This guide is intended for the beginner. Phoenix has a steep learning curve, sometimes referred to a Learning Cliff. As a result, there are areas of the game where the new player can be left scratching their head wondering what the latest error message really means. This guide will work towards alleviating this, ironing out the learning curve to make the game more accessible for everybody.

That is not to say that there will nothing of any interest to the established players. One thing the beginner will very quickly learn is that those grizzled old veterans make just as many mistakes as everybody else, they've just had more experience at covering them up. Just ask the Detinus Republic Starcaptain who accidentally sailed his unarmed and lightly armoured freighter right past an Imperial Starbase deep inside enemy territory, but somehow escaped without a scratch.

Assuming you have read the various sections of your sign-up mission, you should have some idea of what Phoenix is all about. This is good, because it saves me having to recap for you here. Once you dig into Phoenix, you will find a deeply involving and addictive game that offers unparalleled long-term strategic opportunities. Every Ship and Starbase, Outpost and Ground Party that you encounter is being run by another human player. And it is this human element at which Phoenix excels, even though at first glance the game might initially appear to be primarily stat-driven.

Phoenix can be played for free. You can run as many ships and ground parties as you can collect in-game for absolutely nothing. However, there are practical limitations on this. You will find it very difficult to run more than seven or eight ships without a Political.

Also, many players will maintain that you won't get the most out of the game unless you have a Starbase too. Full pricing details can be found here. It is however important to note that the game as it stands can be very much catered to the individual player's wishes and wallet. You can run a handful of ships, form a trading company, or you can begin constructing your own vast stellar empire. Just don't expect to be able to do the latter for free.

As a new player, you will discover that your Affiliation considers the moment you begin paying to play very significant indeed. Once you have committed to the game, your fellow players and allies will also commit to you, and you might well find a corresponding increase in your access to in-game resources, ships and information. Unless of course you are unfortunate enough to be in one of those cheap-ass Affiliations, who will at this point remain nameless.

Tip - Always talk to your Affiliation. Besides, if you go silent on them they might start thinking that you're a spy.

Tip - Because Phoenix is so free-form and open-ended, it is a very good idea to set yourself some initial long-term goals - for example amassing 200,000 stellars, mapping 10 systems, or controlling 5 ships.

The new player will find that with only one ship their initial scope for involvement and activity within the game is limited. It is likely it will only take you a short while each week to issue your orders, and that often nothing particularly exciting will happen when those orders, containing your latest batch of error messages, are returned. Do not despair, there is a reason for this.

Playing Phoenix require patience and determination. Talk to the established gamers about their larger research projects, and you will find that it is not unusual to spend upwards of six months researching a new cutting-edge piece of technology.

As a new player you must remember two things. Firstly, your beginning ship is quite small, and therefore not the most practical ship in the universe. And secondly, you are controlling only one ship. Many players control 30, 40, or even more ships. Start pestering your Affiliation, display your involvement and commitment, see if they can assign you another vessel. Once they do, very quickly you will see your involvement in the game take off. Affiliations understand this, so most of them are very keen to give you ships once you have proved yourself reliable.

Of course completing the first mission also gives you access to more which in turn give you more ships. By the end of the beginning missions you can have three ships, a courier, scout and freighter.

So, by now you should be looking at your first turn, either its email or this site in your turns section. It may at first appear confusing and complicated, but really, everything is quite simple once you get the hang of it. Just to make sure however, we shall focus now on a typical first turn and go through it step by step.

Code:<div class='post_code'>Phoenix: Beyond the Stellar Empire
KJC Games
www.kjcgames.com
### SHIP YourShipName (#####) </div>
Your ship number, which appears in brackets after the name of your ship, is very important. This is the means by which other people will identify and interact with your vessel. If somebody needs to transfer you some funds, this is the number they will use. If you want to deliver goods to a Starbase, the authorisation will have to be issued by the Governor using this number.

Tip - Email turn results looking jumbled? Try viewing the email with a fixed width font such as Courier New.

