Entry for Akoz Competition, guess here it fits the pdf file can be found here, has a better format, but i try to make it readable here as well http://rp.apachenet.de/downloads/QuickGuide.pdf this should be the final version, unless i discover something epic i forgot or errors etc. edit, added info about extended guides Overview Planet Calypso can be described as real cash economy (RCE) MMORPG with science fiction setting, which means that everything is based on a real currency, with an exchange rate pegged to the US dollar at $1=10 Project Entropia Dollar (PED). It was recently updated to the Cryengine 2, allowing very nice graphics. While selling in-game currency in other games for real money is often not allowed, it is a vital part of EU, allowing you deposit money into the game in case you want to buy something, although it isnt necessary either. There are several methods for getting PEDs without depositing. However, since many people are doing that, the competition is great, so getting PEDs that way will take time. About the Real Cash Economy The RCE also allows you to withdraw money, if you want to leave the game or remove some profit you have made. This may sound like a money-making machine now where you can easily profit by playing, but it is not that easy in most of the cases, especially not in terms of becoming rich by shooting monsters. Although a game being based on either depositing real money or spending quite some time in game to earn the first PEDs may seem harsh at the first glance, it induces several positive side effects. For example, EU has a mostly mature community, not necessarily age wise, but behaviour wise. Another advantage is the challenge of bootstrapping from almost nothing, it is simply a challenge to get and keep going without depositing real money, which can be appealing for people who like analysing their game play, tweaking and adjusting it to their situation and goals. The possibility to earn money in game can be a motivation as well. The planet Calypso, which is maintained by the First Planet Company (FPC) is a planet in the Entropia Universe (EU), developed by Mindark (MA). Of course, the RCE has dark sides as well. You may encounter scammers who are after your PEDs. This can be avoided by having information on how things work, just using the private trade window in person to person trade and not loaning any items away without a sufficient amount of collateral. So in case a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. Signing up In the following part, I will describe the first steps on the Planet Calypso, possible activities and information about the planet generally. Before you can first set foot on the planet, you have to download the program, which can be done at http://www.planetcalypso.com/home/ It is advisable to use your real life data in the Account Application, because other data may cause trouble in depositing/withdrawing. Also, just one account is allowed per person. At the site you can also order a Gold Card, which offers an additional security barrier, by generating a number you have to enter on your log in, in case you want to protect your in game assets even more than with a login and password. After filling the form and activating your account with the email sent to you, you can log in. The Avatar Creation You will first arrive on the Exodus Space station, where you can customize the looks of your avatar. You should put some effort into this, because you wont be able to customize your avatar after this yourself anymore. Once arrived on Calypso, your look can just be altered with the help of the beauticians in game, who will likely ask a fee for the service. About Skills and Game Play There are currently no in-game quests, so you define your goals and ways you want to go yourself. Skilling here is learning by doing. If you shoot a laser rifle, you get points in the rifle skill and several connected ones. Those connected ones will form the laser sniper profession in this case for example. Or you will get defence skills when you are attacked. Those professions and skills can be mixed without problems, so you can be a mining laser sniper for example. There are no classes or overall character levels, the professions will determine how good you can use the tools relating to it. First Steps-the Controls and the Camera Views You may find an extended guide at your arrival zone as well. The lucky newcomer in the picture even found two. The extended Guides are normal players, who were asked by the official FPC guides to help out with the newcomers. They can be identified by the blue jacket/beret they wear. In case you want help by them or just want to meet them, check the newcomer arrival spots out, especially the newbie arrival zone south of Port Atlantis. But remember, they are normal players who help newcomers voluntarily in their spare time, without getting paid even, so you may not find them all the time. The extended guides tend to hold event for newcomers here and there. Often you can find those events by checking the banners in the client loader for extended guide events. Once arrived on Calypso, most newcomers take some time to get used to the controls. Entropia allows you to move like in a first-person