A Roguelike in Space: Manual
A Roguelike in Space: Manual
Manual
Version 1.1
CONTENTS
Introduction........................................................................... 1
Bug reports and online resources ............................... 1
Interface ............................................................................... 2
Space travel ................................................................... 2
Space combat ................................................................ 3
Planets.............................................................................. 4
Ship Status Screen ......................................................... 6
Awayteam Screen ......................................................... 7
Logbook ........................................................................... 7
Your ship ............................................................................... 8
Ship Stats ........................................................................ 8
The starting ships ........................................................... 8
Changing hulls ................................................................ 9
Crew ................................................................................... 10
Officers ......................................................................... 10
Ordinary Crew members .......................................... 10
Leveling & XP .............................................................. 10
Skills ............................................................................... 11
Augments ...................................................................... 12
Miscellaneous .......................................................... 21
Retirement .......................................................................... 22
FAQ ..................................................................................... 22
General ......................................................................... 22
Space ............................................................................ 14
Planets ........................................................................... 22
Combat ......................................................................... 15
Items ............................................................................... 23
Space combat......................................................... 16
Equipment .......................................................................... 17
Commands ......................................................................... 25
General Commands:................................................... 25
Space ............................................................................. 25
Planets surface............................................................. 26
Transport.................................................................. 19
Armor........................................................................ 19
Ranged weapons ................................................... 20
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Prospector
In an unexplored sector of space humanity is trying to establish a permanent presence. Mega corporations employ freelance prospectors to find exploitable resources and map
unknown planets for them. The player commands one of those scout ships, trying to become filthy rich as a Prospector.
In this game your main goal will be to survive long enough to get enough money to retire. There are several ways to get money:
a) Sell your maps, your biodata and your resources at one of the 3 main stations.
b) Trade goods between the stations, and stations and planets.
c) Hunting pirate ships.
d) Become a pirate.
There are many dangers in the sector, so be careful.
One of these dangers might even be an extinct ancient alien race. Their artifacts and ruins of their cities can be found all around the sector. Or maybe they arent as extinct as it
seems?
www.prospector.at
INTERFACE
SPACE TRAVEL
The center window shows
discovered stars, a space
station to the far left,
and gas clouds. There is
a fuel warning in the
message window. Above
it there is the information
that we have no
Navigational computer
installed. If we had one,
our coordinates would
show there.
System map:
A system map will look like this. It appears when your ship is at a star system. The * represents a star, the boxes are asteroid belts, the orange O is a gas giant, the o are planets.
The grey color indicates that we havent scanned or visited any of them yet. You can customize this in the options. You can have it pop up under your current ships position or put it
on the border between space map and text messages. You can also use graphical icons instead of ASCII. This is done via the configurations menu.
SPACE COMBAT
Space combat looks very similar to space travel, with some minor differences. Your sensor range is indicated by grey dots. Your (and enemies) ships also draw a trail of hot
plasma, which you should avoid flying into. You have access to activating sensors, increasing your sensor range, but also making it easier to get hit, toggle maneuvering jets for
extra speed, fire weapons, drop shields (regenerating shields produce heat warning: you cannot put your shields back up during combat) and drop mines.
Firing weapons has various effects: The obvious being that if they hit your opponent, his shields and/or ship will be damaged. After firing a weapon it needs a certain amount of
time to reload (for ammo using weapons) or recharge (for energy weapons). During this time it cant be fired again. Using your weapons also heats them up. The heat will dissipate
over time. You can still fire it, but if your weapon gets too hot it might shut down or even be permanently damaged.
To flee from space combat you need to move to the edge of the map and attempt to run and flee. Your chance of getting away depends on number of enemy ships and your
pilots skill.
PLANETS
Like space exploration the planet exploration screen is divided into a main window and a sidebar and message window below.
The first line shows how many members your group has, and how many of them are still alive. The symbols below show their individual status. Green
means unhurt, yellow hurt, and red X means that crewmember is dead.
The different symbols show the type of the crewmember:
C Captain
P Pilot
S Science officer
D Doctor
@ regular security
L Squad leader
N Sniper
M Paramedic
You can pull up this screen at any time using the @ key. It offers more detailed information about your ship, crew and equipment. Use the arrow keys to scroll through your
equipment list- You can also filter the list by pressing Ctrl-f, press Esc to exit the screen.
AWAYTEAM SCREEN
Detailed information about your crew is
available on the awayteam screen. You can
look at it at any time pressing A. It shows
each member of your crew, with HPs,
equipment, skills, implants, diseases and XP.
