Subspace FAO/WALKTHROUGH By mnb_0000 Subspace screenname: Mapper Version 1.1 DATE: 6-16-03 -------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS -------------- 1) Legal Garbage 2) What is Subspace? 3) Bare bone basics 4) The items/power-ups a) Left side items b) Right side items 5) The Controls a) Controlling your ship b) Controlling the list on the top-left corner. c) Text messaging controls d) F-functions and Esc functions e) Other controls (? functions, some % functions) 6) The Ships (Trench Wars and Star Warzone descriptions) a) Star Warzone b) Trench Wars 7) More advanced stuff a) Things that are on the map. (ball, goal, etc.) b) Things that aren't on the map. (KOTH, frequency, etc.) 8) FAQ (stuff that we are asked while playing all the time) 9) ASCII image of what the subspace screen looks like. 10) Update History 11) Credits -------------- 1) LEGAL GARBAGE -------------- You may read and print this FAQ. You may share this with anyone as long as you don't get any money and no one else does either. You may link indirectly through GameFaqs or NeoSeeker to this FAQ but you may NOT link directly. You must ask me for permission if you want to use this on your website; my address is mnb_0000@hotmail.com. This FAQ is copyright 2002-2003 Matthew Benedict. All rights reserved. All copyrights mentioned in the guide belong to their respective owners. --------------- 2) What is Subspace? --------------- Subspace is an online-only game that can be downloaded for free at www.subspace.net and various other subspace websites. It has been around since about 1995 (if someone can confirm this, I'll be glad to credit him or her). In it are several zones, some of which are popular and some of which are not so much. It is up to you to choose your preference. Since it split with IGN, it has been player-run and has been living off of player donations. Don't worry, there aren't any banner ads to disrupt you. The "object" is to kill other ships online with your ship, along with other ongoing tasks which vary from zone to zone. It is now officially called Continuum, but I still refer to it as Subspace since that was how it was packaged before it became free. One last word of warning. Once you get into this game, you'll never stop playing it. So beware...I've been playing it for 3 years and haven't gotten bored of it. --------------- 3) BARE BONE BASICS --------------- Once you've downloaded this game, you may try to download it and think "Huh? What am I supposed to do?". Don't worry, you're not alone. The purpose of this section is to explain the basic premise of this game. First off, you kill people be reducing their energy to zero. You do that by using various weapons that can be at your disposal. You usually use either bullets (Ctrl) or bombs (tab) to kill your enemies. However, using bullets or bombs uses up energy, so make sure your shot(s) is/are on the mark. See that number on the top-right corner (the biggest one)? That is your energy. You don't want that to go to zero. You cannot kill yourself, but if you deplete it all by firing too much or using items, you make yourself weaker to attack. So beware. You can use your radar to distinguish friend from foe. It is in the bottom right corner of the screen and shows the portion of the level map that you are currently on. If you press alt, you can see a map of the entire level. The yellow dots on the radar are your teammates if you have any. The blue dots are your enemies. Red dots show enemies who have either one or more flags or a ball (see section 7). Don't worry: you can't kill your teammates with bullets, but you CAN kill them with bombs, which is a banable offense in most zones. BTW, you can press = and then the number of the team you want to join (usually 0 or 1) to change what team you are on. In some zones (actually, most of them), there are flags which your job is to protect. You do that by keeping the enemy from touching them. If you touch a blue flag, you can either: a) just turn it yellow, meaning your team controls it, or b) grab it, meaning you have control of it for a time. Type a of flagging (as it is called) is called turf, type b is called basing; although you don't HAVE to take the flag into a base, your teammates will get mad at you if you don't. There are 8 ships available to you in most zones, although some split them up by what team you are on. Their powers vary from zone to zone but are always different from each other within the zones. The ships are the warbird (ship 1), javelin (ship 2), spider (ship 3), leviathan (ship 4), terrier (ship 5), weasel (ship 6), lancaster (ship 7), and shark (ship 8). To change ships, press escape and then the number of the ship you want. OK, I think I've confused you enough for now. If you want some more info on the game and don't want to figure it out yourself, check out section 7 (more advanced stuff). You will know this stuff cold eventually; its really basic :D --------------- 4) THE POWER UPS/ITEMS --------------- Items are the things symbolized by certain symbols on the left and right sides of your screen. Left-side items are expendable items, while right-side items are permanent but take energy to use. The symbol only shows up if you have the item. Starting with the top of the left list, here is a description of all the items. -------------- a) Left side items BURST: The bursts are symbolized by a blue star on the left side. Press Shift+Delete to fire them. These are very powerful weapons but are only activated after they hit a wall. Thus, I suggest only using them in corridors and/or bases, or when you're backed up against a wall. REPEL: This is shown by a yellow circle on the left side. The function of the repel is usually to repel enemy bombs, mines, bullets, and