We present the first part of the extended documentation for Space Pirates.  In this article we introduce the flight, combat and systems controls.  If you want to know about flight, killing and using your ship to full effect, read on!



Your new ship has been left to you in the will of your Great Uncle Jameson.  He was a reknowned trader and pilot, as well as a deadly foe in combat.    The Chandahara shipyard has been making high-quality, reliable and robust ships for almost 240 years and the MidiFreighter is a great ship to ply your trade and hone your skills in as you fly around the sector.  Getting used to how it handles and what it does is essential if you want to be a sucess in the sector.




Your ship rotates around 3 axes, just like an old-style planetary aeroplane.  You can configure your controls in the on-screen computers options page, but we'll come to that later.  You'll be able to try out the controls in a safe environment during the obligatory Flight Orientation Briefing, which all new pilots have to go through to get their docking permit.  Don't be afraid to try the controls out during the briefing - any controls which would be dangerous are only enabled once they've been described during the briefing. 




In order to be able to survive and thrive in the hostile wastes of space, you need to get familiar with onboard systems with which your ship is equipped.  These break down in to three sections - FLIGHT, COMBAT and SYSTEMS controls.

A complete list of flight controls (as initially configured) is provided below:

DIVE / CLIMB    :   LEFT thumbstick Y AXIS (up / down)
ROLL     :        LEFT thumbstick X AXIS (left / right)
YAW     :        SHOULDER BUTTONS
INCREASE THRUST : RIGHT trigger
DECREASE THRUST : LEFT trigger
AUTOTARGET : PRESS LEFT thumbstick (this automatically rotates your ship to directly face either the local trading space station, or any currently locked missile target)
DOCK     :     Y button.  Press when prompted on-screen.  NOTE that you can not dock when the relative speed of your ship and the station is too high.

Combat controls provide access to your weapons systems.  Initially your ship is equipped with 4 homing missiles and a defensive (low-powered) laser cannon.  You also have 4 proximity mines.  The controls for the prox mines are discussed later, but here is an in-depth description of your combat controls.

Use your A button to fire your laser cannon, but notice that the cannon must remain within operating temperature in order to fire quickly and effectively.  The temperature gauge in the center of the screen will increase as your fire, and decrease as the cannon cools.  If the gauge is maxed out, hold fire for a few seconds to allow it to cool.  Various laser cannon upgrades are available for your ship, and their power and cooling efficiency improve as you buy more expensive upgrades.  You can also fit rear-facing lasers, which are activated only when you're using the aft-facing camera.  Press BACK to select which camera you're viewing while in free spaceflight.  The laser cannon is the most cost-effective weapon at your disposal, so getting used to using it is vital.

You're assisted in your targeting other ships by the aiming guide in the center of the screen.  When the guide is GREEN, no ship is within the aiming guide and no missiles have been targetted.  When lining up a ship with the aiming guide, you will notice that the guide colour changes to YELLOW.  This means that firstly, you can use your laser cannon with a reasonable degree of confidence that it'll be at least close to hitting the target and secondly, you can lock a missile on to the ship.  Press the X BUTTON to commit a missile to the target in the aiming guide and the guide should turn RED.  At this point you can fire the missile (B BUTTON) or cancel the lock (X BUTTON).  While missiles are accurate and deadly, they are also fairly expensive, especially at the start of the game.  Some pilots hold back on using missiles until they're under sustained attack from several ships, but it should always be remembered that police ships are equipped with an anti-lock device which stops them being targetted.  However, purchasing fresh missiles from the local station isn't the only way to replenish your supply.

Because the commodities which are traded and shipped are so valuable, they're always stored in protective crates, which are designed to survive significant damage, and some crates usually survive the distruction of the ship that's carrying them.  You can scoop these "free" crates up by just flying in to them.  This takes some practice, but is very well worth it - and not just for the free cargo.  Every 3rd ship that you distroy will also release a power-up crate, which will help you out by doubling your laser power for about a minute, replenishing your missile stock, or giving you a single-use short-range cargo teleport which collects all the cargo within range and places it nicely in your hold.  Once you've collected a power-up, you can press B to activate it.  If you have more than one power-up available, use LEFT and RIGHT on the D-PAD to choose which one you want.