shooter when you zoom in with your mouse wheel and also like in a third-person RPG where you click to move when you zoom out. You can also use a mix of both. Many people zoom out for example to get a better overview and zoom in again for aiming and shooting. Here are some notable hints and information about movement, based on the default keyboard setup, which can be changed as well: As in most FPS style games, W, A ,S, D will let you move forward, strafe left and right and move backwards. Alternatively, you can double click to move. If you prefer to click to move, you may enable Navigate with Single Click in the options menu (you can open that one with O), so it will just require a single click. The Q key is used to toggle between walk mode and run mode. Another remarkable key is R, which will allow you to move forward without having to keep any key pressed. The equivalent in mouse clicks would be to (double) click on the sky in the direction you want to keep running. Spacebar is used to toggle from cursor mode, in which you have the cursor to click at objects and the landscape to interact with them or bring a menu up with right click, to the aim mode. In the aim mode the cursor will disappear. When you move the mouse now, you wont move the cursor over the screen but rather make your avatar look and turn around. While this is essential for the first person view usually, it also makes moving in third person easier. The mouse click alternative here is the right mouse button; when you keep it pressed, the cursor will also disappear and allow you to look and turn around. To turn around without involving the mouse, you can use Z and C. The left mouse button is generally used to move and/or use objects while the right mouse button brings up a context menu. The mouse wheel can be used to zoom in and out, there is no real keyboard alternative except the 5 on the num-pad, but that one just switches from first to third person without any steps in between. The middle mouse button (or the mouse wheel if that is the button) can be pressed to centre the view back and front. If you keep it pressed and move the mouse, it will change the camera angle around your avatar. Customising your keys You can set up your keyboard keys as you see fit and if your mouse has more than the left and right button, you can set those up as well. There are even 9 key map sets you can set up differently and choose via the Function-keys (F1, F2, etc), plus the global key set which contains the keys applying for all of the sets, such as movement. Instead of the keys I will mention in the following part, you can also click at the matching button in the bar on the upper right part of your screen to open the windows. To edit the keyboard map, you can open it with the G key and open the edit panel with L. This will allow you to move the actions of the current keyset to different keys already. The keysets can either be changed with the F-keys or you can change the figure in the action set panel to the upper left of your screen. This panel is the only way to access the global keyset by the way and it requires an open edit panel as well. Action set Panel keyset 1 -> "global keyset" More actions to customize your keyboard can be found in the action library (default key Y) and can be dragged to keys of your choice. You can also drag usable items from the inventory (press I) to keys. The Chat To chat with other participants, just press enter/return and the writing field will open where you can enter your message. The chat is rather customisable as well; it can be moved around, resized with the triangle at the lower right part of it and can even filter several messages out, like the global chatof people killing animals and looting PEDs. Societies Societies are groups who share common interests and language, for example hunting, helping newcomers and so on. A nice and friendly soc can help a newcomer considerably, in learning the ropes and getting help and information when needed. However, if you just started and got invited into a society without any warning and find yourself in a unhelpful society, maybe just recruited to have a increase their member count or to exploit you in one way or another, for example by carrying a society name which is used for advertising, which is forbidden anyway, you can leave the society again at any society terminal. You can also apply to a society at a society terminal if you want to. Activities for starters Exploring, finding and using Teleporters Once the controls and key maps are mastered, usually the question What to do now? comes up. For one, you could start socializing and speaking with the players, gathering some information, visiting forums and so on. You may also start exploring and try to find one of the many Teleporters out there, which allow you to move quickly from any Teleporter to another one you have already discoveredthus enabling you to change the place quickly. The Teleporters are big flashy objects, having the name of the location you are at, a bit like a bus stop so to speak. For example Port Atlantis and Solfais Crater: http://www.entropiaplanets.com/gallery/pics/1/9/3/tp1.jpg http://www.entropiaplanets.com/gallery/pics/1/9/3/tp2.jpg To use a teleporter, just