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  Welcome to basic flight, systems, and weapon training.  
This series of training sessions will provide you with 
detailed instructions on how to control your spacecraft, 
manage ship systems, navigate, issue commands, and use
weapons.  You can skip any training stage by pressing
enter.  You can also return to a previous training
stage by pressing ALT-enter.

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  For this first session, we'll cover flight basics.  
The default flight control will be set to the mouse, if 
no joystick or gamepad is detected.  You can select a
different control mode in the Options menu.  You can
also change key, button, and axis functions as desired
in the Configure Controls section of the Options menu.
For mouse control, you can select either a pointer
mode or a direction mode.  The pointer mode will let
you control your ship with a visual marker on the
screen.  The direction mode will let you control
your ship based on how much you move the mouse.

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  Let's start with velocity control.  If you're using the
mouse for flight control, you can use the wheel to adjust
the velocity setting or the 1 to 0 keys to set it by 
percentage.  + and - or W and S can also be used to trim
the velocity setting.  You'll notice the 'Vel' indicator 
will reflect whatever level of velocity you select.  
Increase your velocity setting to maximum now.  

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  Good.  Notice how your ship cuts its engines when it
reaches a target velocity.  In the zero gravity, zero drag
environment of space, there is no need to continually run
your ship's engines to maintain velocity.  However, when
flying in planet atmospheres, your ship will continually
run its engines to counteract the effects of drag and
gravity.  Now reduce your velocity to 0.  If you're
using mouse or keyboard flight control, you can hit
the backspace key to immediately set velocity to 0.

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  In addition to your main engines, your ship also has
a series of thrusters at various points on the hull.
These thrusters are automatically controlled by your
on-board computer to help keep your ship moving in the
direction it is facing.  But you also manually control
the thrusters to rotate your ship and perform maneuvers.
Use the flight control device to turn left and right now.

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  Notice how your thrusters engage just long enough to
reach the target rotation velocity.  Then as you release
the control, the thrusters fire in reverse to stop the
rotation.  Next, pitch up and down.

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  Good.  The last rotation control is roll.  For keyboard 
and mouse flight control, use the default Q and E keys for 
rolling left and right.  Roll left and right now.  

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  In addition to rotation and velocity control, you can 
also move your ship directly up, down, left, or right by 
activating the horizontal or vertical movement thrusters.  
On/off control for these thrusters is available using the 
default A and D keys for left/right horizontal movement, 
while the Z and X keys are used for up/down vertical 
movement.  You can also add variable horizontal and vertical 
thruster control, if the flight control device you're 
using supports enough axis channels.  Try moving 
horizontally left and right now.

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  Now move up and down.

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  Well done.  Flying in space involves mastering the 
effects of inertia.  The inertial dampening system (or IDS) 
will help keep flight control simple by constantly using 
your thrusters automatically to keep your ship moving in 
the direction it's facing.  The more momentum your ship 
has in a particular direction, the longer it will take for 
the IDS to alter your ship's movement toward a new heading.  
When you want to bypass the system and allow your ship to 
continue moving in a certain direction, press the IDS 
on/off key, default space bar.  The 'INERTIAL' label will 
be visible on your ship's status display when the IDS is 
off.  Practice by building up speed in the direction you're 
facing, then turn off the IDS and rotate around a bit to 
see how inertia will let you continue moving in the 
original direction.

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  Turn the IDS back on to resume automatic thruster control.

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  Notice that when you enable the IDS system, 'X1' is
displayed to the right of the IDS letters.  This value
indicates the scale level of the IDS system.  At X1,
the IDS will limit your speed to levels that your ship
can quickly adjust course changes with.  At higher
settings, your top set velocity can be much higher, but
higher speeds will require much longer periods of time
for your ship to change its course to a new heading.
Practice changing the IDS scale setting using the default
Numpad 7 and Numpad 9 keys.  Then change your velocity
setting and fly around a bit to observe the effect this
has on how your ship handles.

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  In combat, speed is a critical factor to maintain.  
Your ship is also equipped with an afterburner, which 
provides a high level of thrust from the main engines.
Use it sparingly as it consumes a much greater amount of
fuel, but it can be very useful in combat when you need
to escape or change direction quickly.  To engage the
afterburner, press and hold the default tab key.  Practice
using the afterburner now by accelerating to twice your
ship's default maximum cruise speed, then release the
key to disable the afterburner.