Code:<div class='post_code'>Your Name
Phoenix Acc No: ###

Printed on ##
----------------------------------TURN UPDATE----------------------------------- Information
-----------

Date 50.5: Affiliation Startup Info
------------------------

Welcome to the ###
----------------------- </div>

All new players in Phoenix automatically as Trainees though your details are listed in the recruitment forum. As such even though you start unaffiliated, you will be contacted by affiliations looking to recruit you.

You can find out details about each affiliation by looking at the game>affiliation tab. Clicking on a specific affiliation will reveal their profile.

Tip - It is always very useful to say hello and introduce yourself in the pinned recruitment thread.

Code:<div class='post_code'>| -Command Report------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Name: YourShipName (#####) Aff: ### |
| Wealth: 500 Stellars Ownership: Player owned | </div>

Ownership will display as either Player, or Affiliation. If something belongs to you the player, then it will follow you wherever you lead. But if you have control of an Affiliation asset, should you leave your Aff that asset will not go with you. When your superiors start giving you more ships, they will all display 'Affiliation owned'. As you might guess, one of the big problems facing the leaders of the Affiliations is players unexpectedly dropping out.

Tip - Until you start a Political position, the Stellar account for each position you control is calculated individually. That is, each position carries around its own supply of currency. If you want to transfer funds, you have to arrange for the positions to physically meet, and 'hand over' the money.

Code:<div class='post_code'>| Security Code: ABCD | </div>

The Security Code is used for granting other players positions the permission to interact with your ship. For example, if you wanted another players Starbase to deliver a new piece of equipment, the Governor would need your Security Code. The Order Editor will usually handle most issues pertaining to Security Codes, automatically filling it in where necessary and possible.

Tip - Your Security Code is highly confidential. Be careful who you share it with, because it allows unscrupulous sorts the opportunity to do all manner of unspeakably evil things to your ship. There is an order you can use to change your security code if you think it has become compromised.

Code:<div class='post_code'>| Design: Courier (62) Class Scout
| Hulls: 50 (Heavy Hull) </div>

There are many different classes of ship in Phoenix. Spanning in size from tiny 5 Hull gunboats, up to Flagritz Baseships and other 200+ Hull behemoths. Currently the largest and most common ships you are likely to see are around the 100 Hull mark. Check your turn reports for a taste of the diverse vessels out there in the Peripheries. Also, note the differences between Light Hulls, Normal Hulls, and Heavy Hulls as summarised in the Ship section of the rules. This will become important when you start tweaking your ship for maximum performance.

Tip - The Class of your ship will vary depending on how you have it equipped. Install a lot of sensors into a Caravel High-G Freighter, and it will become a Caravel Class Sensor Ship.

Code:<div class='post_code'>| Integrity: 100% Hull Damage: 0/2000 |
| Integrity Mod: 1 TUs left: 300 tus |
| Efficiency: 100%</div>

Tip - High Efficiencies, above 100%, mean ships carry out their orders in fewer Time Units. A wise captain can use this to his or her advantage.

Tip - In practical terms, you should think about docking at a starbase for routine maintenance whenever its integrity drops to around 60%. Any lower and it can start to have effects on the ships space-worthiness. Remember to let your crew have some R&R at the same time.
Code:<div class='post_code'>| Position is played anonymously | </div>

Most positions in Phoenix are played anonymously. This does not mean that you cannot contact the owners of them however. The 'Message' order can be used to send a communication in-game, to any position you encounter.

Tip - Do not expect an immediate response to a message sent via the order editor. Most players will pick up all of the messages sent to all of their positions in one batch once a week, as part of their Political position report. Sometimes though it is quicker to put a message on the forum asking to speak with the owner of the position. They will normally Private Message (PM) you.

Code:<div class='post_code'>| -Navigation Report---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| LOCATION |
| Landed on An Aurum Concursus (4985) at {22,12} in Urban |
| Quadrant Gamma 6 - Agripeta System (198) |
| Sensor Rating: 35% Sensor Profile: -16% |
| Planetary Scan Rating: 5% Sector Scan Rating: 62% | </div>

Your starting location will take the form as seen above. The Star System, in this case Agripeta, is identified by its number - 198. The System Quadrant in which the world you are landed on is located - Gamma 6. The precise co-ordinates on the planet surface, in 'across then up' format are also given. There will be formatting differences depending on whether the ship is docked, orbiting or in space.