walk up to them, click at them, operate them and a map will open. Choose your location either in the map itself or in the location list to the left of the map. Once a destination is chosen, a blue button at the lower part of the map will light up and you will teleport to your location when you click at it. Depositing real money Most people, however, will try to get some money first, to buy the equipment they will need for most of the professions. The easiest and fastest way is of course to deposit real money with the $1=10 PED exchange rate, as mentioned already. There are various options to deposit which can be found at www.planetcalypso.com in the avatar/deposit part, such as Credit Cards, Paynova and several prepaid options. I would like to add additional information about Credit Cards though: without activation there will be a deposit limit. On your next bank statement of the credit card will be an activation key. Once you activated your card the deposit limit will be higher. Searching fruit, stones and dung Most newcomers dont want to deposit right away, so they will take a look at the options to get some PEDs in-game. One of these is fruit/stone/dung gathering; these resources randomly spawn everywhere in the wilderness and can be picked up by anyone. If you get close, the fruit/stone/dung will appear. This appearing will take a while, so if you run you may pass it without giving it time to appear, thus missing it. Fruits and Dung can be more easily seen because of some butterflies/flies around it. http://www.entropiaplanets.com/gallery/pics/1/9/3/heimoros4.jpg Hence, the best way to find fruit/stone/dung is walking in a direction and watching the ground. If you walked too far and it disappeared again, you can walk back a bit; it will reappear at the same location and you can pick it up by clicking at it. Then a loot window will pop up containing the resource, and it will already be in your carried inventory. Sweating At some point most newcomers will end up with gathering vibrant sweat, the life essence of the animals on Calypso. Sweat will be collected in bottles and can be sold to other players for PEDs. Generally sweat is sold in bigger quantities, like 1000 units and more. Sweat itself is used in an energy refiner together with force nexus, an enmatter found while mining, to produce Mind Essence (ME), which is a main part of the mind force profession, such as the Teleport mind force, allowing you to teleport in a small radius around you by using a teleport chip. To start sweating, you can equip the VSE you have when you start the game in the tool section of your inventory, find an animal, get close and keep using it on the animal until you see some green bubbles and beam. I suggest you use the toggle auto use tool action you can find in the action library and put it on a key, it will help a lot with the sweating. Once the sweating beam appeared, keep aiming at the mob for 5 seconds (easiest done with aim mode in first person view) and you will receive some sweat bottles. A window will open to inform you how many you got and the sweat will be automatically in your inventory and can be sold to other players for PEDs then. Most sweat buyers can usually found at newbie places and places where most sweaters are, for example Port Atlantis as the newcomer town, Swamp Camp and Neas Place as main sweating places at the moment. Items, Decay and Mark-Up Once you have PEDs more options arise, now that you can finally buy equipment and resources. Note that items will lose value on use, for example if you would buy a long blade from the trade terminal (TT) for 15.80 PED and use it once, it will just be worth 15.75 PED, so you would just get 15.75 PED if you want to sell it back to the trade terminal again in this case. You can repair the repairable items and tools at a repair terminal, in this example it would cost you 5 PEC, or 0.05 PED to repair it to the maximum value. The trade terminal value, usually shortened to tt, is the amount of money you would get if you sell the item to a trade terminal. However, many items will have some mark-up, the money other players are willing to pay above the plain tt-value to buy the item. So for example, could you sell an Axe 1x0 which has a tt-value of 3 PEDS, for tt+1, which would mean you could ask 4 PEDs for it. For stackable resources, like the Lysterium ore, the mark-up is based on a percentage. For example if you have 2 stacks of an ore, the first stack has 1000 units and has a tt-value of 10 PED, the second stack of 10000 units has a tt-value of 100 PED; if the price for Lysterium would be 110%, you could ask 11 PED for the first stack and 110 PED for the second stack.. Knowing that, you already know how to trade. When you know you can sell your ore for 110%, but some people are in a hurry sell it and sell it for 108%, you realize you can get some profit that way. Items with Skill Increase Bonus, Limited Items Some of the tools and weapons you encounter will have a so-called Skill Increase Bonus (SIB), which generally allows you to reach the best performance of a weapon at lower skill levels than items without SIB. It is generally advised to use maxed SIB weapons, which will show in the item info like SIB-Not anymore. Although