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  That completes the flight training section.  We'll cover 
ship systems next.  Combat, environment, and status 
information is projected onto your helmet's visor as a 
Heads-Up-Display (or HUD) and on the three cockpit displays.
The HUD includes optional readouts for gravity, altitude,
energy, damage, and speed.  Motion spears also help you
gauge your velocity while a pitch ladder indicates the
orientation of your ship.  The HUD has 3 modes, you can
turn it off entirely or use a reduced display mode that
removes the numerical indicators along with the motion
spears and pitch ladder.  Try cycling through the HUD
modes now using the default H key.

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  Your ship divides available power between your weapon
system and shield system.  The current power setting is
shown on the lower left cockpit display at the top right
corner next to the letter P.  The setting will range from
a value of -5 to +5.  The 'S' readout is for shields and
the 'W' readout is for weapons.  You can adjust power for
each system by using the default [ and ] keys.  Increasing
power to a system will improve its recharge rate and
effectiveness, providing more resistance for shields or
more shots for primary weapons.  Managing power between
these systems is very important as tactics change in
battle when you may need time to escape and recharge
or engage a target with maximum firepower.

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  Just to the left of the power setting indicator is
the number of remaining countermeasures you have (CM).
Below the power setting indicator is a blue bar next to
the letter W, which indicates the weapon system power level.
The bar will decrease in size as you fire your primary weapons.  
Once the bar reaches the middle, your weapon system will be
out of power and will need to recharge.  Observe this in
action now by firing your primary weapon until the bar
indicates a low power level.

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  Good.  Notice that a red energy light flashes on your HUD
to bring the low power level to your attention.  Below the
weapon power level, the green bar next to the letter H
indicates the status of your ship's hull.  It will decrease
in size as your ship sustains hull damage.  On the left side
of the ship status display are readouts for velocity (V), set
velocity (S), gravity (G), altitude (A), inertial status (I),
fuel, navigation damage (N), weapon system damage (W), engine
damage (E), shield array status (SHIELD), and primary weapon
firing mode (MODE).  Your secondary weapons are listed on the
lower right side of the display and the weapon next to the
number 1 is the weapon that's ready to fire.

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  The middle cockpit display is your 3D radar.  It 
provides direction information on objects in space.  Green 
dots indicate friendly ships, yellow dots indicate 
neutral ships, and red dots indicate hostile ships.  When 
red dots appear on the radar, a warning sound will help 
bring the threat to your attention.  Blue dots indicate 
stations and carriers, yellow dots with small brackets
indicate inbound missiles, white dots indicate cargo, and
purple dots indicate unknown or miscellaneous objects.
The dots include an attached line that points away from
the center of the radar sphere, which helps you determine
if an object is behind or ahead of you.  The blue highlight
brackets in the middle indicate the front of your ship, so
you can fly toward an object by bringing its corresponding
dot into the brackets.  Directly above the 3D radar are
the vertical and horizontal speed gauges.

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  The display at the lower right of the cockpit shows
details about the ship you are currently targeting.  
To target a ship, simply use the mouse pointer to click
on it when it's in your visual range.  You can toggle
between ships in the area with the default T key, or use
the default R key to target the closest ship.  ALT-T will 
toggle between hostile ships in the area while ALT-R will 
target the nearest hostile ship.  Once you've targeted a 
ship, its class (ID), faction affiliation, threat level (T),
speed (V), range (R), shield levels, direction, and hull
damage will be shown on the display.

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  The center of the HUD is your gunsight.  The outer rim 
of the gunsight indicates the limit of where you can 
obtain a missile lock and have your primary weapons 
automatically aim at a target.  Primary weapons use the 
Multi-Directional Tracking System (or MDTS) to 
automatically lead a target based on speed, distance and 
direction.  The target must be in range and within the 
outer rim of the gunsight for the weapons to hit 
successfully.  The farther away a target is, the more 
time it will have to evade the gunfire.  If you want to 
aim manually, you can press the default L key to turn 
the MDTS off.  A missile lock is obtained by keeping
a target ship inside the outer rim of the gunsight
for a certain period of time.  The range and time it
takes to obtain a lock will depend on which secondary
weapon is being used.  You can toggle between secondary
weapons in-flight by pressing the default ; and ' keys.