Tip - While some orders such as scan planet can be issued while in orbit, the information is generally freely available on this website under the Game tab.

Beginning players do not have to concern themselves too much with their Sensor Rating and Profile. Your ship won't be undertaking any stealth missions in the immediate future. A simple piece of maths will demonstrate how this works however. Your ship's Sensor Profile (if starting with a Courier) of -63%, this makes it difficult to spot. Imagine another Courier moving through the same Quadrant as you, it would have no chance (Sensor Rating + Sensor Profile, i.e. less than zero) of spotting your ship, the same chance you would have of spotting it.

Tip - By way of example, a large Warship might have a Sensor Profile of 99%, making it a virtual certainty that your Courier would be able to spot it. Most, but not all, Starbases have even larger Sensor Profiles.

There are other factors at work here, so spotting other ships is not quite as cut and dried as it might appear. For example, if you are in a large outer Orbital Quadrant, you are much less likely to detect other ships than if you were in a smaller inner Orbital Quadrant.

Planetary Scan and Sector Scan are more detailed breakdowns relating to your ships ability to perform those specific tasks, used primarily for mineral prospecting.

Code:<div class='post_code'>| ISR Drive Rating: 2 Jump Capability: Yes (100 tus) |
| Manoeuvre Speed: 1.7 g Orbit Time: 6 tus |
| Landing Time: 30 tus Takeoff Time: 30 tus | </div>

Tip - All of the statistics regarding the speed and manoeuvrability of your ship are determined by the equipment you have installed and the type and quantity of hulls and armour the ship is made.

Code:<div class='post_code'>| Surface Area: 63 Embarking Size: 12851 mus | </div>


Surface Area and Embarking Size give you a rough idea of how large your ship is. By way of comparison a Free Trader class transport has a Surface Area of 77, and an Embarking Size of 11450 mus. A Broadsword class Heavy Cruiser has a Surface Area of 82, and an Embarking Size of 18430 mus.

These two statistics have several functions in the game. Surface Area can be used in making stealth calculations, while Embarking Size is literally the amount of space your ship would take up were it to be fitted inside another position.

Code:<div class='post_code'>| -Crew Report---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 24 Human Crew (505) - 1 mus |
| Crew Factors: 96 Required: 95 | </div>

Exercise caution when transferring crew. If you do something wrong, you can end up with a ship with no crew onboard that is incapable of carrying out any of your orders until you use another position to deliver some replacements. No great harm, but it can be just a little embarrassing.

Tip - When picking up employees or crew from another position, take care not to take so many that you leave that second position short-handed.

Code:<div class='post_code'>| -Cargo Report--------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| CARGO |

| Cargo: 0/200 Life Support: 51/120 | </div>

Your cargo bay. Ships start with empty cargo bays. While some missions may give you some cargo, the alternative, once you have finished your mission it to do some trading with civilians. These can point you in the direction of worlds with people looking to sell you valuable trade goods that you can then sell on to player markets. There is always somebody looking to buy them. Details on trading with civilian markets can be found in this story and article and in this update article which simplified the mechanics.

Tip - Not all markets are safe for you to visit as a member of your Affiliation. Though you are limited to Halo and Yank while Trainee once you leave Trainee you can look at the system where you intend to train and determine if the reception is likely to be hostile. It is a very good idea to check with your Aff precisely where you can safely travel before you jump there and find out the hard way. The space-lanes are littered with the wreckage of ships which have accidentally wandered where they shouldn't.

Tip - Yank and Skord are considered neutral space. You should be able to travel safely anywhere therein. Although be aware that the larger Affiliations are constantly jockeying for position, eyeing each other suspiciously, looking for some excuse to open fire. The Halo periphery (where you start) is moderated space and gives some protection against possible threats.

