Beginner's Guide

Battlestar Galactica Online Beginner's Guide by Bladefist

Choosing your server:

The game will automatically pick an optimal server for you based on your geographic location.
You can however select a different server if you choose but be aware if you're in Europe and
pick a US server or visa versa lag might be a factor.

Choosing your faction:

Choosing faction is mostly a matter of role-playing preference as both factions have similar
ships and equipment. One other factor is sector control. Depending on what universe you
select to play on the balance of owned sectors may be favored to one faction or the other. You
can't see the current sector map until you begin playing but you can inquire in the forums.

Note: At the moment, as Cylons are outnumbered on many servers choosing Cylon may grant
your player a 50% exp bonus for your first five days. If so, there will be a message stating this on the faction choice screen.

Getting Started:

The game starts out with a tutorial mission. It is recommended for first-time players and
covers the basics of gameplay, interaction, movement, combat and mining. However, if you
wish to skip the tutorial you can simply press skip in the top right corner of the screen.

Note: At any time you need help during the game you can click on the Help [?] icon in the
upper right of the screen or check out the online forums.

Basic Movement & Combat: (this is covered in the tutorial)

Select a target: (on nav screen)
Use left click to select a target which can be another player, an outpost, an asteroid, an npc,
etc.

Arming your weapons: (on nav screen)
You can toggle your weapons on/off with 'G' (default key) or by clicking on them on-screen.
When your guns are active they will appear lit up. Missiles will light up when they are in firing
range of a valid target.

If you have multiple types of ammunition you can select which ammo you want to use for guns
or missiles by right clicking on the weapon icon on your nav screen and then selecting which
ammo you wish to use from a dropdown.

If you have an auto-pilot module installed, selecting a target and then right-clicking the target
once will cause your ship to turn towards the target automatically.

WASD is used for standard movement controls. By default W is up, S is down, i.e. standard
flight controls. S and D are used to roll left and right.

Your DRADIS and You: (this is covered in the tutorial)

The DRADIS represents your ship's radar, navigation and computer and is locating at the
bottom center of the nav screen.

On the left the globe icon gives you access to the sector/universe map from which you can use
FTL (faster than light) drive to travel quickly from sector to sector.

FTL drive is the only way to get from one sector to another. You cannot currently simply fly from one sector through to another.

Your position is marked on the universe map with a large circle. You can jump to any other sector that is inside that highlighted circle by left-clicking on it then selecting [JUMP] beneath the sector's description. The description includes information such as the Tylium (fuel) cost of jumping from your current sector to that sector.

Below it the grid map icon gives you access to your current system's map. This shows you
resources, (asteroids usually present themselves as dots formed in large rings on a system
map) enemies, other players, etc.

You can use your system map to select targets as well, like you can on the nav screen.

The bar on the left of the DRADIS represents your fuel level. When you have 20,000 tylium or
more the bar will register as full.

The center circle is your ship's radar and will show you hostiles, friendlies, etc. within your
radar's range.

Press and hold Space Bar (default) to engage thrusters. Alternatively, you can toggle your
thruster on/off by pressing the thruster icon (the large triangle on the lower right of your
DRADIS).

Below your radar are three target circles. The blue target icon will auto-target the nearest
friendly. The red target icon will auto-target the nearest friendly icon. The center target icon
will cancel your current target. Z (default) targets nearest missile and X (default) targets nearest enemy.

To the right of your radar is your thruster bar. To move forward you can drag the throttle bar up
or down with left click to increase/decrease speed. Alternatively, you can press Q (default) to
bring your throttle to full stop or E (default) to bring it to max.

Once you have completed the tutorial or skipped it you can create your character. Choose
your name carefully as you cannot change it.

You can customize your character's appearance and gender as well. Pick them carefully as
well. At the moment, you can not change your character's appearance or gender.

You can also select your starting ship from two ships, an interceptor class ship or a command class ship. The command ship isn't as fast but has more slots for computer modules.

Personally, I highly recommend starting out with the interceptor class ship as it's speed,
avoidance and turning will prove highly versatile during your first 10 levels before you're able to
unlock and purchase new ships.

At level 10 and 20 respectively you unlock access to purchasing higher class ships.

After character creation you start out at your faction's home ship the Galactica (Colonial),
Sector Alpha Ceti or Basestar (Cylon), Sector 252 Appolid respectively.

Here you can obtain missions from NPCs in the CIC, Rec Room and Hangar. You can also
access the Store, Ship Installing & Upgrading and Ship selection (if you have more than one
ship).

To purchase a new ship you will have to go to another sector. If you talk to the hangar
technician and select [Buy and Upgrade ships] you have the option of quickly warping to the
system where you can buy new ships at.

