Star Sonata FAQ for Beginners

In order to find your question faster, find your question in this list and then hit left ctrl+f, type in the code, and hit enter once.

Index

1. Can I delete or rename a character? CODE: cidorac

2. Is there PvP (Player-versus-Player Combat) for levels 20 and below? CODE: itpvp

3. How do I trade? CODE: hdit

4. Where is Sol? CODE: whisol

5. Why can't I scoop items? CODE: wcisci

6. What do all the colored twirly things flying around my ship mean? CODE: wdatctfa

7. What do the colors on Missions mean? CODE: wdtcomm

8. What language was the game originally written for? CODE: wlwtgo

9. I am getting a Blank screen after logging in, I can still hear the SS background music, and the process is still running but nothing is on screen that I can see. CODE: blkscreen

10. I find things dropped by AI enemies that aren't described, or that aren't described very well. CODE: itemsarent

11. What do all the things in the description of Blueprints mean? CODE: wdatitdob

12. How long can I use help chat for? CODE: helpcht

13. Is there more than one server I can play on? CODE: servplay
___________


Q: Can I delete or rename a character? CODE: cidorac

A: No, you can't. We may be able to sometime in the future, but as of now, you'll have to resort to making a new account or just re-creating your character with a different name.

Q: Is there PvP (Player-versus-Player Combat) for levels 20 and below? CODE: itpvp

A: Only Semi-PvP. You can't PvP in Warp 0 galaxies. (Skill in Warp Navigation determines what galaxies you can be in. Warp 0 galaxies are the only ones you can go in when you don't have any warp navigation skill.) In warp 1 and above galaxies, level 20 and below characters can PvP.

Q: How do I trade? CODE: hdit

A: There are two ways to trade in Star Sonata. The first way is to drop the item, and then having the person pay you. Other variants of this trade option include having the person pay half of the price for the item, dropping the item, and then having them pay the rest of the price. This helps lessen the effects of scamming. The second way is to trade via bases. When you have a base, you can add the item to the base's inventory, equip a trade bay, and set the base to sell the item for the specified amount of money.

Q: Where is Sol? CODE: whisol

A: Every 3 months or so, the Universe Collapses, and the Universe is scrambled, so Sol, and every other galaxy changes its location. There is a map Here.

Q: Why can't I scoop items? CODE: wcisci

A: There could be several reasons for this. One reason is, you could be using an Electro scoop, which takes electricity to use. Make sure you have electricity equipped, and if it takes fuel, make sure to have the corresponding fuel in your inventory. You can find out what type of fuel it takes in the item description. The second reason for this could be that you don't even have a scoop! In the pre-load galaxies, (Tutorial Galaxies) you take a mission from the station to get a scoop+scout charger. Make sure the scoop you get is equipped. The third reason could be you changed your key settings, and you forgot what you changed it to. Make sure you go into options to find out of Scoop is assigned to the C button.

Q: What do all the colored twirly things flying around my ship mean? CODE: wdatctfa

A: A good idea then would be to check out Pantalone's Tools. If the icon is red, it means it lowers it. If the icon is green, it raises it. If a gunner with destruction skill impacts a weapon you will get the Cross-hairs symbol circling the ship he shot, the color depends on the weapon used. Green for Mining, Cyan for Surgical, Red for Heat, White for Physical, Violet for Laser. This drops the targets resistance to that type of weapon.

Q: What do the colors on Missions mean? CODE: wdtcomm

A: The colors relate to the difficulty of the mission scaled to your level. a level 2 taking a level 2 mission would see the color as white. a level 50 taking a level 2 mission would see the mission as grayed out. A level 400 taking a level 700 mission would see it as red.

Q: What language was the game originally written for? CODE: wlwtgo

A: The game was originally written in English. You can change what keys to press for certain actions if this would make you happier. Click on options on the top of the screen, then click Keys. This allows you to change the keys.

