A Beginner's Guide to SSCU Trench Wars

If you've come across Subspace Continuum on Steam and decided to try it, you'll probably find that the one of the most populated "zones" (or game servers) is SSCU Trench Wars. This guide aims to give you a basic understanding of the zone, how to play, and what the different ships do, along with explaining some of the minigames and competitions that happen there.

Introduction

Welcome! If you're reading this guide then that means you want to learn about SSCU Trench Wars, one of the most active zones in Subspace Continuum. It can be a bit of a bewildering place to a newcomer, but this small guide covers some starter knowledge of Subspace itself, along with some specific basics that will help you enjoy Trench Wars and avoid getting repeatedly destroyed.

For simplicity, I'll refer to Trench Wars simply as "TW" throughout the rest of this guide. Any controls that I mention will be the game's defaults, so keep that in mind if if you've rebound your keys and stuff isn't behaving as described.

As well as this guide you can always check out the official Trench Wars website - http://www.trenchwars.org/ - for the most up-to-date zone and league news.

This guide was written by Valiant (Telkir on Steam), a mostly harmless newbie and former squadleader with several thousand hours of gameplay across various zones (most of those in Trench Wars). If you can see anything that's plainly wrong or needs to be improved, or have suggestions for stuff that could be included, let me know about it - all constructive criticism is welcome.

Have fun, and I hope you find this guide useful!

Handy Hints

Although this guide is mostly based on playing the Trench Wars zone, new players may also find these hints and tips useful to explain a few things about Subspace in general.

• Subspace is an old game - 20 years old, in fact! Some of the controls may feel a bit awkward at first, but they shouldn't take long to get used to.
  
• You can press <F1> to cycle through a selection of help pages that give a good summary of the game's controls and chat commands.
  
• Chat can be a bit boisterous sometimes. The game has many experienced players who will gladly try to help newcomers, but you may find a rare few to be somewhat bothersome. You can ignore anyone being obnoxious by typing the command ?ignore PlayerName into chat.
  
• Pressing <Esc> brings up the game menu whilst in-game - it appears at the top middle of the screen. From this menu you can change the ship you're flying, enter spectator mode, and toggle various options and UI elements. You can even quit the game - but you don't want to do that yet, do you?...
  
• While the <Esc> menu is active, the chat history will be fully expanded so that you can read previous messages.
  
• One thing you might want to do while the menu is open is to hit <F6> to toggle on or off the help ticker messages that appear in the chat area.
  
• If you're flying around and become lost, hold down <Alt> to show a full-size map of the arena you're in. You are the blinking yellow dot.
  
• While in spectator mode you can change your banner, the small image that is displayed next to your name in the player list and under your ship. Banners are BMP files that you can create or download into your Subspace "banner" folder - check out http://www.trenchwars.org/ssbe/ for a huge collection of premade banners.

Talking more specifically about Trench Wars, if you see any player with a <ZH> after their name, that means they are a Zone Helper, a member of staff whose main job is to answer any questions you might have about the zone or Subspace in general. Don't be afraid to talk to them, or ask any questions you have using the ?help command!

Arenas and the Public Arena

When you first connect to TW you will find yourself in a public arena, affectionately called a "pub". Pub arenas are the rooms that make up the server's default type of gameplay, and depending on how many players are online, there may be more than one of them.

You can see a full map of the arena you're in by holding down the <Alt> key. The main part of the TW pub should look something like this:



If you seem to be somewhere else, you can quickly return to a public arena at any time by typing the command ?go into chat.

TW has many other arenas that you can visit, each home to their own minigame and ruleset. A few of the more popular arenas are explained later in the guide, but for the time being, it's useful to know that you can see a list of populated arenas by pressing <Esc> and then <A>. A list will appear at the top of your screen similar to that shown here.

By using the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys you can change which arena you have selected, then press <Enter> to go there. If you know the name of the arena you want to visit, you can also use the ?go command - for example, typing ?go elim would take you to the elimination minigame arena.

NOTE: A recent change means that some arenas in the list are actually shortcuts that take you to other zones - some of these shortcuts are one-way and you may need to return to the game's main menu to reconnect in order to return to Trench Wars after using them.