Note: There is only a quick warp (convoy) option to get there not to get back.

Death and Taxes:

When you die your ship and ship equipment will suffer a certain amount of durability damage.
Generally, lower level equipment has low repair costs and higher level equipment has higher
repair costs.

If your ship drops below 20% durability you will suffer penalties until it's repaired. If a piece of
equipment drops to 0% it cannot be used until repaired.

There is no XP or skill loss. At death you will be presented with the option to respawn in the
current sector and/or the nearest friendly controlled sector. You will respawn docked on a friendly outpost if present.

Also, any asteroids you have previously scanned will no longer be highlighted once you undock or re-enter the sector you died in.

At the moment, if you die during the tutorial or during a story mission you will have to refresh
your browser to respawn. This is assumed to be due to a current bug.

Resources:

First off, it is important to know there is no limit on how much your ship can carry. So don't
worry if you have a lot of a fuel or something else.

Items such as equipment can be purchased from the fleet store at any friendly outpost or base
in the game.

There are 4 main resources in this game. They are Cubits (credits), Tylium (fuel), Titanium
(Salvage/used for ship repairs), Water (high value salvage).

Cubits are the game's premium currency. Cubits can be obtained from loot drops, completing
missions or by purchasing with real money. Some items and ships can only be purchased with cubits.

Tylium serves not only as your ship's fuel but currency as well. Tylium can be obtained from
mining. When you have at least 20,000 units of Tylium the fuel bar on your ship's DRADIS will show as full.

Since Tylium serves as credits and a fuel source you should make sure when making
purchases you leave yourself with some spare Tylium, at least 5000 units. Tylium can be
purchased for 0.1 cubits per unit.

Titanium is a resource used in ship repairs. You can repair your ship at any outpost.

Repairing your ship and ship's equipment will cost varying amounts of Titanium depending on
how much durability damage your ship and it's parts have taken.

Titanium can be bought at the fleet store and can also be salvaged at the fleet store. It is
recommended though that you hang on to any Titanium you find. Titanium can be bought from
the fleet store for 0.5 cubits per unit. Titanium can be sold to the fleet store for 2.5 Tylium per
unit.

Water is a high value resource that can be obtained from mining. Currently, water has no
other use than as high value salvage. It is the most valuable resource you can mine. Water
can be sold to the fleet store for 10 Tylium per unit.

Some missions require you to mine and turn in a certain amount of a resource. Make sure you
don't sell it before turning in your mission!

Some items available in the fleet stores may cost cubits, tylium or a combination of cubits and
tylium.

Salvage items are a sub-resource in the game that are obtained from loot drops. Salvage
items have low, moderate or high value. Their only purpose is to be sold to the fleet store for
varying amounts of tylium. You should sell these items right away as there is no need to hold
on to them.

It has been rumored that in the future salvage items may have a purpose in a crafting system
but as of now this has not been implemented nor officially announced.

Equipment:

The items available from the fleet store are broken up into 7 categories:
Weapons, Hull, Engine, Computer, Ammo, Resource, Booster

To install these items on your ship you must have an available slot and you must talk to a
Hangar Technician or an Outpost Quartermaster. When the Fleet Store interface is open you
can uninstall, install and switch out your ship's equipment. You can only do this from the fleet
store screen.

Weapons:
When buying weapons make sure you purchase the type the corresponds to your ship's
weapons slot, i.e. light, medium and heavy. Weapons generally have 3 types: General
purpose, Short Range and Long Range.

Hull:
These items can increase your ship's hull points, recovery rate or grant in-flight hull repair
ability. You should be aware certain items which increase your ship's hull points can also
decrease ship speed and turning by a varying amount.

Engine:
These items have various effects on your ship's performance. Generally, they increase your
ship's speed, boost speed or turning rate.

Computer:
These items have varying effects that can boost your ship's performance, boost the
performance of friendly ship's or decrease the performance of enemy ships. It is important to
note that these items often have a power cost.

Each ship has a certain amount of power and regenerates a certain amount of power over
time. Your ship's power is displayed on the nav screen at the upper left under your ship's hull
points. There are certain items which can increase your ship's available power points or
regeneration rate. Using special items such as electronic warfare items or mining scanners
requires power.

Ammo:
Non-mining weapons require ammuntion to fire. These can be obtained from loot drops or
purchased from the fleet store. Ammunition costs Tylium, Cubits or a combination of the two.
Ammo is broken into 3 categories, standard damage, moderate damage and high damage.
Standard ammo can be bought for Tylium. Moderate ammo costs cubits and tylium and high
ammo costs cubits only.

