(WIP)Endless Sky: A Real Beginner's Guide

Endless Sky: A Real Beginner's Guide

THIS GUIDE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO HELP ADD MORE USEFUL INFORMATION AND HELP MAKE THE GAME GREAT FOR EVERYONE!

Ok guys, some disclosure here. I admit this is the first Steam Guide I am writing for any game on Steam. And with how new this particular game is, it being a Free Open Source Software based game, with it's source code available at Github[github.com], I figured I would give it a go at getting a guide going to help all of us newcommers to the game.

AT THE TIME OF THIS WRITING, I SELECTED THE HAULER AND WENT WITH TRADING. AS I WORK ON OTHER SAVES TO SEE HOW THE OTHER STARTS WORK, WILL APPEND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

What is Endless Sky?

Endless Sky is a 2D sandbox-styled space game with a lot of elements from other games that will seem familiar. Games like Elite, EVE Online (inspiried by Elite), Star Control and the like. It is fairly basic high level, but there is a fair amount of things going on underneath the hood so to speak. Even though the game does have it's own manual, it doesn't make it very easy to digest the whole of it.

Endless Sky Official Player's Manual

The Endless Sky official manual can be found on github here[github.com]

Endless Sky Developer FAQ

Michael put up a general FAQ guide here. Good reference for some things I might have missed!

Starting Up: Getting Strapped In

After downloading and installing, it's a quick process to start the game and is fairly straight forward. If you are on high DPI monitors or at resolutions like 4K and such, there is an official mod found on the Steam Store page that will give you assets much easier to see at (much) higher resolutions.

Looking at the preferences won't really divulge all too much. Default Keys are as follows:

• Forward Thrust: Up Arrow
  
• Turn Left: Left Arrow
  
• Turn Right: Right Arrow
  
• Reverse: Down Arrow
  
• Afterburner: A
  
• Land on planet/station: L
  
• Initiate Jump: J
  
  
• Fire Primary Weapons: Tab
  
• Select Secondary Weapon: W
  
• Fire Secondary Weapon: Q
  
• Toggle Cloaking Device: C
  
  
• Select Nearest Hostile: R
  
• Select Next Ship: N
  
• Hail Target: T
  
• Board Target: B
  
  
• Main Menu: Escape
  
• View Star Map: M
  
• View Player Info: I
  
• Scan Target: S
  
• Fullscreen Toggle: F11
  
  
• Deploy/Recall Fighters: D
  
• Fleet: Fight my Target: F
  
• Fleet: Gather Around: G
  
• Fleet: Hold Positions: H

Fairly short list, all in all. So far, the default key scheme is quite intuitive. If anyone happens to know how to integrate XInput to the (seemingly custom) engine that the game runs on, we could potentially get full controller support. XPadder can get around that issue if you prefer controllers but I am unsure as to how well that would go. If anyone puts together a good profile for XPadder, shoot a comment on the guide!

Shift modifies targeting with selecting nearest ship, next escort and talking to planets.

The preferences menu also changes things like sound levels, motion blur, zoom factor, statuses and such. All very useful and configurable to one's taste.

Starting Up: Gettin' Hyped

When starting a new pilot for the first time, you have to provide a first name and last name. No real checking involved, so you could literally be A. A. if you wanted to be that.

The Bank Loan: Good Grief

When you are selecting your name, you are also signing your name to a bank loan of 450k credits. Yes, I'm serious. The game starts off by putting you in some serious debt. To rub salt in the wound, the daily interest rate on the loan is 0.400% by default. This rate converts out to a whopping 146% annually! The game will break it all down and say that if you ran the whole loan out to the whole year, it would cost an extra ~480k in finance fees.

To look at what your current principal balance, credit rating, APR and daily payments are at, look at the BANK tab while docked at any world or station!

Starting Ship Selection

I can hear you saying "I've signed my soul to the devil. Now what? I can finally get a ship??"

YES YOU CAN!

However, given that in this glorious game that 450k isn't hardly anything to sneeze at when you look at the price tags of the much larger ships, you will quickly realize (without looking at the player's manual) that you've basically got three choices: A transport type ship (Shuttle), a hauler (Star Barge), and an interceptor (Sparrow).

Breaking it down:

The Shuttle is about as small as a fighter, which allows for this particular ship to easily dodge pirates and missiles. It is effectively useless in combat because of it's weak integrated shielding and hull plating. Even though it is classified as a transport, it more fits moving people vice cargo. It's agility is it's real selling point and can get you from point A to point B rather quickly. It is essentially a small people can with some engines and a hyperdrive strapped on.

