Xzalander
06-18-2011, 03:47 AM
Lets get a Solar 2 FAQ made up from what we know.
1. Starting out
In Solar 2 there are two main things you can do. Grow & Explore or attempt the Missions.
The missions are quite strategic and difficult so we shall cover those after the basics of growth and exploration.
Solar 2 is easy to grasp but harder still to do well in. Many people will struggle to get beyond two star systems (For example the achievement Betrayal).
Controls
WSAD/ARROW KEYS : Movement
CTRL, Q : Absorb Asteroids into Planet/s.
SPACEBAR, E : Absorb smallest planet into Star/s.
ENTER: Accept mission
BACKSPACE: Cancel Mission
P : Show Trajectory Lines (Unmarked control; thanks Excellius)
' : [@ key without holding shift] Show Game Stats (FPS, Asteroid Count, Planet Count etc)
O : Show Orbit Details
M : Music Toggle
F4: Fullscreen Toggle
Simple!
Growing!
Asteroids!
You start off as a small asteroid and to grow in this phase you need to "smash" yourself into other asteroids. After a couple dozen of these merges you will grow into a planet.
Planets!
There are two stages to planet life Pre-Evolution and Post Evolution.
Pre-evolution worlds need to trap asteroids in their orbit and CTRL absorb them. This is the type of planet you grow into. Once you fill the quota you turn into a Evolving planet. All you have to do here is wait.
Post evolution planets welcome you! Your planet has now evolved, you will soon see your inhabitants build starbases with cannons and ships to protect you. To my knowledge you can acquire 4 starbases per planet.
But your inhabitants wont have long to live. Suck up yet more asteroids to turn yourself into a star!
#She's a star~
Congratulations you are now halfway through your growth. You have many choices now, but for the moment we shall continue as we have been doing.
Keep sucking things up. This time planets using SPACEBAR. If you want you can keep those planets in orbit and fatten them up with asteroids before *GLOMP* eating them up.
You will change from a small star, into a medium star then a Large Star, Eventually you will turn into a blackhole.
Try pressing that button Johnny.
This is possibly the easiest and most fun part. Avoid blackholes that are bigger than you and hoover up everything else. Theres -no- limits. Suck up spaceships, asteroids Large stars whatever. They're all on the menu.
Eventually you will crush yourself under your own gravitational force and respawn as....
An Asteroid!
__________________________________________________ _____________________________________
Growth Requirements
A Planet - 20 Mass
A Life Sustaining Planet - 80 Mass
A Small Star - 180 Mass
A Medium Star - 1,500 Mass
A Large Star - 2,000 Mass
A Black Hole - 3,000 Mass
The Big Crunch - 1,000,000 Mass
(Thanks to Mellar for those )
__________________________________________________ _____________________________________
2. So you think you're the Super Black Hole Long Legged Mac Daddy, Eh?
You've gotten the hang of growing and evolving your little speck of dirt now I assume?
You've turned into a black hole and think you're the king, the boss, the man even?
You've only just scratched the surface my friend.
Advanced Growth Technique
Section 1: Is what many of us would consider simple growth. However it is slow, time consuming and generally insufficient for the Missions available. So here we shall cover the larger aspects of Solar 2.
By now you should have noticed during your travels that only objects smaller in mass than yourself will enter your orbit. This means the most flexible stage is the Star Phase, where in you can manipulate planets and asteroids.
Depending on how many planets you feed your main star will affect how large it grows and in turn how many can be captured in orbit.
Star orbiting limits:
Small star: 3 planets
Medium Star: 6 planets
Large Star: 8 planets
Dual star or better: 10 planets. (Thanks Excellius)
So as you can see here, your ideal goal should be to reach Large Star or Dual Star (or beyond if you're good enough), however somethings should be noted:
Star Size Effects:
Small Star:
Pull Force: Weak, 1/4 of your sector range (A sector is what fits on your screen at present.)
Small Stars have the weakest pull of them all, however they are very manageable. Using a small star you will not pull in too much asteroid fodder or unwanted planets. A Small star is ideal for setting up planets which you wish to become Stars themselves (to for Dual or better). If you do this fill each planet up o the mass limit bar 2 Mass. This way you can choose when to multi-star.
Medium Stars:
Pull Force: Middling, 1/3rd of your sector range
Medium Stars have a slightly wider range and can pull objects from a larger distance, approximately 1/3rd of your screen.
