Diaspora: A Walkthrough

From:  http://ospora.co.uk/mirrors/www.aeternus.tmfweb.nl/Diaspora/ :



Diaspora: A Walktrough

How to... do various things (you'll need to do often...)?
How to start off with a boost!
Next: Trading.
Upgrades: Getting better plans.
To arms! err... LASERS!
Guilds... Whom to choose?

How to: Do various things (you'll need to do often...)?

How to: buy a new ship (or modify an existing one)?
-Go to your home planet ( the one you started on ) and enter your home. Then enter your workshop. Buy/sell whatever you want there. Note: If you forgot what planet you live on, you can look it up at the CB Info Bank, available at each planet and gate. See the stats of your character.

How to: Go to a certain location?
-Use the map to navigate.

How to: Buy/sell goods in the store?
-Enter the number you want to buy/sell in the correct field. Invalid numbers are ignored. Then press enter (invalid number results in blank field) and click on the appearing buy or sell button.

How to: Destroy an opponent?
-Have a powerful ship with lots of guns. Missiles don't work yet. Click on the target ship. Click on "engage". Click on one of your guns. Then wait... You cannot do this within the Gen field.

How to: Move?
- Drop your shields to 0. You will see the red progress bar rise. Once it reaches top the "jump" button activates. Click on it and you can move into another sector.



How to start off with a boost:

This little trick I found while browsing Diaspora's newbies section. QUITE useful for new players I'd say. Or for players who open up a traders account. OK, here's the deal:
Start off at a random Gen planet with a new character. Buy a new ship (go to your home, then the workshop): A measily Zephyr Seeker. Don't worry, you'll not need this one later anymore. For this trick, you must get this one! Okay, now launch your vessel empty (don't bother with weapons. A jump drive may be handy). Go to one of the Gen gates (Gate 2 offers you the best living chance). Jump trough it, and proceed ever directly left. 4 jumps later you arrive by a planet called Laius Metis (see map). Land there.

Note: If you see people shooting along the way, ignore it and get past it as fast as you can. Do not use your shields. Shields cost energy, with less energy for your engine it recharges slower. Your tactic is speed and evasion. Go to Laius Metis at once. If you get blown up along the way, just try again, you will find you restart at your homeplanet with a fresh 20K.

Now, on Laius Metis you have 2 things to do.
1: You go to the traders guild and you enlist as a trader. This changes your guild from Rogue to Trader. There's a benefit for members of the Traders guild for buying/selling goods (buys cost 1 less, sell gets 1 more). Nice not?
2: Buy the Arachne plans from the lab there. These enable you to build Arachne class ships, and use their weaponry.

Now, you're set. You have the plans, you're a trader. But you're desperately strapped for cash. How to solve? Well, the Cloning Bank will spring in. Leave the planet immediately. Above, you must ask a player to destroy you! No, I'm not insane. Once you are destroyed (and believe me, there are many PKers willing to assist, and else there's that little defense sat you can engage) you'll restart at your home planet with a fresh 20K of cash. Benefits? You have Arachne plans, and you're a trader. Ideal starting point for a new player.

Next set of plans you need to get: Nisus. Buy a seeker again, no arms ect. and go to Tyros. Buy the Nisus plans, and have someone destroy you. You restart again.

If you're lucky (and mostly you will be) you will have a mission waiting for you. If so you can try getting the 3rd set of plans for free as well:
Take the mission. Buy an Arachne seeker without anything. The mission tells you where you should go first. Go there. After that you shall have 20.000 DC again. Go to Jen Cando, and buy the Talos plans. Stay out of Rin territory as much as you can... But you still need 4 jumps trough it. Have someone destroy you at Jen Cando. Good luck...
If you pull this off you will have avoided roughly 40.000 DC of trading. That is a lot for new players...

So there you have it. You're set. Now: Trading.



Next: Trading.

You will not get far in Diaspora without lots and lots of cash. And the only way for new players to get it (besides begging, but who wants to be pathetic) is trading. For the newer players trading in the Gen zone is safest and best. Going outside the Gen Field (light-blue dots on the in-game stellar map) will most likely result in your vessel being blown up by lurking pirates.
Trading is moving goods from one planet to another while using price differences to gain money from the move.
First you'll need a ship to trade with. For now I'd advise the Zephyr Carrier. 300 cargo at a reasonable price. Plus, once you get more money, you can add a few Cargo Pods (misc equipment in your workshop) to increase your cargo space to a maximum of 450. No weapons are needed. The Gen Field is a no fire zone. Weapons simply do not work there.
Go to the trade floor on the planet you are on. You will see the news. Click past it (news only tells about events in the neutral zone, a place you'll not go before soon) and enter th store. You will see the various goods listed. Click on a good to see the quantity and the price. You'll notice that there's a price difference between selling and buying of two. This difference is nullified if you joined the Traders guild as mentioned above. You may want to write down the prices... They change after a period of time. Generally the prices vary between 40 and 60 in Gen. So 40 is low, you can buy some at that price and try and sell it at another planet. See the Stellar Map for the locations of the three Gen planets. (might want to print that map)
Once you start making profit, you'll want a bigger ship. Trade untill you have about 100.000, then buy a Arachne Freighter. This is the best trading vessel you will have for a long while, you can equip it with cargo pods to store a maximum of 600 cargo in it. Keep it in the Gen zone if you can. If you need to go out of the Gen zone, you can buy another ship. An Arachne seeker is best for missions, more about that later.
Trade on a while. Have at least 50.000 before you go next.



Upgrades: Getting better plans.

