First time players should play a single player game to learn the basics of the game, such as building up and taking over worlds. Single player games are simplified, since the radar, proximity and pulse bombs do not come into play and you are always on the offensive. You can also play with computer opponents to practice.  Multi-player Solar Wars games usually consist of two phases: first is to conquer local unclaimed worlds and second is conquering other players owned worlds. The truce option provides a nice transition of the phases (see below).

Solar System:

There can be between nine and thirty worlds in a solar system.  All of the worlds in the solar system orbit around the sun and are located on nine orbital paths; some paths can have multiple worlds on it.  The orbit time of the worlds speeds up as you get closer to the sun, due to its gravitational pull.  Motion of the solar system is realistic, so timing of ship movements is important!

Each world in the solar system has a ship production level and class associated with it.  Each player starts with one “home” world.  The “home” worlds are strong in their ship production level and class, and should be protected as such.  They also have a radar & pulse bomb defense system for incoming/traveling enemy fleets.  They should be used as a gathering point for ships and a launching point for attacking fleets.  All “home” worlds are located on the center orbit path of the solar system.  One complete orbit of the “home” worlds is reached every year, which is equal to 20 turns.

During a player’s turn, all the owned planets are highlighted in the player’s color.  The number of ships on those worlds will be shown next to the world; if the world has double-speed, a “D” will be shown next to the number of ships; if the world’s shield is on, a “S” will also be shown.  If the world has bombs on it, a bomb icon will be shown on the world.  Traveling fleets are represented on the destination worlds and are shown animated through their travel (depending on game settings).  The trailing tail of the traveling fleet will be dashed colored coded - white for reinforcements, or colored for attacks on opponents owned worlds.  Recently scouted worlds will have a temporary crosshair placed on them.

Console:

The area below the solar system is known as the console. This contains all information on battles, reinforcements, owned worlds and traveling fleets.

All world data is listed in the Owned Worlds window (bottom center window), including production, class, shield percentage and mode, ships, bombs (shown as B), treasures (shown as D for double-speed fuel) and for multiplayer games, proximity bombs set on the worlds (shown as P).  By left-clicking on the listed worlds, that world is highlighted graphically.  This is useful for finding a certain world.  Brackets around the number of ships on a world (i.e. [10]) indicates if the world is included or excluded from gathering ships.

All traveling fleets are listed in the Traveling Fleets window (bottom right window).  An arriving traveling fleet will be shown with a “>” in front of it.  By left-clicking on the listed traveling fleets, that traveling fleet is shown graphically.  If you sent a traveling fleet by accident and want to recall it in the SAME turn only by left clicking on the listed traveling fleet and selecting “Yes” at the prompt.

The upper center window is for game data, including battle announcements, turn time messages, solar system information (number of world treasures still available, who owns the most worlds or ships), truce announcements, and player turn statuses.

The lower center window shows the game history, including a player’s past battle, reinforcement, scout and bomb information. To expand this window, left-click on it. During battles, this window converts to a colored slider bar showing the struggle of the battle; the battle statistics are shown with the attacking fleet on the left side and defending fleet on the right side windows.

The center icon bar indicates what world treasures are owned, including double-speed fuel, number of bombs and the information crystal. A button bar allows a player to show the world labels, traveling fleets, finish a turn, read this help file, check the status of the solar system, or quit the game.

For multiplayer games, the communications window is used to chat with the other players. The long thin windows in the center of the console are for receiving game information.

World Ship Production, Shields, Classes, Bombs, Radar and Treasures:

Production/Shield:

The ship production of an unclaimed world can range from zero to thirty ships per turn (depending on game options). When desired, this production can be re-directed to produce a shield instead. The shield protects the world by absorbing incoming attacks – each hit from attacking ships reduces the shield by one. The shield can range from zero to one hundred percent.

An added bonus of having shielded worlds is that attacking fleets that leave from a shielded world can carry that shield with them if this option is set at the beginning of the game – see game options below. Once they reach their destination, the shield protects them in battle – each hit from the defending world reduces the attacking fleets shield by one. Keep in mind that unclaimed worlds also have shields also and turn them on and off at will.

Classes:

The class of unclaimed worlds can range from one (the lowest) to five (the highest). The class affects the strength (hitting power) of the ships on that world during battles. A class one world is about half as strong as a class 5 world, and can thus be taken over with fewer ships.

