EM Expansion Checklist - Basic Operations

Post by **Marvin** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 2:13 am

CONFIGURING A WEAPON

1. Trade Station Or City - DOCK OR ENTER CITY
2. "Weapon Lab" Button - SELECT
3. "Change Type" Button - PRESS TO CYCLE WEAPON TYPE
4. "Change Class" Button - PRESS TO CYCLE WEAPON CLASS

Note: When initially selecting a weapon, the settings will reflect that weapon's default capabilities.

5. Required Material - CHECK

a. Electrical Units - AS REQUIRED
b. Metal Units - AS REQUIRED
c. Machinery Units - AS REQUIRED
d. Fusion Units - AS REQUIRED

Note: Required material can either be stored in the ship's cargo bay and/or stored aboard the trade station. For each individual item, the configuration menu will only take into account material which is available in one location. For like-items divided between the cargo bay and storage, combine the two into a stack of sufficient quantity.

6. Cargo Bay Or Equipment/Weapons Slot - EMPTY
7. Sliders - ADJUST AS DESIRED
8. Weapon Performance Indicators - CHECK
9. "Construct/Modify And Install" Button - PRESS TO CONFIGURE

COMBINING LIKE-ITEM CARGO

Note: Like items can only be combined when docked at a trade station or city. Attempts to combine cargo items at any other time can result in the selected cargo being discarded.

1. Item To Transfer - HIGHLIGHT (CURSOR)
2. Alt Key - PRESS AND HOLD
3. Selected Item - TRANSFER (RIGHT-CLICK)

CONDUCTING CONTRACTS BETWEEN PILOTS

Note: To successfully initiate a contracts between two pilots, it is important for the parties to complete the following steps in the order listed.

1. Contractor - TAGET CONTRACTEE (T)
2. Contractee - TARGET CONTRACTOR (T)
3. Contractor - SEND TRADE REQUEST (F4)
4. Contractee - ACCEPT TRADE REQUEST (F4)
5. Contractor - DETERMINE REWARD

a. "Arrange Contract" Button - SELECT
b. "Cash" Button - SELECT
c. "Enter Amount" Window - INPUT CREDIT PAYOUT
d. Correct Amount Offered - CHECK & PRESS ENTER

6. Contract Type - CYCLE TO SELECT OPTION

a. Destroy Player - SELECT NAME OF TARGET
b. Destroy Hostiles - SELECT TOTAL NUMBER
c. Recover Materials - SELECT TYPE OF MATERIAL
- Platinum Units
  Biological Units
  Oxygen Units
  Gold Units
  Silver Units
  Water Units
  Metal Alloys
  Diamonds

7. Contractee - PRESS "ACCEPT" BUTTON
8. Contract - CHECK

a. Inventory Console - OPEN (F3)
b. Trade Contract Description - CHECK

9. Contractee - COMPLETE THE CONTRACT
10. Trade Contract Completed - CHECK

a. Credits Paid Out - CHECK
b. Credits Received - CHECK
c. Current Pilot(s) Status - AUTO SAVED

Note: For "Recover Materials" contracts, pilots need to perform a standard Trade in order to complete the contract.

TRADING

1. Ship-To-Ship Trade Console - OPEN (F4)
2. Trade Link Accepted - CHECK
3. Items To Offer - SELECT

a. Credits - AS REQUIRED
- "Enter Amount" Window - INPUT PAYOUT
  Correct Amount Offered - PRESS ENTER
b. Item - SELECT FROM CARGO BAY

4. Items Being Offered - SELECT

a. Credits - AS REQUIRED
- "Enter Amount" Window - INPUT PAYOUT
  Correct Amount Offered - PRESS ENTER
b. Item - SELECT FROM CARGO BAY

5. Submit Button - SELECT

OPERATING A TERRAIN WALKER

1. Terrain Walker - INSTALLED
2. Planetside - HOVER
3. Terrain Walker - ENTER (K)
4. Status - CHECK

a. E - Engine Integrity
b. C - Cannon Integrity
c. N - Navigational Radar Integrity
d. J - Jump Thrusters Power
e. W - Weapon Power
f . H - Hull Integrity

5. Directional Control - AS REQUIRED

a. Forward - STICK FORWARD (W)
b. Back - STICK AFT (S)
c. Turn Left - STICK TWIST LEFT (MOUSE)
d. Turn Right - STICK TWIST RIGHT (MOUSE)
e. Strafe Left - STICK PUSH LEFT (A)
f . Strafe Right - STICK PUSH RIGHT (D)
g. Jump - (SPACE)

6. Cannon - FIRE (LEFT CTRL)
7. Tractor Beam - ENGAGE/DISENGAGE (ALT B)
8. HUD - TOGGLE (H)
9. Terrain Walker - EXIT (K)

FLYING IN FORMATION

Note: Members of the same clan are already linked. For members of different clans to link up, permission must be initiated by one pilot and subsequently accepted by another. Normally, the wingman will initiate the request, allowing the intended flight lead to either accept or reject the offer.

