Before launch

• Check availability of weapons and equipment at different bases
• Check you have a shield mounted (if required)
• Check you have an appropriate number of bots/batts
• Check you have a countermeasure dropper (if required) and sufficient countermeasures (CMs)
• Check you have weapons loaded (you may have lost some)
• If not on a mission, set waypoints

After launch

• Be ready to move, in case enemies are outside
• Form (F4) with a team member

During flight

• Watch your scanner for enemies. 
• Have your countermeasures selected (automatic), if trying to avoid random encounters
• Hit Esc or go free flight to leave formation when attacked

During combat

• Watch your shield and hull damage
• Select a ship not currently being attacked
• Watch your thruster fuel
• Use your side (A,D), reverse (X) and forward (Tab) thrusters to avoid fire and target the enemy
• Look at your thruster fuel, bots/batts again
• Keep moving
• Avoid damaging your allies
• Always assume there may be another encounter after this one
• Watch for other players under attack and try and engage their enemy
• Never take another player's kill or loot unless agreed or requested
• Announce any enemy reinforcements coming in
• Check your hull and shield damage, fuel and remaining batts/bots again
• Give warning that you may have to leave due to damage/fuel/batts/bots etc

Escaping

• Discretion is always the better part of valour and caution can keep you alive.  Make sure you have a reserve of fuel/batts/bots/CMs to be able to make it to the nearest base.
• Spiralling or corkscrew flight under thrusters will keep you relatively safe when pursued, but will use up fuel.  Most pursuers will be discouraged eventually - hopefully before you run out of fuel.
• Cruise flight will allow you to escape - if you can avoid being disrupted by missiles.  You may use countermeasures or exhaust your opponents' missiles by firing up your engines to attract missiles and then shutting them down before impact.  Both these techniques require practice.

When you join ICTW, your navigation maps will only show some planets and your current base.  It's up to you to fill in your maps.  Use your Trade Routes view to show the common trade paths from your current position - at the end of the trade path there will be a new base.  More trade paths will become apparent as you move around the system.

Due to power requirements, you may find it more efficient to divide weapon combinations into different groups.  This may allow you to use all your weapons (or the most shield effective ones) at the beginning of the encounter and then switch to a more effective combination for dog-fighting.  For medium and heavy fighters, weapon grouping is highly recommended.  Setting a separate weapons group for automatic countermeasures is also very useful when avoiding encounters.  

Review your original Freelancer documentation for setting up weapon groups, but essentially in your Controls setup:

• Choose keys for the weapon groups (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4)
• Choose keys to set each weapon group (e.g. Shift-1,Shift-2,Shift-3,Shift-4)
• In space, select a weapon group  (e.g. Press 1)
• Turn on and off the weapons you require in your weapon list display
• Press the key(s) to set the weapon group (e.g. Press Shift-1)
• Repeat for the other groups

CAUTION:  
If you enter a base without your weapon group set to Group 1, they will be altered when you exit the base.  Always check your weapon group is set to 1 before entering a base.

Although Countermeasures can be used manually to decoy enemy missiles, they are more effective if set to automatic deployment.  To set countermeasures to auto, turn them on (green) in your weapon display.  You may also define a weapon group that only has countermeasures turned on and select that group when appropriate.

Base missions are important to earn reputation to allow you to buy better ships and weapons.  You'll soon find out that some bases require a lot more proof of competence than others. 

When starting out, low-level missions are recommended, to allow you to find your comfortable level of risk.  Your current ship set-up and type should determine the level of missions you attempt.  Once you have honed your skills and enhanced your ship, you can attempt higher level missions. 

Mission levels indicate the maximum level of ships opposing you while the level of individual enemy ships will indicate how many valuable dropped items you can expect.  Note that the mission level is an indicator only.  You may be faced with more or higher level ships than you anticipated and you may have to travel long distances.

Missions provide you with a temporary neutrality that will make you show as neutral to all ships, except your targets.  However, neutrality is not perfect and can fail unexpectedly.  Once you complete a mission, your neutrality can vanish, so sometimes it makes sense to leave the target until last or be prepared to fight a number of high level random enemies.

Your forward thruster (usually the Tab key) is useful in dogfighting and avoidance, but it uses fuel.  Use your left, right and reverse thrusters (left and right strafe and back/reverse - usually keys A, D and X) to manoeuvre your ship, target enemies and avoid hostile fire.  These thrusters don't use fuel and can also be used for avoiding fire while trying to get your cruise engines started.  Keep an eye on your thruster fuel level and your shield and hull - too much damage and you lose weapons and equipment.

Do not stop moving.

After a few solo missions you may learn to appreciate the value of teaming up.  Playing in a group will enable you to take higher level missions and provide more security and better rewards.  It also offers an opportunity for exhilarating (and lucrative) combat with weapon installations, freighters, gunboats and capital ships.  However, completion of team missions is dependent on the skills of the team and how well they work together.  In small groups, the death of a member can have disastrous effects on the survivability of the mission.

If you want to join a team, then follow the simple rules below.  They will ensure you become a valuable team member.  If you ignore them, then you may have to learn to fly solo, or not at all.