You can assign a crewmember to the
awayteam or to the ship by highlighting him
or her and pressing enter. You can also turn
off autoequip for individual crewmembers, by
pressing e
LOGBOOK
You can access the logbook by pressing Ctrl-l. It provides access to two functions: Information on already explored Star systems, and the Autopilot. To engage the autopilot you
need to select a destination star, and then press the walking key. You will be prompted to enter a number between 0 and 5. This number weighs short routes vs save routes. 0 will
send you in a straight line to your target, ignoring any gas clouds or anomalies. 5 will do the opposite and avoid gas clouds at all costs.
YOUR SHIP
SHIP STATS
Ships in Prospector have several Stats:
HP: Hull points - Once they reach 0, the ship is destroyed. The only way to regain lost Hull points is to repair the ship at one of the stations.
SP: Shield points - Damage to the ship is first deducted from the shields. Only if the shields reach 0, damage gets transfered to the hull below. Shields regenerate in and outside of
combat.
Sensors: Determines visibility range in space, and how well you can scan planets.
Engine: Determines how fast you can move in space combat, and the chance of anomalies sweeping you away
Weapon Turrets: This is the maximum number of weapons your ship can carry.
Cargo Bays: Bays to transport standard Cargo containers in.
Crew: This determines how many Crewmembers your ship can hold. The first 5 Bunks are always reserved for Officers. (Captain, Pilot, Gunner, Science Officer and Ships Doctor)
The others can hold up to 2 crewmembers if your crew sleeps in shifts. This is generally not good for the crews morale.
Fuel: Flying through space needs fuel. You can refuel at space stations, or you can scoop a gas giant.
Pirate Cruiser: If you choose this ship, you also choose the more difficult pirate life. While you will be able to land on pirate planets, space stations will shoot at you, and company
patrols will attack you.
CHANGING HULLS
There are several possibilities to find a Hull better suited to your needs. One is to buy one at one of the 3 main space stations. Ship Hulls come bare bones, without any equipment.
Equipment from your old Hull gets transferred to the new one (Sensors, engines, shields, weapons and miscellaneous devices)
CREW
OFFICERS
Captain:
This basically is you. If one of the other officers is dead you take over.
Pilot:
Gunner:
Science Officer:
Ships Doctor:
Squad leaders:
Paramedics:
LEVELING & XP
Different Crewmembers get an XP for different tasks.
Captain:
Pilot:
Successful landing
Gunner:
Science Officer:
Scanning planets
Ships Doctor:
Redshirts:
Every time you dock at one of the main space stations, your crewmembers might level up. There is no fixed XP value, the formula looks like this:
SKILLS
Some crew members come with skills, or may gain them when leveling up. Not every crewmember can have every skill, some are reserved for certain officers or the captain.
Captain:
Comptetent:
Haggler:
Confident:
Charming:
Gambler:
Merchant:
Pilot:
Evasion
High grav training
Asteroid miner:
Has a better chance to get away when fleeing from space battles
Has a better chance to land successfully
Finds more ore in asteroids, and catches them easier
Gunner:
Tactics expert:
Leadership:
Ship weapons expert:
Improvise mines:
Science Officer:
Linguist:
Biologist:
Sensor expert:
Ships Doctor:
Disease expert:
First aid expert:
Field medic:
General Skills:
Fast:
Aim:
Sharpshooter:
Close combat expert:
Strong:
Tough:
Defensive:
Increased speed
+1 to ranged weapons to hit
+.1 to ranged weapons damage
+1 to close combat to hit
+.1 to close combat damage
+1 to hitpoints
-1 on enemies to hit rolls
AUGMENTS
At hospitals you can augment your human crew members with implants. These aid the crewmember in various fields. But installing too many of them can be dangerous. Most doctors
wont put more than 3 in.
Available Augments are:
Targeting Computer
Muscle enhancement
Improved Lungs
Speed enhancement
Exoskeleton
Improved Metabolism
Implanted floatation devices
Implanted jetpacks
Chameleon skin
Neurocomputer
The so called loyalty chip, that prevents the user from making his own decisions, without confirmation by a preprogrammed Leader is not available on the open market..
Another very dangerous implant, that doctors who have a conscience do not offer are artificial nerves. These are better suited to interface with other augments, and increase your
survival chance when you add a 4th or even 5th implant.
