Contents:

• Getting Started
• Getting Around
• Kicking Ass
• Getting Rich

Playing Epiar 0.2.x is simple. Even someone who's never played a game like it, or any game at all can figure it out. So, what are you waiting for? Lets go!

Launch Epiar 0.2.x and get to the main menu. It is recommended that you launch Epiar in windowed mode, so you can play and read this guide at the same time. You can do this by adding '--windowed' to the command that launches Epiar (without '' of course). Here you are presented with 5 options, of which only 3 work in this version series. They are: New Game, Configure, and Leave Epiar. Clicking on Configure opens up a dialogue box, in which only the first button works, Configure Controls. Here you can easily change the game controls, it's pretty self explanitory. You have access to these options in-game by pressing 'Esc' or 'F2'. Leave the options dialogue by clicking on Leave Menu. You should now be back in the main menu. Lets get started. Click on New Game. You're presented with a alert window to which you have one option, Okay, and the game begins.

Configure key bindings.

You're somewhat of a pathetic little shuttle-pod. Lets do something about that. Assuming you haven't changed the default key bindings use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate your ship. Use the arrow up key to accelerate and navigate your ship over the nearby planet. Now, hit the 'L' key, this should select the planet with a green box. Hit 'L' one more time to land.

Purchasing new upgrades.	Upgrades You've just landed on the planet Junonia, lets upgrade your ship! Click on the Upgrades button. You should see various items for sale, so why not buy one? Select any item you wish. For this guide we'll first purchase the Status Sensor. Selecting the item should bring up detailed information to the right of the window. If we have sufficient funds, which we should, we can buy this item by clicking on the Buy button. Okay, lets buy some weapons. Select the Mark II Laser and then click the buy button. A question window will appear asking you which slot you would like to install the upgrade on. We'll just put it on the Primary slow by clicking Primary. Now, we want to buy one more item, since we still have cash, and we have another slot open. Select the Laser Turret and make the purchase, installing the upgrade on the Secondary slot. Now, we're done here. Leave by clicking on the X in the top right corner.
Shipyard Now we're back to the main planet window. Lets assume we had more cash to buy a new ship. Click on Shipyard to go to the shipyard, where you'd be able to select and purchase a ship in the same fassion you would with an upgrade item. When purchasing a new ship, you'll be asked to confirm and abandon your current ship, say yes. Then you'd be asked if you want to migrate your old weapons and upgrades to your new ship. Depending on how decked out your ship is, this is a good or bad thing. Once you say Yes, you'll have purchased a new ship, and be on your way.	Buying a new ship.

Jump Gates
Well then, we're bored of this planet. Lets travel far, far away! Leave the planet by clicking on the Leave Junonia button (where Junonia is just the name of the current planet). You're now back in normal space, and normal game-play. Hit the 'h' key. A new window show come up with a list of nearby ships and Jump Gates. Select the Junonian Portal, and then click the Hail button. Yet another window should apear. Using the Jump Gates costs money, this window basically asks you if you want to pay the fee or not. Lets pay it. Click the Jump button which will automatically deduct the charge from your funds if you have enought.

The radar.

The Radar You're now being flown to the Jump Gate automatically, and once you reach it you'll be shot throught the Gate to appear on the other side of the galaxy. Drift for a while untill you see a planet. Try not to get too far away from it, no real reason for this, it'll just make life easier later on. Look towards the bottom right of your screen. You should see a box-like area with 4 corners marked and some dots in the middle, this is the radar. Orange dots show Jump Gates, blue dots show planets, and small gray dots show other ships. You are the white dot. I bet that makes navigating the universe a bit easier. To make life even easier, hit 'n' to get a long range scan of all the planets within range.

Remember that Status Sensor upgrade you bought? I bet you're wondering what you bought it for. If you're not... then, well, pretend you are. Lets use it, this'll bring us to the final point, making money.

Preparing for Battle By looking at the radar we see 2 gray dots, meaning that 2 ships are nearby. Fly towards the gray dot near the orange dot. Hit the 'y' key to select the nearest ship relative to you. (You can also hit the 't' key to scroll through a list of all nearby ships.) You should be targeting a Gate Patrol ship and see 2 bars on each side of the new window which has poped up. Disabling a Ship Start shooting at the targeted ship by pressing both 'w' (your Laser Turret) and 'spacebar' (your Mark II Laser). Luckily, this ship doesnt fire back so we don't have to worry about getting hit by enemy fire. You should see the right bar in the status window turn different colours and lessen. Then the left bar. Stop shooting when the left bar is red, and almost gone. (But don't destroy the ship!)

Battle.

What you just did caused the targeted ship to be disabled, leaving it vulnerable to being boarded. If this ship had fired back it wouldn't be able to do so if it was disabled. It wouldnt even be able to move. It just drifts there in space, which is perfect for us!

Stealing.

Stealing Fly over the ship, to make it easy, at a relatively slow speed. Once you're over the ship hit 'b' to board the disabled vessel. A new window show be displayed with 3 options. Clicking on Steal cash will get you more money. (This is the only way of making cash in Epiar 0.2.x.) Clicking on Steal their ship is similar to buying a new ship at a shipyard, except you dont have to pay! Each operation may trigger the disabled ships auto-destruct mechanism destroying the ship. It's risky buisiness but you've got nothing to loose.