At the start

• Use Ventrilo if you can, but keep communication quick and to the point - both in Ventrilo and text
• Ask if you can join anyone in doing missions.  Don't be offended if players refuse, as they may have other plans.
• Establish how you are to share the loot.  We recommend that you agree to share evenly, as everyone is sharing the risk.
• If you have cargo or points at the beginning of a mission let your team mates know - it saves arguments later.

During combat

• Be aware of your team mates.  Watch out that you don't collide with or obstruct them and watch out for people attacking them from behind (watch their 6).  Medium and heavy fighters and freighters are not as manoeuvrable as lights, so they need fighter cover.
• Never shoot your team mates - enough people die in real life from 'unloaded' guns and shield indicators may be wrong.
• Unless previously agreed, do not attack an enemy that is already being attacked by another player - find another one.
• Do not tractor in loot from a ship that has been killed or substantially damaged by another player, unless asked to do so.
• If you are taking too much damage or low on fuel or just need to leave - tell your team mates.

After combat

• Don't become complacent.  Just because you finished this encounter, doesn't mean that another one isn't about to begin
• Sharing usually occurs back at base.  It may be a good idea to dock first and launch before sharing - just in case the server crashes.

Generally

• Be slow to accuse and quick to forgive and always be polite.
• Remember, treat your teammates lives as your own.  If they die, there's only you left to complete a difficult mission
  

You may encounter random enemies while on the way to/from a mission.  In this case, the enemy will usually be white or neutral to you until you fire.  When not on a mission, the enemy will usually be announced by a cruise disruptor missile approaching.

Most new players are best avoiding random encounters or running away.  To avoid randoms:

• fly away and use counter measures
• dodge around, while waiting for cruise to engage and repeat this as many times as necessary
• use thrusters until they give up (sometimes they don't before you run out of fuel).
• die.
  

To the experienced player, random encounters offer a new flying experience.  Enemy fighters are usually double their displayed level (and carry double cargo), while Level 5s will normally carry Points. 

Flying solo randoms is all about caution and confidence.  You should be confident of your ship and weapons and your skill both in targeting and avoidance.  You should be cautious as to an escape route and your thruster fuel.  A random encounter may start with two level 2s but escalate to waves of level 5s.  In Bering, heavier ships may also appear.  We would not recommend solo randoms in the War zone.

Help - often unwanted - will appear frequently.  If the helping ships do too much damage to an enemy then you will lose the loot. 
 

Teaming up for random encounters increases your survivability and speeds things up.  It also allows you to take on freighters, gunboats and capital ships.  All the rules outlined above for Team missions should be followed.

Unlike other mods, Player vs Player combat is comparatively rare in ICTW.  Cautious players realise that PvP combat is usually slow, risks life and damage and runs the risk of escalating random encounters from enemy factions.

However, PvP can occur due to mutual arrangement, overlapping missions, being in an enemy area, players after fun or variety.  Plaeyers may also be targetted because of their high Performance Rating and the effect their death will have on the opposing team's score.

No PvP  is allowed in New York. 

By design, PVP cannot be equal.  Players will be in different ships with different speed weapons.  Ship type and number, bots and bats, weaponry and, of course, player skill will combine to influence the outcome.  Also be aware that unless you know the other player well (or because you do) there is no guarantee that you will be faced with an even number of ships or that the other player(s) will turn up.  Remember flying around out there is dangerous.

 

Different Non Player Character (NPC) enemies use different attack and avoidance routines.  Learn to predict how your enemies will attack and how they will try and dodge your fire.  Your ship type will also determine how you deal with these tactics.  Light fighters can usually match speed and follow an enemy, medium and heavy fighters will usually have to wait for their enemy to come to them and deal with them appropriately.
 

Sometimes, when you least expect it, all the surrounding ships (and stations) go from allies to enemies (turn red).  There are a variety of reasons for this event but they all come down to you doing damage to a friendly flyer.  You can shoot an ally or collide with one and do a little too much damage.  In any event, you'll suddenly be surrounded by red former allies (or you may be wondering why you are shooting at this red ship and not doing much damage and you realise it's an ally).

First thing

DON'T PANIC!

This is the first bit of crucial advice, because allied NPCs cannot do much damage to your shield (which better be up).  However, if you still have real enemy out there, they will be attacking.  Worse still, if you are near a base, then it will start firing at you as well.

Now, if this occurs with only a small group, you can usually ignore your hostile allies and finish up the enemy ships.  However, if it's a large group or near a base then it's time to get out of there.  Use any of the methods normally used for escaping.

If you are out in space, then just losing the pursuit will usually put you back to green.  If the close bases are hostile then you need to do a long trip to a base that's not.

IF YOU HAVE AN ESCAPE POD AND YOU MAKE THE TARGET BASE HOSTILE TO YOU, YOU CAN ONLY ABORT THE MISSION.

Ok, you didn't join Total War to play the Stock Market or maybe you did.  Each of the corporations for each major faction sell shares.  Shares do not take up cargo space and you can make a tidy profit by buying and selling at the right time.

Now if you have the money and the rep, there are a few upgrades you can purchase for your ship.  A Power upgrade will let you load more weapons of higher power, but will seriously use up your thruster fuel.  An Engine upgrade will give you a higher flying and thruster speed and a shorter time to go to cruise.  Conversions  are also available for those players who want to use pirate weapons on non-pirate ships.