ships away from you. It is useful for clearing some space in bases and for saving yourself from death in the center. However, be careful not to repel them into your teammates. Use repel by pressing Shift+Ctrl. DECOY: This is shown by a wierd blue symbol on the left side. The decoy makes a fake copy of your ship which flies in the opposite direction you do. This is useful for wasting enemy fire on things that don't exist, but it usually only works on new players. Decoys are pretty obvious to spot; if you fire at a ship and the bullets/bombs go right through it, it is a decoy. Team decoys are shown by brown dots on your radar. Release a decoy with F5. THORS HAMMER: This is shown by a very wierd purple and white symbol on the left side. This releases a moderately powerful bomb that can go THROUGH WALLS! However, you usually need more than one in order to kill anyone, and they are difficult to aim, so I don't really like them. Press F6 to use them. BRICK: This is a useful item, but it is very annoying to the other team! This effectively stops invading enemies (in a base) in their tracks by putting in a temporary wall. Even better, your teammates and your team's bullets can go through the wall, but the enemys' can't! This is pretty much useless in center since the opponents can just go around or bomb the thing. It is shown by a brick symbol on the left side and is used by pressing F4. PORTAL: This is shown by a set of concentric circles on the left side. The portal is used by pressing Shift+Insert and can only be used if there is no antiwarp on you. Once you lay a portal, you can leave the portal and go anywhere on the map. The time that the portal stays in existance is on the right side, next to the concentric circles symbol. If your time hasn't expired, you can warp to where you placed the portal by pressing Insert with no loss of energy! This is useful for basing, since you can place a portal, fall back, and then warp to the portal behind enemy lines (this is why you should ALWAYS have anti-warp on in a base). In center, you can place a portal, let an enemy follow you, and then suddenly use the portal and attack them from behind. --------------- b) Right side items. BULLETS: These are your basic killing tools. They usually take a small amount of energy to fire, but it takes several to kill someone. Use them by pressing control. UPGRADES FOR BULLETS (all of these increase the energy cost): Multifire Bullets: If you normally fire one bullet, you can now fire three. If you normally fire 2, you can fire 4. I think you can also fire up to 5 in some zones, but I'm not sure about this. Change from normal to multifire and back with Delete. Doesn't work in all ships or all zones. Bouncing Bullets: Lets bullets bounce off walls. Only useful in bases or against the walls in center. They keep bouncing until they disappear or hit someone. Bullet strength: Makes your bullets stronger. Red is the weakest, then yellow, then blue, and finally purple. Purple bullets are ONLY available if you are in a zone where getting a flag upgrades your bullets and you already have blue ones. BOMBS: These are more powerful than bullets in most zones but have a slower firing rate and cost more energy. These can kill people through indirect impact (when they hit a wall), this includes your teammates, so be careful. This isn't good for short-range combat; you'll hurt yourself more than your enemy. Use bombs by pressing tab. UPGRADES FOR BOMBS: EMP: Not greenable, but highly useful. Certain ships have this ability and are able to, on contact, stop the enemy's (or a teammate's) energy from recharging for a short time. Bouncing bombs: Again not greenable, this allows the bombs to bounce off walls a limited number of times before they blow up. Shrapnel: If you have this (it is greenable), your bombs will release mini-bullets when they blow up. These can kill but do quite a bit less damage than the actual bomb in most places. The number that the bomb releases is also upgradable to a certain zone-dependant point. Proximity bombs: When your enemy gets within a certain distance of your bombs, they will detonate. A very coveted and highly expensive item in some zones, but commonplace in others. In trench wars, you can't get it (thankfully). Bomb strength: Like the bullets, bombs can be red, yellow, blue, or purple, and, in some zones, can be upgraded to the next level (maximum blue) by picking up greens. STEALTH: Press Home to activate Stealth. It takes away energy at a static pace, although sometimes your recharge rate is enough to make up for it. Thus, your ship is weaker (it doesn't recharge as fast). To make up for this, you cannot be seen on the radar by enemies unless they have X-radar. CLOAK: Press Shift+Home to activate cloak. This is only useful when combined with stealth, so it takes a HUGE amount of your recharge rate away. It keeps you from being seen on the main screen (but if they can see you on the radar, this is useless). Again, X-radar counters this easily. X-RADAR: A must for any team defending a base, and useful for centerkilling as well, X-radar lets you see stealthed and cloaked enemies. The cost is only that of ONE of those abilities, so it is usually worth it to keep this on. Predd End and your cloaker troubles will be over until you die and have to get it again :(. ANTI-WARP: This is usually illegal in center, but you MUST have it in any basing-style flag game. In turf, its not that useful since the base(s) are usually small anyway. This prevents the enemy from laying a portal in your base. Also, if the enemy has flags in a base, use antiwarp to keep him/her there, since you cannot attach or use Insert if antiwarp is on you! However, make sure the enemy doesn't use doors