Q: I am getting a Blank screen after logging in, I can still hear the SS background music, and the process is still running but nothing is on screen that I can see. CODE: blkscreen

A: Star Sonata does not like to run under SLI. Make sure if you are using two graphics cards that you disable one.

Q: I find things dropped by AI enemies that aren't described, or that aren't described very well. CODE: itemsarent

A: Check the icon of the item you scooped. Augmenters are usually worth more than Commodities. You can provide a name of the item and ask someone in all chat what it is and what it is worth.

Q: What do all the things in the description of Blueprints mean? CODE: wdatitdob

A: Periodical = over time. Man-hours = time it takes, 1 man-hour = 10 seconds. Initial = needed at start. Max. Workforce = number of workers it can take, so 1 max force means that only 1 worker can work on it, the more workers you have, the faster it builds.

Q: How long can I use Help Chat for? CODE: helpcht

A: Help chat can be used until you are level 25, after that, you will need to ask in all chat to find help.

Q: Is there more than one server I can play on? CODE: servplay

A: There is a test server and a regular server. The test server is used to test changes in the game and new patches are put on the test server before the normal server. To switch between the two, at the login screen, select more. You will see liberty.starsonata.com and 3030. Do not edit the port #. (3030) To switch to test, change liberty.starsonata.com to test2.starsonata.com or test.starsonata.com. To change back, replace the test/test2 with liberty.

-Thyme
_____

Contributors:

PhysicalAbuse: Corrected me on the Levels 20 and below PvP question, Contributed a Question and Answer.

BobR: Wow.. thanks for the questions man!

Goz: Gave me answers for BobR's questions.

I will now be handing out a reward of 1mil for each question posted by new players or higher level players, to get this FAQ jump-started. Once we get a good compendium, I'll stop handing out the reward for the questions. If you'd rather tell me your Q&A on MSNMessenger instead of posting here or privately messaging me, my MSN is on the bottom of this post.

How many questions do you want..?


Q: What do all the colored twirly things flying around my ship mean? Sometimes it's green things going around the ship, sometimes it's red things going into the ship and sometimes it's yellow and purple things flying out of the ship. Obviously the programmers of the game spent a good deal of time designing these special effects to give some kind of information about what's happening to my ship, but I have no clue what it's trying to tell me. I already KNOW it's "tweaks", but what do the colors/icons MEAN..?


Q: I find things dropped by AI enemies that aren't described, or that aren't described very well. How can I know what to keep and what to throw away since my ship only holds just so much stuff..?


Q: I read about the "Cadet Missions" but nothing like that ever showed up in my game. I did the "shoot the drone" missions, but the others were never offered to me. Why is that..?


Q: What do all the bumps, symbols and colors mean on user bases..? Obviously they're supposed to convey some kind of information about the status or level of the bases, but nothing tells what they mean.


Q: What do the colors on Missions mean..? Red, yellow, green, white and dulled out. It lets me start all of them but nothing tells why they're different colors.


Q: What do the colors on items in the AI bases mean..? Some are green, some are white, some are dulled out.


Q: What do all the things in the description of "Blueprints" mean..? It's extremely cryptic and nothing tells what any of it means.


Q: What do all the things in the description of "Condensers" mean..? It's extremely cryptic and nothing tells what any of it means.


Q: For that matter, what do "Condensers" and "Blueprints" DO..? I find them all the time in the noobie Nexus areas, but nothing tells me how to use them or even whether to save them.


Q: I finally saved up enough to buy an new ship, but now there's nothing in it and I don't have enough money to buy all new engines, shields and the other stuff. Can I use the same stuff from my old ship, and how would I do that..?


Q: I found a lot of stuff dropped from AIs that I don't know how to use, but I don't want to throw it all away in case it's useful later on. Is there a storage place I can keep it in or is my ship the only place I can store stuff..?


Q: I played for a couple of hours and gained several Levels, bought a new ship, outfitted it and sold some stuff I found for a million credits. The next day when I logged in I'm back in my old ship, at a different base and back at my old level and no money. What happened...???