Public arenas are always shown in brackets at the top of the list. In TW, there are often more arenas than can be shown on one page, so to scroll the list, keep using <PgDn> at the bottom of the list until you reach the end.

While you play, you might occasionally see green messages appear in the chat area to tell you about an event that's about to start. They'll include the ?go arenaname command that you need to use in order to take part.

As a final note, there are also private arenas that don't show up in the list even if there are people in them. Their names are prefixed by a "#" and commonly include arenas for squads to chill out in or for event bots to be stored while they aren't being used.

But that's enough about arenas for now - let's move on to actually playing the game!

How to Play Trench Wars

NOTE: Want to learn inside the game? Trench Wars includes an in-game tutorial that you can start by typing !tutorial in chat.

Alright, time to get in there and start playing! If you aren't already in a public arena, type ?go to reach one. You'll probably be in spectator mode after connecting to the server and will be watching the game in progress, so to begin you'll have to pick a ship to use.

Spectating and Picking a Ship

For now, press <Esc> and then <1>. This will change you into ship #1, the Warbird, which in most zones is a general-purpose fighter excellent for learners. Warbirds in TW are no exception - they're fast and can be useful in several ways. You'll warp into the map somewhere in an asteroid belt below the base, and the game will look something like this:



You can change ships this way at any time in public arenas. The eight different ships and their roles are fully covered later in the guide, but meanwhile, two other ships that are fairly easy to play are the Spider (<Esc> then <3>) and the Lancaster (<Esc> then <7>). See which one you prefer!

If you want to take a break from the action but still watch what's going on, you can enter spectator mode - commonly shortened to just "spec" - by pressing <Esc> and then <S>. While spectating you can move the camera around with the cursor keys, or follow a particular ship by targetting them in the player list (see below) and pressing <Ctrl>.

Moving, Shooting, and Energy

You can use the cursor keys <Left> and <Right> to rotate your ship, <Up> to thrust forwards, and <Down> to thrust backwards. Pressing <Shift> while thrusting will use your afterburners, boosting your acceleration and top speed. Last but not least, press <Ctrl> to fire your gun and <Tab> to fire bombs, if your ship has them (Warbirds don't). Pew pew! Your Warbird gun will kill any ship it hits in just one shot, but it has a relatively long time between shots.



It's very important to watch the energy information at the top middle and top right of your screen - you'll notice that it depletes every time you fire. Energy is also used to fuel your afterburners and protect you from incoming fire. When you take damage from enemy fire, your energy will drain, and if it falls below zero then you'll be kersploded. No worries, though - you'll be respawned in a jiffy to continue the fight.

Friends, Foes, and the Player List

By now you'll be seeing other ships flying around you. Ships with yellow names are allies on your team and your bullets won't hurt them, so don't waste energy in trying to kill them. Ships with blue names, on the other hand, are enemies - shoot them as much as you like!

You've also probably seen the player list on your screen - it's the window in the top left corner. It lists all of the players in the current arena, and you can cycle through different layouts by pressing <F2>. In the default view, you appear at the top and your teammates are listed immediately below you. Players with a small "S" indicator next to them are in spectator mode and aren't currently flying a ship.

The red arrow marker indicates your currently selected or "ticked" player, and you can move this up and down the list using <PgUp> and <PgDn>. This will be useful later on. As with the arena list, sometimes the display will be full and you'll need to scroll it downwards to find the player you're looking for.

Note: You can extend or shorten the list by pressing <Esc> and then <PgUp> / <PgDn>. Just be sure to hit <Esc> again when you've made it a size you're happy with.

The Objective

Alrighty - once you've familiarised yourself with flying around shooting anything blue you come across, it's time to head inside the base and join your team fighting for the main objective - capturing and holding the flag inside the base's flag room!

Because of the way TW gameplay works, you may have already been warped into the flagroom with the rest of your team at the start of one of the rounds. It's the room that's deep inside the castle-like structure on the map:



The flag is located tight against the red wall. Like other ships, if it's yellow, your team is controlling it, but if it's blue then it's under enemy control. Capturing the flag is easy in practice - just fly your ship over it, and you'll hear a sound and it'll turn yellow - but the enemy team will usually be doing everything they can to make sure this doesn't happen!

