Version 2.1

Index:

What is Stellar Crisis?

Yes, I realize that if you are reading this FAQ you probably already know what it is, but ask yourself this: What is a FAQ without all the stupid run-of-the-mill boring questions?

We now return you to your regularly scheduled FAQ:

Stellar Crisis is a space opera strategy game programmed exclusively for the web, that lets you build up your own empire while exploring the reaches of known space and battling other empires as you go.

Where is Stellar Crisis? The following servers provide Stellar Crisis playing environments:

The Stat Viewer allows you to view the statistics of the other empires that are in the game.

You can chose to view the Top Ten Winners, Averages or Win/Nuke Ratios.

Top Ten Winners

This list is generated using the equation:

Wins + Nukes/2 - Been Nuked/2 - Ruins

Top Ten Averages

This list simply shows the top ten winning percentages, by using the equation:

Wins/(Wins+Been Nuked+Ruins)

Top Ten Win/Nuke Ratios

This is a list of the top ten Nukers, per games played, by using the equation:

Nukes/(Wins+Been Nuked+Ruins)

Note:

In the Top Ten averages and Top Ten Win/Nuke ratio's ties are broken using the Top Ten Winners equation as a secondary sorting method.

You can also search the empire list for a specific name of an empire.

This is where you end up after logging into a game of SC. Here you will find most of the important information for your empire.

Here is what the screen basically looks like:

Game Information
Update Count:	30	Last Update:	0 sec ago	Next Update:	5 min
0 of 1 players are ready for an update
EmpireTotals
Minerals:	160	Fuel:	160	Agriculture:	160
Population:	160	Target Population:	160	Tech Level:	30.200827
Economic Power:	4	MilitaryPower:	0	Tech Development:	0.999688
Ratios and Usage
Maintenance Ratio:	1600.000000	Fuel Ratio:	1600.000000	AgricultureRatio:	0.999375
Total Build:	0	Total Maintenance:	0	Total Fuel Use:	0

This menu lists all of the types of ship that are in the game.

The ones that you already have available to you are listed on the left, and the ones that are still undeveloped are on the right. You can develop a new type of ship when ever your technological development reaches a perfect square (1,4,9,16,25...).

This menu lists all of the ships your empire owns.

This is what the Ships Menu basically looks like:

This is what the Fleets Menu looks like:

When you make a Fleet in a system all of the ships in that system can become part of the fleet. All you need to do is give them the order to join the fleet.

Note:

If you give a fleet a special order to do (i.e. cloak) all of the ships in the fleet without that ability will be droped out of the fleet automatically.

This is what menu basically looks like:

Name:

The name of the system. Once an empire takes ownership of a system by colonizing it, they may name it whatever they wish.

Loc:

The (x,y) coordinates of the system. This remains constant, to avoid some of the confusion that would otherwise occur with the constant renaming of systems.

Min:

The quantity of minerals that the system has to offer.

Note:

The system will actually produce only as much minerals as the population, or this number, whichever is less.

Fuel:

The quantity of fuel that the system has to offer.

Note:

Fuel is produced in the same way as minerals.

Ag:

The quantity of agriculture that the system has to offer.

Note:

Unlike minerals and fuel, if a system has even one point of population, the full agricultural value will be exploited for use by the empire.

Pop:

Simply put, the number of inhabitants in the system. This number determines the population's ability to exploit the natural resources of a system.

Max Pop:

The maximum number of people that you will allow to inhabit a system.

Owner:

The empire that owns the system is shown next to it.

Jump Points:

Systems to which this system connects.

Note:

As new systems are discovered, new jump points may appear in an old system.

Ships:

Just under the system information, the types of ships present are listed along with the Empire who owns them.

Note:

When the systems of a new player are generated in the game, their total resources for each type (fuel, agriculture, and minerals) equals: 100 + 30*(Number of Systems/Player - 1)

So, for long term games starting resources egual 370, and 250 for Blitz games.

This is what the Map Menu basically looks like:

The Diplomacy Menu looks like this:

Empire	Alien	Economic	Military	They Offer	You Offer	Status	Access	Ready
Your Enemy		5	6	Truce	WarTruceTrade	Truce	43 sec ago
	Wins	Nukes	Nuked	Ruined	Max Econ	Max Mil
	11	11	2	0	22	198

Send a missive to: BroadcastYour Enemy

The Diplomacy Menu is used not only to communicate with the other empires but can also be used to determine an opposing empire's relative power.