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  Practice firing at this drone target (marked as a red 
threat level) until it's destroyed.

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  Good.  There are two different types of primary weapons
your ship can carry.  Particle cannons fire projectiles
at high speed and are usually moderately effective against
shields and most effective against hull armor.  Each type
of particle cannon can have unique range, yield, and firing
rate attributes.  Some particle cannons are also optimized
to deplete shields, drain energy, or inflict kinetic effects
on a target.  So review the specifications of each cannon
you install so you understand how to best use it.  Beam
cannons are the other type of primary weapon.  They are 
generally a shield depletion weapon and higher class models
that use more power are more effective.  You can selectively
fire each type of weapon individually or simultaneously 
by changing the firing mode, default N key.

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  When a missile is fired at you, you can choose to evade
or attempt to shoot it down.  Missile evasion is an
important skill to master.  Most missiles track your heat
signature and in the cold void of space, your ship's engine
and thruster exhaust stand out.  You can significantly
reduce your ship's heat signature by turning off the IDS
and avoid using the afterburner or manually controlling
the maneuvering thrusters.  While drifting in space this
way, your countermeasures can be more effective.  Wait to
launch countermeasures until the missile is close enough
to set off the proximity alarm.  You can also shoot down
missiles with particle cannons, if you're a good shot.

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  One of the most important aspects of handling your
ship in combat is shield management.  Your shield system
projects a defensive field of energy in 4 directions.
Each direction is referred to as an array.  If one or
more arrays becomes weak, enemy fire can hit the hull of
your ship directly, causing damage.  As mentioned earlier,
the status of each array is indicated on the SHIELD section
of your ship status display.  Notice the green bars, one
for each direction with your ship in the middle.  The 
status of each array is also displayed along the outer
edge of the gunsight.  Watch as I drop your front
shield array to critical.

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  The green bar changes color to red and decreases in
size.  As it recharges, the color will change to yellow,
then green again.  Your goal is to avoid letting any array
reach critical.  To do that, you can transfer power from
the other arrays.  Lets practice that now.  I will again
drop your front shield to critical.  When that happens,
use the augment front shield key, default Numpad 8, to
transfer power from the left, right, and rear arrays to
the front array.  Continue to transfer power to the
front array until its indicator is green.

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  Good.  In addition to transferring power to a specific
array, you can also balance power between all 4, using
the default Numpad 5 key.  Also remember that you can
improve the recharge rate of all shield arrays by
transferring power to your shield system.

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  The top part of the HUD includes the compass and several
menu options.  To select a menu option, simply use the mouse
pointer and click on the desired button.  If you're using
the Mouse for flight control, you can hold down the ALT
key to suspend flight control so you can move the pointer
to select one of the menu options.  The Target menu lets you
target a ship in the area while the Order menu lets you
send an order to other ships under your command.

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  The middle of the top of the HUD gives you access to
the navigation console, autopilot, formation option, and
tactical console.  Click on AUTO to engage the autopilot.
The autopilot will control your ship and take it to the
current destination point selected.  The destination
point is displayed on your HUD as a yellow NAV marker
and a yellow direction marker is also displayed on the
3D radar.  The distance to the destination is displayed
below the NAV marker.  Activate the autopilot now.

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  Notice how your ship changes course and travels directly
toward the NAV marker.  Now disengage the autopilot by
clicking on the AUTO button again.

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  Waypoints are indicated the same way with a green marker.
To travel to a waypoint, you can simply place the nav marker
near the waypoint marker and engage the autopilot.  You can
also just manually fly your ship to the waypoint marker.  
The FORM button on the right side of the compass works the
same way and will keep your ship in close formation with
any friendly or moderate ship you have targeted.

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  We will now cover the navigation and tactical consoles.
To open the navigation console, click on the Navigation
button at the left of the top middle section of the HUD
or press the default F1 key.  Again, if you are using
the mouse for flight control, you can temporarily
suspend flight control by holding the ALT key down.
Open the navigation console now.

