Some beginner questions and answers

[wolis]

QUESTION
--------
I’m looking for a debris collector.. but no station of city seems to
sell
them.

ANSWER
------
You should have no problem in finding a Debris collector. However
because
they are fitted to the Heavy Cannon hard point then they are sold
under
the Heavy Cannon menu at the Space Station, hence this may be the
reason
why you have been unable to find them. With hindsight I should have
made
this a bit more obvious.


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QUESTION
--------
I am checking messages for contracts but they always appear blank.

ANSWER
------
You only get messages in response to contract completion or for
selling
salvage. Try accepting some Navy or Police contracts – you’ll be
limited
to document delivery at first, but once you get promoted you’ll be
able to
perform rescue missions which are more lucrative.

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QUESTION
--------
Since trading is a pain as I cant alt-tab out to jot down prices in
notepad.exe, and since the only other way to earn cash is to kill
other
ships (something Im not that keen on or good at) I really would like a
debris collector or non-violent way of getting some fuel so I can go
exploring.

Is there a way I can do this?

ANSWER
------
If you buy a trading computer then you should find it relatively easy
to
work out decent trade routes. However the best way to earn money is to
salvage ship wrecks. If you don’t want to shoot anything then the
police,
pirates, aliens and navy generate plenty of wreckage and you should be
able to spot something suitable using the long range scanners. Police
and
Navy wreckage is normally the easiest to salvage, whereas pirate and
alien
wrecks are trickier because the law enforcement agencies tend to have
a
shoot to kill policy. Also Rescue missions are a good bet once you
work
your way up through the ranks.

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QUESTION
--------
Also, is there a way to pick a random spit in space and auto-pilot
there
(not just an entry like a planet or space, station)? If not then how
do
you get to an asteroid belt quickly?

ANSWER
------
You cannot pick a spot in space as an auto-pilot destination, because
there really is nothing there. However you can auto-pilot to any form
of
target such as other spacecraft. To get to an asteroid belt, simply
select
a ringed planet as a destination, the autopilot will always take you
to
the middle of the belt.

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QUESTION
--------
And finally.. whats the chance of adding some inertia into the flight
mechanics? The 2 that spring to mind are moving your ship
left/right/up/down seems to snap to a stop not gently slow to a stop.
And
being able to cut engines and just drift through space is always a fun
thing to do.

ANSWER
------
I’ve had a number of requests to add inertia and so I may add it as a
configuration option in the next release.


--------------------------------------------------

QUESTION
--------
Oh.. and here another thought.. how about being able to collect
animals
andsell them? Like mining (if only I had a debris collector).

ANSWER
------
I have been thinking about adding this as an option for some time now;
but
have never got round to it. Hopefully I will be able to add something
in
the near future.

--------------------------------------------------

QUESTION
--------
And one more thing.. that big red dialog box telling me nothing for
salvage right in the middle of the screen, does not remember its last
position when I try to move it to a less obtrusive place. Its like
having
someone slap their hands over your eyes while your trying to drive a
bus!

ANSWER
------
Yes I know what you mean – you can however configure its duration in
the
windows options if this is of any help. I’ll also have a look at
making it
remember its position.

[wolis]

Some more answers:

At present it is not possible to run Ad Astra in a Window because it
uses
DirectX7. Unfortunately running in a window in this version of DirectX
is
much harder to implement than under DirectX9.

The main guide to configuring the controls can be found in section 2.5
of
the manual. Flying in an atmosphere can be quite different to space
where
there is no 'up' or 'down' and this is probably why atmopheric flight
feels odd. Unfortunately I think that you'll find that you need to
strike
some kind a compromise between space flight and atmospheric flight.

Pitch + Yaw is normally good for space, however I personally find that
Pitch + Roll is better for the atmosphere. You may also find 'ticking'
the
'Atmosphere Auto-Right' button helpful - this will keep you level when
there is no input. Also remember that if you use 'Pitch+Yaw' that you
can
'roll' the ship with the 'Q','E' or left/right arrow keys