In order to win victory in a round, one team must capture and hold the flag for three minutes. Matches are played as a best of 5 rounds. When each round ends, some statistics will be displayed in chat and all players on the winning team will receive some "pub bux" - more on those later. Players who made special contributions during the round also get some bonus prize money.

Terriers and Attaching

In standard Trench Wars "basing" gameplay, Terriers - ship number 5, also called "terrs" - are very important. They're a special ship that other players on the same team can attach to. This is great for getting back into the battle quickly, but this also makes Terriers a priority target - avoid flying one as a new player!

Look out for friendly Terriers on your team, and when you see one, use the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys to select their name with the red arrow marker in the player list (as explained earlier). Once you have the Terrier's name selected, press <F7> and you'll attach to them, teleporting on top of their ship. At this point you can only act as a gun turret by aiming and firing your guns; you can't control the movement of the ship you're attached to. Once you press <F7> again, though, you detach and regain your own ship.

Ships - Overview

There are eight ships that you can choose to fly in Subspace, and all of them will vary slightly in the handling, weapons, and items that they offer. Although in some zones the differences may not be very noticeable, the ships in Trench Wars mostly have very specific roles.

1. Warbird - a fast, agile interceptor with powerful guns. Excellent for hunting down enemy Terriers and other precision attacks.
   
2. Javelin - a light bomber equipped with Rockets. Can cause serious damage to clustered groups of enemies in tight spaces.
   
3. Spider - its rapid-fire guns are weak but great for suppressing enemies while keeping in cover. Can also detect and hunt down cloaked Weasels with its X-Radar.
   
4. Leviathan - this ponderously slow siege ship is usually a sitting duck by itself, but when turreted on a Terrier it can wreak havoc with its hugely powerful bombs.
   
5. Terrier - a weak but fast support ship that acts as a rally point for attacking or defending allies, or as a nimble platform for Leviathan siege bombers.
   
6. Weasel - its cloaking device makes it perfect for assassinations on unsuspecting enemies, but watch out for enemy Spiders!
   
7. Lancaster - armed with shotgun-style multifire guns, the Lancaster is a deadly foe in tight spaces.
   
8. Shark - this support ship can drop mines and clear any that the enemy have placed using Repels. Also commonly found protecting Terriers.

NOTE: Ships in other zones and even in certain other mingame arenas within Trench Wars can behave quite differently! The descriptions in the guide are for "vanilla" Trench Wars settings only.

Ship 1 - The Warbird

Role: General purpose interceptor

Guns: Lv. 3

Bombs: None

Abilities: None

The Warbird is a fast and very maneuverable fighter that's almost universally useful to the team - it's an excellent ship for new players to learn with and a well placed shot from its level 3 guns can take out any enemy in just a single hit. Frequently used to chase down and eliminate priority targets such as Terriers and Sharks, the Warbird also appeals to players who want to duel or snipe enemies from long range.

Warbirds don't have any special abilities, and without X-Radar, can be susceptible to sneak attacks from cloaked enemy Weasels. However, their mobility and speed mean that they can patrol long distances outside the base very quickly, perfect for hunting or scaring off so-called enemy "Leviterrs" (Leviathan heavy bombers attached to Terrier support ships).

Two of the main leagues in Trench Wars are based around 5 vs. 5 team Warbird fights, so if you plan on getting into competitive play, getting plenty of practice in this ship is a good choice.

Ship 2 - The Javelin

Role: Light bomber

Guns: Lv. 1 (rear)

Bombs: Lv. 1

Abilities: Rockets, X-Radar

Javelins - or Javs for short - specialise in sneaking their bouncing bombs between the gaps in the base's crumbling walls. Just one well-placed bomb can take out several enemy ships in one go if they're clustered together - but as you learn to use them, take care not to teamkill your allies!

To defend itself between bomb launches the Javelin can use its rear guns. You can toggle the 3-way multifire mode of these guns by pressing <Del>, although you may have to collect some green powerups in the spawn area before these become available to you. Javelins can also power themselves up with a Rocket, a disposable engine upgrade item that can be activated with <F3> to briefly give a big boost to speed and acceleration. Skilled Javelin pilots can use this boost to launch a bomb at lethal speed making it harder for enemy ships to dodge or repel. Use Rockets carefully, though - once activated, they don't turn off until they run out of fuel a few seconds later!

