Space Colony v1.2 Patch (HD Upgrade)

Space Colony HD - Readme
V1.2

Welcome to the new edition of Space Colony HD! The HD editions now support widescreen resolutions up to 2560 x 1600 allowing you to enjoy the games like you've never seen them before and take in all the stunning detail.

We have also included some bonus maps for you to play around with and enjoy, some created by ourselves and some by members of our outstanding and dedicated fan communities.

We hope you enjoy playing the HD editions and as always, thank you for your support.

Firefly Studios

Old savegames and settings
Space Colony HD stores user maps, saves and settings in the Documents\Space Colony folder.  If you have upgraded to Space Colony HD from an old version of Space Colony you will need to copy the maps, saves and settings from the Program Files\Firefly Studios\Space Colony folder (default location) to the Documents\Space Colony folder.


User Profiles (including campaign progress\savegames)

Old Location: Program Files\Firefly Studios\Space Colony\users
New Location: Documents\Space Colony\users

User Campaigns (custom .cam files)

Old Location: Program Files\Firefly Studios\Space Colony\campaigns
New Location: Documents\Space Colony\campaigns

Maps (custom .map files)

Old Location: Program Files\Firefly Studios\Space Colony\maps
New Location: Documents\Space Colony\maps

MP3s

Old Location: Program Files\Firefly Studios\Space Colony\fx\mp3s
New Location: Documents\Space Colony\mp3s

Settings (spacecolony.cfg)

Old Location: Program Files\Firefly Studios\Space Colony
New Location: Documents\Space Colony

NOTE: If you are using 64 bit Windows the default installation location is Program Files (x86)\Firefly Studios\Space Colony


Section 1 - Background
Section 2 - Additional features
Section 3 - Military Equipment
Section 4 - How to get into a relationship
Section 5  - Starting the game
Section 6 - Useful web addresses
Section 7 - FAQs

Section 1 - Background
2153 A.D.

Earth is no longer economically viable so the planet has been evacuated.  The real money is now in the orbital mega cities, advertising and most of all basic resource acquisition.

Every two-bit company in the galaxy is running a Lander operation, setting down on a new planet, killing off anything endangering the profits, sucking up every resource the planet has to offer and then moving on.
 
The galaxy is split into two, those who have credit and those who don’t.  Those with credit live in the luxurious orbital mega cities and are known as Spacers.  Those who don’t have credit are often tempted to carry out these dangerous resource acquisition operations and are affectionately called Landers.

The acquisition teams are usually made up from the dregs of society, drifters, loners and stargazers.  Many of them have little to live for so chance their luck in an attempt to get rich quick.  The loss of life is high.

Space Colony follows the story of Venus Jones, a 23-year-old veteran of three outings.  She needs one more successful trip and then she is out of there, retired, set up for life, in credit.  She is praying for a nice easy six-month mining assignment, what she’s going to get is a completely different story…


Section 2 - Additional features
Delete Jobs Tool

You can delete your primary or secondary job.  To do this click on the small trash can icon on the colonists panel (which appears once you have click on the colonist), a new pointer will be shown, now click on the job you wish to remove and the job will be deleted.

Guard Duty 
(Guard Duty is only available on certain levels)

Once you have selected a colonist a small picture of a space helmet will appear over the pointer, now click outside and the colonist’s primary job will change to guard duty (space duty).  The colonist will always go to this location when they are in work time and defend against any alien attacks.

MP3 Player

You can access the MP3 selection screen though the options, either through the main menu (settings) or through the in game options (spanner icon) screen.

Select a drive or drives you wish to scan for MP3 and press the scan button (small green arrow).  A scanning for MP3s window will appear and it will start searching for MP3 files. You can now select the MP3s you wish to play in the game.

You can select the files in a number of ways either by left clicking on the MP3 or using the green arrow with a + on it to add an MP3.  Or use the CTRL key to toggle the selected files on or off.  If you wish to select a group of files select one file and then hold down the SHIFT key and select some more files further down the list and add them using the arrow and green arrow with the + sign.

At the top right of the screen you can choose the amount of time before the next track is played either: 10 seconds, 30 seconds or 1 minute.  You can also choose to have the tracks played randomly or in alphabetical order.

Event Warning

An explanation mark (!) appears near to the radar screen when certain events are happening.  You can click on the explanation mark (!) to go to this event.


Section 3 - Military Equipment
Force field post and Hi-power force field post

The large force fields uses up more power and can take more damage from aliens than the smaller force field.  You can always repair the damage using the engineering repair facility.

