of difficulty to tune your experience.

### **Difficulty**

These difficulty settings determine how strong your weapons hit, and how much you take in return. The higher the difficulty, the more punishing getting hit becomes. The beginning gameplay sequence will not be as punishing, however, so as to allow you to become accustomed to the flight controls.

Not satisfied with your choice? You can change your difficulty under Options > Gameplay > Difficulty later on.

Now that you've chosen your difficulty, you'll then be faced with a demonstration of the Starlink ship and weapon systems. Here, we'll look at the type of controller you're using:

### **Physical**

The following is also included with your console's Starlink: Battle for Atlas starter pack:

* *Zenith Starship (Physical for PS4, Xbox One)*
* *Arwing Starship\* (Physical Exclusive for Switch)*
* *Mason Rana*
* *Fox McCloud\* (Switch Exclusive)*
* *Shredder (Physical for PS4, Xbox One)*
* *Flamethrower*
* *Frost Barrage*
* *Controller Mount*

*\*Can not be used outside of Switch editions*

### **Nintendo Switch Edition**

#### **Attach a Mount**

Retrieve your controller mount ("Starlink Mount") from the starter pack and your Joy-Con controllers. You must slide in the Joy-Cons until you hear a click; to take out the Joy-Cons, press the release button on the back of the controllers, signified by a protruding black dot under the rear shoulder buttons. No wired connection is required, as the Joy-Cons will act as the receiver and transmitter for the modular toys.

#### (**Placeholder)**

> (Insert pilot, place ship on top of pilot so as to replicate a pilot in the cockpit, attach wings or weapons)

After following the demonstration on how to mount Starlink technology to your controller, you'll be ready to go!

### **Digital**

If you wish to purely use your console's assigned controller, the option to "Play Digitally" will appear in the bottom left corner of the demonstration. Do note that while the Digital versions of Physical ships (the packaged Zenith for PS4 and Xbox One, and Digital Zenith + packaged Arwing for Switch) and the included weapons will last forever, any Physical attachments bought from any supplier must be scanned in every 7 days to be eligible for Digital use. This is an anti-sharing measure to discourage the reusing of a piece of Starlink technology across multiple people.

For those who have bought additional Digital Starlink weapons, ships, and pilots either individually, from the [Collection Pack(s)], or from Starlink: Battle for Atlas Digital and Digital Deluxe Edition in their console's store, these will also last forever.

## **Starting the Game**

Now that you've chosen your method of control, you will be faced with a series of menus displaying all of the options used for regular gameplay. Though overwhelming at first, it becomes relatively simple to control and navigate. *Note: The following instructions denote a digital method of playing.*

### **Choosing a Pilot**

Upon choosing your desired difficulty and controlling method, you will be asked to choose between a variety of Starlink pilots that you have available (digitally unlocked / purchased, or physically attached). Each of these pilots have their own set of skills (as shown under "Pilot Skills" in the bottom left) that represent their personality and history. At this point, you are unable to unlock any skill trees, but you can choose a pilot that sounds the most interesting to you, or perhaps use the skill tree preview to see what skills sound good. Everyone is as viable as you make them.

Pilots also have their own unique special moves that likewise reflect their role in Starlink, which will slowly charge up over time, or charge faster when in the heat of combat (by taking or dealing damage). However, you will also be unable to use any special moves until later in the story, but you can refer to Category:Pilots to see a complete list of who you'd like to choose beforehand.

You can change pilots at any time, and choosing a pilot will not affect the overall story except for dialogue.

### **Choosing a Ship**

After choosing a pilot, you will be met with a screen of all the ships that you have available. (Refer to this to see a complete list of ships.) Each ship, like their pilots, are as viable as you make them. However, each ship is sorted into an arrangement of classes (High Energy, Performance, Tank, and Rocket), each with a different set of stats that harmonize with a player's playstyle.

* High Energy ships carry a high capacity to boost and fire for extended periods of time.
* Performance ships are naturally light and tend to have good handling, allowing you to perform evasive maneuvers faster and with less resistance.
* Tank ships are naturally heavy and slow, making movement difficult, but can take a massive beating before going down.
* Rocket ships are designed to run and never look back, making transit and hit-and-runs extremely fast. These also make for good ramming ships.

Weight does have an effect on boost consumption, dodge time, handling, and physical variables (explained later), but this weight can be lightened through the use of Mods or Chase's Pilot Skill later in the game.

### **Choosing a Weapon**

After choosing a ship, you will be directed to the "Loadout" screen. Take some time to become familiar with this screen, as you will be returning to it a lot; it is also the first screen you see when you pause.

But first and foremost, you will see the ship you chose in the middle, and to the sides, "Link a Weapon". You can choose a weapon by pressing the indicated button, or press the button next to "Change Loadout" to bring up your entire ship configuration. We will return to that after choosing a weapon.

