Revision as of 20:29, 19 April 2011

Welcome to Star Sonata! You're one of the thousand people who have begun this game and begun to enjoy it. However, like all of us from the new player in their Zebucart or the endgame Lion Berserker cruising around perilous space, you probably need help. I'm undertaking the task of writing the complete guide to Star Sonata, and hope you'll find what you need in here. Of course, since new content is added every day, this will most likely be out of date soon, so if you see and blatant errors please feel free to fix them.

Since this guide is so large, I suggest either utilizing the links below or the Control+F function that will allow you to search for specific keywords in these pages. I hope you find what you're looking for, or if you don't, please feel free to throw a PM my way if I'm on.

Sincerely, L0L<Same Person>Wikilol 20:35, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

The Beginning

The Tutorials

So you're a new player. You just spawned in The Nexus and you find yourself confused with all the Ships flying around. Are you in danger? No, you're perfectly safe unless you attack them, which you will in a few moments. To move your ship around, use the A key to turn left, W key to accelerate, D key to turn right, and S key to slow down. If The Nexus hasn't been seriously modified since this guide was written, there should be a base to the upper right of where you started. I suggest docking and beginning the Mission there. Read the mission dialogue and then begin the mission. To undock you can click the "Undock" button in the upper right corner of the window that appeared when you docked. First, I suggest looking around the tabs in the top of the docking window and seeing what they do. The General tab includes Missions, a base introduction/ description, and the current status of the Emperor position. The Trading tab will show a subwindow beneath it with many different types of things for sale, but the station where you are only sells a few things. To understand what these things do, please keep reading or skip to the Ships and Fits section. The bulletin board contains player messages and top teams+ players, but this will most likely confuse you as for now, it will be out of context. The ships tab includes your docked ships and their names. Finally, the Neuro Training window will contain different skills you can train, but for now you won't have any skill points as you have not gained any Experience Points and therefore a level.

Alright, listen to the missions and the small paperclip- like popup in the upper left corner and you should have a good basic understanding of the game. I highly suggest paying attention to this for the first 50 Levels or so. WASD- ship movement controls R- Docks X- Enages selected item popup menu Tab- Cycles through everything your radar can see in the system Z- Cycles through player ships your radar can see in the system Q- Cycles through objects of the same type as the original target your radar can see in the system T- Opens chat bar G- Engages tractor Spacebar- Fires selected weapon Numberkeys 1 through 5- Engages hotkeys U- Suicides (there's a conformation popup window requiring text entering so you're safe and cannot try to scam in a Support Ticket that you accidentally suicided and lost gear/ credits. F- Warps through a wormhole Enter/ Return- Enters text C- Scoops the selected target/ nearest target if nothing's selected

For now, you don't need to chat. However, if you're REALLY curious, you can go into Event chat by clicking on it and enter /help to see the commands. Anything with a slash in front of it will be interpreted as a command and therefore not entered in the chat when completed. To talk either click the chat or press "t" and enter text, then press "enter/return" to enter chat into the menu.

The missions at the AI base should have enough information to complete if you read them, however, to equip or unequip items you must double click on them. To unequip Weapons, Shields, Energy, and Engines you must be docked at a base. After completing these missions, you're off through the wormhole to the next galaxy. Things get a bit tougher here as you are exposed to Mini Volcoms that do more damage. For now, dock at the AI bases and see the missions. You should earn enough money to get a new Ship soon, such as a Phunka.dll or Roswell. Complete the missions here and become at least level 3 and you can leave these two tutorial galaxies and enter a slightly more dangerous one... The Nexus.

The Nexus

Welcome to The Nexus! It's here that you'll train until you're ready to enter the real universe. Yes, there's more after this... in fact ALOT more. There's so much content that it would take months to explore just one universe, and then you'd be completely thrown off by the Universe Reset. But this is all in your future, for now we're worrying about Zebucarts and Space Rat. Dock at the AI base you see upon warping out of the Tutorial Galaxies (Earthforce Outpost and Earthforce Trading Outpost) and begin the mission that asks you to kill space rats. You see those innocent little green monsters everywhere? Those are space rats. Whereas many AI may act just downright silly sometimes, Space Rats ride the short bus of Star Sonata. They don't shoot consistently and you can often kill them without them even firing.