The power of the Javelin's bombs can be increased further by collecting greens to boost the amount of shrapnel they release upon exploding. Bombs that are fully upgraded with the maximum amount of shrapnel can cause a lot of extra damage.

Like Warbirds, Javelins also see a lot of action in competitive leagues, though they require a different set of skills to fly effectively. Their bombs move somewhat slowly and can bounce only once before exploding upon contact, so learning good bounce angles and positions to fire from is important - and if you miss a lot, learn how to aim and use those tailguns to deal with enemies trying to ambush you!

Ship 3 - The Spider

Role: Front line fighter / anti-cloak

Guns: Lv. 1

Bombs: None

Abilities: X-Radar

The Spider is always found on the front line of any heated base battle. Although its guns are weak and need several consecutive hits to destroy a target, it can fire many shots rapidly before needing to recharge. It also can be upgraded to carry X-Radar, toggled with <End>, that will reveal nearby cloaked Weasels to its pilot when active at the cost of reducing its energy recharge rate.

A group of experienced Spiders is a force to be reckoned with - they can suppress and even push back the enemy in both offence and defence, and for that reason, they're a vital component of any successful 8 vs. 8 basing league squad. Energy management is especially important when flying a Spider - pilots should learn to know when to shoot and when to use afterburners to get into a better position.

Ship 4 - The Leviathan

Role: Heavy bomber

Guns: Lv. 2

Bombs: Lv. 3

Abilities: Stealth, X-Radar, Rockets, Repels, Portals

Despite being something of a sitting duck when caught alone or out in the open, the slow, hulking Leviathan nevertheless has the potential to cause widespread destruction and mayhem. Its level 3 bombs have a very long recharge time but deal huge splash damage - any ship near the centre of the blast will be ripped apart. It can also drop a single powerful mine with <Shift> + <Tab> if the situation demands it.

To compensate for its poor agility and speed, it comes fitted with a variety of useful gear - Rockets to get out of a sticky situations in a hurry, Repels to briefly deflect enemy fire and mines, Portals to set a safety point they can warp back to later, Stealth to hide from enemy radar, and X-Radar to detect enemy stealth ships.

Pairing up with a Terrier allows the Leviathan to turn its terrifying siege power into a turret on a very mobile platform, making them a dangerous opponent that can circle around the outside of the base, wiping out groups of enemies inside with carefully placed shots as they go. However, in doing so, they have to trust that the pilot of their so-called "Leviterr" will react quickly to the threat of any prowling Warbirds or Weasels that are tired of their shenanigans!

Leviathans are a specialised ship that generally aren't used in leagues but can still be great fun to fly in pub arenas with assistance from a friend or two.

Ship 5 - The Terrier

Role: Support / carrier

Guns: Lv. 1

Bombs: None

Abilities: Portals, Bursts, X-Radar

Terriers are vitally important for teams seeking any form of victory in basing, either in pub arenas or in leagues. In Trench Wars, the Terrier is the only ship that other allies can attach to (by selecting the pilot in the player list and pressing <F7>). This prevents the need for others to fly back to the front line after being destroyed.

These support ships are at home in the base, either in the flag room, alerting their teammates to sneaky incoming cloakers using their X-Radar, or somewhere in the base's middle area providing their allies with an anchor point straight to the action. In pub arenas they're also used to give Leviathan bombers a mobile turret platform to terrorise the enemy from.

Their guns are weak and slow, but do have situational use against enemies who get too close. More useful and deadly is the Terrier's Burst, a one-use item fired with <Shift> + <Del>, that releases 3 pieces of powerful bouncing shrapnel in a triangular pattern. Each piece of shrapnel is harmless until it first bounces off an obstacle, so Bursts are only useful in walled areas.

Another trick up the Terrier's sleeve is its disposable Portal item. While any ship with full energy can warp to the spawn area beneath the base by hitting the <Insert> key, a Terrier can drop a Portal beacon at their current position by pressing <Shift> + <Insert>. Then, at any time the beacon remains active and without needing full energy, the Terrier can later warp back to it with <Insert>. The beacon expires after it is warped to.