or a wormhole to warp out, since you can still do that, anti or not. --------------- 5) THE CONTROLS --------------- NOTE: The controls in this game are rather extensive and are very confusing to new players of the game. I have split them up into five parts: Ship controls, list controls, text messaging controls, F-functions and esc functions, and other. Not all controls are valid for all zones. All of this is explained in the help file, but I will attempt to make them clearer for you. NOTE: Any mention of power-ups was explained in section 4: The Power-ups. --------------- a) Ship controls (these are the most important!) Up/down: Moves your ship forward and backward, respectively. Left/right: Rotates your ship. Control (Ctrl): Fires bullets if your ship has them. In many zones, including Trench Wars and Star Warzone, firing bullets is the way you usually kill other ships, along with bombs. They take less energy than bombs to fire. Tab: Fires bombs it your ship has them. These are generally more powerful than bullets but take more energy to use. These can teamkill, which you must be careful of. Shift: Uses your afterburners. These make you go faster, at the expense of a steady decline in energy. Not available in all zones, like many of these things. Shift+Tab: Lays mines. You can ONLY do this if you have bombs, and you have a limited supply. Delete: Changes your bullets from multifire to single fire and vice-versa. Only applies if you have multifire bullets. Insert: Warps you into the center area if you have full energy and no anti-warp (section 4) is used against you. THE FOLLOWING CONTROLS ONLY APPLY IF YOU HAVE THE RESPECTIVE POWER-UPS. SEE SECTION 4 FOR WHAT THEY DO. Shift+Insert (ins): Lays a portal. Shift+Delete (Del): Releases a burst. Home: Uses stealth. Shift+Home: Uses cloak. End: Uses X-Radar. Shift+Ctrl: Uses repel. ------------------ b) The list in the top-left corner. For some reason, people seem to have major problems working the list in the top-left corner. Thus, I've devoted an entire section to it. Note that your current position of the menu will be saved when you exit. First of all, F2 brings up the list initially. The first time you press it, it brings up only the names of the players. You are always on top, followed by your teammates in alphabetical order, then all your enemies in alphabetical order. This is usually the one you'll want to have up, since it takes up a small amount of space while still allowing you to do all the functions. An S next to a person's name means they are in Spectator Mode (F11 or escape S). If you hit F2 again, your scores and all the others' scores will be shown. The only use for points is the ?buy command. Type ?buy to see what you can buy in the zone/arena that you are in, and then go into a safe zone (its green on the radar) and type: ?buy (item). Hitting F2 a third time lists all the players by score. Hitting F2 a fourth time lists the players by what teams they are on. Private frequencies are shown, but the number of the frequency (team) is not. Hitting F2 a fifth time lists a lot of information, including player names, the squads they are in (if any; see section 7), how many times each player has kill others and died since the last reset of scores, the player's rating (which is determined by your score and your Win:Loss ratio), and the average points the player has gained per kill. Hitting F2 a sixth time lists all the frequencies (private frequencies are shown as ----), how many flags they hold if any, and how many kills and deaths the team has total, although I don't know if that works correctly. Finally, hitting F2 a seventh time makes the list go away completely, starting the cycle from scratch. You can press Page Up (PgUp) and Page Down (PgDn) to scroll through the names, and you can sometimes go further down than the bottom of the shown list. When it stops scrolling down if you keep pressing PgDn, you know you're at the end of the list. ---------------- c) Text messaging controls All the letters, spacebar, and the numbers and symbols along the top are solely used for typing messages, as well as enter and the following symbols: {}|[]\:;"',<.>/? To send a public message, simply type it in and hit enter. To send a private message, select the person you wish to send it to using PgDn/PgUp on the F2 list. Then press / and type your message. It should appear in green. To send another message to the last person who has replied to your private message (pm), type :: and then your message and hit enter. To pm someone from another arena who hasn't pmed you, type :(playername): and then your message. To send a team message, press // or ' before your message. I prefer //; it feels more natural. Team messages are yellow. To send a message to the other team and yourself, press " before the message. These messages are green and white. To send a message on a chat, you first need to be on a chat. The general Trench Wars chat is tw. To join any chat, type ?chat=(nameofchat). Then press ; before your message to talk on it. Press ?chat to see who is on your chat. These messages are red. --------------- d) F-controls and Esc Controls. NOTE: See section 4 for a description of the power-ups listed here. F1: Help; keep cycling through it until it goes away, unless you need additional help. F2: The F2 menu; see section b. F3: Uses rockets. F4: Uses brick. F5: Uses Decoy. F6: Uses Thors Hammer. F7: Attach to allied ships if possible. To attach, select an attachable ship using the F2 menu, and then press F7. If the game tells you the "target ship is unattachable", select another one. Keep trying until you run out of teammates (which means your opt of luck) or you successfully attach. You cannot attach if someone has antiwarp