See The Nexus Missions for a complete list of missions found here.

You may want to begin leveling to gain Skill points for skills. I then suggest you use the following ship fit:

Roswell Using a Slipstream, Sebastopal, Glissom, and Freon Foundation (make sure to add a Scoop), you should be able to kill every rat but Rattie Moe. Don't attack him, but you won't see him until later. For now, warp into the galaxy to your upper left called Tunnels and Droppings and kill the rats there until about level 5-7. Then, warp into the next galaxy that's inside Tunnels and Droppings called Pellets and Waste and kill those AI, while avoiding shooting Rattie Moe (because he WILL kill you). To kill these AI, you should get behind them and shoot as they turn very poorly.

All the while, do the missions that ask you to kill the space rats. These should provide you with money and the energy "Old Lady's Furnace" and shield "Old Man's Block". Use these as they're better than AI Base gear. You should now have a decent understanding of the game and start the other nexus missions at the AI base (I personally suggest not trying to kill Rattie Moe. He's very difficult for anyone in the Nexus and usually a waste of time to kill). Next, warp into the Earthforce Cadet Outpost galaxy and begin missions there. I now suggest adding a Magcannon to your ship and learning other tactics of fighting, such as dodging (manuvering to dodge bullets) and kiting (flying out and turning around to shoot at an AI while luring it out. You should keep it at a range so it cannot shoot you whereas you can shoot it, therefore Magcannons which have good range work incredibly well). Don't attack the Cadets as they are teamed and will therefore all shoot at you, but feel free to complete the drone training missions. This AI base has many missions which are all quite lucrative to complete, but the missions with green color at the end are optional and usually not worth doing. If you haven't done so, get a Cadet. This might be pricy but will be a good ship until you can procure a Hotrod. Level until about level 10 and train the skills offered at the Nexus base until you get all the skills there to a maximum, or at least as high as possible.

Piloting is one of the most important as it allows you to use better ships. When leaving the nexus, you should have at least 5 skill points to get piloting 5 and therefore be able to use a Hotrod. After completing the missions at the Earthforce Cadet Outpost galaxy, you should go into Deep Space. Then, by using the techniques you've gained, kill the AI in Deep Space and level to about 15. You should now have enough money for a hotrod (around 10 million credits) and should head to Sol. Sol will be through the wormholes in Earthforce Celestial Garden Outpost. There you should get a hotrod and new gear, plus an escape pod and Gear Glue to protect your items.

After the Nexus

Welcome to the real universe! Or rather a very small fraction of it. You’re in Sol, the social and commercial hub of any Universe. Here you can find many AI Bases, Missions, and other players. Maybe you’ll even see me sometime, although you’ll need a good Radar. For now, just fly over to a base and acquire Piloting 5. With the money you should have saved, approximately ten million, go and fit out your hotrod. For now ignore augs, and just put the best Engine, Energy, Shield and a Magcannon 1 or 2, depending on what you can fit according to your Weapon skill.

You should probably learn about fitting your ship, leveling, classes, and missions, so keep reading!