GAME WORLD
SPACE STATIONS AND HUMAN SETTLEMENTS:
The sector you are about to explore does feature some rudimentary human settlements already: There are 3 large space stations, as well as 3 smaller ones. Most explorers coming
from earth make a last stop at one of the smaller stations. These stations usually offer most basic services, and maybe some other businesses. Their main purpose is to repair and
refuel merchant fleets.
The 3 Main Stations are the hubs of commerce in the sector. Each is run by one of the 4 biggest Mega corporations.
There might also be other planets with humans living on them.
Here the megacorp holds court, and buys resources, mapdata and biodata
Equipment:
Here you can buy upgrades for your ship and gear for your crew
Repair:
Repair your ship for the standard price of 100Cr pre Hull point
Hire Crew:
Trading:
Sick Bay:
Here you can buy medical supplies and cybernetic implants. You can also let the doctors cure diseases
Casino:
Here you can play roulette and have a drink at the bar
Retirement:
Here you can buy assets to enjoy once you choose to retire
SPACE
Gas clouds: Flying through gas clouds can damage your ship.
Anomalies: Anomalies can damage your ship, and also have various other effects.
Wormholes: Wormholes connect one part of the sector with another. Flying through one might also damage your ship though.
atmosphere type
gravity
temperature
rotational period
amount of liquids on the surface
probability of life. How accurate this guesstimate is depends on your science officers skill.
Gas Giants: You cant land on gas giants. It is possible though to scoop fuel off of one.
Asteroid Fields: Likewise you cant land in asteroid fields. Though some asteroids contain high amounts of precious minerals, that you can harvest.
Rogue planets: These are planets drifting through interstellar space without a sun. They are rather rare, and hard to find.
Special planets: There are some unique planets. Usually you get a message from your science officer when scanning them. Proceed with caution. Some of them can be quite
dangerous.
COMBAT
Often you will come across creatures which you must fight. Sometimes you will meet them toe to toe, on the ground, and sometimes they will try to destroy your ship in space.
GROUND COMBAT
If you bump into a hostile creature, your team will attempt to kill it. If the creature is asleep and you have cages with you, you can try to catch it.
Using the (f)ire command allows you to shoot at your enemies from a distance. You have the option to either choose the direction, or fire at a specific target (by pressing 5 when
asked for direction. Another option is to spread fire (by pressing 0). In this case your team is divided upon any enemy within sight, doing less damage to each, but trying to hit
everyone.
SPACE COMBAT
Space combat is a bit more complex.
EQUIPMENT
SPACE SHIPS
Here you will find the most important stats for space ship hulls and for equipment you can add to your ship.
Tier 1 Hulls:
Price
Hull
Crew
Cargo
Weapons
Fuel
Light Scout
2.000 Cr
5 HP
10
100
2.000 Cr
10 HP
80
Light Transport
2.000 Cr
5 HP
90
Troop Transport
2.000 Cr
5 HP
15
80
Tier 1 Hulls:
Price
Hull
Crew
Cargo
Weapons
Fuel
Heavy Scout
6.000 Cr
10 HP
15
115
Cruiser
8.000 Cr
15 HP
10
85
Heavy Transport
7.500 Cr
10 HP
10
100
Dropship
5.000 Cr
8 HP
25
85
Price
Hull
Crew
Cargo
Weapons
Fuel
Explorer
15.000 Cr
15 HP
20
130
Destroyer
20.000 Cr
35 HP
15
90
Merchantman
14.000 Cr
15 HP
10
110
Tier 3 Hulls:
Troop Carrier
10.000 Cr
10 HP
35
100
Tier 4 Hulls:
Price
Hull
Crew
Cargo
Weapons
Fuel
Heavy Explorer
25.000 Cr
20 HP
25
150
Battleship
35.000 Cr
40 HP
20
100
Armed Merchantman
30.000 Cr
20 HP
15
120
20.000 Cr
15 HP
50
120
Tractor Beam: Makes it easier to harvest asteroids and enables you to tow drifting ships
Heat radiators: Your weapons cool down faster with heat radiators installed
ECM System: Jams missile targeting systems.
PERSONAL EQUIPMENT
This section contains description of some of the usual things you will find at shops. It is by no means complete.
TRANSPORT
Hover Platform: Allows you to cross water. One carries usually 5 crewmembers
Jetpack: Allows you to cross liquids and mountains. You need one for each crewmember
ARMOR
Name
Protective Value
Price
Description
Ballistic suit
50
Your standard spacesuit. Made combatworthy with ballistic cloth around vital areas.