on you or if you don't have full energy. To detach, just hit F7 again. F8 and F9: I don't know what these do. F10: Take a screenshot, saved to your subspace directory as a bitmap. F11: Put yourself in spectator mode or take yourself out as a warbird. F12: No known function. Esc+A: Gives a list of arenas. Use Pgup/PgDn to cycle through them and select one with enter. Esc+B: Select one of your available banners. You must be in spectator mode to do this, and I don't know how to make my own, sorry. Esc+F: Shows the current framerate next to the large display of energy on the top. Esc+Q: Leave the game. Ecc+S: Puts you in spectator mode. Esc+any number 1 to 8: Puts you into the ship number that you press. If I missed any, let me know and I will credit you and add it to my list. ---------------- e) Other controls (? functions and some % functions) NOTE: This only lists the most commonly used functions. All of them, I believe, are explained in the F1 help. I don't even know all of the % functions or ? functions, and I've been playing for 5 years. ? FUNCTIONS: ?arena: Brings up the list of arenas, just like Esc+A. Press PgUp/PgDn to scroll through the arena list. ?buy: Lists the available items for sale and their cost. ?buy (itemname): Only usable in a safe zone, use this command to use your points to buy the item named (itemname). ?chat: Brings up a list of all the people on your chat(s). ?chat=(chatname): You join the chat named (chatname). ?cheater=(playername):(offense): lets you report the player (playername) for cheating this way: (offense). This is usually used for teamkillers and should not be abused or YOU risk getting banned. ?find (playername): Lets you find out where the player named (playername) is, if he/she is online. ?flags: In a basing-style flag zone/arena, lets you know who is carrying flags, how many are dropped, and how many are not owned by either team. ?go (arenaname): Lets you go to the arena named (arenaname) without using the list. ?help (question): Not available in all zones. This lets you contact the mods (the guys in charge) and ask them questions about the game. Again, don't abuse this; it is meant to be a useful service, not a method for annoying the mods. ?ignore (playername): If someone is REALLY annoying you, this command will shut him up by blocking all his messages on your screen. You must type the player's full name. This is necessary far too often IMO... ?jackpot: In a basing-style flag zone/arena, lets you know the current jackpot, which will be added to everyone's score on the winning team if/when they can drop all the flags before the other team gets one or more. ?lag: Lets you see your lag, in the form of latency (the time it takes for data to get from your computer to the SSCentral computers and back) and packetloss (The percentage of data lost on the way there and back). ?packetloss: Lets you see your current packetloss. ?ping: Lets you see your current ping (latency). ?unignore: If you are ignoring someone and wish to give him/her a second chance, use this to unblock them. Any others are not used too often; if I'm missing an important one, let me know. I don't consider the squad-related commands important. % COMMANDS: I only use one, and that is %red. That automatically writes the name of any flag holders in your vicinity as well as how many flags he/she has. You should usually put // in front of this though, so the entire public doesn't know that you see the flagholder. -------------- 6) SHIP DESCRIPTIONS (Star Warzone and Trench Wars) -------------- Since Star Warzone and Trench Wars are my two favorite zones, I've decided to pay tribute by giving an account of the function(s) of each ship in the two zones. These descriptions apply only in the main arena. -------------- a) Star Warzone Ship 1: Warbird Description: Available only on frequency 0, the warbird is the general fighter for frequency 0 (the Imperial Forces). It has blue bullets, often starts with bouncing bullets, and is therefore excellent for picking people off in bases. Its thors hammers allow it, when grouped with other warbirds with thors hammers, to kill flag holders through the walls, providing you can hit them. This has helped save many teams which were inches away from defeat! Available power-ups: Repel, Decoy, Thors Hammer, Rocket, Portal, Multifire Bullets, Bouncing Bullets, Stealth, X-Radar. Ship 2: Javelin Description: This is the most commonly-used centerkilling ship in Star Warzone, although I don't advocate the use of it in that manner. It is powerful, with blue bombs and yellow bullets to back them up. I've seen two major uses for this ship in basing: wallbombing, which is basically bombing the walls in hopes of killing someone through them or disrupting their attack or defense, and linebombing, which is using holes in the walls of bases to fire bombs from a safe distance. I think that excessive linebombing is lame, but if it is in the bases, you may as well use it since it's near impossible to stop with multiple javelins and a spider or two. Available power-ups: Burst, Repel, Decoy, Rocket, Portal, Multifire Bullets, Bouncing Bullets, Proximity Bombs (must be bought usually), Stealth, X-Radar. Ship 3: Spider Description: This ship is designed to be sneaky. It is the only ship in the zone with cloak, and its drivers should not be afraid to use it. If you are lucky, no one in the enemy base will have X-radar on, meaning you can sneak in with one of these, steal the flags, and then warp out. This ship is the only ship on the Imperials which can lay bricks or use antiwarp, unless you are allowed to have someone in ship 7 or 8 (I'll assume you can't for now). This is also the only ship in SWZ with yellow EMP bombs, which are more powerful than those