Experienced Terrier pilots can use their ship's high speed, Portals, and Bursts to escape certain death situations, sometimes immediately launching a counterattack on an unprepared attacker. They're one of the most challenging and rewarding craft to fly effectively. As a new player it's best to steer clear of them until you are more familiar with basing tactics and the game's controls.

Ship 6 - The Weasel

Role: Stealth ops

Guns: Level 3

Bombs: None

Abilities: Rockets, Repels, Stealth, Cloak

For those who enjoy a sneakier style of gameplay, Weasels are the perfect choice. They come fitted with Stealth (toggled using <Home>) and Cloak (<Shift> + <Home>) as standard, making them undetectable by enemy radar and turning them invisible to nearby ships. With these abilities they can infiltrate the enemy and assassinate unsuspecting targets, although they aren't able to recharge energy while both stealthed and cloaked.

However, a Weasel pilot should always be aware that an enemy with active X-Radar can see through both of these abilities. Canny players may even be able to fool you into thinking that they don't see you, while turning around and striking at the last moment!

Weasels will instantly decloak upon firing their gun making them extremely vulnerable to a counterattack from any enemies close by, but they can use their Rockets (<F3>) to try and escape from the scene, and Repels (<Shift> + <Ctrl>) to clear enemy mines or deflect incoming fire in an emergency.

Ship 7 - The Lancaster

Role: Close-range assault

Guns: Lv. 2

Bombs: None

Abilities: None

Lancasters, or "Lancs", are masters of facing down enemies at close range with their shotgun-like wide angle guns. Although they cannot kill an enemy with full energy in just a single shot in the same way a Warbird can, their gun can be fired more than once in short succession before needing to recharge.

In tight spaces, Lancaster attacks are nearly impossible to dodge, but they become somewhat less of a threat when out in the open. Although they lack any special abilities, they're quite nimble and have plenty of energy to fuel their afterburners and soak up damage.

With no special abilities, Lancasters tend to be the least used of the three gun-only ship classes (Warbirds and Spiders being the other two), especially in league play, but they are very easy to fly and are a good choice for new players to learn the game with.

Ship 8 - The Shark

Role: Support / minesweeper

Guns: None

Bombs: Lv. 1 (EMP)

Abilities: Repels, X-Radar

Another important support vessel is the Shark, a very helpful ship whose main job is to clear enemy mines using its stock of Repels (<Shift> + <Ctrl>) so that allies can safely charge forth. It can also be invaluable in protecting the team's Terriers from enemy bomber attacks.

In other zones, a ship is often able to drop mines as long as it has bombs available, but in Trench Wars, the Shark is one of only two ships that can deploy its bombs as mines. A single Shark can have a maximum of four active mines at once, dropped by using <Shift> + <Tab>.

Shark mines and bombs are also special in that they have an EMP effect; if a hostile ship takes damage from them, their ability to recharge energy will be temporarily disabled until the EMP wears off - and the more damage taken, the longer the EMP lasts! You'll notice sparkly particles on your ship if you've been affected by EMP.

Because the Shark's bomb launcher doesn't actually "launch" bombs with any velocity except the ship's inertia, a patient pilot can park their ship as best they can then launch a bomb (with <Tab>) at a virtual standstill, effectively turning it into an extra mine.

Like Javelins, Sharks can increase the damage potential of their mines and bombs by collecting greens to upgrade the amount of shrapnel released when they explode.

Events and Minigames

Trench Wars features dozens of events that can be hosted automatically by bots or by the zone's human staff members, some of them in arenas which have their own unique graphics, sound effects and ship classes! To try and cover every single one would take a guide all by itself, but here's a list of some of the most popular events and arenas you can expect to see hosted around the trenches:

Elimination (?go elim)

Battle Royale? Pfft - my friend, let me tell you, Subspace was doing it years before it was cool!

Hosted automatically by the arena's famous Robo Ref whenever there are enough people, elimination matches are just what the name suggests - free-for-all fights where the only goal is to be the last man standing. Elim matches can use any ship type, though Warbirds and Javelins tend to be the most popular.