Tip - Your life support rating obviously enough governs the number of lifeforms you can carry, like your ships crew. It might be worth remembering that spare lifeform capacity can be used to carry lifeform trade goods. For example, the Courier can carry 400 mus of standard trade goods, plus 16 mus of lifeform trade goods. Sure, it means your crew have to bunk with the trade lifeforms in question, but that's a small price to pay in pursuit of profit.

Code:<div class='post_code'>| -Space Combat Report------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Max Targets: 1 Scints: 0 |
| Shield Factors: 250 Shield Depth: 17.27 |
| Max Shields: 250 Shield Recharge: 0 |
| Combat Efficiency: 100% Your Target Silhouette: 1.18 |
| Targeting Bonus: 0 Sensor Power: 4.42 |
| Base Accuracy: 3 Officer Bonus: 0 |
| Flee Option: Flee Target Type: None |
| Armour: 0 Combat Speed: 1.46 |
| Dodge: 1.46 On Patrol: No | </div>

The Space Combat Report looks a complicated beast at first. However, reading it through will indicate that each item is actually quite simple. The real problem lies in recognising what sort of value might be considered to be good, bad, or flat-out ugly for each of these entries. The best way of finding out is to get a hold of the details of different ships from other players in your Aff, so that you can compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of various ship designs.

Three of the more important statistics here are Base Accuracy, Dodge and Combat Speed. Warships need to have these as high as possible. For example, an exceptionally effective Warship might have a Base Accuracy of 9, a Dodge of 8, and a combat speed of 5.

Tip - The faster a ship is in combat, the more problems it will have in hitting targets as it has to compensate for its own speed. Basically, shooting from a moving platform is harder than shooting from a stationary position, so a fast ship will be harder to hit itself, but needs higher accuracy and better sensors to compensate.

Tip - A great deal of fine-tuning can be done with these statistics in the ship design editor. There is much debate about what makes for the 'best' ship designs, as different design philosophies compete for supremacy. Much of this competition is done in the heat of battle, where there is little lee-way for error.

Code:<div class='post_code'>| POINT DEFENCE SYSTEMS |
| SHOTS ACC(%) DMG |
| 4 Gatling Laser (215) 10 20 1 | </div>

All ships should carry point defence systems. Missiles and Torpedoes are common weapons in the game, and they can be deadly. Gatling Lasers and Phalanx defence systems will form your main line of defence. The correct ratio is a matter for experimentation.

Tip - There is an argument that starting ships derive little real benefit from their low numbers of Gatling Lasers. You may want to consider removing the Gatling Lasers to make space for something else.

Tip - Point defence will also target incoming space fighters and bombers.

Code:<div class='post_code'>| -Boarding Defence Report--------------------------------------------------------- |
| |
| SHORT RANGE GROUND UNITS |
| PREF DMG FACTORS |
| 24 Human Crew (505) Packed 24 24 |
| -------- -------- |
| 24 24 |
| |
| Current Ground Factors: 24 Maximum Boarders: 419 Units |
| | </div>

Each type of crew provides different combat effectiveness in the event of your ship being boarded. On more valuable ships, you may want to have more and better defensive units than the standard Human Crew, such as Veterans, Marines, or even Startroopers. The size of your ship limits the number of units that can attempt a boarding action.

Tip - When a ship attempts a boarding action, it exposes itself to potentially massive damage from close-range weapons fire from the target vessel. Often the hunter will become the prey.

Tip - Close combat is heavily weighted in favour of the defender. If you are thinking about boarding a position, you will need significant numerical superiority in order to have any chance of success.

Code:<div class='post_code'>| -Enemy Report-------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ENEMY LIST SUPPORT LIST DEFEND LIST GROUND ENEMY LIST |
| None None None None | </div>

As a new player, you do not need to be concerned with the Enemy Report section of your print-out. Ideally it should be kept blank until you begin to take command of warships, at which point this section will become an important and powerful strategic tool. Your Affiliation should be able to brief you fully on how to obtain the best performance from these settings.

Tip - Some configurations of Enemy Report settings work better in combat than others.