You are more likely to pull in asteroids with medium stars, but if you settle yourself gently next to an asteroid field the Medium Star is good for automatically coercing the asteroids to fall into orbit around your planets.
Large Stars:
Pull Force: Strong, 2/3rd's of your sector range
Large stars have the strongest range of all the solo stars, you can easily accidentally pull in an entire asteroid field. Be careful not to settle too close to one when farming asteroids. You will likely pull them all in toward your star causing damage to its mass. Ideally you don't want to become a large star until you have some Post Evolution planets to defend the newly acquired indefensible planets you will acquire.
Dual or Better:
Pull Force: Immense, well beyond your sector.
Dual stars can pull planets from almost anywhere on the screen if their mass is small enough, larger star systems can even pull from beyond the edge of the screen. (I have had a Quad Star system pull planets from each side just by sitting in the middle). This does have the unfortunate effect of having to evade -a lot- of asteroids, but by now you should have atleast 3-4 developed planets. And bonus! Stars can be shielded! (See later)
There is one major flaw with Dual or higher stars. They have an irregular pull force. Planets and asteroids tend to zoom into the gap between the two suns, so be prepared to yank yourself to one side if you wish to capture planets in their orbit. It is also much harder to keep the mass of the orbiting planets up as Dual or higher stars pull in a lot of debris.
So as you can see; just by having even a Medium Star with developed planets can really help defend yourself against, UFO's and enemy Inhabitants. This kind of Solar System is essential for most Missions, while some can be completed as just individual objects or even require you to (See Asteroid Missions) they are much, much easier when properly cultivated.
2.1 How to Create Multi-Star Systems
Dual Stars and beyond are created by absorbing asteroids into planets orbiting your own star. Once they reach enough mass, they turn into a star. Because of this you can have multiple star systems. (One of the achievements is actually to get a 6 star system)
If you have a multi-star system and you try to absorb a planet, that planets mass goes ENTIRELY to the star with the smallest mass at the time of absorption. There is no risk turning into a black hole as long as you watch the mass of the smallest. (Do note that large star systems take a LONG time to turn into a black hole, as you effectively have to get every star at the edge of a black hole criteria to get one to tip over).
(Thanks again Excellius)
So that would be 180mass needed per star wanted. So for the maximum limit of 6 Stars you would need to accumulate a total of 1080mass between 6 planets.
It should also be noted that any attempts to create a 7th star is futile at present, as it will join the circular orbit and get crushed by two other stars. This crushing will also damage the two stars involved so it is advised to absorb any planets nearing stardom if you have 6 already. (This is due to a randomly occuring bug that is due to be corrected in the next patch. It is caused by the AI pathing incorrectly calculating the spacing to accomodate the extra stars)
2.1 How to shield your stars
Prio wen't into much more depth than I made note. I honestly thought it was just based on the amount of lifebearing planets but this is much more clarifying.
Okay, here we go. Every planet has a "tech level" represented by the rotating curvy bars just below the planet's surface (not to be confused with the planet's "build queue"). All planets start at level zero (no bars lit up) and max out at level four (all four bars lit up). Planets gain levels as they gain EXP, and planets gain EXP from fighting enemy ships using their friendly ships and their planetary defense lasers.
(It takes very little EXP for a planet to go from level zero to level one, but tons of EXP for a planet to go from level three to level four. Paradoxically, level three planets kick so much butt so fast that they reach level four in the blink of an eye, while level zero planets struggle and scrape like filthy beggars.)
Besides the twirly bars, the most obvious visual indicator of a planet's level is the number of planetary defense lasers: level zero and level one planets can have two lasers, level two and level three planets can build a total of three lasers, and a level four planet tops out at four lasers. There's several other effects of planet level like maximum planetary shield strength, but the bars and the laser turrets are the ones that tell you if you're looking at a high-level planet or not.
So, when do you get star shields? Turns out it's really simple. When:
(The number of evolved planets in your system) + (The combined levels of all your evolved planets) = 6 or more
...you get star shields, effective immediately (though they have to charge up before they actually start to protect you). Conversely, as soon as the above equation stops being true, your star shields are instantly removed. These same rules apply to other stars as well.