most of those items are limited and thus cant be repaired and have to be bought again once they are broken, the better performance tends to save more money than the cost in mark-up for every new item you buy, when compared to a weaker (i.e. more costly) performance of non-SIB items. Hunting You can also become a hunter. Buy a starter weapon at one of the various trade terminals in towns and outposts, for example the Sollomate Opalo, a laser carbine. Its best to start with hunting low-health animals with a low damage potential, such as Exarosaurs, Sabakumas and Daikibas and avoid Combibos, Cornundacandas and Berycled. Although their damage is fairly weak they have quite some health. Note that although the swords and other melee weapons dont use ammo, their decay, or loss in value, is equal to the cost a rifle would cause per shot to deal the same damage, which means it wont be cheaper to use blades really. Once you have your weapon, then you go out and hunt several creatures and loot them once you killed them, by clicking on the carcass. In hunting, your general goal is to reduce cost, by using weapons which are maxed for example and wearing the right armor for the prey. Mining You might also become a miner by buying and using the mining equipment from the trade terminal. There are 2 types of resource you can mine for, ore and enmatter. Each will require a matching finder/seeker, a matching extractor/excavator and either bombs for ore or probes for enmatter. The finder will be used to detonate the bomb or set the probe into the ground. The finder will then see if there are is a resource deposit near. If it is, a claim marker will appear. Using the excavator on the claim marker will then extract the resources and put them into your inventory. Although the starting costs in mining are higher, the mark-up of the resources you find tends to be higher than the hunting loots, which may make it easier to break even and profit. But you must keep in mind the search radius of your finder when you mine, which is usually around 50m, so you have to run around 100m to avoid searching the same area twice. Crafting Another profession to try would be crafter, which will require a blueprint (BP) of the item you want to craft, and a matching blueprint book which contains a slot for the blueprint. For example a weapon BP will just fit in a weapon blueprint book. You will also need an amount of the required resources listed in the blueprint. Then you find and use a construction machine, open your blueprint book and click at the blueprint you want to use, place the resources in the machine as well and start manufacturing. If you dont want to click yourself all the time you can also set it on auto mode. BPs will have a quality rating, which will have an influence on your chance of success on the crafting attempt, the higher the quality rating the better. The quality rating will also show in the value of the blueprint, a 1 quality rating blueprint will have a tt-value of 1 pec (0.01 PED) while a 100 quality rating blueprint will have a tt-value of 1 PED. Each attempt can result in 3 possibilities: successyou get the item you wanted near successyou get some resources and residue back failureall resources are lost. There are generally 2 ways of useful newbie crafting, although it applies later on as well. Either try to craft things that sell for a useful mark-up, which will justify a bit more expensive resources, or you craft items which likely wont sell but just need very cheap resources to craft them and sell the residue with mark-up to get close to break even. Links for more information As you may have noticed already, this is just a rough overview of what you can do and the above mentioned professions have more facets and depth to them than this summary. This is why I would like to finish this Quick Guide with some links which can help to get a better understanding of Planet Calypso and Entropia Universe. First would be the link to my main guide, which goes more in depth for the game aspects, giving more information about the professions, items, Teleporter locations and so on. Here is the link: http://rp.apachenet.de/downloads/planet_calypso_guide.pdf You can save it to your hard disk as well. Additionally to this, I would like to mention two forums: http://www.entropiaplanets.com/ http://www.entropiaforum.com/ Another nice site to inform yourself about different items etc.: http://entropedia.info/Page.aspx?page=Main+Page In case you are stuck at an outpost and cant get out, you may contact the Calypso Rescue Team: http://v2.euforces.com/ And finally, if you need tours around the planet, to reach Teleporters and so on, the Entropia Tours Agency: http://entropiatouragency.com/
I helped out the guides some days ago at TI by informing the new players about my Lvl 19 Stone Golem army and the need for the noobs to work together with the King. Can I have a guide outfit now?
Great guide, Alice, but were you really told you cannot mention this forum on EF? Last time I heard, there was no problem with this.
didnt want to risk it :D i heard some funny stories about mentioning unwanted links, so i left it out could have written it here tho, but just copy and pasted and forgot gonna edit