Code:<div class='post_code'>| -Installed Items-------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 1 Bridge (100) - 50 mus |
| 20 Cargo Bay (134) - 25 mus |
| 4 Gatling Laser (215) - 10 mus |
| 2 ISR Type 2 Engines (145) - 40 mus |
| 1 Jump Drive (175) - 50 mus |
| 4 Quarters (131) - 25 mus |
| 3 Sensor (103) - 10 mus |
| 5 Shields (115) - 10 mus |
| 5 Thrust Engine (160) - 20 mus |
| |
| Install Space: 1000/1000 |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | </div>

Your ships installed items list is where the work of designing and tweaking your ship comes into play. Detailed information about what each of these items are and can do, can be gained either from your Affiliation, or by issuing a 'Tech Manual' order for the item number concerned. Alternatively, simply look the items up on Nexus (the name of this online interface) in the Game tab.

Tip - Remember that a 'Tech Manual' order costs 50 tus, so looking up items in the game tab is both easier and faster.

Tip - The way installed items are listed can cause some confusion. The mass unit (mus) rating is per item. So in the case of a ship with 20 Cargo Bays for example, each of which weighs 25mus, for a total of 500mus worth, a full half of the total install space available. Therefore you could, for example, remove the 5 Shields (5 at 10mus each) and gain enough space to add another 2 Cargo Bays.

Tip - New statistics and features are occasionally added to your position reports. Full details and explanations of these as and when they happen can be found here - somewhere.

In the first turns of your initial mission you got to chose options and enter data, for example, deciding which ship to start with, the species of the crew and naming the ship. These equated to a list of orders which were submitted and processed as you went through the mission. This is essentially a handholding approach to generating orders which due to the quantity of orders and their use in Phoenix can only go so far. As the missions progress instead of having easy press options you are simply given instructions such as 'Set course for {15,29} Hannahannas (5168) in Hittite (204)'. It is then up to you to create the orders and submit them. To do this you go to the Orders tab and once there select your ship (remember you may one day have hundreds) simply by clicking on it. Down the left hand side will be a list of available orders and on the right, orders ready to be processed (such as those generated by undertaking the mission). If you had other positions such as a starbase and selected this position, then the list of orders on the left will be different.

For our purposes here however, we shall contain ourselves to the basic ship orders. These provide most of what you need to get started in the game.

When issuing orders data that you have discovered or is common knowledge will automatically populate the various data fields.

Buy
This is one of the orders you will use most often, as making money will likely be high on your list of priorities. Scouring the market reports for bargains, and searching out those lucrative trade routes forms a large part of any successful trading enterprise. Though making deals as part of trading with civilians (as explained above is recommended) especially if you are looking for modules to build your first outpost.



Tip - Learn to use the 'if an error occurs - stop turn' function. It is possible that when you issue an order to buy a trade good, somebody else might have bought it before you, which will cause the order to fail. It can be extremely infuriating to issue a buy order which is followed by a jump order, moving your ship out of the system with a cargo hold that is empty because the previous buy order failed, necessitating a sheepish return and the loss of precious time units.

Tip - The Market Report section is going to be your best friend. Bookmark it now. The Market Reports are updated daily (when Turns Uploaded has been ticked). New goods become available regularly, and prices can often change.

Tip - Starbase Governors will rarely put unique and valuable items on their open market. This often means that the best deals are not public knowledge, though it does happen from time to time. If scouring the public markets is not for you, contact specific Governors in your region of space (using the send message order) or simply put out an open question on the forum asking to arrange a trade deal. It's also handy pointing out you are a new player. Deals may be more lucrative if the governor wants to recruit you to their affiliation or just to help a new player.

Deliver / Deliver Item Type
These orders will begin to be used when you start moving items around for your Affiliation. Other players regularly require large stockpiles of various items moved around from 'a' to 'b', and this sort of mission is often offered to new players because there are comparatively few ways of triggering an accidental all-out interstellar war, which isn't to say it's impossible. Just unlikely.

Of the two - 'Deliver' and 'Deliver Item Type' - the former is most useful for keeping strict control over what is being delivered. While the latter is helpful when moving large quantities of different goods. In the below examples, Deliver is for Metals (1) while Deliver Item Type is for Ores (49). As metals are a subset of ores, if the ship only had metals, both would be viable, but if the ship had both metals and basic elements but only wanted to deliver metals, then Deliver Item Type could end in disaster.