Hockey (?go hockey)

Another self-explanatory minigame, in hockey you'll help your team to wrangle the puck into your opponents' goal, while trying to stop them from doing the same to you! Like the Elimination arena, hockey matches can be run automatically with a bot referee. Despite their simplicity, rounds of hockey are be one of the most intense games to play in and are great fun to watch as well. Just remember the one important control you'll need: it's <Ins> to launch the puck when you have it! More details on hockey ships and the game's community can be found at http://rshl.org/ci/.

Deathmatch (?go deathmatch)

This innocent arena scattered with asteroids is a place often used to host fights to the death involving 2 or more teams with lots of players. Sometimes, instead of random groups, captains get picked to create teams from players who attend. If the host feels like a little variety, they might fire up some weird and wonderful game types like Hunt and ProDem to spice things up...

Mario (?go mario)

Let's-a go! The world's best-known moustached plumber and some of his friends have set up camp in Trench Wars to plan their invasion of the rest of Subspace. Dash around Mario Kart-style dodging the red and green shells of your enemies to survive whatever madness the host conjures up.

Squads and Leagues

Squads

Squads are Subspace's equiavlent of clans and guilds - groups of pilots who enjoy flying together and fighting for a common cause. While other MMOs might have raiding to take part in as the "end-game", Subspace and Trench Wars in particular encourages squads to fight for honour and glory in a variety of official competitions. Some squads will choose to specialise in one particular league discipline, while others compete in all types of league.

Forming a new squad or joining an existing one is very easy - the commands to do so are explained by the in-game help system which you can read by pressing the <F1> key. Grab some friends and get to it!

Competitions

Although a game that's now over 20 years old, zones in Subspace have a long history of hosting various player-run competitions for the squads and pilots that fly in them. Internet spaceships are serious business! TW alone boasts two different sets of hotly-contended championships - the League and the Divisions.

Each of these two main competitions are split into three types of gameplay:

• Duelling - 5 vs. 5 matches played using Warbirds in an open arena. 10 deaths and you're out - the first team to eliminate their opponent is the winner!
  
• Javelin - As above, but with teams using Javelins in a more enclosed arena with plenty of walls to bounce bombs around.
  
• Basing - 8 vs. 8 matches broadly similar to pub arena gameplay where teams fight over the flag to score the most points before the match time ends.

There are other disciplines, but these three comprise the majority of competitive matches that are played.

Trench Wars League

Website: http://twl.subspace.tw/

The Trench Wars League is the oldest contest to be held in the zone, initially created as a duelling competition shortly after TW first came online. It quickly attracted a large number of contenders and spectators, with finals that often saw several hundred people turn up to watch the outcome! Later, the League expanded to include separate titles for basing and Javelin matches.

As its name suggests, the TWL is played in a league format where each squad will play a match against all other competing squads. Matches are refereed by staff members and typically held on weekends. A League season is typically run over the period of around two to three months.

The League has been the source of the some of the most memorable moments in the zone's history and it remains a crucible in which the best players in the zone clash to try and claim the championship (with often quite fiery results). To become eligible to play in TWL, squads currently have to qualify by finishing within the top 8 of the appropriate Division (e.g. TWBD for basing, TWJD for Javelins, and so on).

Trench Wars Divisions

Website: http://twd.subspace.tw/

Although TWD is the newer of the two league sets, it still sees plenty of activity as it's now the only path to qualify for the TWL. It's also a good way for squads to improve their skills as matches can be played at any time - as long as each side has enough players available and is willing to play!

TWD matches can be organised and hosted automatically using special league bots controlled by squad captains and their nominated assistants. Matches are played using very similar rules to the TWL, and after the game is completed, each squad's score in the ladder is adjusted using an ELO formula (which is fully explained on this forum post[forums.trenchwars.org]).

Other Competitions

The action doesn't stop there! You should also check out some of these other contests that occasionally run in and around Trench Wars:

• Trench Wars Extreme League - for pilots to engage in 1 vs. 1 ranked duels. Homepage: http://subspace.tw/twel/
  
• Trench Wars Draft Tournament - as the name suggests, a league based on a drafting system closely linked to the TWD. No homepage - organised through the TW forums.[forums.trenchwars.org]

There are two other competitions that don't seem very active at the time of writing this guide, but may be useful to mention regardless. They are:

• Trench Wars Racing Cup - gotta go fast!
  