Q: A mission says I need to get 20 Metals and 3 Promethiums, 10 Rations and a partridge in a pear tree, but that much stuff won't fit in my ship. What do I do..?


Q: The Mission thing is blank and I can't remember where it said to take the partridge to gain the key to infinite knowledge or whatever. What do I do..?


Q: I read some galaxies have "secret bases", but how can I tell which ones and where the bases are when there are no clues given..?


Q: Why don't the descriptions of items actually tell anything about the items..?


Q: What do all the bumps and icons on the galaxies in the map in the lower left corner of my screen mean..?


Q: What is "Juxtaposition" and how do I use it..?


Q: What language was the game originally written for..? (V for Autopilot, C for Scoop, R for Dock, S for Cloak, etc, etc.)


Q: Why isn't there any instruction manual telling all of this..?




Actually, a good deal of this info can be found by digging at the Lyceum Archives wiki site already. It's just unfortunate that it's separate from the game which makes it non-obvious as a help resource, and a little hard to use (as wikis sometimes can be).

heehee.. thanks. now to copy it.

More:

Q: What is a fighter bay, how do I use it..?


Q: A mission says I need a "Bronze Bar"... where do I get one..?


Q: What is "Visibility"..?


Q: What the heck are "Psion Icicles", and where do I get them..?


Q: Some items increase "tracking"... what does that do..?


Q: Does a "resistance" augmenter increase ALL resistances, or only those resistances the ship comes with originally..?


Q: Someone said there was going to be a "universe reset" soon. How will that impact me as a low-leveled player..?


Q: How do Tractors work..?


Q: What is "Graviton Interruption"..?


Q: How do Cloaks work..? Why does my ship still show up when I use a cloak..?



And the one that's been bothering me a great deal lately:

Q: Why does Star Sonata pretty much stop being fun when you reach Level 50..?

I think if you make the entire question bold it will make it easier to read, good job though!

I just going to post the "white and yellow bumps on the galaxies" question I worked it out last night, the most useful thing in the world to know.


suggested answers:

The number of "bumps" refers to the number of bases in the galaxy, White being AI and Yellow being userbases, if you enter a galaxy with one AI base (or more) that you cannot detect upon entering, it is probably a "hidden base".

Galaxies can show 3 yellow icons and they refer to missions in that galaxy, these icons will also be hovering over the relevent base when you approach it. The description of the base will also contain this information in text format:
i = New mission avaliable
/ = Mission in progress
an interlocking "c" = Mission complete

If i discover new things again I will share them if you want?

Might want to tweak this question:



If a gunner with destruction skill impacts a weapon you will get the crosshairs symble circling the ship he shot, the color depends on the weapon used. green for mining cyan for surgical red for heat white for physical violet for laser ect, this drops the targets resistance.

Holy shit I have a lot of work ahead of me.. oh well.. ^^

BOLD = awnsered

Here's a followup question-


Apparently blueprints can be used indefinitely- can condensers be used more than once, or do you need a new condenser every time you want to make another upgraded item..?

BumP-Tastic!

He meant what language, like English, French, Gibberish, etc.

Autopilot doesn't have a V anywhere in it but that is what you press to Autopilot. Same for Dock and Cloak.

The real answer is that those were the available keys after the movement keys were worked out. Anything that didn't have a closely corresponding key near the movement keys, got a random one near them.

Interesting- I never even considered the original key layout when I asked that question.

I re-mapped my keys to put movement on the cursor keys, and then re-mapped everything to make more sense- like "D" for Dock and "S" for Scoop. So I hadn't thought about the WASD keys already being used.

That way my right hand takes care of moving the ship and targeting (I put the targeting keys on ones right near the cursor keys), and my left hand takes care of shooting, scooping, tractoring and changing weapons... all without ever having to take my eyes off the screen. The only time I have to take my hand off the keys is to click the mouse on a target, but it's easy to re-find the cursor keys without having to look down at them.

Anyway- good info... thanks!

Nope, it's also white =)