LEAD

1. IDS - AS REQUIRED (SPACE BAR)
2. Energy - SET 5S/-5W ([)
3. Wingman - TARGET (T)
4. Clan Link Request Received - ACCEPT (NUMPAD -)
5. Wingman - FORMED UP
6. Autopilot - AS REQUIRED
7. Formation - MONITOR
8. Clan Link - CANCEL (ALT NUMPAD -)

Note: When lead accepts the request, both ships display as green (friendly). Conversely, when either pilot cancels the link, only that pilot will then see the other pilot's ship as red (foe).

WINGMAN

1. IDS - AS REQUIRED (SPACE BAR)
2. Energy - SET -5S/5W (])
3. Lead Ship - TARGET (T)
4. Clan Link Request - SEND (NUMPAD -)
5. Clan Link Accepted - FORM UP

a. Formation - ENGAGE (F)
b. Formation - DISENGAGE (F)

6. Clan Link - CANCEL (ALT NUMPAD -)

Note: When lead accepts the request, both ships display as green (friendly). Conversely, when either pilot cancels the link, only that pilot will then see the other pilot's ship as red (foe).

EXITING MULTIPLAYER

1. Countdown - INITIATE (ESC)
2. After 10 Seconds - EXIT
3. To Cancel Countdown - ABORT (ESC)

STORING ITEMS

1. Trade Station - DOCK
2. "Hangar" Button - SELECT
3. "Store" Button - PRESS TO STORE ITEM
4. "Exit" Button - PRESS WHEN DONE

Note: If a pilot uses the same profile on different servers (and/or in single-player), storing various items at different locations (default and/or player built) on each server (or SP), all items will be listed in Hangar Details but only those items stored at locations on the particular server (or SP) will be charged a station fee.

LOADING ITEMS FROM STORAGE

1. Trade Station - DOCK
2. "Hangar" Button - SELECT
3. "Load" Button - PRESS TO LOAD ITEM
4. "Exit" Button - PRESS WHEN DONE

REQUESTING INFORMATION FROM AI

1. AI - TARGET (T)
2. Ship-to-Ship Trade Console - OPEN (F4)

Note: Target must be inside 1000 units to establish a trade connection.

3. "Request Information" Button - SELECT
4. If Payment Required - PRESS AGAIN TO TRANSFER CREDITS
5. "Adding Data Message to Message Log" - MONITOR TRANSMISSION
6. Chat Window - CONFIRM DATA MESSAGE SENT
7. Ship-to-Ship Trade Console - CLOSE (F4)

APPENDIX

Navigation

When traveling long distances, the pilot is advised to use the most advanced jump drive available. After each jump, there is a recharge time during which a slight amount of fuel is burned. As seen in Figure 1, higher class drives cover a greater distance per jump. Consequently, they require fewer recharges, thereby burning less fuel over the same distance.

For a pilot flying solo, the optimum method of travel is with inertial engaged and energy bias set to provide maximum power to weapons. By utilizing inertial, IDS will not attempt to bring the ship to a halt after each jump (a maneuver which burns significantly more fuel). Diverting energy to weapons increases the recharge rate, decreasing the recharge time per jump (significantly shortening the time between jumps, thereby shortening the time enroute).

[img=507x280]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v97/p ... especs.png[/img]

Figure 1

When flying in formation, the optimum method of travel is not practical. Instead, the lead pilot must linger at each waypoint until the entire formation has arrived and regenerated. Also, flying with different classes of jump drive is not advised; if a mixture of drives is unavoidable, lead should be the ship with the lowest class drive so that all ships in formation can jump the same number of sectors. Additionally, lead should set energy bias so as to slow regeneration, trailing ships should set energy bias to optimum, and all ships should utilize IDS as required to avoid overshooting or outdistancing one other. Consequently, the specifcations in Figure 1 will not apply when ships are flying in formation. Instead, travel time and fuel consumption will be significantly greater.

In most situations (either when flying solo or when leading a formation), autopilot should be engaged to limit the delay between jumps. An exception would be when flying in formation and the length of the formation is such that one or more trailing ships cannot recharge fast enough for each consecutive jump.

To collect the data listed in Figure 1, jump drive tests were conducted using an Avenger with 2400 units of fuel, flying in a straight line on autopilot. For lower class drives, the ship flew for two hours. For the Mantis and Class 5, the test was run until fuel reserves were below 90 units. Each test ended at the point where autopilot was disengaged and energy built back up to 100%. Remaining fuel was noted after the ship came to a full stop.

Change 1. Appendix added with Jump Drive permance chart.
Change 2. Added steps for requesting information from an AI.
Change 3. Changed Contracts Between Pilots checklist to reflect new procedures.

[Edited on 12-8-2012 by Marvin]

[Edited on 12-15-2012 by Marvin]

[Edited on 12-22-2012 by Marvin]

sundalo · Post by **sundalo** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 5:54 am

Thx for the checklist Marv, still trying to wrap my head around the weapons lab portion which probably will have a DaveK article in the future lol. Until then trial and error I suppose.

:D

Post by **Marvin** » Fri Dec 07, 2012 3:44 am

I just got home ... downloaded Dave's stuff and will check to see if he's included any weapons graphs or performance charts.

Busch · Post by **Busch** » Fri Dec 07, 2012 3:54 am

Ya, Dave's got a lot of weapons and performance stuff in both the Mercs Manual (updated for EMx) and the H-n-T Guide. Most of its your work, or an embelishment thereon, Marv. Dave had some "hired help"....