This is why you'll never get star shields with one planet (1 planet + 4 levels = 5, too low) and you'll always get star shields with six evolved planets (6 planets + 0 levels = 6, good enough).
But wait, there's more! As you add more life planets and levels beyond the minimum required total of six, your star shields' maximum power gets larger. It's not a huge bonus per added planet/level, but keep in mind that losing/gaining a single level four planet is like losing/gaining five of those shield bonuses all at once.
TL;DR:
* Evolved planets can be tech level zero through four as displayed by the number of lit-up rotating bar things
* A star gets shielded when the number of evolved planets in its system plus the combined tech levels of all those planets is greater than or equal to six
* A star's maximum shield strength increases as it accumulates evolved planets and as the planets' tech levels increase
3. Asteroid & Planet Manipulation
Planets aren't just for turning into starbases or stars you know?
A few tips for making the most of your excess asteroids & planets before blackholing:
- Found a large asteroid field and only have one planet in orbit? Use the planets orbit to smash its asteroid into the ones in the field where possible. All the previous laws still apply. Merge enough and it too will turn into a planet.
- Asteroids can be used as "Sweepers" against enemy ships, catch an asteroid at high speed and it will have a fast orbit; direct that orbiting asteroid into an enemy ship and bam! There goes the ship.
- Planets can be used in a similar manner but better yet, use planets to destroy Mission planets or enemy planets. Or if you're feeling skillful try the next tip.
- You can -steal- planets. Seen a system with an evolved planet you want? Smash your planet against its shield while moving at high speed. Do it fast enough and it will leave the orbit it was in, keep following it and it will join your orbit. Even if you lose an undeveloped planet, this is worth it if the one you steal is near stardom.
Also planets keep their kill stats when they start orbiting a new star. (Thanks, InfyD)
On this same note; use planets on Missions where you need to destroy a Solar System. Simply smash a planet or two on its sun/s and then let your Ships finish it off for a quick ending.
- Do you have an awkward central planet on a close orbit? Can't get enough asteroids near it? Bait an asteroid with an external planet, and then quickly accelerate past the asteroid. It should sling itself around the external planet into the orbit of your sun. Then move the sun so that the chosen planet and asteroid meet. Its tricky, but a planet that close to the sun being developed will last almost forever.
1. Starting out
In Solar 2 there are two main things you can do. Grow & Explore or attempt the Missions.
The missions are quite strategic and difficult so we shall cover those after the basics of growth and exploration.
Solar 2 is easy to grasp but harder still to do well in. Many people will struggle to get beyond two star systems (For example the achievement Betrayal).
Controls
WSAD/ARROW KEYS : Movement
CTRL, Q : Absorb Asteroids into Planet/s.
SPACEBAR, E : Absorb smallest planet into Star/s.
ENTER: Accept mission
BACKSPACE: Cancel Mission
P : Show Trajectory Lines (Unmarked control; thanks Excellius)
' : [@ key without holding shift] Show Game Stats (FPS, Asteroid Count, Planet Count etc)
O : Show Orbit Details
M : Music Toggle
F4: Fullscreen Toggle
Simple!
Growing!
Asteroids!
You start off as a small asteroid and to grow in this phase you need to "smash" yourself into other asteroids. After a couple dozen of these merges you will grow into a planet.
Planets!
There are two stages to planet life Pre-Evolution and Post Evolution.
Pre-evolution worlds need to trap asteroids in their orbit and CTRL absorb them. This is the type of planet you grow into. Once you fill the quota you turn into a Evolving planet. All you have to do here is wait.
Post evolution planets welcome you! Your planet has now evolved, you will soon see your inhabitants build starbases with cannons and ships to protect you. To my knowledge you can acquire 4 starbases per planet.
But your inhabitants wont have long to live. Suck up yet more asteroids to turn yourself into a star!
#She's a star~
Congratulations you are now halfway through your growth. You have many choices now, but for the moment we shall continue as we have been doing.
Keep sucking things up. This time planets using SPACEBAR. If you want you can keep those planets in orbit and fatten them up with asteroids before *GLOMP* eating them up.
You will change from a small star, into a medium star then a Large Star, Eventually you will turn into a blackhole.
Try pressing that button Johnny.
This is possibly the easiest and most fun part. Avoid blackholes that are bigger than you and hoover up everything else. Theres -no- limits. Suck up spaceships, asteroids Large stars whatever. They're all on the menu.