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  This console lets you monitor your location
and manage system navigation in an easy-to-use
interface.  Your current position is displayed
on the map with a green arrow.  You can also
see nearby objects, such as planets and
asteroids, on the map.  To select a new
navigation point, simply click on the location
you want on the map in the middle.  The X and
Z coordinates will automatically be set to the
new location and you can adjust the Y position
(or height) by either using the rear view map
mode or by clicking on the Y position field
and manually typing in a value.  Practice using
the navigation console by clicking on a point
located near X=40000 Z=40000.

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  Your ship is also equipped with a jump drive
which provides extremely high velocity for
short periods of time.  It requires a long cool
down period between jumps, so use it only when
necessary.  You must also disengage the jump
drive to slow down when you are close to your
destination.  To travel to the location you
selected, turn your ship to face the navigation
marker, then click on the LAUNCH button or
press the default F2 key to engage the Jump
Drive.  Once you're within about 10K of the
destination, disengage the jump drive.  If you
overshoot the mark, just turn around and fly
back to the nav marker.  You can close the
navigation console at any time.

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  You have arrived near the location you selected.  
During a mission, it is important to manage
point-to-point navigation efficiently to save fuel
and reach required locations quickly.  Next, we'll
cover the tactical console.  To open the tactical
console, click on the 'TACTICAL' button at the right
of the top middle section of the HUD or press the
default F3 key.

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  This console lets you monitor the status of all
ships in the area, select formation patterns, 
retrieve cargo and equipment details, and review
mission specifications.  The 'Ship Status' mode
provides information on the ships in the area.
Click on the 'Ship Orders' button to review the
current command directives of friendly ships in
the area.  The 'Mission Specs' mode provides
information on the current objectives, briefing
text, and other relevant details.

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  For this stage, we will cover issuing orders to
ships.  First, open the order menu by clicking on the
'Order' button at the top right of the HUD.

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  This menu lets you select a specific command and also
select a flight group to issue the order to.  When 'All'
is highlighted, the command will be given to all friendly
ships under your command.  To select a specific flight
group to issue a command to, simply click on the name of
the group.  Your command will then be issued to only
those ships.  You can also select a specific ship from
each group to issue an order to with the selection menu
on the far right.  Practice selecting a specific group
and issuing an order.

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  The group names for ships under your command are also
displayed on the far right display at the top of the HUD
along with the damage status of each ship in the group.
As a ship takes damage, the color of its arrow will change.
It will change from green to yellow when moderate damage
has been sustained, then yellow to red when severe damage
has been sustained.  It's important to monitor the ships in
the area with the damage status display and the tactical
console to formulate your command strategy.  You may want
to avoid letting damaged ships or ships that are low on
missiles continue an engagement and instead fall back
to a defensive role or bring in more combat ready ships
as reinforcements.  In large scale battles, your command
decisions will be a primary factor in success or failure.

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  For this stage, you'll be required to dock with a carrier.
This is done by simply flying to the hangar at the front of
the carrier.  The hangar area is protected by a blue 
atmosphere shield and provides flashing lights indicating 
the correct approach path you need to use to enter.  Your
HUD will also display a pathway that will help guide you
to the docking area.  The pathway will be red if your approach 
is outside of the required entry angle and it will be green
when you are approaching correctly.  Practice approaching
and landing in this carrier's hangar.

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  At times, you may be required to return to a carrier and
perform a high speed approach.  So for this stage, you must
disengage your jump drive in time to complete a landing at
high speed.  You are now approaching the carrier with the
jump drive active.  Once you are close enough, disengage
the jump drive and land in the hangar as quickly as possible.
You must enter the hangar before the timer runs out.  If
you fail this objective, it will repeat until you succeed.

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  This stage is for target practice.  Your objective is to
destroy as many drone targets as possible within 180 seconds.
If you fail to destroy five before the time is up, this
stage will repeat until you succeed.

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  For this next stage, you'll be required to descend into
a planet atmosphere at high speed.  Some missions may require
you to descend to the surface of a planet quickly to destroy
a target on the surface.  Descend too quickly and you'll burn
up in the atmosphere, so you must balance speed with the effects
of friction on your ship.  You can increase power to your shield
arrays for added protection and if one array drops to critical,
be ready to increase power to that array.  Your objective is to
descend to an altitude of less than 10,000 within 45 seconds.
The timer will start once your ship is relocated.

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  The countdown has started, go!

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  Congratulations, you have completed the training stages.
Select 'Launch' from the main menu to begin the campaign.