Ammo types are cannon, missile, strike packs (used to repair hull points if you have a Strike
Damage Control system equipped to your ship), decoy packs and comm access.
Decoys are used to divert enemy missiles. Comm access allows you to broadcast a single
message to all friendly forces in all sectors.

Resource:

Tylium (fuel) and Titanium (repair) can both be purchased from the fleet store.

Booster:
Boosters are special items that can be purchased for cubits. There are 4 types of boosters,

Experience, 2X Bonus, Skill Training and FTL Override.

Experience boosters will automatically grant you a specific amount of experience points.
2X Bonus boosters will grant you an experience or training bonus for 24 hours.
Skill training boosters will decrease your skill training time by a specific amount of time.
FTL Override is a single-use item that automatically returns you to your home base from
anywhere in the universe.

Most ship equipment items can also be upgraded from the Fleet Store interface. Upgrading
these items will boost their performance and stats. Each level of upgrade will cost
progessively more.

Skills & Skill Training:

Skills are broken up into 4 categories, Weapon, Hull, Engine and Computer.

As you gain experience in the game you also gain a corresponding amount of skill points
which can be spent on training skills.

You can only train one skill at a time. All skills start at 500 points to train and will take a set
amount of time to train until that skill level is unlocked. Unlocking certain skills may unlock sub
-skill trees as well and also unlock the use of certain equipment types and abilities.

Weapon skills normally provide boosts to accuracy, critical hits, weapon efficiency and
proficiency. Weapons skills are useful for Assault class ships and generally all ship classes.

Hull skills normally provide boosts to hull points, hull regeneration, equipment durability and
defense against critical hits.

Engine skills normally provide boosts to ship speed, turning, avoidance (ability to dodge
enemy fire), ftl costs and range. Engine and Weapon skills are useful for Interceptor class ships.

Computer skills normally provide boosts to DRADIS range, firewall (resistance to electronic
warfare attacks), ship power points, ship power regeneration rate, power costs, electronic
warfare duration and penetration. Computer skills are useful for Command class ships.

Skill Recommendations for Beginners:

At the beginning of the game it is recommended you keep it simple by investing in a few skills
until you have more of an idea of what path you wish to take.

Weapon-Gunnery: Increases your optimal cannon range by 1% per skill level and allows use of
high level cannon upgrades. You can't go wrong sticking some training points into this skill.
Investing most of your points into gunnery won't be wasted.

Hull-Armored Combat: Increases critical defense by 1% per skill level and allows use of high
level hull reinforcement upgrades. Increased critical defense can minimize the damage that
critical hits do to your ship. Training this skill also unlocks further skills that allow you to increase hull points, hull point regeneration and decrease durability loss which you may want to invest a skill level or two into.

Engineering: Increases flank speed by 1% per skill level and allows overcharge regulation,
boost tuning training and use of high level engineering upgrades. Training this unlocks
Piloting sub-skill tree as well which allows you to train skills that boost ship speed, boosting, turning and avoidance.

Engineering-Piloting: Increases Turn Rate by 1% per skill level, allows evasion and thrusters
training, use of higher level piloting upgrades. A higher turning rate allows you to turn faster
and keep your guns locked on an enemy target.

Duties:

Completing certain global objectives in game will grant you experience point bonuses and
special duty titles. Duty Titles have different levels. Completing each level grants more
experience points.

You can select one title at a time as your active title. In the future your active duty title will also
grant a stat or skill bonus while equipped.

Ships:

There are 3 main ship categories: Light (Raider), Medium (Strike) and Heavy (Line).

Raiders are small craft, Strikes are medium sizes and Lines are very large. The size of your ship and the location of the gun slots on your ship effect your maneuverability and how well you can engage targets. Obviously the smaller your ship is the more maneuverable it is. With greater size comes greater firepower and equipment at the cost of decreased maneuverability.

There are an additional 3 sub-categories for each of these:
Interceptor, Assault and Command.

New ships can only be purchased at Delta Canopis (Colonial) or 47 Tartalon (Cylon).

Interceptors are fast fighters that can make quick strikes in combat and protect assault and
command ships.
Assault ships are moderate speed ships that serve as attack platforms excelling in combat.
Command ships are slower speed ships that excel in providing support to other ships in
combat and have more computer slots available for this purpose.

There are three ships available at the beginning of the game. At level 10 three more ships are
unlocked. At level 20 an additional three ships are unlocked.

Once you have more than one ship you can change your current ship by talking to the Hangar
technician or the Outpost quartermaster.