Ships transferred from a lower class owned world to a higher class owned world will be upgraded to the higher class; conversely, ships transferred from a higher class owned world to a lower class owned world will be downgraded to the lower class.

Radar:

Radar defense systems exist in multiplayer games only on a player’s home world and will alert a player to incoming or passing traveling fleets of ships, bombs and scouts, as well as proximity bombs set on worlds. The radius of the radar reaches from the innermost orbit path to the outermost orbit path.  If unlimited radar is set in game options, ALL traveling fleets will be shown for the entire solar system.

When there is a radar alert, a dotted ellipse is shown on the radar radius. Enemy traveling fleets will be displayed: a scout is shown as a small cross; a bomb is shown as a series of overlapping circles; a fleet of ships is shown as one, two or three circles next to each other, depending on the amount of ships. The quantity of ships in the fleet is also shown. The trailing line behind the traveling fleets shows its direction of travel and speed (longer line means faster travel).

During a radar alert, a pulse bomb can be set on the home world (see below) to destroy any traveling fleets within the radar radius.

Bombs:

At the start of the game, each player’s "home" world has between three and five bombs, depending on the number of worlds in the solar system. Bombs can be used in three different ways:

• Annihilation Bomb: When a bomb is sent to an unowned or enemy world, it destroys the world’s ships and takes over the world. Any bombs found on the world are given to the new owner. Bombs can be transferred from owned world to owned world also.
  

• Proximity Bomb: In a multiplayer game, a bomb can be sent to orbit any world and detonate at a specified threshold when a fleet of ships enters it orbit.
  
  A traveling bomb will set off a proximity, regardless of the threshold set.

• Pulse Bomb: In a multiplayer game, when a radar alert is shown, a pulse bomb can be set on the home world to destroy any traveling fleets within the radar radius. The home world must have a bomb in order to use this option. The pulse bomb detonation will be shown at the end of turn.

These bombs should be used sparingly since when they are gone, you'll wish you had more!

Treasures:

Some unclaimed worlds have treasures on them, waiting to be claimed. These treasures include:

• An Information Crystal, which tells all information about unclaimed worlds, continuously.
• Double Speed Fuel, which reduces the traveling time for traveling ships from a world
• A Hanger containing a bomb
• A Hanger containing a fleet of ships

Sending Ships & Scouts Between Worlds:

Ships can be sent between worlds in order to build-up ships on one world or to attack unclaimed worlds.

A scout ship can be sent to find out information on a world, such as its production, class, shield and number of ships, on the turn it arrives. This information is useful for planning attacks.

Game Options:

Ships Travel With Shield:

An added bonus of having shielded worlds is that attacking fleets that leave from a shielded world can carry that shield with them (if this option is set). Once they reach their destination, the shield protects them in battle – each hit from the defending world reduces the attacking fleets shield by one.

Keep in mind that unclaimed worlds also have shields also and turn them on and off at will.

Battle Truce:

A battle truce can be set at the beginning of a multiplayer game to prevent player’s from attaching each other until a certain turn. This is useful to allow time to takeover worlds, build up ships and world treasures and set up defenses.

The minimum truce setting is 10 turns; there is no maximum truce setting, but 20 - 30 turns is typically a good truce setting.

Defensive Battle Mode:

In defensive battle mode, the attacker and defender shoot at the same time.  This makes for a more even battle and requires more ships to take over a world.  The game default for battle mode is Offensive - this means that the attacker has the advantage of shooting first; less ships are required to take over a world with this mode.

Maximum World Production (with Donation only):

You can adjust the maximum world production setting from 5 to 30 ships per turn.  The default game setting is 15 ships per turn.  Higher production settings can make for a more challenging game.

World Treasures (with Donation only):

You can adjust the number of world treasures (information crystal, double-speed, hangars of ships & bombs).  The default game setting is 8 treasures for 30 worlds.

Maximum Gather/Scout Turns (with Donation only):

You can adjust the number of turns that it takes to travel for gathering ships or sending out scouts.  The default game setting is 3 turns.

Home World Radar (with Donation only):

You can turn on and off the home world radar, or you can choose to have unlimited radar – which will show ALL traveling fleets for the whole solar system.  The pulse bomb will only work within the dotted radar range.  The default game setting is radar on.