Eventually you will crush yourself under your own gravitational force and respawn as....
An Asteroid!
__________________________________________________ _____________________________________
Growth Requirements
A Planet - 20 Mass
A Life Sustaining Planet - 80 Mass
A Small Star - 180 Mass
A Medium Star - 1,500 Mass
A Large Star - 2,000 Mass
A Black Hole - 3,000 Mass
The Big Crunch - 1,000,000 Mass
(Thanks to Mellar for those )
__________________________________________________ _____________________________________
2. So you think you're the Super Black Hole Long Legged Mac Daddy, Eh?
You've gotten the hang of growing and evolving your little speck of dirt now I assume?
You've turned into a black hole and think you're the king, the boss, the man even?
You've only just scratched the surface my friend.
Advanced Growth Technique
Section 1: Is what many of us would consider simple growth. However it is slow, time consuming and generally insufficient for the Missions available. So here we shall cover the larger aspects of Solar 2.
By now you should have noticed during your travels that only objects smaller in mass than yourself will enter your orbit. This means the most flexible stage is the Star Phase, where in you can manipulate planets and asteroids.
Depending on how many planets you feed your main star will affect how large it grows and in turn how many can be captured in orbit.
Star orbiting limits:
Small star: 3 planets
Medium Star: 6 planets
Large Star: 8 planets
Dual star or better: 10 planets. (Thanks Excellius)
So as you can see here, your ideal goal should be to reach Large Star or Dual Star (or beyond if you're good enough), however somethings should be noted:
Star Size Effects:
Small Star:
Pull Force: Weak, 1/4 of your sector range (A sector is what fits on your screen at present.)
Small Stars have the weakest pull of them all, however they are very manageable. Using a small star you will not pull in too much asteroid fodder or unwanted planets. A Small star is ideal for setting up planets which you wish to become Stars themselves (to for Dual or better). If you do this fill each planet up o the mass limit bar 2 Mass. This way you can choose when to multi-star.
Medium Stars:
Pull Force: Middling, 1/3rd of your sector range
Medium Stars have a slightly wider range and can pull objects from a larger distance, approximately 1/3rd of your screen.
You are more likely to pull in asteroids with medium stars, but if you settle yourself gently next to an asteroid field the Medium Star is good for automatically coercing the asteroids to fall into orbit around your planets.
Large Stars:
Pull Force: Strong, 2/3rd's of your sector range
Large stars have the strongest range of all the solo stars, you can easily accidentally pull in an entire asteroid field. Be careful not to settle too close to one when farming asteroids. You will likely pull them all in toward your star causing damage to its mass. Ideally you don't want to become a large star until you have some Post Evolution planets to defend the newly acquired indefensible planets you will acquire.
Dual or Better:
Pull Force: Immense, well beyond your sector.
Dual stars can pull planets from almost anywhere on the screen if their mass is small enough, larger star systems can even pull from beyond the edge of the screen. (I have had a Quad Star system pull planets from each side just by sitting in the middle). This does have the unfortunate effect of having to evade -a lot- of asteroids, but by now you should have atleast 3-4 developed planets. And bonus! Stars can be shielded! (See later)
There is one major flaw with Dual or higher stars. They have an irregular pull force. Planets and asteroids tend to zoom into the gap between the two suns, so be prepared to yank yourself to one side if you wish to capture planets in their orbit. It is also much harder to keep the mass of the orbiting planets up as Dual or higher stars pull in a lot of debris.
So as you can see; just by having even a Medium Star with developed planets can really help defend yourself against, UFO's and enemy Inhabitants. This kind of Solar System is essential for most Missions, while some can be completed as just individual objects or even require you to (See Asteroid Missions) they are much, much easier when properly cultivated.
2.1 How to Create Multi-Star Systems
Dual Stars and beyond are created by absorbing asteroids into planets orbiting your own star. Once they reach enough mass, they turn into a star. Because of this you can have multiple star systems. (One of the achievements is actually to get a 6 star system)
If you have a multi-star system and you try to absorb a planet, that planets mass goes ENTIRELY to the star with the smallest mass at the time of absorption. There is no risk turning into a black hole as long as you watch the mass of the smallest. (Do note that large star systems take a LONG time to turn into a black hole, as you effectively have to get every star at the edge of a black hole criteria to get one to tip over).