Leveling

One of the most popular pastimes of Star Sonata, leveling is the killing of AI that have a higher level than you in order to gain Experience points and therefore gain levels and with them skill points. As you can probably tell, Skill Points are used to gain levels in skills. The amount of Skill Points (abbreviated SP) is equal to the level of the skill you are trying to train, such as level 17 weaponry will require 17 SP. Some skills do not follow this rule and have a constant usage of SP that never changes, such as Drone Deployment and more. Anyways, Leveling is important to advance your character. At the low levels, you can quickly level up by Kiting (remember that technique you learned in The Nexus hopefully? Do that.) AI out in Blue Outpost and killing them until about level 30-40. After this more leveling will require you to gain Warp Navigation 1. Get this by flying to Paxius and completing the missions there, that ask you to explore the universe and find certain galaxies. Or you can kill a Space Blue Alpha and use the Blue Aether it drops in Earth Central, Sol and one million credits to gain Warp Navigation 1. If you need directions to a galaxy, either ask in “All” chat, “How do I get to X?” or in “Help” if you’re still a low enough level to use it. You can now pass through the wormholes into galaxies that will be marked as blue dots on your map. Here you will find the fiery Infernos and Goblins that provide easy levels for everyone. But first, you may want to fit your slaves. At this point I have no idea what your skills are, but I hope you followed my advice and got them to their maximum level (maxed) at an AI Base. Therefore, all I can really tell you is to put Magcannon 2’s and Medium Lasers on your Paximinus Slaves. To get the Remote Control skill needed (the Paximinus takes up 2 slaves slots, so you’ll need Remote Control 2 to use one) to use slaves, you can bring the Blue Whisper that drops off Space Blue Alpha Scouts to Lavanite (or Glass Matrix). Remote control costs 3 skill points per level to train, and is maxed out at 18 (you won’t be getting RC18 anytime soon in your future). Max the skill at Lavanite and then bring Blue Aethers toGlass Matrix. If you have the money to spare after fitting your slaves, fly out to copper and bring back Slave Stasis Generator 4’s. These cost a pretty penny but are worth it to stop your slaves from being destroyed if they somehow die. I suggest setting a Danger Factor limit, 60-70 as you won’t be surprised by hostile Goblin AI’s and possibly killed.

It’s time to level! Fly out and use the speed of your Hotrod to your advantage by Dancing out of the Inferno’s range and allow your slaves to get in close and hit it with their lasers while you pelt it at distance with Magcannon bullets. You’ll find they drop credits and sometimes their own gear, so scoop this and sell it when possible. This should be a steady source of income and levels until about 50-60, when the Experience takes a huge dive and killing them takes ten or more per level. Now you know it’s time to move on to the terrifying Goblins.

However, before you tackle these monsters, it’s a good idea to learn about the classes.

Fleet Focus: Very slow, high tank, lower damage Fleet Commander: This is the easiest class, by far. Not only do the ships take huge amounts of damage and yet remain unscathed, it gives bonuses to Slaves, which will be your main source of damage at low levels. Definitely choose this class for a first character. They also get giant bonuses to Radiation damage with the Radiation Expert skill.

Gunner: Somewhat more difficult, instead of giving the “control” bonuses Fleet Commanders get to slaves, fighters, and the huge bonus to Radiation Damage, gunners shoot high- damage missiles at their target while their slaves do large amounts of Mining damage. This is a more difficult class and while it still has it’s perks FC can’t be beat at low levels.

Support Focus: slow, tank, logistics Shield Monkey: Masters of the shield, ShM’s get large bonuses to healing and shield. At the endgame, some ShM’s have over half a million shields with 1k/s regeneration, and can dish out upwards of 30k Heal Per Second (HPS). ShM’s heal their slaves while those slaves do damage to the AI. This class is difficult for low levels and I don’t suggest it as a first character, but is one of the best classes for leveling.

Engineer: Engineers are the logistic masters of the game, receiving huge bonuses to Tractor Beams and Freighters. Rather than using slaves, Engineers at the endgame prefer to just use Drones as their main source of Damage is drones. Engineer class (called DM’s, or Drone Masters as their main DPS are their drones) is a popular alternative to FC at low levels.

Combat Focus: slow, high damage Berserker: DO NOT CHOOSE THIS CLASS. You may see many new players fail at Star Sonata as they chose to be a “zerk” and found they had neither the skills, equipment, or the money to fund it. Berserkers suffer from being one of the most difficult classes in the game as it requires huge amounts of money and expensive gear to power multifiring weapons, and even then they require Engineers to transfer electricity to them and ShM’s to tank for them. However, Zerks do HUGE amounts of damage at the endgame, and therefore are primarily used to kill Ubers.