of ship 6 and, like ship 6, can freeze the enemy's energy for a short time. Available power-ups: Repel, Decoy, Brick, Rocket, Portal, Multifire Bullets, Bouncing Bullets, Proximity Bombs (must usually be bought), EMP, Stealth, Cloak, X-Radar, Anti-warp. Ship 4: Leviathan Description: This is the first of the 3 normal freq 1-only ships. Freq 1 is the rebels I think. Anyway, this is a similar ship to the Javelin, but its bombs bounce (making it less useful than the javelin for wallbombing) and its bombs go slower, making it less useful in center. If you are line bombing in a base with this, make sure to fire away from the enemy so it will explode on a wall AWAY from your team mates. Otherwise, this, IMO, is not too useful a ship. Available Power-ups: Burst, Repel, Decoy, Rocket, Portal, Multifire Bullets, Bouncing Bullets, Proximity Bombs (must be bought usually), Bouncing Bombs, Stealth, X-Radar. Ship 5: Terrier Description: This is the freq 1 counterpart to the Warbird. It is the general fighter and the only ship available on that freq which can fire blue bullets. Most of the Rebel fighting force should consist of these in most situations. I'm not sure if terriers can use thors hammers. Available Powerups: Repel, Decoy, Thors Hammer?, Rocket, Portal, Multifire Bullets, Bouncing Bullets, Stealth, X-Radar. Ship 6: Weasel Description: Arguably the best centerkilling ship in the zone, the weasel is excellent in base as well. It is the only normal ship on freq 1 that can use bricks or antiwarp. Although it cannot cloak like the spider can, it is faster and can fire bombs at a faster rate. The bombs also bounce twice before exploding and are EMP like the spider's. You should always have a few of these on a rebel team, but too many takes away from your potential power from terriers. Available Powerups: Repel, Decoy, Brick, Rocket, Portal, Multifire Bullets, Bouncing Bullets, Proximity Bombs (must usually be bought), EMP, Bouncing Bombs, Stealth, X-Radar, Anti-warp. Ships 7 and 8 are called CAPITAL SHIPS. They can ONLY be used by someone if the highest scoring player (hsp) picks him/her for the job, and ONLY if there are 14 people on each team. Both are governed by other specific rules (especially NO FIRING IN CENTER). Both have very high HP and only exist for the purpose of aiding flagging teams. They are very slow and can only attach at 50 bounty. Ship 7: Lancaster Description: This is the capital ship for the Rebels (freq 1). It has bouncing bombs, like the leviathan, and yellow bullets. The bullets used to be blue, but that made the caps too powerful :O. Anyway, this is basically the backbone of the Rebel army when capital ships are enabled, although the rest of the team MUST support it. In this way, the cap also serves as an attaching hub. When in doubt, go to the cap, although you may die a lot. Available power-ups: All of them but cloak and EMP. Ship 8: Shark Description: This is essentially the same thing as the lancaster except it doesn't have bouncing bombs. It serves the same purpose as the basic attaching hub/backbone of attacking and defending army. Available power-ups: All of them but cloak and bouncing bombs and EMP. --------------- b) Trench Wars Ship 1: Warbird Description: This can only use bullets, but that's all it needs. One shot from a warbird will usually kill any enemy, provided he/she isn't lagging. The recharge rate on this ship is incredibly fast, and it can move pretty quick as well with good control. You need good aim to use this well, so for new players, I suggest using something else. This is the most commonly used center-killing ship. Available power-ups: Multifire Bullets (useless; it does NOTHING) Ship 2: Javelin Description: This is purely a basing ship. It has weak bullets that come out of its rear end and a powerful, 1-shot-kill bomb that bounces once before exploding. Use it for nailing people that like to hide behind walls. Available power-ups: Multifire Bullets (it does something), Shrapnel, rockets, X-radar. Ship 3: Spider Description: This is probably my favorite ship. Instead of firing a 1-shot-kill bullet or bomb, this fires many red bullets in quick succession, doing about 600 damage each. This allows a good spider player to kill several people at once with low energy. It is difficult do kill anyone with this if you can't dodge however, so beware. This ship can buy antiwarp as well, but given the frailty of ships in this zone, I wouldn't. Available Power-ups: Multifire Bullets (useless), Antiwarp (buy it) Ship 4: Leviathan Description: In the center, these are literally sitting ducks for anything that wants to kill them. However, once they can get 20 bounty through getting greens or killing people, they can attach to a terrier. They can either stay on and hover around the outside, firing at the walls, or go into the base and fire at invading enemies. The Levi's bomb is super-powerful, killing anyone within about a quarter-screen radius from the impact. Be careful; this also includes teammates. Available power-ups: Repel, Decoy (buy it), Portal, Multifire bullets (useful), Stealth. Ship 5: Terrier Description: This is useless in center except for hunting weasels and leviathans. However, this is an extremely important part of any basing team. This is the ONLY ship you can attach to, and the only one that can use X-radar without continuously using energy. Thus, the terrier's main jobs are to stay safe and watch for cloakers. The only real offense this ship has is with bursts, and they are plentiful considering whenever someone on your team gets a green, you get it as well. This is a good way to kill people, but don't rely on it. You can attach to other terriers, but only with at least 20 bounty. Available power-ups: