Demo questions/problems

[Q]

After some technical problems due to my older computers I finally installed the demo and started a game on "easy" level. I even realized after some crashes that there is no collision warning and that in order to shuttle you have to "target" your destination as for attack (which was not so obvious for me, some in game help would be have been really helpful). So I got my first job, which failed because the time limit was reached. Second mission the same thing. Even at full speed I don't see how I can manage to travel through two systems in about 80 days. What do I do wrong??
I wanted to see how combat works in starfury as this will apparently be similar in SE V but I am a little bit lost and frustrated with the starfury demo.
Any help is appreciated.

[Phoenix-D]

First of all, your speed meter isn't red, is it? If it is, you aren't moving at full speed.

Second, the missions are randomly generated, and sometimes they will be impossible with the ship you have now- you'll need better engines.

[Q]

Thank you for the quick reply Phoenix_D

1.) No, the speed meter is not red.
2.) It is difficult to buy new engines at the beginning without credits. And the failed missions costs you even fines.

Is is possible to change the values for the time limits in the demo?
Do the cheat codes work in the demo?? I tried it without success but on my european keyboard I have to use the "Alt Gr" key to produce the "~" and therefore I am not sure if this was the problem

[Phoenix-D]

The cheat codes should work in the demo.

Check the system maps before you accept a mission; ussually there are several to different systems, pick the ones going to the closer systems. Preferably one next door.

EDIT: make sure to use your system map, too. I just tested it, and with default engines I can go from Freeport->Genesis->Pakulon->Biktos->Lothon->Styz->freeport in just over 80 days..

[mottlee]

In the begining you have credits...first thing to do is get as many "Good" engines as you can at that location...you may need to stop enroute to your tgt too....Start over and try again

[Q]

Phoenix-D said:
The cheat codes should work in the demo.

EDIT: make sure to use your system map, too. I just tested it, and with default engines I can go from Freeport->Genesis->Pakulon->Biktos->Lothon->Styz->freeport in just over 80 days..

This is weird.
So the trip you describe was done from 2400.00 to 2400.80 (0.01=1day)?? In that time I just get from one side of the freeport system to the opposite!
I checked the movement of other (AI) ships: they seem not to move faster than mine. The maximum speed of my ship is indicated as 500, as expected.
At standard time rate 0.01 stardate (=1day) takes about 10 seconds of real time on my computer (P3, 500Mhz, 256Mb RAM, Matrox Graphics MGA-G200AGP B8R2). So the trip described above takes about 800 seconds real time at standard time rate (1x) and on higher time rate (8x) about 100 seconds.

And I don't get the cheat codes to function, but as mentioned that could be a problem with the country selection of the key boards. The "~" is on my keyboard an "Alt Gr" character on the key "^`" just left of the "Backspace" key. Where is it on the US keyboard?

[Phoenix-D]

Yes, the entire trip was from .00 to .80. I went from the starting point, then to each warp point in turn. No fighting, no delays, just a straight-line Point A to Point B.

The ` key on a US keyboard is just to the left of the 1. Note `, NOT ~. ~ is shift ` and won't work..

EDIT: I timed it and each game day is indeed about 10 seconds, and my ship speed 500.

[Q]

Thank you for the replies.

So the cheat code would be e.g. `credits` ??
Tried that too, didn't work. I think I give it up. Really not a good idea to use characters that are different on different country keyboards.

Regarding my ship speed problem: could ist be that the ship speeds depends on the graphic card used while the game time/stardate is independent?? I changed the color resolution from high color to true color and the problem got even much worse, while the real time of a day was still 10 seconds.

Starfury is probably just not a game for my hardware.

[Phoenix-D]

It shouldn't make a difference in speeds..though its easy enough to check.

EDIT: yep, that's a bug. I used Turbo to slow my machine down, and I replicated what's happening to you.

It looks like game days tick every 10 seconds, regardless of how slow the on-screen action is going. So if your hardware can't keep things running smoothly, you'll effectively have less time to complete missions..

[Q]

Is this in the full version with last patch too??

That would be pretty embarrassing for MM!