The Star Barge is your rusty and crusted over pickup truck that your grandpa left in a garage in the backyard for the last 35 years because he didn't care to tear the header off to replace the gasket and spark plugs. It's main mission is to grab cargo and move it around. It has a few spare bunks to allow a few people to move around with you, but like the shuttle, it has zero defensive armament when you get it out of said garage. There is not much room to fit things such as a turret, but that's a decision you will have to make. It is slow, and doesn't turn very fast as built either. But with the limited amount of hull space for equipment, you don't have much choice with that either. This ship is the easiest to pay off your debt. As pointed out in the comments. THere are a few ways to do this. Both can in fact skip the tutorial if you so desire. If you are a new player, it is advised to play the tutorial to get acustomed with the game some.

The Sparrow is the smallest jump capable combatant that is only a little larger than a fighter. Because of its jump capability, it is classified as an interceptor vice a fighter. When you run over and hop into the cockpit of this baby, she's got a pair of basic beam lasers, small yet generous cargo capacity and an extra bunk or two. It doesn't really excel in any area that isn't combat, and even then that can be... questionable at times, but at least you won't get immediately spaced because you were in grandpa's old truck.

First Shiny: Tutorial Missions

Regardless of the ship class you decide to start the game with, you will get prompted by a semi-mysterious gentlemen that is on his way to retirement and is lookin' for a ride to his permanent residence. He takes notice of the glean in your eyes that you had bought your first ship and can sense your excitement. He will comment on how the bank can literally kill people with the interest rates they charge.

In any case, you have a choice of turning down his request to take a long ride around and you have an opportunity to take him straight there. Following his prompts will take you through your first runs of doing delivery missions and transport missions. [Note: I am unsure if when you take a Sparrow that he attempts to acquaint you with combat. Will follow up.]

Making the First Jump

Before you go anywhere, here is some advice on how the bank loan works if you did not read the fine print (most of us don't anyway). You will make payments every day while you have loan(s). So have a look at your current payment amount. Should be somethin around 2200-2500CR. Pretty painful, isn't it. It gets worse.

Every time you depart from a planet/station, game resolves a day. When you jump, the game resolves another day. So if you went the maximum distance (assuming enough fuel for 3 jumps, more to the UI when I edit the guide some more, with pictures!) and docked up, it will cost you a total of 4 days.

Now, to move around, it is as simple as using the arrow keys to turn the ship and thrust forward. None of the starter ships have any reverse thrusters as they take up valuable weapon space, and they are quite large. So, in order to slow down, you have to turn around and thrust forward opposite your current velocity. Holding your Reverse key will flip you to the opposite direction you must face to come to a complete stop.

In any case, using the [M]ap, you can look ahead at future destinations you either have immediate jump links to, or having bought a local map for 1000CR.

Once you understand these sorts of... limitations, so to speak, hit [M] to bring up the map again and select a system you have discovered or have a link to. Hit [M] again to close the map and then simply press [J]. You can cancel any of the autopilot actions, such as jumping and landing, by thrusting any direction.

You may get intercepted by pirates and exploded. If you die, auto-save is there to get your back.... most of the time. Occasionally saving (via the escape menu's Load/Save and hitting Add Snapshot) when you are not sure of the auto-save is a good practice.

Mistakes Were Made: Or How I Got Shot to Ribbons

Sometimes, when you are attacked by hostiles, you may be left disabled. This means that your ship's systems have been reduced to a state of incapability of normal operation, or you can't do anything.

In order to get out of this, use the [N] key to cycle between friendly targets in the system.
Press [T] to hail the target, and you will be able to request assistance.

This assistance can be in the form of fighting pirates, emergency fuel because you mis-calculated how much fuel you needed to reach some place and did not refuel between uninhabited worlds, or emergency repair to get basic ship functionality restored to limp home.

From point A to B. Wait! Wheres my fuel!

Fuel is a very interesting aspect of this game. And it will be here where we will talk about how it works and how to maximize its effectiveness. First let us get you to understand the basics.

When understanding Fuel and how it works. It is all about the fact of how many hyperspace jumps you can make before having to land and refill your ship. There are ways around it, however, we will not talk about them till later in this section. First off how to 'judge' fuel consumption. Each hyperspace jump takes 100 fuel or one yellow bar in the far left bar on the UI. Judging how many jumps is imperative to know in this game. For if you are stuck in an uninhabited system, it can be a pain to refill your ship. Requiring you to hail a friendly ship and hope you are not bombarded by pirates in the process. Hailing is done by cycling through friendly ships with the N key and then the T key hails them. On rare occasions boarding a ship that is disabled grants, you fuel as well. However, the latter is very rare.

Maximizing the fuel capacity is one way to improve fuel consumption. Using fuel pods from the outfitter. You can actually increase your fuel capacity 100 Fuel each pod. Another way to improve this is ramscoops. Ramscoops come in two forms, the basic ramscoop, and the Catalytic Ramscoop that is a reward from a Free Worlds mission. The basic Ramscoop restores proximity 10-15 fuel a second, whereas the Catalytic Ramscoop restores at a whopping 30-50 Fuel per second at an approximate value. The exact values will be changed later if someone wishes to point these out.