Sniper: The sniper class, difficult at low levels, is one of the most powerful classes in the game. See The Sniper Class Controversy about reasons why. Still, this class is useful at later levels but doesn’t receive bonuses to Slaves or Drones and there are no decent Physical weapons at low levels, so they suffer from being weak at lower levels.

Recon Focus: Fast, stealthy Speed Demon: SD’s as they are called are the fastest people in the game. Reaching the speed cap of 700, Speed Demons fire quickly and are stealthy if made to be so. A very fun class and incredibly powerful in Player vs. Player combat, they are a popular alternative to FC or DM.

Seers: Nearly impossible to see, seers don’t have massive tank or incredible speed, but rather slip through the ether unseen. Doing incredible damage per shot and being able to one- hit things is the hallmark of seers, but they suffer from being killed almost instantly if their target has Drones, Slaves, or if they just don’t one hit it.

I suggest choosing FC and using an Earthforce Frigate which is a tech 10 Capital Ship acquired for 30m at Beta Antares. Using the EFF as it’s called and Paxes, you can level to around 250-350 without problem. To get Piloting 10 you need to clear Rumble, but you most likely will REQUIRE help with this as Rumble galaxies are very difficult to clear solo for their intended levels. Anyways, we left off with you in a hotrod. With Focus skills now acquired and those Paximinus slaves feeling the power of those bonuses, head off to find your first Goblin to challenge. Goblins are incredibly resistant to Surgical, Laser, and Mining damage and you may find yourself dead if you do not use another type of damage. Since the good ol’ magcannon 2 does energy damage, you should be fine. If you haven’t already done so, make use of this great wiki and find your way to Lavanite and get Remote Control as high as possible, or simply for more money just buy Tragnium and exchange that for levels of RC in Serpica. You should now have 4-5 Paximinus slaves with Stasis generators, Medium Lasers, Mag 2’s, Gear Glue, and the best gear you can fit. Kill goblins until about level 80-90, and then head off to Paximinus and get Warp Navigation 2 for the next level of the Universe. Swap out those Mag 2’s for Mag 3’s and the Medium Lasers for Mining Laser 3’s, go grab yourself an EFF with dual Hestia augmenters and the best shield possible, and kill Parsleys and Basils until level 300. I know that encompasses a huge amount of time, but it’s incredibly repetitive. Feel free to go try a few DG’s in your spare time, but be warned that a DG in DF50 galaxies can be a lot more dangerous then you may think…

Making Money

Now, you’ll need a lot of money to get this far. Around 100-250m credits if you can believe it. I suggest making use of those Radiation bonuses, buying a Prismatic Conversion, and capturing Infernos to sell at Handel’s Cove. They sell for around 11m apiece and a determined capper can take in over 50m an hour. Basically, get the ship’s health low and use the Radiation Weapon for the killing blow. Then shoot it with a Prismatic Conversion to capture it, if it didn’t work it most likely has gear you can’t use or full shields. If it’s still shooting you then hit it again with the Radiation Weapon, because it’s not dead!

Bases: which are more useful at higher levels, can allow you to base mining operations, defend strategic galaxies, or bring in Billions of credits per day by selling items. Bases really only become viable when you can use Argonaut gear, as Adonis bases die incredibly quickly. Remember to put rations on it!

DGing: clearing Dungeons and selling the drops is also a huge source of income. I suggest you get acquainted with several good DG’s that both level you and yet steadily drop you good loot to sell.

Colonies: One of the most boring aspects of Star Sonata, arguably, is setting up and “pumping” colonies. See the Guides for information on Colony Pumping, I cba to describe the entire process here as it’s 10PM.

Warp 3

Congratulations if you’ve made it this far! You probably have died several times but upgraded your gear until those Basils are no threat to you, and don’t level you anymore. Now it’s time to get Warp N