The D-PAD has a couple of other uses too.  Pressing D-PAD UP will toggle the direction-finder arrow which appears around the aiming guide.  This indicates the direction of the CLOSEST SHIP which is attcking you.   Pressing D-PAD DOWN toggles the range of your scanner (the grid which appears at the bottom center of your screen.  We'll discuss the scanner next, but the following page from the handbook ties up the combat and flight controls section, as well as showing 2 unused power-ups, at the top-center of the screen.


Finally in this section, note the GREEN image of your ship, shown on the on-board computer display panel.  This image represents your shield health.  The display will switch to this view if you're struck by a laser or missile, and the more RED it becomes, the weaker your shields. 



Your scanner, shown above, provides a convenient view of your surroundings.  Every type of object you can encounter are shown on the scanner, from asteroids to powerups.  Generally, objects which appear in the SHORT range mode can be manipulated, so that ships which appear in range can be locked with missiles, and cargo which appears can be teleported aboard using either permanent or single-use teleports.

The scanner can be very handy while in combat.  Should an enemy fire a missile at you, switch to SHORT range mode (D-PAD DOWN) and keep an eye on the PINK missile markers.  When these get close to your ship, you can out-maneuver them by changing course so that you're flying at right angles from the missile trajectory.  Diving by 90 degress when missiles are closing from directly AFT will buy you some time, and allow you to prepare the next evasive maneuver.  Missiles only have enough fuel to fly for 30 seconds, so skilled pilots should be able to outrun them with 4 or 5 really tight, controlled moves.

Similarly, you can find cargo and powerups with the scanner.  When you're starting out this can be a frustrating business, but keeping half an eye on the scanner can help you balance the throttle while you buzz through a cloud of crates.  Focus on getting hold of any available powerups first - if you gain a single-use teleport you can save a lot of time.

If you're entering in to a life of piracy, you may want to collect and sell cargo in short bursts for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, you may notice when locking a ship that some details of the craft and it's cargo appear next to the aiming guide.  If a ship is carrying contraband which is illegal in the local system and you pick that contraband up after distroying them, you'll face the wrath of the local law enforcement.  Secondly, a heavy ship is a slow ship - slow to accelerate and slow to turn.  In combat situations this puts you at a real disadvantage.  Most pirates only ever carry between 10 and 15 tonnes of cargo.


When collecting free-floating cargo, the missile control panel will tell you exactly what it is that you've got for your efforts.  If you happen to bag slaves, psychoactives of weaponary, you can expect a hard time from agressive law enforcement agents.  Every system has it's own views on law enforcement, but you can get a general idea of how hardcore the police are in a given system by looking on the navigation map system summary, but we'll come back to that later.  The missile control panel will also advise you on your current stock of missiles and their status, and what controls are currently available to lock or launch a missile.

Combat in space is somewhat different to the kinds of craft to craft combat which terrestrial lifeforns are familiar with.  Firstly, and most importantly, there's no real up or down direction.  Secondly, the action takes place in 3 dimensions.  While aerial combat has some common elements with space-based action, it still can take some getting used to the movement of other ships all around you and in all directions.  The best advice is to start slowly, getting used to targetting ships, and develop some simple stratergy for putting attacking ships at a disadvantage.  Dogfighting is a common sight in space battles, and the ship behind is usually the ship with the killing shot, so moving your ship to come around behind the enemy is a vital skill.  This can be achieved using throttle control, allowing an enemy to overshoot your position and falling in behind them.  This however runs a significant risk if the enemy is well-armed, since you'll be an easy target as they approach you.  Ideally you need to make a "gap" on the enemy flightpath AND throttle back, so that they overshoot below your ship.  In this way, you gain position as well as avoiding incoming fire.  This becomes a more complex move when more than one or two ships are attacking from different directions, but most pilots will gain the required skills in a fairly short space of time.

Combat close to space stations is prohibited.  Your weapons systems may well be disabled when within an exclusion zone around the station.  This can proove useful if you're the one under attack, but allowing your quarrey to escape in such a way is frustrating and dangerous - they could well be refitting their weapons systems and getting ready to come and get you!



Your ship controls also give you access to more complex systems.  We will turn to these systems in the next part of this series.  In the meantime, practice your in-flight skills for combat, docking and cargo collection - they're the three most important skills in the game!