You can also upgrade your ship at these ship bases for a certain cost which will upgrade your
ship's base stats and add additional slots for equipment.

Completing missions (assignments):

There are two categories of missions available: Daily missions and Story missions.
Daily missions can be obtained once a day from your faction Rec Room. Story missions are
available at certain levels from your faction CIC.

There are 10 general types of daily missions.

Resource Allotment: Everyday you are alloted a certain amount of resources which are
obtained from the hangar technician at your faction's homeship. This mission doesn't grant xp
or any other rewards aside from the resources you receive.

Intercept Enemy Patrols: You must defeat a certain number of Enemy NPC ships (drone ships
don't count). Enemy ships can be found in any sector.

Disable Weapons Platforms: You must defeat a certain number of Weapons Platforms.
Weapons Platforms are large stationary platforms that fire cannons and missiles. These
platforms spawn in certain sectors in only a certain amount and have a limited respawn rate.

System Patrol: You must "patrol" a specified sector of space. This may be a sector of space
controlled by enemy forces. To successfully finish a patrol you must spend a certain amount of time in a sector, about one minute per objective point. There are no specific coordinates you must fly to.

Drone Clearance: You must defeat a certain amount of drones. Drones can be found in any
sector of space, normally around asteroid fields.

Salvage Recovery: You must recover a certain amount of containers. These containers are
found in Debris Fields near wreckage of ships and also contain loot. You won't always find a
container in a debris field. Their respawn rate is not known but is probably at least every half
hour.

Resource Extraction: You must mine a certain amount of resources and turn them in. It
doesn't count if you already have those resources. They must be mined after you receive the
mission.

Asteroid Recon: You must scan a certain amount of asteroids, sometimes in a specific
sector.

Fleet Support: You must contribute a certain amount of resources to the fleet and deliver them
to the technician on the hangar deck. It doesn't matter if you obtain them before or after
receiving the mission. You will usually receive a portion of those resources back as a mission
reward.

Disrupt Enemy Operations: You must defeat a certain amount of non-NPC enemy players.
Usually you will find enemy players in enemy controlled sectors.

Leveling up:

You get experience from completing missions, mining and defeating enemy npc and enemy players in combat.

Once you get some extra Tylium, buy/upgrade equipment on your ship and keep on completing missions, mining and killing enemies until you reach Level 10. Once you reach Level 10 you will unlock 3 new ships and should be starting to get a pretty good grasp of the game.

Mining:

There are two types of mining, asteroid and planetoid mining.

Asteroid Mining:
Asteroid Mining is performed by shooting at asteroids until they are destroyed. You can scan
asteroids for resources if you have a Mineral Analysis Module installed in one of your ship's
computer slots. When scanning a resource it will appear red (no minerals), yellow (tylium),
purple (titanium) or blue (water).

Asteroids with minerals you have scanned will remain highlighted as long as you remain in the sector and have not died. Asteroids with no resources will not stay red.

A mining cannon will do more damage to an asteroid than a standard cannon weapon but does less damage in NPC/Player combat.

Larger asteroids will contain more resources than smaller ones. Small asteroids may contain
100-500 units on average while larger ones often yield 1000-2000 units.

Planetoid Mining:
Planetoids are gigantic asteroids that yield 30-70,000 units of minerals. To mine an
unclaimed planetoid you must scan it first. If the scan comes back positive an option will pop
-up on screen to call a mining ship for 100 cubits.

Once the mining ship is called, overtime it will transfer about 500 units of
resource to you at regular intervals. These will be transferred directly to your ship's hold
regardless of what sector you're in, whether you're docked or undocked and even if you're
offline.

A mining ship will continue to mine a planetoid until the planetoid is completely drained or if
enemy forces drive off the mining ship by attacking it until it's hull points are zero.

Normally, after a mine ship is summoned enemy AI will appear at random intervals to attack
the mining ship. Mining ships do not have your own defenses so you will have to defeat them
yourself or with a party. Enemy players may also show up to attack your mining ships.

Once the planetoid is destroyed a new planetoid will respawn after a short interval.

Planetoids are often a source of consternation between players of the same faction usually
because one player drives off and defeats enemy forces around a planetoid and some
random player comes in and calls in the mining ship. As it currently stands, mine ship calling
is on a first come, first serve basis. The first player who calls in the mine ship on an
unoccupied planetoid will get control of it. If the mining ship is driven off the planetoid is once
again open for any player to call in a mining ship and claim it's resources.

Enemy mining ships can be driven off by attacking them directly. Watch out for enemy players trying to protect their mine.

If your mining ship comes under attack or is driven off, you will see a message on the ticker at the bottom of your screen informing you of this.

