If you haven't read The Screens in the Game in the Introduction yet, 
you should do so before reading this chapter.

Step 1: Logging in

When you first start the game you see the login screen. No matter what you decide to do—play the trainer off-line or play an opponent online—you must log in to ConQuest Online.

Helpful Reminder: Don't forget your password.

If nobody else has physical access to your computer, you can leave the password blank. If you share a machine with other people, we recommend that you use a password but don't forget it.

To log in to ConQuest Online:

1. From your Windows Start menu, select ConQuest Online. This brings up the ConQuest Online login screen:

   • To login as an existing character, select the character name from the list on the right and then click OK.

   • To login as a new character, click the New Character button. You must choose the character's name and you may enter an optional password for the character. Do not forget the password, as it is the only way to access your character.

2. If you selected an existing character in step 2 and you have a password for this character, the Password screen appears. Enter the password and click OK. The Main Menu screen for ConQuest Online then appears.

Step 2: Understanding the Main Menu Options

The Main Menu has a number of options. The five buttons at the top of the Main Menu are described in the next five sections of this document. We recommend that you read each section so you can make an educated decision about which direction you want to take as you get started with ConQuest Online. Once you get started, use the guidance information on the screen to help you navigate through your chosen path.

Learn to Play

This allows you to get started easily with ConQuest Online. We recommend this for first time users. It helps you get acquainted with the wild, crazy world of the game.

The ConQuest Online tutorials are built into the Learn to Play screen. The tutorials take a novice user through the basics of ConQuest Online up to the point where they have a good enough understanding of the game to go online and take on the world. We highly recommend that new users go through the tutorials. To do so, click on Learn To Play, then on Tutorials. Trust us, you’ll like it!

After you've gone through the tutorials, the best way to get experience is to play a few practice games against the computer. The computer trainer is designed to teach new players the basics before they go up against live opponents. Although it seldom provides a challenging game to experienced players, it can usually win the first few games while you are learning to play. It is also useful for testing out new group configurations.

My Pieces

This allows you to select and manage the group of pieces you want to use for the game you're going to play—this is quite important! See the Managing and Turning Your Groups section in Chapter 2 for the full scoop about Group Management. It's worth the time.

Play Now

Pressing the Play Now button brings you into the Game Lobby. Entering the Lobby allows you to go deeper into the live ConQuest Online world experience. The Lobby allows you to:

• Chat: You can chat with other players about all kinds o’ stuff, including piece trades.

• Challenge: This is where you challenge and select opponents.

• Trade: This is where you trade pieces (registered players only).

Character Info

To play ConQuest Online you must first create a character. Your character contains all the information about you that is relevant from game to game, the most important of which is the collection of pieces that you own. You can create as many different characters as you wish, but each one starts with the same pieces.

After you have created a character, you go to the Main Menu screen. At this time, the game attempts to connect to the ConQuest Online server through the Internet.

No matter how much you try to plan ahead, eventually you are going to realize that your character’s name sucks… um, isn’t exactly as robust as you might like. Or perhaps you chose the wrong gender (we get a lot of that). Fortunately, the Character Info button allows you to easily fix problems such as these.

To create a new character or modify an existing character:

1. Click the Character Info button to bring up the Character Info screen.

2. Enter the information for the character you are creating, or make modifications to an existing character.

3. Click the Change button to update your character information on the server.

Step 3: Playing ConQuest Online

After you have found someone to play with (or are playing with the trainer), you go to the Game Settings screen. Here you pick which kind of game you’d like to play, Basic or Advanced. You also pick the Control Group and (in the Advanced Game) the Auction Group you will play the game with. When both players have picked their groups, the game starts.

Taking Turns

The Control Group you chose to use is displayed on the bottom of the screen. You can view all the pieces in your Control Group by using the scroll bar. You can collapse your Control Group viewer by pressing the bar above the viewer labeled Close Control Group. You can reopen your Control Group by pressing the same bar.

In the Deploy phase of each turn you can deploy into play as many pieces from your Control Group that you have Control Points for. Once both you and your opponent end this phase, your deployments are shown and you both move to the next phase in the turn.

The game continues going through the game phases even if both players have deployed every piece from their groups. The first person to meet the winning conditions for the game wins the game.

The Interface

The game screen is divided into different sections. If you hover the mouse over any part of the screen you get a brief popup explaining what it is that you are pointing at.

The System View

The System view is the initial view you see in the Game Map part of the screen. This shows the entire game board. By moving your mouse over the Game Map, you see that different Regions become highlighted. These are your Home Region, the Neutral Zone, and your opponent’s Home Region.

Click on a region to expand the Game Map to show the Region view of that region. Any ships in the rare now shown on the game map.

Within each region there are one or more planets. Click on a planet to expand the Game Map to show the Planet view of that planet. Any people on that planet are now shown on the game map.

Your Pieces

As you deploy pieces from your Control Group during the course of the game, they appear on the Game Map. Pieces that are removed from the game due to combat or other game effects no longer appear on the game map.

Chat

Chatting with (and sometimes taunting) your opponent is a key part of ConQuest Online. The chat input line is on the bottom of the screen. All incoming and outgoing chat messages are displayed in the chat messages area.

Control Point and Q Point Info Bar

The Control Points and Q Points of both players are always fully visible to both players in the Game screen. Your Control and Q Points appear on the bottom edge of the Game screen, while your opponent’s are at the top edge of the screen.

Piece Viewer

Clicking on any visible piece gives you a closeup view of the piece in the Piece Viewer on the left side of the screen. The piece’s description appears below the picture of the piece itself. There are tabs that you can click to view any items the piece has, and, for ships, any crew (people) on the ship.

Clicking on a planets in the Region view displays in the Piece Viewer the Control Point value and (in the Advanced Game) the Planetary Effects info for that planet.

Control Buttons

Buttons allow you to control certain activities in ConQuest Online. Depending on the phase of the turn, one or more of the following control buttons may be available:

• End Phase ends your phase and commits your pieces to any actions you have plotted for them.

• Cancel Action, if you have right-clicked a piece to plot an action for it but have changed your mind, allows you to cancel plotting its action.

• Cancel All cancels all actions you have plotted this turn and allows you to start plotting again.

Status Bar

The Status Bar is near the top of the screen. Text appears here throughout the game informing you what actions you can take during the current phase. (This information is for players who are unsure what to do during a given phase.)

Step 4: Exiting ConQuest Online

To exit ConQuest Online, press ESC at any time. You can also click the X button on the top of the screen. When you do either of these, the Options panel appears with the following options:

• Quit Game allows you to quit the game.

• Cancel lets you cancel exiting ConQuest Online and returns you to the previous ConQuest Online screen you were on.

• Options brings up an Options screen, where you can turn on or off various game options. See Game Options in Chapter 6 for further details.

• Login brings you back to the Login screen, where you can log into the game with a different character.

Go to:
   Top of this page
   Help System Home Page
Previous chapter:
   4. Advanced Game
Next chapter:
   6. Getting Advanced