At the top of the diplomacy menu is a table that shows how this game of Stellar Conquest is going.

Empire:

Simply the name of the empire.

Note:

The unknown empires do not appear in this grid.

Alien:

A picture of what an empire's sentient beings look like.

Economic:

A number that shows the amount of resources available to them. It is determined in the same way as your's on the Info Menu.

Military:

A number that shows how much of an armada they have built up over the course of the game. It is determined in the same fashion as your's on the Info Menu.

They Offer:

This is what they offer you. Either (War, Truce, Trade, or Alliance)

You Offer:

This is what you offer them.

Note:

Unlike the earlier version of SC, They Offer and You Offer only changes at the update. Thus preventing Pearl Harboring. Also both empires ststus is moved to the lowest of the two offerings.

Status:

This shows what your relationship is with this empire.

Note:

There are four different states of war:

Access:

Shows the last time an empire has accessed a menu.

Ready:

Shows if that empire is ready for an update.

You can also see the empires overall stats.

Note:

After an empire has been stagnant for 12 updates, they fall into ruin and their homeworld is nuked.

1. Fleets carry out their Movement and Dismantle orders (in order of ship number). The game checks for first contact with another empire after each movement takes place.

   Note:

   This means it is possible to have contact with an empire just before the ship it had contact with is dismantled.

2. New Ships are built at the desired Battle Rank.
3. All ships current BR is determined by multiplying the maintenance ratio by their previous BR: Current BR = Maintenance Ratio * Initial BR .

   Note:

   A ship's current BR can never be greater then the BR that it was built at.

4. Combat takes place between warring ships in the same system. Combat is resolved in the following manner:

   Preliminary calculations:

   Each empire determines their Battle Points.

   BP = (sum of the squares of the current BR's of you ships) * (fuel use ratio (if less then one))

   A list of all of the empires you are at war with is then made, call it enemy_list.

   All of the BP's from those empires on the enemy_list are totaled together, call it enemy_BP_tot.

   For each empire in the enemy_list, determine the percentage of enemy_BP_tot that their BP represents, and assign a similar percentage of your BP (call this %_DMG) to their ships' total damage sustained (TOT_DMG).

   After this is done for every empire, everyone will have a TOT_DMG.

   Combat resolution:

   
   The TOT_DMG is then cut in half. One half of which, is the destruction value for that empire (DEST). The other hafl of TOT_DMG is the secondary damage value (2DV).

   The DEST is then checked against the square of a ship's current BR. If DEST is higher then this then the ship is destroyed. (subtracting the BP of that ship from DEST) This is continued until either the DEST is two small to destroy any more ships, or there are no more ships.

   The remaining DEST is then added back onto the 2DV. This is then used to check every ship once again to see if it is destroyed from secondary fire. This can result in destruction of all your remaining ships, of course.

   the current_BP for your ship is then determined.

   Then your opponent's 2DV is divided by your current_BP to determine the amount of damage sustained by your ships.

   Damage Ratio= Opponents 2DV/ Your current_BP

   Empires with Damage Ratios above one, have their entire fleet destroyed.

   The current BR for the surviving ships is determined by:

   Current BR = (1-damage ratio) * Initial BR

   Example:

   I have 3 br 3 ships, you have 3 br 3 ships, your ally has 1 br 3 ships. We all have fuel use ratios, greater then 1.

   Preliminary Calculations:

   For me:

   My BP=27. My enemy_list consists of you and your ally. My enemy_BP_TOT=36. The %_DMG I do to you is 20.25. The %_DMG I do to your ally is 6.75.

   For you:

   Your BP=27. Your enemy_list is just me. Your enemy_BP_TOT is 27. The %_DMG you do to me is 27.

   For your ally:

   Their BP=9. Their enemy_list is me. Their enemy_BP_TOT is 27. The %_DMG they do to me is 9.

   Combat Resolution:

   For me:

   My TOT_DMG=(27+9)=36. DEST is 18, which will destroy two br 3 ships straight off. No DEST remains. 2DV is 18. My current_BP=9. My Damage Ratio=18/9 is greater than 1, so my remaining ship is also destroyed.

   For you:

   Your TOT_DMG=20.25. DEST is 10.125, which destroys one of your ships straight off. 2DV is 10.25, plus the remaining DEST of 1.125=11.375. Your current_BP=18. Your Damage Ratio=11.375/18=.63. So your remaining ships' current BRs=(1-.63)*3=1.11 each.