• Trench Wars Hockey Tournament - yep, hockey in Subspace is a thing and quite popular, too!

Pub Bux and TW-PubSystem

As you play in TW's public arenas you'll notice that you are occasionally awarded Pub Bux. Your amount of bux in your wallet is shown in the top right of the screen at the bottom of the list next to the $ icon.

Pub Bux can be used for a variety of fun things:

• Placing bounties on other players
  
• Challenging players to duels
  
• Betting on the results of duels in progress
  
• Gambling your fortune away on the TW fruit machine

TW-PubSystem

To use your bux and access a variety of other free commands, you'll need to make use of TW-PubSystem, a bot which hangs around in spectator mode in public arenas. You can send it commands via private messages in chat.

Send a private message to any targetted player or bot by putting a single forwardslash before your chat message. Make sure you have the right person selected first with the red marker arrow in the player list box using <PgUp> and <PgDn>.

To get started, find and select TW-PubSystem in the player list, then type /!help - the bot should respond by messaging you a list of all valid commands, as shown below. Keep in mind that not all commands may be available at any given time, and that you can expand chat to display more lines of history by pressing the <Esc> key to open the menu. Press <Esc> again to minimise it when done.



All of the commands given below must be sent to the TW-PubSystem bot in order to work.

Duel Challenges and Bets

You can challenge players to duels in various ways, watch and bet on existing duels, and remove any active challenges you've placed. You can get a full list and explanation of challenge commands in-game by sending !helpall challenge to the bot. The basic duel commands are:

• !challenge PlayerName:ShipNumber:BetAmount - challenges the given player to a duel with BetAmount as the prize money in bux. Both you and your opponent use the specificied ship number (e.g. 1 for Warbird, 2 for Javelin, and so on).
  
• !chspecial PlayerName:Ship1:Ship2:BetAmount - as above, but Ship1 is the ship number you will use, and Ship2 is the ship number your opponent will use.
  
• !duel *:ShipNumber:BetAmount - challenges any player to a duel in the specified ship number with BetAmount as the prize money in bux.
  
• !removechallenge - cancels all challenges that you have sent.
  
• !openduels - see a list of all open duels that you can accept.
  
• !watchduel Playername - watch the duel that PlayerName is currently taking part in.
  
• !beton PlayerName:BetAmount - bets the given number of bux that the specified player will win the duel they're fighting.

Bounties

If someone has managed to become your nemesis, or you just want to see a player blown to smithereens for whatever other reason, you can encourage your fellow internet spaceships to make it happen by placing a bounty on them.

The commands are fairly straightforward. Just message the bot with one of these:

• !listbty - shows a list of all currently active bounties.
  
• !listbty PlayerName - lists the bounties that have been placed on the specified player.
  
• !addbty PlayerName:BountyAmount - adds the given amount of bux to a player's bounty.

The TW Fruit Machine - "Revenge of the Levi"

Spending your hard-earned bux while chilling in spectator mode was never any easier than this - there's a completely based fruit machine system built into TW-PubSystem with possible payouts of up to 200x your bet amount!

You can spin the fruit machine by using this command on the bot:

• !fruit BetAmount:NumberOfSpins - spins the fruit machine the given number of times with a bet of BetAmount pub bux.

Good luck, and remember: gamble responsibly!

[Superman™]

hey, please join the official subspace continuum discord for the whole game. We're trying to get everyone from the game - current players and people who don't play anymore - into one discord server to connect the community. https://discord.gg/ZbB739ueRw

[indifference84]

Would be cool to update w/ the laptop layout too...

[Cirno]

Спасибо.

[Telkir]

Thanks for the catch! Will fix that now. Been a few years since I've been around and although I tried to do my research, some things are a little rusty...

[John 3:16]

Amazing job, great guide!

Couple corrections though: Weasel is not small anymore, and the Shark is not the only ship that can lay mines (Leviathan can lay 1).

It might also be a good idea to clarify the difference between EMP bombs and normal bombs.