Okay, you'll not get far with those Arachne's in combat. You need better ships, and weapons! To build/buy them, you need to get the blueprints first. These you can buy at various planets in the Neutral zone. The list of what planet contains which plans at what cost is found here as well as on the map. If you used the boost start you already have the Arachne, Nisus 1 and Talos 1 plans. If you did not get the Talos plans then this is your best bet:
Buy an Arachne seeker and put extra jump drives in it. This creates one of the fastest ships in the Diaspora galaxy. Then use the map to fly to first Laius Metis (don't land if you're not damaged), then to Seejen (same) and then a dash for Jen Cando (by going 3 jumps to the left then straight down ). If you don't make it you'll simply have to try again. I made this run in one time while getting shot at. Simply run... run... run. If you get damaged before Seejen you can land and visit the repair shop. Never take off without a full hull. Umm... Unless you want to die.
Once at Jen Cando you'd better have 20.000 ready to buy the Talos (1) plans. This is the 4th ship class. You can view the various stats of the ships here. Also each blueprint allows you to buy better weapons.
Nisus ships are worthless. Arachne are good if you want an expensive, powerful ship (the attacker, destroyer and moth are common sights when people who get financial help from friends enter the game). Talos 1 seeker is the best buy for those strapped for cash. Put Razor Rays on them if you have them. And also some extra Hull Boosters.
The Stats Explained:
Cost: How much do I need to buy the damn thing?
Exp Needed: How much do I need to kill to be able to buy the damn thing? (see below)
Hull: How much damage 'till she goes *BOOM*?
Shield: How strong her energy protection? (This reduces chance of you getting hit)
Range: How far can she go?
Speed: How fast does the jumpdrive charge?
Evasion: How well needs an enemy aim to hit?
Gun Ports: How many blasters does she carry?
Missile ports: How many missiles can she carry? (note: these DON'T work!!! Will be implemented to the game later)
Miscellaneous ports: How much extra equiment can she carry? (shielding/cargo/hull/speed extra's)

You cannot reach beyond Jen Cando with a mere Arachne Seeker, It's range is simply too low... You will need to buy better ships to go further. Buy a Talos Seeker, and hunt Rin a while. Equip the seeker with Lance Rays or preferably Razor Rays as guns. With this seeker you should be able to reach Jen Kayle for the Talos Modifications. The Talos 2 ships are the most cost-efficient for beginning players... But you need Experience to get them.
You'll notice ships with 0 experience have little to no hull strenght. These are obviously not combat vessels. So you'll need to earn experience. How? By fighting of course. So read on...



To arms... err... LASERS!

That's right. Diaspora isn't all running and trading and buying plans. It is about killing as well... And killing you'll need to do, if you plan to get further. A brief word in advance: DON'T KILL MILITIA OR PLAYERS IN THE GEN ZONE. You'll immediately become Velic, (Velic = Evil C(har)?). Which means losing the protection of the Genzone. If you are not in a strong guild, you can usually forget about going on then... You'll be dumped in the Velic zone, where PK guilds and Gen Crusaders will blow you to bits. So you're warned... The only people you can shoot at without becoming Velic, are Rin (Rin Zone), Klyn (everywhere in neutral) and those who shoot on you first. But if they shoot on you first they are most likely PKers which means you'll need to get the hell out!
Ok, buy what you think is a strong fighting ship. Attack Klyn Arachne Hunters, or Rin Talos Hunters or above. If you're confident you can win a fight, raise your shields for a bit of protection. Else, wait until your jump drive is charged, then raise shields, then attack.

To attack a vessel:
-Select the vessel
-Click on "engage"
-Click on one of your guns

As soon as you click on engage (unless the vessel is shooting at something else) the ship turns to you and attacks.You see green beams flash towards you. When you click on your weapons you'll see some beams shoot from you (color depends on the weapon you used). Those are your weapons. Buy only weapons of one type per ship. Multiple types fail to fire all at the same time. Missiles do not work, don't bother with them. You don't need to click on your guns again, they'll keep firing 'till the enemy is destroyed or 'till you disengage.
When you hit an enemy you see some of your beams hit it's hull. The yellow bar above the enemy drops a bit. When it drops to zero the enemy is destroyed.
When you are hit your screen shakes, and a portion of your hull is lost. The yellow bar drops. Once it drops to zero: Boom. Ship lost. Avoid that. Stay near a planet or gate. If you can make a fast getaway you'll live. When you know you cannot win, drop your shields, and charge your jump drive fast. Retreat to the nearest planet/gate. Repair and retry. Good luck!

When you have killed a few bots/players you'll notice your Exp (view from the clone bank information banks on various planets) go up. The harder the kill, the more Exp you get. This allows you to buy tougher ships. Which in turn allows you to blow up tougher ships.

Your EXP determines your player level. Higher levels means you get less or no EXP for killing certain other players. You must kill an equal or greater level player for gaining EXP. View a list of levels and what EXP you gain for what kill here.



Guilds? Whom to choose?

Once you have a very tough ship and lots of Exp, you might want to consider joining a standalone guild. These non-AI guilds often provide a better bargain, at a higher price. They come in 3 groups really:

PK (evil): These have their bases and homes in the Velic zone. They kill other players, either for fun or for profit. These a newbie must avoid.
Neutral: These clans usually watch over their own. They are sometimes left alone by PK guilds because they can become strong enough to wipe a PK guild out. PKers usually prey on the weaker players.
Anti-PK (good): These guilds are sworn to destroy the PK guilds. They attack players of those guilds. There are few guilds of this type.

You can decide for yourself what type of clan to join. Chat with a few players before making a decision. Each clan has it's benefits, requirements and drawbacks. Some examples:
PK: DESOLATE, DIASPORA
Neutral: Equilibrium, Iron Shield
Anti-PK: Militia (AI)