FAQ

FAQ for Prospector. Feel free to add any Qs, we will try to provide the As.

Basic howtos
What are the o o o thingies under my ship supposed to mean?

How do I get money?
 * A: It's the system map for the star system you are currently in. You can see the star, o are planets. ░ are asteroid fields. Once you decide to scan or land, a cursor appears there that lets you chose the planet. You can also put the systems map in an alternate position on the bar in Options.

How do I get more air?
 * A: Explore stuff, and then walk into the company office at a space station, and sell the stuff. Minerals, biodata, map data (recorded automatically as you explore), and alien artifacts are all worth money.

How do I get biodata?
 * A: Walk onto your ship.


 * A: (I)nspect plants and corpses. Not all plants and corpses yield results. Note that your science officer or doctor must be alive to find biodata.

Planets
'''I landed on this planet that is obviously bugged. Every tile is random and the crew speaks gibberish. Shall I report this bug?'''


 * A: In this case, actually, no. It's supposed to be this way. (You may find out why if you continue to explore the planet.) All other bugs of course please do report! Fixing them is so much easier when you know where they are!

Items
How do I equip stuff?

Why does that gun/armor/knife have a `*` in front of it?
 * A: Your awayteam automatically uses the best equipment you have. If someone dies when you're on-planet, their equipment is redistributed among the living.

What does a mining/laser drill do?
 * A: That item is tied to that crew member. Unless he is dead he grabs it before any normal Item distribution takes place. You can set and clear it in the (A)wayteam screen. Possible uses would be to give your best gun to the sharpshooter, or your weakest armor to the guy with the most hitpoints. NOTE: The item selection doesn't distinguish if an item is bound to another crewmember already. If you assign the weapon again it will override the old assignment.

What are cryo chambers good for?
 * A: Either one allows you to tunnel through rubble/ice/mountains more easily than your normal guns can. (You can dig through them by using the (f)ire command.) They also add a bonus to damage vs walls.

What do portable sensorsets do?
 * A: They provide easy storage for people on ships, allowing you to hire more crew.

How do I deploy rovers?
 * A: Increase viewing range on planets. They are like binoculars, only superior.

I just bought 15 binoculars and 3 helmet lamps and I still don't see any better!
 * A: Land on a planet, hit d, scroll down your equipment screen and press enter when you are on the rover. Collect them later for the map data. Same for mining droids.

I bought a jetpack, yet I can't fly.
 * A: They don't stack, so you only need one.

I bought 3 aux oxygen tanks /12 aux jetpackfuel tanks, and I still only have 200 Oxygen/50 Jetpackfuel.
 * A: You need one jetpack for every member of your awayteam. With hover plattforms, you need one for every 5 awayteam members.


 * A: As of 0.1.9 they do stack, but each crew member can only carry one.

Radio Commands
What are the commands for (r)adioing the ship?

Any hints?
 * A: One is "Hello" which is answered with "Yes?"
 * A: Fire - commands your ship to fire at a target.
 * A: Land - commands your ship to land somewhere else on the planet.

Anything else on radio commands?
 * A: Your communications satellite can do more than just relay messages. 2 Commands are a bit redundant, one is suicidal and the remaining aren't too practical, though they can be fun.


 * A: There are 3 commands if you got a rover on the planet: rover start, rover stop and rover target.

Other things
How do I heal wounds? How does experience/XP work? '''The stations don't let me dock and shoot at me! What shall I do?'''
 * A: Your doctor has a chance to heal lost HP as time passes. You'll be notified with the "The doctor fixes some cuts and bruises" message. Naturally, higher-level doctors restore HP more often, as will crews with more paramedics. Also, all lost HP are restored when you leave a planet (for those crew who are still alive).
 * Unlike many RPGs, crew members don't automatically level up when they gain a certain number of XP. Instead, crew members are checked after each mission to see if they leveled up. Having a lot of XP makes it more likely a crew member to level up.

What does easy start do (in Options)?
 * A: Kill some pirates until they like you again. Or try to find a pirate base. They might be friendly if they see you as a fellow pirate.

How can we contact the game's creator?
 * A: If the easy start option is activated Pirates won't start any fleets for the first 100 turns. Also monsters will have fewer hitpoints, their hitpoints will get divided by 500/turncount, meaning they will have their normal HPs by turn 500.

There is also a considerable chance that if you found this thing on a forum that Magellan will be hanging out there now and then.
 * A: All comments, questions, ideas, feedback, bugreports, praise, criticism etc can be emailed to Magellan (matthias.mennel@gmail.com), or you can go to Prospector's very own forum