100
Protective suit
150
Your standard spacesuit. Made combatworthy with hardened shells around vital areas.
200
Fullerene suit
400
Your standard spacesuit made out of carbon fullerenes. (Fullerene: an expensive word for "diamond.")
Combat armor
600
800
A spacesuit covered in ablative plates. Built in hydraulics increase the strength and speed of the wearer.
Personal forcefield
11
1.000
13
1.200
The ultimate in protective equipment. Several layered forcefields surround the wearer
RANGED WEAPONS
Name
Damage
Accuracy
Range
Price
Description
Gun
0.4
25
Rifle
0.6
75
Gyro jet
gun
0.8
150
A small handheld weapon. Recoilless because the projectiles carry their own rocket.
Gyro jet
rifle
250
A handheld weapon with several short barrels. Recoilless because the projectiles carry their own rocket.
Gauss gun
1.2
375
A small handheld weapon. It fires needlelike projectiles using magnetic fields to accelerate them. It makes up for what it
lacks in punch in accuracy.
Gauss rifle
1.4
525
A handheld weapon with several short barrels. It fires a volley of needlelike projectiles using magnetic fields to accelerate
them. It makes up for what it lacks in punch in accuracy.
Laser gun
1.6
700
A energy source that can be attached to a girdle is connected to a small pistol grip. The laser beam emitted by it causes a
lot of damage.
Laser rifle
1.8
900
A tornister houses the energy source, connected to a pistol grip with 3 short barrels. The laser beams cause a lot of damage.
Plasma
rifle
1125
A tornister houses the energy source, connected to a rifle. It emits a beam of superheated plasma.
Damage
Price
Description
Combat knife
0.2
25
Combat blade
0.3
50
Vibro knife
0.4
100
Vibro blade
0.5
200
Vibro sword
0.6
300
Mono blade
0.7
400
Mono sword
0.8
500
A gauntlet with a long blade attached. It is a single molecule wide and heated to increase damage.
Combat
gloves
0.9
650
A sturdy gauntlet, connected to plastic sleeves going up to the shoulders. Servos increase the wearer's strength. Mono blades connected to the
fingers hurt opponents.
MISCELLANEOUS
Grenades: Come in two basic variants: the conventional grenade, and the more powerful fusion grenade.
Grenade launcher, 500 Cr.: extends your grenade range
Mines: These infernal devices explode when something comes close to them. Just drop them on a planets surface
Mining Drills: these allow you to damage walls and structures more efficiently. Just stand next to them and Fire at them.
Rovers: you can drop these on planets and have them explore automatically. Collect them at a later point to gather the map data
Mining Robots: These stationary machines collect traces of minerals in the surrounding soil and atmosphere. Leave them on a planets surface for a while and collect the gathered
resources later.
Communication satellite: This device serves 3 functions: It allows you to contact your ship by radio, regardless of intervening terrain, serves as a triangulation point to supply you
with coordinates, and can perform various scans from orbit.
Lamps: These increase your visual range in dark places. Floodlights are more powerful than simple helmet lamps. You only need one.
Binoculars & Sensor sets: these increase your visual range. Sensor sets are better than binoculars, and binoculars are better than nothing at all. You only need one.
Auxiliary fuel and oxygen tanks: Each crew member can carry one of these, increasing your jetpack fuel or oxygen supply respectively.
Seismograph: Warns you about impending earthquakes
RETIREMENT
In the main station and in some of the smaller stations you will find a retirement office. There you can buy retirement perks, and retire. Retiring ends the game. The end story and
your score depend on what you have achieved in the game and which retirement assets you have purchased earlier.
FAQ
GENERAL
Q: What are the system requirements
A: Being a roguelike, Prospector isnt using lots of resources. Current and not very old computers should be able to handle it without any problems.
BASIC HOWTOS
Q: What are the o o o thingies under my ship supposed to mean?
A: It's the systems map. You can see the star, o are planets. are asteroid fields. Once you decide to scan or land a cursor appears there that lets you chose the planet. You can
also put the systems map in an alternate position on the bar in options.
Q: How do I get money?
A: Explore stuff, and then walk into the company office at a space station, and sell the stuff
Q: How do I get more air?
A: Walk onto your ship.
Q: How do I get biodata?
A: (I)nspect plants and corpses. Not all plants and corpses yield results though
PLANETS
Q: I landed on this planet that is obviously bugged. Every tile is random and the crew speaks gibberish. Shall I report this bug?
A: In this case actually no. It's supposed to be this way. All other bugs of course please do report! Fixing them is so much easier when you know where they are!