Burst, Portal, Multifire bullets (useful), X-radar Ship 6: Weasel Description: This is the only cloaking ship in Trench Wars. I've found that it's only really useful for two things: killing levis in center (incredibly lame) and sneaking into a base and killing a levi in the base. The latter situation rarely works, but sometimes, the enemy terrier forgets to turn X radar on. Note that the bullets don't always kill with this ship, but multifire bullets DOES work. Available power-ups: Repel, Rocket, Multifire Bullets (useful), Stealth, Cloak Ship 7: Lancaster Description: By far, this is the easiest ship to kill people in if you are a beginner. However, it is widely considered as lame. This ship is a little slower than average and has a slightly slower recharge rate than a warbird, but it makes up for it with the ability to fire up to four quick-moving, instant-kill bullets fairly often. It can be used in either center or base, but as usual I only advocate using it in the base. Available power-ups: Multifire bullets (useful) Ship 8: Shark Description: This is useless in the center but is highly desirable in the base. Its only functions are to lay mines and repel the enemy or their mines in the base; it can't even shoot bullets! This effectively stops the enemy until they get their own shark. There's only two major problems with this: the mines can easily TK if repeled and, since the shark is usually on the front lines, it is highly likely that you will end up as cannon fodder. You are also much more likely to be team killed by levis as a shark than anything else. By the way, the bombs are EMP, so anyone near a bomb blast will not be able to recharge for a short time. Available power-ups: Repels, EMP bombs, X-radar ---------------- 7) MORE ADVANCED STUFF ---------------- There is a lot of information in this section that I need to cover, so I will split it up into 2 parts: Things that are part of the map and Things that are not. ----------------- a) Things that are on the map POWERBALL The powerball is a little yellow ball that appears on the map. If you press alt, the ball appreas as a blinking red dot. If someone has it, he/she appears as a large red dot when you press alt, or a large yellow dot if he/she is on your team. In some zones, the powerball upgrades your bullets and bombs, and you are thus encouraged to kill people with it. In some zones, it is against the rules to kill people in the center, in bases, or at all. In some zones (like Hockey League), it is impossible to shoot with the ball. However, no matter what it does to your offensive abilities, the basic purpose is the same: get the ball into the goal. Shoot the ball by pressing Insert before the time runs out, or it will eject itself in the direction opposite of the way you're facing. If you let go of the ball, you cannot pick it up again until it stops moving. However, any of your enemies or teammates can pick it up. This encourages teamwork by not allowing you to be a ball hog and take it all the way to the goal. THE GOALS Goals are shown on your radar as yellow areas or red areas. I think yellow is even frequencies and red is odd, but I'm not sure (I don't play ball that much). Anyway, if you release the ball and it goes into the correct goal, you score points that vary depending on what zone you are in. In Trench wars, it's the number of people playing in the arena squared. In Star Warzone, I think it's 2000. In The Gauntlet, its 100000. Those are all I can think of at the moment, but you get the point. BASES These are fortified areas which either have flags in them (turf style) or which are made for putting flags into (basing style). The last room in the base (the deepest one) is called the FLAG ROOM (fr). In a basing style flag game, there are always at least 2, usually more like 6 or more, available bases to drop your flags in, and they are usually located symettrically around the center of the screen (which usually does not allow antiwarp). It is the job of the flag holder to get a base, unless he's under attack, in which case a teammate should get one so the flagholder can attach to him. DOORS Doors look different in each zone (slightly) but they all do the same thing: they randomly block off a passageway within a base. If you happen to be inside the "doorway" while it is turning "on", you will get warped into center regardless of antiwarp, which is a GOOD thing if you have to get out of a base quickly with flags, but a BAD thing if you're the team trying to get the flags back. WORMHOLES These are strange. They act like black holes, sucking you into them, although you can use their momentum to get around them. Bullets are not affected by them, but bombs are and act as if they were ships when approaching one. If you happen to fall into a workhole, you get warped into the spawning area with about 100 energy, regardless of antiwarp. This is an alternative to "doorwarping" which should only be used when absolutely necessary. SAFE ZONES These are shown as green areas on your radar. When you are in them, you can not be harmed by anyone normally, and ballkilling in the safes is usually illegal except in bases. Press control to stop completely in a safe zone. You can only stay in the safe zone for a limited time, shown by "SAFETY TIME LEFT:XX:XX". After XX:XX=00:00, you are kicked out of the arena and must re-enter. Safe zones are the only places where you are allowed to buy items. Press ?buy (itemname) in order to buy items. You can only buy items if they are available and you have enough points, but you are not restricted to buying only items that your ship can use. If you want to blow your points on something you can't use, be my guest. --------------- b) Things that aren't on the map KING OF THE HILL (KOTH) This is shown by a small yellow dot next to a person's name. If the player has a yellow dot, he/she is still eligible for KOTH points. If you have KOTH, the time that you will still have it is shown on the right side in the middle, next to the symbol of a crown. You can increase this time by killing enemy players. If you kill someone with KOTH, you get your timer completely refilled, while if you kill someone without, it is partially refilled. The timer, I don't believe, can not go above its initial amount. If you are the last remaining player with KOTH status, you get the jackpot points, which depend on the number of players playing but varies from zone to zone. If only you and some of your teammates have KOTH status, you and those teammates split the jackpot evenly. BOUNTY Your bounty is displayed in the top right corner of the screen, under your energy and next to the target symbol. The higher this goes, the more of a target you are liable to become, since you are worth more points when you die. You gain bounty by killing people and by getting the greens ("prizes") scattered around the map and which result from killing people. The bounty of every other player is displayed next to his/her name in parenthesis like this: Playername(Bounty). If the player has flags, the display slightly changes like this: Playername(Bounty:# of flags). FREQUENCY and FREQUENCY NUMBER A "Frequency" is another word for a team, and it is the correct term. You can join any frequency that you want from 0 to 9999, unless the zone is restricted to public frequencies only (0 and 1). Usually, unless you are invited to a specific private (100-9999) frequency, you will be alone on that frequency. Frequencies 2-99 are semi-private, meaning you are seperate from the public frequencies, but other players can see where you are and join you if they wish. Your current frequency number is shown in the top right corner, under your energy and next to the squigly radio-wave symbol. To change your frequency, press = and then the number of the frequency you wish to join. You can only do this if you have full energy, no antiwarp is on you, "changing frequencies will make teams too uneven" is not a factor, and the frequency you wish to join is not full. Note that changing frequency makes any flags that you are currently carrying neutral, which is called "neuting" and is illegal in some flag games. FLAG TIME AND NUMBER OF FLAGS The flag time display only shows up if you are playing a basing-style flag game and you are carrying one or more flags. The time you have left before you drop your flag(s) is displayed near the KOTH symbol, next to a symbol that I don't recall the appearence of. If you kill anyone or pick up another flag, your flag time is reset. If your flag time goes to 0, you drop your flags. The number of flags display is located under your energy next to the flag symbol. The first number is the number of flags you currently carry. On a turf-style flag game, this is always zero. The second number is the number of flags your team currently controls (carries, has dropped, or, in turf, has touched last). SUPER AND SHIELDS These are rare power-ups which are usually bought for large amounts of points but can be found in greens. They are not available in all zones. Super, when you pick it up, allows you to shoot bullets and bombs WITHOUT LOSING ENERGY until the time runs out. The time remaining is near the KOTH symbol, next to a red symbol with a black line rotating around it. The initial time is random, between 0.1 seconds and whatever the established maximum is for the particular zone. Shields are just what their name implies. They protect you from the harm of enemy attack. When you pick them up or buy them, they start at 100% protection and quickly fall until they dissappear. The symbol for the percent of protection is located near the KOTH symbol, next to a green, rotating ball. SQUADS EXPLAINED A squad is basically a group of subspace players who join together to chat together and to fight together. They also can, and often do, fight against other squads. This is called a "squad duel". To join a squad that someone else has created, you must be given the password. This is usually done after you defeat the squad leader in a duel or if he/she likes the way you play in the public arenas. If he/she gives you the password (pw) and you know the squad's name (squadname), type this to join the squad: ?squadjoin=squadname:pw You must then exit and re-enter the zone before you are officially part of a squad. To create your own squad, type ?squadcreate=squadname:pw. I don't know the controls dealing with squads because I don't own one or belong to one, so just consult the F1 menu if you need help. To leave a squad, press ?squadleave. SUB-ARENAS EXPLAINED Sub-arenas are the arenas that, when you press Esc+A or ?arena, are NOT named (public ##), where ## is a number 0-99. You can enter any sub-arena you wish by pressing ?go (arenaname). If you want to go to a private arena, press ?go #(arenaname) and no one but you will know you are there. This is completely pointless if you don't invite other people to your arena, since otherwise, you'll always be alone. Most sub-arenas, except the "special" ones described below, are just copies of the main map. There are several sub-arenas in Star Warzone and many, many more in Trench Wars. Here are the major ones (the ones that I find the most enjoyable) and their descriptions. This is NOT a complete list by any means; it is designed as a guide to my favorite ones or the ones that are most important in the zone. Star Warzone: 1) Oldelim: This is a fight to the end, as two teams battle it out. Each person is allowed a maximum of three deaths before he/she is eliminated. The reason its called "oldelim" instead of "elim" is because it uses the old ship settings (bombs kill instantly, and bullets are more powerful). 