Introduction

The Battle for the Solar System - The Pandoran War is a 2D space shooter, based on the space opera novels by Stephen J Sweeney. This game is set during the seven year period between THE THIRD SIDE and THE ATTRIBUTE OF THE STRONG, the second and third novels in the trilogy, respectively.

Note: this game is still under heavy development and will feature bugs, incomplete sections, and a numerous other issues until it reaches v1.0. Likewise, this gameplay manually will evolve over time, to become more detailed and helpful. This manual can also be found online at www.battleforthesolarsystem.com/games/manual.html.

You can support development of this game by purchasing one of the books in the trilogy: www.battleforthesolarsystem.com/purchase/

Title Screen

This is the first screen that you will see upon starting the game. You may select from the following options:

• New Game - Start a new game (note: this will overight any game that is currently in progress)
• Continue - Continue the current game. This will be the default option if a save file is found.
• Options - Configure various configuration option. See the options section for more information.
• Quit - Exit the game

Galactic Map

This is the main mission select screen. Here, you can move around and select star systems in which to undertake missions. Star Systems that have missions will emit red circles at regular intervals. Yellow circles will be emitted by star systems that have no active missions, but still have challenges that can be attempted. Green circles will emit from system that have missions and challenges that are 100% completed. You may replay any of these missions, at any time.

1. Mission indicator arrow - points in the direction of star systems with missions that are currently off screen.
2. Number of completed and total missions.
3. Number of completed and total challenges.
4. A star system.
   1. Blue: CSN star system.
   2. White: Independent star system.
   3. Red: Pandoran-occupied star system.
5. System select reticle.
6. Star system detail - shows details of the currently selected system.

Controls

Star Systems

The Star System view shows a list of missions available for that star system. Missions must be played sequentially, with the next available mission being highlighted in yellow. The right-hand side of the star system view displays an overview of the mission, including the class of craft the player will be piloting, and the name of the pilot and their squadron.

1. Star system name, and completed / total missions.
2. Available mission list.
3. Mission name (White: complete, Yellow: incomplete).
4. Mission detail.

Controls

Missions

Each mission has various objectives that the player must finish in order to complete the mission successfully. The mission ends when the player either successfully completes all the objectives, or is killed. Note: there is no friendly fire between those on the same side (in other words, you need not worry about firing upon your team mates, or them hitting you - no damage will be taken).

1. Player armour and shield.
2. Selected weapon.
3. Number of missiles.
4. Target armour and shield.
5. Distances to target and mission objectives.
6. Messages.
7. Radar
1. Green: friendly unit.
2. Yellow: current target.
3. Red: enemy unit.
4. White: mission target.
8. Number of allied craft.
9. Number of complete / total objectives.
10. Number of opposing craft.
11. Player
1. Red arrow: points in direction of current target.
2. Green arrow: points in direction of mission objective.
12. Current target (boxed in red).

Controls

Weaponry

Most craft are equipped with offensive weaponry, with some fighters featuring more than one type of gun.

• Plasma: a standard offensive weapon, that deals heavy levels of damage to shields and armour.
• Particle: a low-power weapon that deal small amounts of damage to shields and armour. Favoured mostly be pirates and insurgents.
• Mag: delivers an electro-magnetic charge to the target, draining its system power and rendering it helpless. Can be used to disable vessels.
• Missile: home in on target vessels, to deliver tremendous amounts of damage.

Player Abilities

Unlike the AI craft in the game, the player has access to two special abilities: Boost and Electronic Counter Measures (ECM). Boost grants the player a sudden burst of speed, useful to escape situations where they might find themselves outgunned. The ECM can be activated to destroy missiles that are targetting and homing in on the player. Both of these abilities have unlimited usage, however they must both recharge for a few seconds between use, so their advantages should not be squandered.

Types of Mission

As a 2D shooter, many missions will involve the player needing to gun down enemy craft. However, some missions will also have additional objectives and requirements that must be fulfilled in order for them to be completed. Missions may also come with certain conditions, that, if failed, cause the mission to be failed immediately. Some of the more common types of mission and objectives are described below.

Patrol Missions

These missions involve the player needing to visit a set number of waypoints. The waypoint is activated when the player passes over it. Any surviving team mates will also need to be nearby in order for the waypoint to be considered reached.

Capture Missions

For these missions, the player (or a possible team mate) will need to disable the target craft, using Mag cannons. Such a mission would usually come with the added condition that the targets are not destroyed (a mission failure would result immediately).

Escort Missions

Escort missions involve overseeing the safe journey of a craft from one point to another. The craft in question could be civilian ships, a tug, or a shuttle. A mission failure would immediately follow the destruction of the asset. In most cases, the player will be responsible for taking the targets to the Extraction point.

Rescue Missions

Rescue missions involve ensuring that a stranded or disabled craft is safely transported to an extraction point. The player may or may not be charged with controlling the tug responsible for the task. See the section on Tugs for more information.

Epic Missions

Epic Missions are special types of mission. Typically, if the player's craft is destroyed during play, the mission will be failed. However, in Epic Missions the player will be given the chance to select a new craft to pilot, upon the destruction of their current one. This will continue until no more craft are available to the player. Epic Missions are also characterised by the number of active participants. There may be dozens of craft battling at once, victory going to the side to eliminates all their opponents. Note that even though there may be over 100 craft available to each side, only a certain number of these (for example, 32) will be present in the battle. Other craft will arrive as each side takes losses, to shore up the numbers.

Misc gameplay details

Tugs

Tugs are craft that are used to tow stranded or disabled vessels. When controlled by the player, the tug rope can be attached to the target craft by flying near to it. Note that only one craft can be towed at any one time, and that the tow cable cannot be manually detached. Tugs are very weak craft, having no shields and only a rapid fire particle cannon for protection.

Options

Various game options can be changed:

• Window Size - change the size of the window the game is played in. Note that the game interally renders a resolution of 1280x720, and any changes to the window size will result in the game being scaled up or down.^[1]
• Sound Volume - Change the volume of the sounds effects in the game, from 0 (no sound) to 10 (loudest).
• Music Volume - Change the volume of the music in the game, from 0 (no sound) to 10 (loudest).
• Fullscreen - Whether or not to start the game in fullscreen mode.^[1]
• VSync - Whether or not to enable VSync, to reduce screen tearing.^[1]

[1] - changes to this option will take effect next time you start the game.

About

This game is based on the Battle for the Solar System novel trilogy by Stephen J Sweeney. You can learn more about the trilogy by visiting:

www.battleforthesolarsystem.com

The Battle for the Solar System and related related materials are Copyright ©2009-2015, Stephen J Sweeney. All Rights Reserved.

License

See the LICENSE and README.md files that came with this game for information on the various copyrights of the source code, graphics, sound, and data. Additionally, you may visit https://github.com/stephenjsweeney/tbftss to get the source code itself, and view the files there.