Now with all that said, let us talk about how to plan your destination. Now you can always chose your end point and count the jumps and hope you don't space out while hyperspace activates and forget to land on a planet to refill, space stations do not refill your Fuel. So it has to be a planet. Or, we can go the safer route and if an uninhabited system is going to grab you on your journey. Select the habitat system before the uninhabited system and land before proceeding.

With some ships, Fuel is not an issue for most trade runs or jumps between missions. Some ships are unable to fit a fuel pod or ramscoop without the use of a mass converter. So when choosing a ship this will be one of many primary things to look at. Fury's are one of the few who do not have the outfitting space to carry either at a stock level, so modifying it is imperative to help its fuel capacity to benefit you evenly. Still with only 15 cargo space, it is unable to use a mass converter. So it would have to be sacrificed elsewhere. Unlike some other ships including the starting ships that just so happen to have the required space for one. In the end, adding fuel pods and ramscoops help you (and your fleet) so you do not get stranded.

When you start your fleet and you just happen to forget these things, your escorts will be the ones fueled up first. Leaving you vulnerable for an extended period of time. Granted, your fleet will also auto fuel if they run out of fuel on a habituated system, but not if they are in an inhabitated system. It is wise to keep your fuel, and theirs fairly similar.

Now, let us talk about how separate Drive systems work. This fits in this section because of one major factor. Hyperdrives and Scram Drives CAN use only 100 Fuel. Scram Drives are also able to decrease the time in which they activate, but they use 25 more fuel in the process. Then there is the Notorious Jump Drive. It uses 150 fuel to activate at all times. SO when building your ships modified fuel capacity, you need to take into account of how many jumps you wish to take before refilling, as well as the Drive you have installed.

Fleet Management: Or I got a little friend... or many of them.

Well, we managed to pay off the debt and make a little profit. Or, we bought a crew member and stole that sparrow that we shot down with our own sparrow. Either way, let us say you have gotten a fleet started. Meaning you have two or more ships under your command. Sounds great right? More guns/cargo/bunks! YAY! Wait, didn't I pay off my loan and I still have money ticking away?! WHAT! HOW! -RAGE- Okay, calm down and take a breather.

Allow me to explain. Fleets are a vital part of this game later on. Early on it is also a nice investment if done intelligently. Two Star Barges are better than one, tow sparrows are better than one two little shuttles are better than one. However, when we put fleets into perspective, we still have to pay. How? Well, I got that ship for free by boarding it! Not exactly. You paid 100CR per month(Jump/Land) to that crew member. Early on that don't sound like much. 100CR, I am making 34,000CR in three jumps with this bulk or rush delivery. Okay, let's be realistic, not as few jumps but close enough.

Every ship you buy costs money, every crew member you need to pilot that ship is also 100CR. Early game, it's best to stick to smaller crews till you can get your money racked up for those ships worth the extra crew, and develop routes that benefit your playstyle. While 100CR for every crew member may not sound like much. Like the loan, it ticks away every jump and can eat you alive. Unlike the loan, unless you park or sell the ship, you are stuck with it.

So let us talk about the dynamics. Parking, now this is a nice aspect. Say you buy a ship and notice you are losing money in the long run due to crew salaries. Yet you happen to like that ship, and you can manage without it till you figure out a better paying trade route. Or, say a mission comes to a point where having your armada kills the objective you were supposed to not kill or had to board. Find a planet. Land on it, and press "I" You can go solo, and park all on the bottoms with that button, or you can select the ship via the second tab on the top and cycle through ships via the info interface and hit Park on the bottom. Allowing you to select what specific ships you will carry into battle or what ship you will park.

And then there is Fleet Jumping. You would hold [J] in order to command the fleet to align for jump. Once you see all your ships slowed down and aligned, you release [J] to initiate fleet jump. Any ships that weren't aligned at that time will catch up shortly after your arrival. This, however, could lead to your sudden death if you are throwing your fleet into an enemy fleet to break up a blob or such.



Then there is the concentrated fire system. Okay, lets say there is a pirate Falcon named Death To You. However, your escorts(your fleet) happens to want to fight the small guys while Death To You focuses on you and keeps blowing you out of the sky. Select Death To You via quick cycling with the R key and then tap that F key. Well, now all of your escorts are now shooting concentrated fire on that Heavy Warship that is eating you alive. Which may or may not just save your life.

