1. The Map Window
   • Controlling The Camera
   • Selection And Orders
   • Ship Commands
   • The Radar

Giving ship-commands is a two-step process: first you need to select the type of order in its context menu. Once you have done that you will notice how the mouse-pointer changes appearance, and now has an icon attached to it, according to the ship-command that you selected. This symbolizes that additional interaction is required. To finalize the ship-command you need to do pick a target!

For instance if you give the ship-command Colonize Planet you also need to select the planet that you want to be colonized. Simply hover the mouse over the desired object - A route should be plotted from the ship to the target, plus a tooltip should pop up notifying you about the distance and the “estimated time of arrival” (ETA) at the target. This is calculated according to the ships-speed.

Here’s a list of ship-commands that can be issued:

• Move To: you can move to a planet or a sun, but you can also move to another ship, which will essentially follow the other ship, and try to reach the same location. This way you can escort your own ships, or you can follow your opponents ships to see where they are going.
• Move Near: you can either move to an absolute position near a planet or a sun, or you order to follow another ship within a given distance. If you chose to follow another ship, this ship-command will approach using the shortest possible route, but will also make sure that your ship will never move nearer to the ship than the specified distance.
• Attack: same as move to, except the ship will start attacking once it reaches its target. Please note that you can only attack ships/planets with which you are at war!
• Scout: will move the ship to the specified sun. Once the ship has reached its target it will automatically continue scouting by flying to the next nearest unexplored sun, and so forth. The scout ship-command only accepts suns as a target. Once all suns are scouted, it will continue by scouting the sun that has not been scouted for the longest period of time.
• Hold Position: this will stop the ship right where it is and remove any ship-commands. The ship will hold its position until a new ship-command is issued.
• Colonize Planet: will move the ship to the specified planet, and once it reached its target it will colonize the planet. This will “destroy” the ship, or rather the colony module aboard the ship will form the planet’s first colony, and the ship-crew will turn into the planet’s first citizens.
  Only ships fitted with a Colony Module can be given this ship-command.
  The colonize planet ship-command only accepts unsettled planets as a target, with the exception of planets that have been reduced to a population count of 0 (most likely through bio-bombing). These life-less worlds will have to be re-populated with a colony ship.
• Conquer Planet: will move the ship to the specified planet, and once it reaches its target the troops aboard the ship are deployed to conquer the planet, and start a ground battle versus the stationed military on that planet. If the conquer command was successful, the troops will stay on the planet as stationed military.
  Only ships fitted with a Troop Bay can be given this ship-command.
  The conquer planet ship-command only accepts planets that you are in war with as a target.
• Bio Bombing: will move the ship to the specified planet, and once it reached its target it will start dropping bio-bombs on the planet for a specific number of turns. Bio-bombs specifically target stationed military but often citizens are killed in the process as well. Because of that bio-bombing is considered a atrocity, and results in loss of reputation. In addition parts of the planetary-space is rendered uninhabitable for a some time, and citizens of the bio-bombed are very discontent towards your empire. This might even lead to rebellion on planets of yours with a high contingent of these citizens!
  Only ships fitted with a Bio-Bomb can be given this ship-command.
• Create Wormhole: will move the ship near a specific planet or sun, and order it to start the creation of a wormhole. Please read the chapter Wormholes for more detailed information, as well as the limits of wormholes.
  Only ships fitted with a Wormhole Generator can be given this ship-command.

Please note that certain ship-commands only accept targets that satisfy the necessary requirements. For instance only ships or planets that you are at war with can be attacked.

If the ship-command rejects the target the mouse is hovering over, then the mouse-pointer will change into the “no” pointer, plus a tooltip will inform you why the target is refused. Please also note that no preliminary route is plotted from your ship to the target.