Smaller aliens can go under the force field whereas the airborne aliens can go over them.

Small force fields are good for stopping bees, whereas the large force field would be better used against the rock hoppers.  

Manned Lasers

The Manned lasers can hit more frequently, than the automatic laser, depending on the skills of the person using the laser and it’s much more powerful than the automatic laser.

Sentinels

Sentinels are a useful defense against flying aliens e.g. Acid Wings.  You control the movement of the sentinel by placing Sentinel patrol markers.  The Sentinels will move between the markers and the Sentinel post.

Hover mine delivery system

These use a lot of power, but will deal out plenty of damage, which includes damage to flying aliens, such as the Acid Wings.  Make sure you are careful with their placement as they can cause damage to your base. 

Cluster Bomb

The Cluster bomb fires a bomb, which creates a powerful arch of destruction and can cause damage to your base.

Missile Silo

The missile requires plenty of resources to build, but it allows you to target anywhere on the map, and does damage to a large area.

Military Radar

The Military Radar gives advanced warning of incoming alien attacks, before they arrive on the map.

Space Defense Shield

The Space Defense Shield gives protection against falling lava rocks and incoming meteors.  You can click on the Space Defense Shield to show the radius, which it protects.


Section 4 - How to get into a relationship
If you wish to get one of your colonists to fall in love, you’ll need to think carefully whom you choose for them as a suitable partner.  Picking the right person will make things much easier for you. Also you need to think about who is going to ask whom.
Slim has little chance of dating Venus, will usually be receptive to an advance from her!

Choose your colonist, and then click on the heart icon. You are now on the romance panel. Here you can either pop the question immediately (‘will you be mine’ icon) or try and improve your overall chances by inviting them to hang out together first. Each of the 6 invitations has a chance of success depending on the person asked. Look over the probabilities and make your choice. If you are successful the 2 colonists will go off together and engage in their chosen activity.   You will also see that the probability of a successful relationship has improved (you can improve this 3 times, once for each of the 3 hearts).
Note you can also improve your chances by making the 2 colonists better friends (enemies have no chance of becoming special friends).

Finally, once they are romantically entangled, they will benefit from permanently full happiness. Relationships don’t always last forever however in Space Colony they certainly don’t, with some lasting only a day and others... well? 


Section 5  - Starting the game
Play the tutorial first! It isn’t too long and really helps explain the games main concepts.  Once you have finished the Tutorial move onto the play Space Colony section.

Don’t forget to use the hints and tips section available in each mission, if you get stuck in the game.  You can access them by clicking on the flashing light bulb next to the radar screen.


Section 6 - Useful web addresses
Developer’s Homepage:

http://www.fireflyworlds.com 


Section 7 - FAQs
Q. I can't work out how to build the Pharmaceutical Extractors? 
A. The Pharmaceutical Extractor needs to be built inside Bio Domes.

Q. Is there anyway of getting more supplying robots in the warehouse? (Resource gathering is very slow)
A. Placing more warehouses will give you extra warehouse droids to pickup goods.

Q. Every time I try to scan for MP3s the game crashes to desktop?
A. You can copy your MP3s manually into the “Documents\Space Colony\mp3” folder and when you reload Space Colony they will be shown again.

Q. I don’t seem to be able to save a game.
A. Try creating a new user, creating a user with special characters, which Space Colony doesn’t recognize, could cause the problem.  You should particularly avoid using ‘\’ (backslash), ‘/’ (slash), ‘*’ (asterisk), ‘ “ ‘ (quotes), ‘?’ (question mark), ‘<’ (left angled bracket), ‘>’ (right angled bracket), ‘:’ (colon) and the “¦” (pipe).

Q. There doesn't seem to be a way to delete structures or furniture?
A. You can delete buildings using the sell option.  Just click on the dollar symbol on the left interface panel and then click on the object to sell.  Click the right mouse button to clear the sell cursor.

Q. Can the objects be moved after their initial placement?
A. Yes, click on the object that you want to move and an interface panel will be shown, within this panel you will be able to see the move icon (four arrows in a circle), click on this to move your object around.  Objects normally placed outside of Bio Domes (lasers, nutrient extractors etc..) cannot be moved after initial placement.

Q. A Fatal Exception has occurred OE ….: …….. VXD + ……. the program will terminate.
A. The following web site may help to track down the cause. http://www.all-windows.com/win_exception.html





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