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Star Control II Guide
By Tristan Glaeser, Shiver@evilemail.com

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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I - Before You Start

1.1 - Foreword

1.2 - Edition

1.3 - Legal Crap

1.4 - The Controls

1.5 - Settings

1.6 - Miscellaneous Concerns

1.7 - Strategy

II - The Walkthrough

2.1 - Return to Earth

2.2 - Early Mining

2.3 - Visiting the Pkunk

2.4 - Rallying Cry

2.5 - Thanks, Delta Tauri!

2.6 - Distress

2.7 - The Twilight Zone

2.8 - Unfriendly Reception

2.9 - Slylandro Self-Destruct Code

2.10 - Talking Pet Turns Rabid

2.11 - Creating the Ultimate Flagship

2.12 - Shofixti Ressurection

2.13 - Subduing the Thraddash

2.14 - Yehat Revolution

2.15 - Broken Ultron

2.16 - The Syreen-Mycon Conflict

2.17 - Final Battle

III - Extra Stuff

IV - Afterword

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I - Before You Start
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--------------- 1.1 - Foreword -------------------------------------------------

In case you don't already know, there's a free and perfectly legitimate
downloadable version of Star Control 2 that plays the same as the original, but
for legal reasons is titled "The Ur-Quan Masters" (abbreviated as UQM). This can
be downloaded at: http://sc2.sourceforge.net/

If you have any technical problems with getting the game to run, I am *not* the
person to ask. The above website has a technical section of their forum for
that. If you go there, check the FAQ at the top in case your question has
already been answered. If not, post away.

This walkthrough has long, detailed sections that can lead you from beginning to
end without any real planning on your part. The longer sections of it are
followed by quick summaries. If you're new to the game or just plain terrible at
it and want to be led straight through, I recommend keeping this FAQ open while
you play and alternating between it and the game. Or better yet, print it out.
UQM is not completely linear so you don't have to follow the order of events as
I have them listed to beat the game, but this way works well. If you don't want
the game to be spoiled, don't use the walkthrough in its entirety but instead
just read "Strategy" and cut to the parts you're stuck on.

If it looks like I missed anything, take a better look. Once you're sure it's
missing, e-mail me.

--------------- 1.2 - Edition --------------------------------------------------

1.00, posted on October 8th, 2004: Submitted this guide to GameFAQs. I don't see
why I'd ever need to modify this, but you never know.

1.01, posted on October 9th, 2004: Made 2 wording adjustments, permitted
Neoseeker to host guide.

1.02, posted on October 11th, 2004: Gave more sites permission to host.

1.03, posted on October 14th, 2004: Answered a common concern in the last
chapter's Q and A regarding what escorts to bring with you. Added another host.

--------------- 1.3 - Legal Crap -----------------------------------------------

I grant the following sites permission to host this FAQ:

http://www.gameFAQs.com/
http://www.neoseeker.com/
http://www.cheatchannel.com/
http://www.cheatbook.de/
http://dlh.net/

The UQM Core Team has my permission in advance to use this however they see fit.
If anyone else wants to host it, ask first. You're especially not supposed to
use my work to make money, although I must admit I'd be impressed if someone
actually did this.

All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.

--------------- 1.4 - The Controls ---------------------------------------------

The mouse isn't used in UQM. Movement is performed with the arrow keys.

ACTION BUTTON

(IN-FLIGHT)
Accelerate Forward
Rotate clockwise Right
Rotate counter-clockwise Left
Open menu Spacebar

(MENU)
Change highlighted item Arrow keys
Access highlighted item Enter
Back/Cancel Spacebar

(PLANET LANDER)
Thrust Forward
Rotate clockwise Right
Rotate counter-clockwise Left
Fire stun gun Shift
Return to flagship Escape

(STAR MAP)
Move cursor Arrow keys
Zoom In Plus ( + )
Zoom Out Minus ( - )
Select destination Enter
Close star map Spacebar

(CONVERSATION)
Fast forward dialogue Right
Rewind dialogue Left
Cycle through dialogue options Up, down
Say something Enter
View summary of conversation Spacebar

(COMBAT)
Thrust Forward
Rotate clockwise Right
Rotate counter-clockwise Left
Primary weapon Shift
Secondary function Ctrl
*Flee Escape

(ANYWHERE)
F1 Pause
F10 Opens quit menu
*F12 Instantly closes the game

*Fleeing from combat has a few complications to it, all of which I go over in
the Strategy section.

*Try not to accidentally bump F12. Seriously.

--------------- 1.5 - Settings -------------------------------------------------

If you're playing the original Star Control II, ignore this section. It's for
UQM.

Now personally, I suggest you turn the voices that were added in off. They
aren't that great and the game's more enjoyable without them. Not everyone
agrees with me on this so at the very least try them out sometime. Anyway, for
the typical Windows user to get rid of this, right click on the shortcut you use
to open the game and click "Properties". Add "--speechvol 0" (that's a
zero, not
an "oh") without the quotes right after the list path. It should look something
like this:

"C:\Program Files\The Ur-Quan Masters\uqm.exe" -speechvol 0

There's more little tricks like this you can do with UQM listed in the attached
manual file. I was very choosy about how I played so my shortcut ended up
looking like this:

"C:\Program Files\The Ur-Quan Masters\uqm.exe" --opengl --res 1024x768
--speechvol 0 --music pc --cscan pc --menu pc --fullscreen

As you can see, that's a lot of stuff, but "--cscan pc" makes the readings on
the planets change from incoherent icons to something with words so that's a
must. "--menu pc" makes the little menus in the corner look less flashy but
easier to work with so I'd recommend that as well.

You should fiddle around with these prefixes until you've got the game the way
you want it.

--------------- 1.6 - Miscellaneous Concerns -----------------------------------

This is an oddball section which does little to help you win the game, so feel
free to gloss right over it if you feel so inclined.

Roman numerals:
The planets in the game are numbered in roman numerals, starting from the
closest to the sun and counting up. I'm not sure why exactly, but this guide
will refer to planets the same way.

RU's:
This stands for Resource Units. These are the building materials for your fleet.
You'll be scouring a lot of planets to collect them. RU's can also be gathered
by defeating enemy ships in battle.

Time limit:
There is a time limit but it's not too bad if you know what you're doing. From
the start of the game at February 17, 2155, you have four years until something
very bad starts to happen. By the last quarter of the year 2159, the game will
be over. There's an event you can trigger that pushes this time limit back a
year to 2160. If you follow the guide at a leisurely pace, the game should be
over by mid 2157.

The cyborg setting:
Cyborg is an option within the main game that makes the computer fight battles
for you. You still choose which ship fights and tell it when to retreat, but
that's about it. The three settings make the fights go at regular, double, and
quadruple speed. At the highest setting, they don't even show the fight
occurring. In my opinion, cyborg is lame. Why skip combat, one of the best
aspects of the game? Furthermore, a cyborg ship doesn't fly as well as a player
that knows what they're doing. You can use this feature if you really want to,
but don't count on it to win fights that you can't.

Homeworlds:
Never attack an alien homeworld. These are guarded by an infinite number of
ships. If you visit such a place and get attacked yourself, flee. Be aware that
there is one exception to this in the game, but the opposition will specifically
mention that they're sending ten ships at you.

--------------- 1.7 - Strategy -------------------------------------------------