Same instance, but you just got done killing the pirate ship. But now you want your ships near you and they are off goofing off with a huge warship that you don't wish them to play with. This is where G comes in handy. Tapping G once will have them gather around you. Tapping it twice will have them stop gathering. Now, let us say they get a bit itchy and you are trying to hold a position. Hit H to hold the position. Then G to get them to follow you again.


But sir, I have this fancy new ship and I want to keep the current flagship I have. But as part of my fleet. The new shiny ship I just bought is to be my new flagship. How do I do that? Land in a system that has a shipyard or outfitter. You will see your fleet of ships as boxed icons on the top right of the screen. Chose the ship you want to have as your shiny new flagship, then drag it to be the first ship.

A flagship is the ship that you control. The others in your fleet are the escorts. With that said what do you want to be a flagship? Not an interceptor, not unless that is all you have. Well, this depends on your playstyle in the end. It could be either of the three classes. However, it will be the ship you wish to have the most survivability on. Be it a Freighter, Heavy Warship, Light Warship, Carrier, Alien, Hybrid, Golden Donut. It is the ONE ship that MUST survive. It gets blown up? I think we all know what happens. Game Over. Unfortunately, you do not get the choice to escape pod out and get to a new ship you own.

Author's Notes

10/31: 2SPOOKY4ME: It's hard writing a guide at 5am with little sleep an' no coffee. Hopefully this is a decent enough start. Will get more knocked out in the coming days. Get pictures of stuff. Poorly photoshop them. Maybe use OBS to get short gameplay clips to demonstrate how to do stuff. And then poorly edit them. We'll see.

10/31(2): Back from Halloween stuff guys! Back to hammering out more flesh in the guide as I go along! Thinking of executing a stream to help get more eyes on what I am doing! Thoughts?
P.S.: The Developer, Michael Zahniser, has posted an official FAQ regarding many common questions and problems that exist with the game right here. I plan on trying to integrate many of the specifics mentioned in his FAQ into this guide with citation back to Michael! [Credit is deserved where credit is due, after all!]

11/6: Hey guys, TOPPEST HONK here again. Pray none of your guys' identities and stuff doesn't get stolen. It sucks when that happens :3

11/7: Drakkon here, TOPPEST HONK allowed me to help him out with this so I added some info about fleets. I know there have been quite a few people asking for info on it and how it works so I thought it would help clairify some. Do not be afraid to ask for specific things to be added to this guide. It's here to help after all.

11/12: Drakkon here, I added a bit about fuel. I hope it helps you understand the dynamic a bit more and how to utilize it.

12/12: HONK HONK. There has been a lot of good discussion around some of the mechanics here in the comments section. I'll add some of it into the guide soon.

Also, as another note, a REALLY BIG THANK YOU to all the people that rated the guide and have viewed it, for better or worse. Even simple feedback like that does mean a lot to me. This is helping inspire me to build more guides for games in the future!

[DCBenton]

And the inspiration for Escape Velocity came from the original Elite, like all these kinds of games. :D

[goingindefinetly]

@Clouds_strife who said that wasn't the inspiration? They said "seem familiar". The average consumer today has no idea what escape velocity is, so not exactly a great comparison to make.

[Clouds_Strife]

The inspiration of the game comes from Escape Velocity from ambrosia software on the mac from back in the day. Not Elite or Eve. In fact its nearly the same thing.

[MaKr0vE]

lol i the loan didnt notice it till i near from finish it lol and dude its took me all day to buy heavy shuttle started chain of hauling and ppl travel in same road and got my first big ship hauler II :) man its fun after that endless ships fight me and i capture all of them and in no time my army massive and no one stop me but sadly cant get bigger once so u did trade routes first 300 , 500 ,600 , 720 and bomb got 25 m for biggest ship the shop selling u and its gives me every thing i need but sadly i didnt know there is story missions, so i didnt get my city-ship card, but my sky queen star queen ship shinned out and told "me man shut up and buy me u want big ships right then buy me and lets rule the worlds" and bomb i started hunt pirate ships every one of them i was killing 1m bird in one rock transport the cargo, kill bounties, escorting and capturing falcons and above ships but there one ship i cant its the 25m worth heavy warship :( sry for bad eng

[GhostAssassin]

any chance of a combat guide, it the 1 thing in this game i let the ai do(turrets) cus i struggle

[Vortex]

How to get rid of your debt instantly: Go to your save file and edit your credits amount XD

[flipkick 25]

yes theres that and thank you and read ma blog https://justgametechandmore.blogspot.com/

[Bean Meister]

A little note here: If your in a system with no habital planets or no space ports to refuel, go to the sun of the sytstem as it gives you small amounts of fue, and you get more the closer you are to the center of it

[Les]

Very helpful I am very confused on how this game works and now I can learn better!

[Mr. Burns]

Thank you for such a neat guide! This game can be a bit confusing at start but i'm really enjoying it after learning the basic mechanics.