   For your ally:

   Their TOT_DMG is 6.75. DEST is 3.375, insufficient to destroy any ships. 2DV is 3.375, plus remaining dest of 3.375=6.75. Their current_BP=9. Their Damage Ratio=6.75/9=.75. So their ship's current BR=(1-.75)*3=0.75.

5. Other commands such as Nuking and Colonizing are carried out by the surviving ships.

   Note:

   This occurs in the order the ships were built.

OK, here is a very simple way to start playing SC:

The following is a top secret communique that was intercepted from the homeworld of the Truth Seeker empire. It talks about the goals of the Truth Seeker empire and how it plans to go about expansion:

[Start of transmission]

To: Governor Lightheart, Planet of Justice
From: The Truth Seeker
Regarding: The expansion of the empire and the way to enlightenment.

Ba-Weep-Granna-Weep-Ninni-Bomb! Governor Lightheart,

It has come to my attention, that the only way to discover what the three truths of the galaxy are, is to expand our empire throughout the galaxy in an effort to find other sentient lifeforms. By doing this, we may finally learn what we have always desired to know. The following is the basic strategy for the expansion of our empire and the enlightenment of our people:

The first thing that must be done is to broadcast the universal greeting out to the cold darkness that is outer space. After doing this, please send out our intentions for peace. The production of explorers, equaling the amount of systems that lie just off of our home-world, must begin immediately. These ships should be built as powerful as they can be, for we do not know what type's of deceitful beings are hiding in the vastness of the galactic void.

After these ships, are built send them out in different directions so that we may learn about the unknown as quickly as possible. When these explorers leave dry dock, start construction of the Shuttles that shall carry our brave colony-bots to the new worlds that we shall find. (The number of shuttles to be initially built should be equivalent to the number of explorers in our possession)

At this point all you have to do is command your ships to explore the unknown parts of the galaxy, making sure to only build one shuttle per turn. This should allow our explorers to repair the damage done to them due to the neglect of maintenance early on in their construction. However, Governor Lightheart ALWAYS remember to keep our maintenance and fuel ratios above one for we want our ships to operate at full power whenever possible.

As our technology increases you should be able to build the following ships, which our science-bots have designed for the benefit of defense (the plans for the ships shall be sent to you in a latter transmission):

                                         Peace,
                                              The Truth Seeker

[End of transmission]

I hope the preceding transmission was of some help to you all, as I realize it will probably make my life harder! :)

Marc "Max Sterling" Jeray provided the following Stategy Guide:

The Dark Stalkers Guide to the New Galaxy

First off, you should always start out by building explorers to discover what lies in the new galaxy you situate yourself in. Build at least 2 explorers, more if there are more jump points. Send out the universal greeting (Ba-Weep-Grana-Weep-Ninni-Bomb!), this will alert others to our presence and will allow us to view the other cultures in the galaxy. Unlike in the past, you will be sending your empire name along with the broadcast message, so becareful. It is always difficult to deal with the unknown for a lot of cultures. After building your explorers, build 2 colonizers to help you colonize systems and help our people expand. Continue colonizing and exploring the galaxy, building what you need but also keeping your mantenance ratio near 1. If it falls below, then our ships will not be properly maintained and will not perform up to our high standards. We still have the 3 basic ship types for you to start with:

We have many new scientific advances for you to take with you, young one. We will send you off with one and then give you another one when we feel you are powerful enough to handle it. We would not like our technology falling into the hands of any "war-like bastards."

Now, young one, do you feel you are ready to take on these new galaxies? Remember, peace is always the best way to go. Here are some final tips before you leave us:

1. Explore as much as possible.
2. Ask alien nations where you can go once you have contact with them.
3. Colonize, colonize, colonize, and terraform to help support your people.
4. Optimize your people in your systems to help get the most out of your systems.
5. Always respect the universal greeting.
6. Never give up the fight. If an enemy seems to be invincible, there is always something that you can use against him.
7. Communicate with other races often. Have fun with the other aliens. Most of them have very playful nations. Sometimes you can make a friend in this great universe.
8. Give your ships individual names. It will help you keep track of each ships power.
9. Use trade with other aliens to help build your empire.
10. Only go to war with empires that go to war with you first or violate one of your treaties.
11. And of course, beware the Spam, especially when it is cloaked!