ITEMS
Q: How do i equip stuff?
A: Your awayteam always uses the best equipment they can have and redistributes it to the living when someone should die.
Q: Why does that gun/armor/knife have a * in front of it?
A: That item is tied to that crew member. Unless he is dead he grabs it before any normal Item distribution takes place. You can set and clear it in the (A)wayteam screen. Possible
uses would be to give your best gun to the sharp shooter, or your weakest armor to the guy with the most hitpoints. NOTE The item selection doesnt distinguish if an item is bound to
another crewmember already. If you assign the weapon again it will override the old assignment
Q: What does a mining and laser drill do?
A: Both add a bonus to damage vs walls. To damage walls use the Fire command.
Q: What are cryo chambers good for?
A: cryogenic chambers provide easy storage for people, just hire the additional crewmen to fill them.
Q: What do portable sensor sets do?
A: Increase viewing range on planets
Q: How do I deploy rovers?
A: Just drop them when you are on a planet. Collect them later for the Map data.
Q: I just bought 15 binoculars and 3 Helmet lamps and i still don't see any better
A: They don't stack, you only need one
Q: I bought a jetpack, yet i can't fly
A: You need one jetpack for every member of your awayteam. Hoverplattforms you need one for every 5 awayteam members
Q: I bought 3 aux oxygen tanks /12 aux jetpackfuel tanks, and i still only have 200 Oxygen/50 Jetpackfuel
A: As of 0.1.9 They do stack, but each crew member can only carry one.
RADIO COMMANDS
Q: What are the commands for (R)adioing the ship
A: One is "Hello" which is answered with "Yes?" And more I will not tell you. Except that there are currently 10 (including the above).
Q: Any hints?
A: Your communications satellite can do more than just relay messages. 2 Commands are a bit redundant, one is suicidal and the remaining too aren't too practical, though they can
be fun.
Q: Anything else on radio commands?
A: There are 3 commands if you got a rover on the planet: rover start, rover stop and rover target.
OTHER THINGS
Q: The stations don't let me dock and shoot at me! What shall I do?
A: Kill some pirates until they like you again. Or try to find a pirate base. They might be friendly if they see you as a fellow pirate.
Q: What does start easy do?
A: If the start easy option is activated Pirates won't start any fleets for the first 100 turns, also monsters will have fewer hitpoints, their hitpoints will get divided by 500/turncount,
letting them have their normal HPs by turn 500.
Q: How can we contact you?
A: comments, questions, ideas, feedback, bugreports, praise, criticism etc you can send to [email protected] Prospectors very own site and forum is at www.prospector.at
There is also a considerable chance that if you found this thing on a forum that i will be hanging out there now and then, magellan is the nick.
COMMANDS
Anytime in the game you can see, and change key settings by pressing '?' and choosing the entry
keybindings in the menu.
GENERAL COMMANDS:
Movement:
Moving your ship and awayteam is done by using the arrow keys, or the numpad. If you don't have a numpad you can either reassign the movement keys or try turning on the
option "Automaticallychoose diagonals". If your character can't move in the direction you are indicating, and you have this option enabled it will automatically try the
corresponding diagonals.
At any point in the game you can use the following commands:
'@' shows information on your equipment and your ship, as well as your crew
'A' Displays the crew roster, what they have equipped, their status, and also allows to assign individual items to certain crew members.
T sets tactics for ground combat, from very aggressive to coward. Settings increase damage and to hit and decrease Armor value, and vice versa.
'q' Quits the game without saving
'S' saves the game and then quits. (This is a roguelike, it is supposed to work this way)
SPACE
d - Dock (if at a station)
s - Scan Planet (if in a solar system with planets)
PLANETS SURFACE
, - Pick up an item
d - Drop an item
o - Offer an item to a nearby alien
O - switch to suit oxygen supply/open helmet
i - Inspect the area you are in closely (Record biodata and try to repair stranded ships)
l - Launch (if at ship)
w - continuous walking, walks into direction specified until key is pressed, mapedge is reached or "something" happens
f - Fire weapon, followed by direction
g - Throw Grenade
h - Use medpack
j - Jumppack emergency Jump
x - eXamine
c - communicate with nearby creatures
r - Call your ship by (R)adio
C - close door
E - show equipment
> - use stairs/tunnel (inspect does the same thing)
SPACE COMBAT
a - toggle between active and inactive sensors
s - drop shields
m toggle maneuvering jets
r - run and flee (if at the edge of a map)