(Thanks again Excellius)
So that would be 180mass needed per star wanted. So for the maximum limit of 6 Stars you would need to accumulate a total of 1080mass between 6 planets.
It should also be noted that any attempts to create a 7th star is futile at present, as it will join the circular orbit and get crushed by two other stars. This crushing will also damage the two stars involved so it is advised to absorb any planets nearing stardom if you have 6 already. (This is due to a randomly occuring bug that is due to be corrected in the next patch. It is caused by the AI pathing incorrectly calculating the spacing to accomodate the extra stars)
2.1 How to shield your stars
Prio wen't into much more depth than I made note. I honestly thought it was just based on the amount of lifebearing planets but this is much more clarifying.
Okay, here we go. Every planet has a "tech level" represented by the rotating curvy bars just below the planet's surface (not to be confused with the planet's "build queue"). All planets start at level zero (no bars lit up) and max out at level four (all four bars lit up). Planets gain levels as they gain EXP, and planets gain EXP from fighting enemy ships using their friendly ships and their planetary defense lasers.
(It takes very little EXP for a planet to go from level zero to level one, but tons of EXP for a planet to go from level three to level four. Paradoxically, level three planets kick so much butt so fast that they reach level four in the blink of an eye, while level zero planets struggle and scrape like filthy beggars.)
Besides the twirly bars, the most obvious visual indicator of a planet's level is the number of planetary defense lasers: level zero and level one planets can have two lasers, level two and level three planets can build a total of three lasers, and a level four planet tops out at four lasers. There's several other effects of planet level like maximum planetary shield strength, but the bars and the laser turrets are the ones that tell you if you're looking at a high-level planet or not.
So, when do you get star shields? Turns out it's really simple. When:
(The number of evolved planets in your system) + (The combined levels of all your evolved planets) = 6 or more
...you get star shields, effective immediately (though they have to charge up before they actually start to protect you). Conversely, as soon as the above equation stops being true, your star shields are instantly removed. These same rules apply to other stars as well.
This is why you'll never get star shields with one planet (1 planet + 4 levels = 5, too low) and you'll always get star shields with six evolved planets (6 planets + 0 levels = 6, good enough).
But wait, there's more! As you add more life planets and levels beyond the minimum required total of six, your star shields' maximum power gets larger. It's not a huge bonus per added planet/level, but keep in mind that losing/gaining a single level four planet is like losing/gaining five of those shield bonuses all at once.
TL;DR:
* Evolved planets can be tech level zero through four as displayed by the number of lit-up rotating bar things
* A star gets shielded when the number of evolved planets in its system plus the combined tech levels of all those planets is greater than or equal to six
* A star's maximum shield strength increases as it accumulates evolved planets and as the planets' tech levels increase
3. Asteroid & Planet Manipulation
Planets aren't just for turning into starbases or stars you know?
A few tips for making the most of your excess asteroids & planets before blackholing:
- Found a large asteroid field and only have one planet in orbit? Use the planets orbit to smash its asteroid into the ones in the field where possible. All the previous laws still apply. Merge enough and it too will turn into a planet.
- Asteroids can be used as "Sweepers" against enemy ships, catch an asteroid at high speed and it will have a fast orbit; direct that orbiting asteroid into an enemy ship and bam! There goes the ship.
- Planets can be used in a similar manner but better yet, use planets to destroy Mission planets or enemy planets. Or if you're feeling skillful try the next tip.
- You can -steal- planets. Seen a system with an evolved planet you want? Smash your planet against its shield while moving at high speed. Do it fast enough and it will leave the orbit it was in, keep following it and it will join your orbit. Even if you lose an undeveloped planet, this is worth it if the one you steal is near stardom.
Also planets keep their kill stats when they start orbiting a new star. (Thanks, InfyD)
On this same note; use planets on Missions where you need to destroy a Solar System. Simply smash a planet or two on its sun/s and then let your Ships finish it off for a quick ending.
- Do you have an awkward central planet on a close orbit? Can't get enough asteroids near it? Bait an asteroid with an external planet, and then quickly accelerate past the asteroid. It should sling itself around the external planet into the orbit of your sun. Then move the sun so that the chosen planet and asteroid meet. Its tricky, but a planet that close to the sun being developed will last almost forever.