How to Play Star Control: Origins: A Basic Guide

Breakdown of the mechanics and tips for the long-awaited sequel to the space franchise from the 90s

Star Control: Origins is a strategy with role-playing elements in which the player will have to explore space, establish contact with extraterrestrial civilizations, fight against space invaders, and much more. The Star Control series dates back to the 90s. It was she who was inspired by the developers of the famous “Space Rangers” and even some Russian science fiction writers.

Table of Contents

Gameplay

The gameplay of the game is based on the fact that you take an assignment from someone and fly to carry it out. Most often, the purpose of assignments is to find out something and / or find something on the planets or their satellites. After completing the goal, you fly to the one who gave you this assignment and receive either a reward or further instructions.

Moving in space

Movement in the game is divided into two types: movement in the star system and movement in hyper space. When moving in a star system, your fuel is spent very slowly, and if there is a shortage of it, you can easily fly to the nearest inhabited planet and replenish supplies.

star system

When moving in hyper-space, your fuel will be spent much faster and it will be much more difficult to replenish its reserves, since you will have to fly either to the nearest star system or to the nearest space station. If your fuel runs out, then you have to wait for the ship of the allied race, which will transfer 100 units of fuel to you and take you to your system. To prevent such a situation from happening, think over your route in advance and do not skimp on excess fuel, and also use fast travel between open stations

Hyper-space

Exploration of planets

Traveling around the solar system, you can land on some uninhabited planets to collect resources on them and find items for assignments. Please note that not all planets can be landed. If the planet is highlighted in red, then you can land on it only after purchasing the necessary upgrades for all-terrain vehicles.

It is temporarily impossible to land on such planets

And for such you can

Before disembarking, you can see brief information about the planet: to the right of the planet its climate, features and resources available for extraction are painted, to the left is the number of available all-terrain vehicles, unidentified objects and the number of landing points.

Landing points are places where you must land the all-terrain vehicle, so as not to kill the transport crew. They are marked with a green circle. If you miss a little, a couple of people may die. If you miss a lot, then all five people will die, and the all-terrain vehicle will explode and you will have to buy a new one.

When moving around the planet by car, try not to develop high speed, otherwise you can crash / roll over and kill a couple of people with this.

Resources you can collect are marked with a triangle. Items for assignments – in a square. If you flew to get a certain type of resources, then do not collect everything that catches your eye, as the space on the all-terrain vehicle and ship is limited. If the space is still over, then return to the ship, and then disembark again – the space on the all-terrain vehicle will become free, and the collected resources will go to the ship’s warehouse.

Basically, resources are needed for selling in the store, crafting and some tasks / activating objects.

Interface

If you need to get basic information about the ship or get directions to any solar system, then press Tab. A window with six tabs will open in front of you:

Ship (Manifest)– basic information about the ship is marked here. On the left – the number of ATVs and items for assignments. On the right – collected resources and free space.
Fleet status– this shows the upgrades installed on the ship and the ships available for battle.
Captain’s log– here is a brief summary of everything that happened to you.
Objectives– all the tasks and objectives you have taken at the moment are collected here.
Sector map– a galaxy map is displayed here, on which all systems available for exploration are marked, as well as open stations. You can choose any solar system and make the shortest route to it (sighting mark) or go to it on autopilot (auto-pilot)
Codex– here you can study the history of the game world.

Map

Fights

While you are flying on a mission, someone can attack you and start a battle in open space. After winning, you will receive money, with which you can buy improvements for the ship, fuel, crew members or resources.

Your goal in battle is to destroy the enemy ship by lowering its green crew bar to zero. To destroy the enemy, you must use two guns installed on your ship, which use energy (purple scale) for shooting.

The battle takes place on a small area surrounded by meteorites, hitting which you will lose part of the ship’s crew (health). Modules are placed around the battlefield – colored circles, picking up which you will receive one of four possible bonuses, as well as space objects that will help you dodge enemy attacks.

Modules:

Red module– increases the speed of your ship’s energy recovery.
Blue module– increases the speed of movement of your ship.
Green module– increases the maximum number of crew members of your ship.
Yellow module– increases the controllability of your ship.

Objects:

Planet– creates a gravity field around itself, attracting ships, and then pushing the ship away from the planet. It helps well to get away from the enemy’s projectile.
Black hole– a white dot, flying into which the player teleports to another black hole located nearby.
Asteroid– Deals minor damage on collision.
Meteorite– flies in a random direction across the battlefield. Deals minor damage on impact.

Battlefield

There are also several types of enemies:

Low ship durability. Fires large, but slow projectiles at a short distance, which, upon impact with a player or a projectile, explode, dealing heavy damage around it. They are handled well by small, maneuverable ships armed with rapid-fire guns.
Low ship durability. Has a high rate of fire. Shoots small lasers that do little damage. The ship moves pretty quickly around the map, so it’s best not to use slow heavy weapons against it. Try to shoot him, aiming ahead of the curve.
A slow vessel with very high strength and firepower. Armed with slow but powerful long-range guns. When fighting against him, try to keep at a medium distance.
A ship of medium strength. Unlike other ships, it uses small amphibious ships as a weapon, which fly at the player, explode and cause very high damage. In a battle with a carrier, it is very difficult to shoot down all ships flying at you, so concentrate on the carrier itself, while dodging small ships along the way.

Only one ship can take part in a battle at a time, but you can still buy and use other ships. All purchased ships are secondary, that is, if the enemy destroys them in battle, then you will not lose and you can continue the battle by choosing another ship. Therefore, in difficult battles, use the secondary ships first.

Trade

Completing tasks and winning battles you will receive money (Resource units). They can be spent on an inhabited planet or space station. Here you can visit the store which has three sections:

Exchange (Trade)– here you can buy / sell the resources collected during the exploration of planets, as well as purchase all-terrain vehicles for exploring planets and fuel for the spacecraft.

Trade Tab

Equipment (Outfit)– here you can buy improvements for the ship and change the team (People). Each type of item has its own group:

Outfit tab

Sensors– sensors are installed here – an item that marks enemies and some objects on your minimap.
Specials– Six slots for special items. All special items give different bonuses, for example: the ability to use auto-combat.
Weapons– Two slots for your weapons.
Hyperspace engines – A cell for a hyperdrive that allows you to move between solar systems.
Modules– nine slots for items that improve the characteristics of your ship.
Lander modules– 8 slots for items that give your all-terrain vehicles any abilities and / or increase their characteristics.
Engine (Engine)– cell for the engine of your ship. The better the engine, the higher the speed of the boat.
Fuel tanks– a cell for a ship’s fuel tank. The maximum number of units of fuel depends on it and reduces its consumption.
Propulsion system (Thruster)– a place for an object that allows you to quickly turn the ship, and is also responsible for controllability in battle.

Organization of the fleet (Manage fleet)– on this tab you can change the composition of your fleet and buy additional ships.

Manage fleet tab

Some improvements can only be obtained by completing certain tasks. For example, to gain access to lasers for all-terrain vehicles, you need to collect some uranium (Uranium), fly to the moon and activate the building shown in the picture.

It is important to always keep a couple of hundred Resource units in stock, since at the beginning of the game you will often have to replenish fuel supplies and buy people.

This concludes the guide. Thank you all for your attention and happy game!