Enemy NPCs will normally leave after destroying a mining ship. If you're attempting to call a mining ship back it is advisable to wait until these enemy npc's leave before calling a mining ship again. Just be aware that once a planetoid with resources is open that any player can call a mining ship.

As a general mining tip you should move about 3-6 sectors away from your home sector when mining. Asteroid belts are represented by rings of blue dots on your sector map. If you see a lot of other players (blue/red triangles) in a sector's asteroid belts it's probably a good idea to jump to another sector.

Also, it is sometimes a good idea to scan an area or portion of an asteroid belt for resources and then mine them after you have obtained a number of positive results.

Keep an eye out for enemies. Drones are very common in asteroid fields. If you come across an enemy you can't handle yourself fly towards a friendly npc, player or outpost. If you are able to get enough distance between you and an NPC enemy they may fall back.

Sectors with higher threat level and closer to the center of the universe map are less likely to be highly populated by other players.

Have a Party:
You don't have to fly alone! You can join or invite others to a party. While in a party you will
share resources, experience and loot drops. Often this is a great way for lower level players to
join together and defeat higher level players or NPC opponents.

Wings:
Wings are the BGO equivalent of alliances or clans. Wings provide comraderie and like-
minded individuals to chat with. Good Wings will mine together, hunt NPCs together and
attack enemy players and sectors together in groups.

If you're interested in joining a Wing you can talk to other players in-game or you can check out
this Wing/Server listing here:
http://en.board.bigpoint.com/bgo/sho...ighlight=wings

Sector Control:
The main objective of the game centers around sector control. Players on both sides Cylon
and Colonial vie for control of the universe map in a continual war of push and pull.
A sector under control of another faction can be taken by another faction by collectively
defeating a certain amount of enemy players and/or by mining a certain amount of resources
and attacking enemy outposts.

Once enough objectives have been completed a faction outpost ship will jump in.
There are 3 states of control, Colonial (blue), Cylon (red) and contested (blue/red).
Controlling a majority of sectors and/or planetoid mines may give your mining ships a bonus in how much ore is collected each tick.

Combat Tips:

In PVE and PVP combat the winner is often determined by whoever can keep their guns
trained on their opponent the longest. The faster you can turn the longer you can keep your
guns on your enemy. Training your Piloting skill or installing engine gyros will both increase
your turning speed.

Missiles work best against slower moving assault and command class ships.

You can dodge missiles by performing an upwards vertical roll or a sharp bank to the left or
right right before the missile hits. However, missiles are easier to destroy than to dodge.
Target an enemy missile with left click and fire to destroy it.

During a sector battle interceptors are often used to protect assault and command ships from
incoming missile fire and enemy interceptors. Assault ships are the frontal force used to
attack enemy ships. Command ships hang back and provide support to all attack forces.
Opposing player forces will generally form lines. Stick with your forces and avoid rushing the
enemy lines by yourself.
If you're light class ship you can attempt to outmaneuver medium and heavy class ships by flying through an asteroid belt. Hitting an asteroid causes player ships to bounce off and lose speed and momentum. However, medium and heavy classes can circumvent this by flying above or below an asteroid belt.

If you've got more than you can handle try to make a run for an outpost ship, friendly NPC ship or another friendly player if any are within reasonable range. Friendly NPC's will automatically engage nearby enemies. Friendly players who are currently active will often attempt to assist or shoot down enemy ships if they see another player in distress however you can't always count on them.

Logging Out/Going Idle:

If you're in battle and attempt to logout it will take 60 seconds. If you're in open space it takes 20 seconds. If you're docked you can logout immediately.

Keep in mind that if you have other windows open, the game will still register mouse movement and clicks (it's a bug or limitation afaik) so if you're docked you can become undocked while browsing in other windows or tabs.

If you're doing something else it's best to either logout or at least stay close to an outpost ship.

Chat commands:

/o OR /open, switches chat to open in which all messages you type in a specific sector can be

heard by enemy and friendly pilots in that sector

/f OR /fleet, used to send a fleet message, uses up one Comm Access item.

/w OR /whisper NAME TEXT, used to send a message to a certain player.

/m OR /mute NAME, mutes another player

/i OR /invite NAME, used to invite another player to a party

/h OR /HELP, shows chat help

Final Note:

The game is currently in open beta (as of the time of this original post) and there are still bugs
being worked on and features planned to be added.

Many players have noted the game, it's mechanics and ship and space physics aren't entirely
true to the BG universe.

If you have suggestions, questions or ideas you are encouraged to share them on the official
BGO forums in the proper boards.

And last but not least...have fun!

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for this guide feel free to post below!