2) Prac: This is practice for people who are in a squad and who are competing in the Star Warzone Flagging League (SWZFL) against other squads. 3) Duel: This arena is designed for one-on-one duels between players. Do not interfere in another person's duels. Trench Wars: 1) Art: This is a zone where you get a practically infinite amount of bombs with which you can draw. There is also a base, which has a flag in it, in the center of the map. Repels draw people IN instaed of AWAY from you. You can only hurt people with bombs, and they don't do much, but you'll get the hang of it. The point isn't to kill anyway. 2) Base, Base2, etc.: This is a fun arena, but you can only play in it if you are picked by the team captain. In it, centerkilling is not allowed, and the object is to get the most points (aka keep the flag) in twenty minutes. 3) Baseelim: This is just like elim, but it's in a base. 4) Duel: This arena is designed to allow you to fairly duel with another player. Don't interfere with another player's duels. 5) Elim: Usually warbird to 10, the object of this is to be the last man alive. No teaming is allowed, and spawnkilling is an annoyance that will get you many enemies, so don't do it. 6) Prodem: In this arena, you start as a shark. When you kill someone who has a lower or equal ship number than you, you get promoted to the next lowest number and a better ship. The object is to get all the way up to warbird and kill another warbird. 7) Twbl, Twbl2, etc: These are practice arenas, or the real things, for the trench wars basing league, which pits squads against each other in the bases. 8) Twdl, twdl2, etc: These are practice arenas or, sometimes, the actual arenas for the trench wars dueling league, which consists of the best people at dueling. 9) WW5, WW6, etc.: These are like elim, except you are on teams based on your country and you are allowed 25 deaths. There is also a new sound and graphics confguration which takes ages to download, so if you want to play it, get there early! ---------------- 8) FAQ ---------------- This is a list of stuff thats CONSTANTLY being asked by people new to the game. Question: How do I change frequencies? Answer: Press =#, where # is the number of the frequency you wish to join. Question: How do I change ships? Answer: Press Esc + the number of the ship you want. For example, to change to a spider, press esc+3. Sometimes, you cannot use certain ships unless you are on a certain frequency. Question: How do I exit? Answer: Press Esc+Q. Question: How do you cheat? Answer: It's illegal and its obvious if you do it. So don't even try. Question: How do you attach? Answer: Select the person you wish to attach to on the F2 menu using PgUp/PgDn, and then press F7. You must have full energy, no antiwarp must be on you, and you cannot attach to someone who is on another team or to yourself (duh). Question: What is a squad? Answer: A group of players that fights together. See section 7 for details. Question: Can I join your squad? Answer: No. Seriously, the only way someone gets into a squad is to be chosen by the squad leader as a good player. If you ask them to be on their squad once its OK (although the person you ask will likely say no), but if you spam them like too many new players, you have little or no chance of getting on the squad. Ever. Question: Does anyone want to join my squad????????????!!!!!??? Answer: No. Please stop asking, especially if you are going to spam the public chat with messages like this. It is very annoying and disruptive. If you want someone to join your squad, get a good reputation and then private message the potential candidate; don't spam the public chats. Question: How do I use (insert item here)? Answer: See section 4: The Items or section 5: The Controls ----------------- 9) ASCII DIAGRAM OF THE SUBSPACE SCREEN ----------------- Question: Where is all the information on the map? Answer: To answer this, I've made a little ASCII Diagram. Its not very good; if someone will make me a better one, I'd be glad to put it in! Things in parenthesis only appear if you have the correct items, the correct statuses (eg KOTH, flag), or have brought up the said menus. ------------------------------------------------------------------ l (F2 Menu) Relative energy display Energy! l (Esc menu and arena menu appear here) Frequency number! l your flags/team flags! l Your bounty! l (KOTH, flag timer,! l SUPER timer, shield percent,! l ball time, portal time displays)! l ! l ! l (Burst symbol) (Guns symbol)! l (Repel symbol) (Bombs symbol)! l (Decoy symbol) MAIN PLAYING AREA (Stealth symbol)! l (Thors hammer symbol) (Cloak symbol)! l (Brick symbol) (X-radar symbol)! l (Portal symbol) (Antiwarp symbol)! l ! l ! l Space for type(the number of lines is customizable) ! l Space for type Time display! l Space for whatever you want to type Radar! ------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- 10) UPDATE HISTORY --------------- Version 1.0: Explaination of everything I could think of related to the game at the time. I forgot to put in an update history, so maybe I will in my next update. Version 1.1: Fixed some mistakes, added an ASCII diagram of where everything is on the map. Also added update history. --------------- 11) Credits --------------- I credit: mnb_0000 for typing this FAQ my brother, a subspace fanatic, for helping me out with things I forgot CJayC, for posting this FAQ and thousands of others IGN, for making the game in the first place, and the players of SubSpace for allowing the game to continue running. Anyone else who contributes will be credited!