Tip - As a new player, you are probably best sticking to the 'Deliver' order at first, because of the greater specific control offered over your ships actions.

Tip - Remember that you need a Delivery Authorisation if you are unloading goods to another player's position. This is to stop just anyone from delivering a package containing incriminating stuff to anywhere they please.

Maintenance Complex Visit
A ship with an Integrity Mod of 1 means it loses 1 percentile point of Integrity each week. There other random events which can also reduce integrity - meteor hits, extreme manoeuvres, landing, etc. This order will return Integrity to 100%.

Tip - Your Aff will probably have one or more designated Starbases which are best set-up for this sort of ship maintenance. By the time your ship is requiring a Maintenance Complex Visit, you will probably already know where these Starbases are. But if you don't, be sure to ask. Just turning up at any Starbase is no guarantee the work can be done.

Move To Starbase
It is important to note that this order will only work if you 'know' the destination Starbase. You know a Starbase if it has been set to common knowledge by its owner; if it is a Starbase you have seen or visited before; if you have received knowledge of the Starbases location through your Political position; or finally if another player has transferred specific knowledge to you.

Because you need to know a Starbase, it is likely that you will see quite a few error messages relating to failed 'Move To Starbase' orders. Not all of the Starbases you will see on the Market Reports page for example, will have had their status set to common knowledge. This is done primarily to confuse new players, but you should try not to take it personally.

Further, the route to the starbase has to be straight forward, which means can be reached through the use of ISR and Jumping only. If there are intervening wormholes and stargates, the order will fail, returning a 'no known route'. You start the game in Halo which means to leave you need to know about the wormhole exist in Halo Express (9890) wormhole in Agipeta(198).. To use it you need to use the following orders to move into orbit of the wormhole:

and then to enter the wormhole to Yank which can be found in the Movement set of orders:



To get back into Halo, simply submit the enter wormhole order from the orbit of the wormhole in Yank.
There is another way out of Halo, directly into Corewards but do not to use this until you are part of an affiliation with better knowledge of the game. As such its location is not mentioned here.

Tip - Be very careful with the 'dock' checkbox in the order editor. Most, if not all non-Affiliation Starbases will consider docking attempts to be hostile actions. There have been many incidents in the game where a ship has docked with a Starbase with a very nasty Starbase-destroying surprise on board. For this reason, virtually all transactions with Starbases are carried out through Hiports (orbital lifts). Meaning you do not need to physically dock with the base itself.

Docking somewhere they are not welcome is possibly the number one mistake made by new players. If you learn one thing from this guide, learn this.

The only time you might want to dock with a Starbase would be to conduct maintenance/R&R visits, or to refit your ship. And typically this will be a Starbase belonging to your Affiliation. Otherwise, leave that dock checkbox well alone. Nobody enjoys blowing up new player ships.

Okay, almost nobody enjoys blowing them up.

Move To System Quad / Move To Planet xy / Move To Planet Orbit
When you require more control over your Starships movements than that afforded by the 'Move To Starbase' order, these are the commands to turn to. Examples of when you might to use them include:
Moving to unknown Starbases which you know are located on a particular world.
Conducting scans of particular planets.
Moving to the location of a Wormhole or Stargate in order to enter it.

Tip - Don't forget there are more specialist movement orders available outside of the 'Basic' orders.

Pickup / Pickup Item Type
These are the twins to the 'Deliver' orders discussed above.

Tip - Authorisations are available which cover a wide range of activities. From giving permission to deliver or pick-up a set quantity of a particular item, all the way up to having full authorisation to do anything. Star-captains should resist the urge to pick up the Admirals brand new MkVII Photon Battery just because they spotted it lying around, because that might just make him a little cross.

Recreation Complex Visit
Not something you will need to do all that often. But remember the efficiency boost can be very handy if you're just about to embark on a run of time-unit intensive orders.

Tip - When you have a Political position, it will list all of your ships, their current efficiency levels, locations and integrities. It will also warn you when a ship requires its 6-monthly R&R trip.