Now, after pressing the button next to "Link to Weapon", you will be given a list of

#### **The "Change Loadout" Screen**

This screen looks similar to the previous one, but it is entirely different. Here, you can now:

## Movement

Left stick=Ship moviment

Right stick=Aim

## Combat

Every enemy in Atlas has a different attack pattern and memorizing at least the basics of everyone is advised.

Here are the main playstyles of the different factions:

Imps:Dash against the player's ship and attach to it, blocking the view, ranged attack trowing a rock, usualy spawn near Imp hives

Fire imps:Dash against the player's ship and attach to it, blocking the view and dealing costant fire damage

Ice imps:Dash against the player's ship and attach to it, blocking the view and causing freeze effect to the ship

Crush Imp:Dash against the player's ship and attach to it, blocking the view and dealing gravity damage

Cyclops:burst of kinetic white bullets,ground slam at short range

Fire cyclops:burst of kinetic white bullets,flamethrower attack at short range

Ice cyclops:burst of kinetic white bullets,ground slam at short range,equipped with a freeze shied(still vulnerable to alla types of damage, but take more damage by fire)

Crush cyclops:homing shot with gravitazional effects,ground slam deals way more damage

Shielded cyclops:burst of kinetic white bullets,ground slam at short range, hide in the shield beatween a shot and another

Flawless cyclops:burst of kinetic white bullets,ground slam at short range, invulnerable exept for the red eye

Fire titan(or giant):homing fireballs, while flying uses flamethrower from above,if exposed to fire efferct will empower and fire 3 fireballs at once insted of 1

Ice titan(or giant):ice path at mid range, launch 3-5 ice bursts at long range, if exposed to freeze or frost effect will empower and create 3 ice paths insted of 1 and attack more frequently(note: all attacks are groundlocked and easily jumpable)

Crush titan(or giant):mortar like attack with vortex effect,ground slam at short range can stun the player, summons crush imps as a short range defense

Extractor:protected by legion troups and nodes, will generate groundlocked energy blades or pulses when all nodes are destroied,multi stage type miniboss(higher the stage=higher the damage of nodes and troups)

Prime:multi stage boss,plants extractors on planets,1° stage weak point:red dot under the leg, 2° stage wp: nova crystals on top of the joints, 3° stage wp:tip of the tail, 4° stage wp:nova crystals on to of joints and tail

Legion drakes:short burst of kinetic red bullets, easy to reflect

Elitè drakes:short burst of kinetic red bullets, easy to reflect, faster then normal drakes and equipped with a shield that negates elemental effects,can attack with a red beam of energy similar to the obelisk

Drax's ship:Upgraded version of the elitè drake(more healt, more agile, better shield), beam attack is more frequent

Dreadnought:multi fase boss, protected by drakes and elitè drakes,1° fase: 3 turrets on top,2° fase:laser beams on the side of the ship,3°stage: homing missiles from the front of the ship,4° stage:laser maze before getting to the core(1° core fase:no protection,2° core fase:lasers grid from above,3° core fase:laser grid,laser beams from the core,Armor on weak spot,use seige weapons to surpass the armor)

Scion:multi fase boss,1° stage: homing fireballs,cyclopes as support,2°stage: homing iceballs, some ground spots in flames,ice shield needs fire weapons to breake,3° stage:all arena ablaze,gravity powers,kinetic shield,can switch to fire and ice powers

Outlaws:short burst of kinetic white bullets, easy to reflect

Elitè outlaws:short burst of kinetic white bullets, easy to reflect, faster then normal ourlaws and equipped with a shield that negates elemental effects

Outlaw battle-mech:2 fases,weak spot:ankles,1°fase:shield grond slam at close range,fast shooting,2°fase: fire attack to keep the player still,overall buff in performance

Outlaw leaders:long burst of fast kinetic white bullets, shield equipped, homing missiles(Wanted outlaws can spawn mines or energy traps while grappeled)

Outlaw hideout:multi fase miniboss,defended by outlaws,1°fase:tourets on the outside of the hideout,2° fase:Outlaws released from the hideout,3° fase:outlaw leader joins the battle

**Elemental reactions:**

Every weapon has a different effect on impact, combining this effects is possible to get an elemental reaction.

Thermal shock=heat+cold

Shatter=frost+shield ram

Fire vortex=heat+vortex

Frost vortex=cold+vortex

Stasis overload=stasis+stasis

Heat blast:heat+stasis

Cryo blast:cold+stasis

Gravity blast:gravity+stasis

## Starship Customization

Every ship can hold up to 3 wings per side before the message "The ship is too heavy" pops on the screen.

Every wing can be attached on both sides of the ship in every direction desired, even backward or upside down.

Every ship can hold only 1 weapon per side at the time(for obvious reasons).

Every pilot is compatible with every ship,every ship is compatible with every wing and weapon and every wing is compatible with every other wing and weapon.

## FAQ

Have some unanswered questions? Visit the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page to try and find what you're looking for. If you don't see the question you're looking for, please leave a comment here on the wiki or on the Starlink Subreddit, we'll definitely see you!