SPACE TRADERS FLIGHT TRAINING MANUAL

A Coriolis Space Station

Every world registered with the Galactic Co-operative has several Coriolis pace stations in orbit at various altitudes. Coriolis stations are 'neutral' territory, controlled equally by GalCop and the Planetary Government.

A new dodecahedral design (the so-called 'Dodo' stations) is replacing the Coriolis design in the more advanced systems. Coriolis stations are hexagonal in approximate shape. They spin along a single axis running vertically from the planet below. One side of the station always faces the planet, and it is on this facet that the access tunnel is located.

Coriolis stations were designed at the GASEC (Galactic Astronautic and Space Exploration Center) Laboratories on the planet Vetitice. The first station was in orbit around the world Lave in 2752.

Coriolis stations have powerful defensive shields (against pirate attack and inept docking) and a large fleet of Viper fighters, and several larger types of ship. The inside of the station is free-space, and on each inner facet of the station there are berthing and refueling facilities, as well as cities, hospitals, farmlands and leisure-scapes.

Each Coriolis station has a diameter of 1 standard kilometer. They can berth 2000 ships, and support a fair-sized colonial life development of humanoids.

Space stations are cargo transition points for interplanetary trading vessels and shuttle craft. They also provide entertainment and lodging facilities for pilots not wishing to go 'planet-side'.

(left) One of the new 'DoDo' space stations. (above) leaving a Coriolis station and approaching the planet, Lave.

Leaving The Space Station
f0 On coding for Station Depart the pilot is advised to accept a 10-second MemnSomn to dispense with subjective experience of the passage from docking bay to Coriolis station egress. The screen will then show a break-pattern (see below), which is the passage through the protective field over the Coriolis entrance tunnel.

Basic Maneuvers
The Cobra trade ship needs practice to fly well, though it is highly maneuverable, very fast, and a good combat vessel. It accelerates and decelerates rapidly using fingertip control: < (or joystick left) for anticlockwise roll > (or joystick right) for clockwise roll. Use X (or joystick back) for climb and S (or joystick forward) for dive. The SPACE BAR will increase your speed, and ? will decrease it. Pitch and yaw manoeuvre requires bi-digital play on keyboard model (X S < >).

Notice the small dot moving around inside the large circle on the dials (just above the large 'S'. This is your compass; the dot corresponds to the position of the space station. If the dot is green then the station is behind you. When the dot is yellow and in the center of the circle, you should be able to see the space station directly in front of you.

Practice rotating the space station off the screen and using the compass to find it again.

You might see some Cobra class ships. These are other traders like yourself, and will not harm you unless you shoot at them. If you do this they may either attack or, alternatively, run away. Should you use them for combat practice, do not expect the space station to turn a blind eye to such unruly behaviour. Nothing will attack you while you are within sight of the space station - unless you make a nuisance of yourself.

If is not possible to land on the planet, and flying into planets or space stations is fatal. The altimeter shows your height above the planet's surface, and you should not let it fall too low.

(If you are a new pilot, now is your best chance to practice docking manoeuvers with the space station at Lave. The Lave Orbit Space Authority permits an unlimited number of practice runs by newly appointed pilots, and does not charge. This facility is suspended during attack, or when the Coriolis station has no free docking space. See the illustrated section on docking procedure.)

1 Defensive shields take power from two energy bank sources, fore and aft. This (FS) is the forward shield).

2 This is the rear defensive shield (RS).

3 Fuel level indicator (FV).

4 Cabin temperature (CT) will increase and the console register this when your ship flies too close to a sun.

5 Laser temperature (LT) will rise during continuous firing of the ship's laser(s). As the central housing overheats, a laser will temporarily cut out rather than destroy the system.

6 Altimeter (AL). Your altitude above your destination planet can be crucial. Flying too near its surface will be fatal.

7 Missile status depicts the number of missiles on board and whether they are 'targeted' (yellow) or 'untargeted' (green) or 'locked and ready to fire' (red).

 8 The 3D scanner operates in such a way that you can pinpoint a ship above and below yours, as well as to the front, behind or to the sides. The vertical bars show this clearly.

9 Compass. This instrument first picks up a target planet while it remains out of range of the main flight-path scanner. When the planet's space station nearest to you comes within range of it, the compass picks up that instead. When the dot is small and green, the object is behind you; when yellow and in the center of the compass circle, it should be visible through your front viewfinder.

10 Forward velocity (SP) guage. Velocity should be maintained at maximum on planetary approach. Keep it low during space station approach, and minimal for final docking.

11 The gyro bars (RL / DC) indicate right / left roll and dive / climb status.

12 Gyro bars, dive and climb status.

13 Energy banks (1 2 3 4) will automatically replenish in flight. However, if you are under attack, energy for the shields will be taken from them.

Once you have left a space station, the controls f0, f1, f2, and f3 change their function to produce front, rear, left and right views respectively.