Refit Internal Items
The critical thing to be aware of with this order is the part in the Order Editor description where it says 'no integrity loss'. Usually installing/uninstalling pieces of equipment from a ship entails quite a severe integrity loss, so whenever possible, you should try and use 'refit internal items'. Note however that this will return a ship to its original design specification. Whatever that might be. This isn't an issue with your Courier, but could become a problem when you inherit ships from other players, which may have been heavily customised.

Repair Complex Visit
Putting star-ships back together once they have been damaged can be a pain. It is recommended you try and avoid chipping the paintwork on your ships. However, this is not always possible, and you will occasionally have to resort to having your ships repaired at a friendly Starbase. The price of patches will probably vary amongst your Affs Starbases, so if money is tight, check where is cheapest.

Sell
Selling things is usually more fun than buying them, particularly when you're making a nice fat profit. However, watch out for those unscrupulous Starbase governors who make a habit of changing their buying prices on a regular basis, otherwise you run the risk of selling a good for less than you were expecting. It's rare, but it can happen.

Tip - If you're selling an item, but fail to sell all of your cargo because the Starbase isn't buying all that you've got, it is worth your while contacting the governor, as he/she/it will probably arrange to take what you've got left, off your hands. Remember, Phoenix is a social game, and much of the fun comes from interacting with other players.

Tip - Once you start talking to individual Starbase governors, and arranging private trade deals, you may have to start using the 'private market' check box. This accesses a market which is not publicly available that has been set-up specially for you. A print-out of its status will appear on the Starbase turn report, but not on yours, so it will be up to you to keep note of the progress of each of your private trade deals. There is no point in checking the 'private market' box unless you have something worked out in advance.

Special Action
The scope of the 'Special Action' order lies well beyond the boundaries of this guide, suffice as to say that if you can imagine it, you might well be able to do it with this order. It puts you in direct contact with the games-master (GM) of the game, his name is 'Mica', remember to say hello, and try to be clear and concise about what you are trying to achieve.

As a beginning player you probably won't have much need for this order initially. But there are various ways of getting the best out of it, all of which can be discovered by, yes, you guessed it, talking to your Affiliation.

Tip - Don't forget Special Actions cost £2.00 each, and require a KJC account number so that the transaction can be charged.

Tip - Particularly complex activities in the game world may require multiple Special Actions to achieve.

Tip - Much of the 'colour' in the game can be uncovered through Special Actions, this is where details of strange alien artefacts lie, interactions with alien races, the discovery of new trade goods, the exploitation of existing resources. Your Aff will maintain a list of previous Special Actions that have been carried out, and once they trust you, they will let you see them. Expect it to take quite some time for them to trust you this much however, as the results of Special Actions are closely kept secrets.

Surface Exploration
A Surface Exploration is charged for in the same way as a Special Action. If you spot an interesting looking sector on a planet (following a 'Scan Planet' order which provides you with a planetary map), you may want to take a closer look at it. In the more well travelled parts of the universe however, it is very possible that your Aff might already have done this, so you should check with them first so as not to wind up duplicating somebody else's efforts.

Tip - For the keen explorer, there are new Star-systems being discovered in the game on a fairly regular basis. So there is plenty virgin unexplored territory out there, and Affiliations are always very happy to recruit players who are wanting to go exploring. They may even equip you with the ships you need to go and do it.

Tech Manual
If you're unsure about what a piece of equipment you encounter in the game does, you can issue this order and find out.

Tip - Sometimes it will be necessary to have knowledge of something, for example a very rare ore, so that you can recognise it in the game. This works in a similar way to knowing the location of Starbases as discussed under the 'Move To Starbase' order. You can only prospect for those rare ores, if you know about them. Which means you will need to pick up a sample from somewhere, and Tech Manual it just to be on the safe side.

Tip - A Tech Manual will also contain information on what resources it takes to build a particular piece of equipment.

Tip - Another important use of the Tech Manual order is to obtain information on trade goods, particularly crucial is the Local Value of trade goods. This is a very important statistic which governs how much goods are worth in various different Peripheries. It is left to the player to work out precisely how this works in the game.