Space Colony – Readme
V1.1
Section 1 - Background
Section 2 - Additional features
Section 3 - Military Equipment
Section 4 - How to get into a relationship
Section 5 - Starting the game
Section 6 - Useful web addresses
Section 7 – Space Colony FAQs
Section 8 - Changes for the patch
Section 9 - System requirements
Section 1 – Background
2153 A.D.
Earth is no longer economically viable so the planet has been evacuated. The
real money is now in the orbital mega cities, advertising and most of all basic
resource acquisition.
Every two-bit company in the galaxy is running a Lander operation, setting
down on a new planet, killing off anything endangering the profits, sucking
up every resource the planet has to offer and then moving on.
The galaxy is split into two, those who have credit and those who don’t.
Those with credit live in the luxurious orbital mega cities and are known as
Spacers. Those who don’t have credit are often tempted to carry out these
dangerous resource acquisition operations and are affectionately called Landers.
The acquisition teams are usually made up from the dregs of society, drifters,
loners and stargazers. Many of them have little to live for so chance their
luck in an attempt to get rich quick. The loss of life is high.
Space Colony follows the story of Venus Jones, a 23-year-old veteran of three
outings. She needs one more successful trip and then she is out of there, retired,
set up for life, in credit. She is praying for a nice easy six-month mining
assignment, what she’s going to get is a completely different story…
Section 2 – Additional features
Delete Jobs Tool
You can delete your primary or secondary job. To do this click on the small
trash can icon on the colonists panel (which appears once you have click on
the colonist), a new pointer will be shown, now click on the job you wish to
remove and the job will be deleted.
Guard Duty
(Guard Duty is only available on certain levels)
Once you have selected a colonist a small picture of a space helmet will appear
over the pointer, now click outside and the colonist’s primary job will
change to guard duty (space duty). The colonist will always go to this location
when they are in work time and defend against any alien attacks.
MP3 Player
You can access the MP3 selection screen though the options, either through
the main menu (setting’s) or through the in game options (spanner icon)
screen.
Select a drive or drives you wish to scan for MP3 and press the scan button
(small green arrow). A scanning for MP3’s window will appear and it will
start searching for MP3 files. You can now select the MP3’s you wish to
play in the game.
You can select the files in a number of ways either by left clicking on the
MP3 or using the green arrow with a + on it to add an MP3. Or use the CTRL key
to toggle the selected files on or off. If you wish to select a group of files
select one file and then hold down the SHIFT key and select some more files
further down the list and add them using the arrow and green arrow with the
+ sign.
At the top right of the screen you can choose the amount of time before the
next track is played either: 10 seconds, 30 seconds or 1 minute. You can also
choose to have the tracks played randomly or in alphabetical order.
Event Warning
An explanation mark (!) appears near to the radar screen when certain events
are happening. You can click on the explanation mark (!) to go to this event.
Section 3 – Military Equipment
Force field post and Hi-power force field post
The large force fields uses up more power and can take more damage from aliens
than the smaller force field. You can always repair the damage using the engineering
repair facility.
Smaller alien’s can go under the force field whereas the airborne alien’s
can go over them.
Small force fields are good for stopping bees, whereas the large force field
would be better used against the rock hoppers.
Manned Laser’s
The Manned laser’s can hit more frequently, than the automatic laser,
depending on the skills of the person using the laser and it’s much more
powerful than the automatic laser.
Sentinels
Sentinels are a useful defence against flying alien’s e.g. Acid Wings.
You control the movement of the sentinel by placing Sentinel patrol markers.
The Sentinel’s will move between the markers and the Sentinel post.
Hover mine delivery system
These use a lot of power, but will deal out plenty of damage, which includes
damage to flying aliens, such as the Acid Wings. Make sure you are careful with
their placement as they can cause damage to your base.
Cluster Bomb
The Cluster bomb fires a bomb, which creates a powerful arch of destruction
and can cause damage to your base.
Missile Silo
The missile requires plenty of resources to build, but it allows you to target
anywhere on the map, and does damage to a large area.
Military Radar
The Military Radar gives advanced warning of incoming alien attacks, before
they arrive on the map.
Space Defence Shield
The Space Defence Shield gives protection against falling lava rocks and incoming
meteors. You can click on the Space Defence Shield to show the radius, which
it protects.
Section 4 – How to get into a relationship
If you wish to get one of your colonists to fall in love, you’ll need
to think carefully whom you choose for them as a suitable partner. Picking the
right person will make things much easier for you. Also you need to think about
who is going to ask whom.
Slim has little chance of dating Venus, will usually be receptive to an advance
from her!
Choose your colonist, and then click on the heart icon. You are now on the
romance panel. Here you can either pop the question immediately (‘will
you be mine’ icon) or try and improve your overall chances by inviting
them to hang out together first. Each of the 6 invitations has a chance of success
depending on the person asked. Look over the probabilities and make your choice.
If you are successful the 2 colonists will go off together and engage in their
chosen activity. You will also see that the probability of a successful relationship
has improved (you can improve this 3 times, once for each of the 3 hearts).
Note you can also improve your chances by making the 2 colonists better friends
(enemies have no chance of becoming special friends).
Finally, once they are romantically entangled, they will benefit from permanently
full happiness. Relationships don’t always last forever however in Space
Colony they certainly don’t, with some lasting only a day and others...
well?
Section 5 – Starting the game
Play the tutorial first! It isn’t too long and really helps explain the
games main concepts. Once you have finished the Tutorial move onto the play
Space Colony section.
Don’t forget to use the hints and tips section available in each mission,
if you get stuck in the game. You can access them by clicking on the flashing
light bulb next to the radar screen.
Section 6 - Useful web addresses
Developer’s Homepage:
Official Space Colony Website:
Official Space Colony Forum:
www.gathering.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=53
Links related to Firefly’s games:
Section 7 – FAQs
Q. I can't work out how to build the Pharmaceutical Extractors?
A. The Pharmaceutical Extractor need’s to be built inside Bio Domes.
Q. Is there anyway of getting more supplying robots in the warehouse? (Resources
gathering is very slow)
A. Placing more warehouses will give you extra warehouse droid’s to pickup
good’s.
Q. Every time I try to scan for MP3s the game crashes to desktop?
A. You can copy your MP3s manually into the “Space Colonyfxmp3”
folder and when you reload Space Colony they will be shown again. The default
location for MP3’s is “C:Program FilesFirefly StudiosSpace Colonyfxmp3”.
Q. Is there a Strategy Guide available?
A. The strategy guide is available from Bradygames: www.bradygames.com/detail_brady.cfm?item=0744003..
Q. I don’t seem to be able to save a game.
A. Try creating a new user, creating a user with special characters, which Space
Colony doesn’t recognise, could cause the problem. You should particularly
avoid using ‘’ (backslash), ‘/’ (slash), ‘*’
(asterisk), ‘ “ ‘ (quotes), ‘?’ (question mark),
‘’ (right angled bracket),
‘:’ (colon) and the “¦” (pipe).
Q. There doesn't seem to be a way to delete structures or furniture?
A. You can delete buildings using the sell option. Just click on the dollar
symbol on the left interface panel and then click on the object to sell. Click
the right mouse button to clear the sell cursor.
Q. Can the objects be moved after their initial placement?
A. Yes, click on the object that you want to move and an interface panel will
be shown, within this panel you will be able to see the move icon (four arrows
in a circle), click on this to move your object around. Objects normally placed
outside of Bio Domes (lasers, nutrient extractors etc..) cannot be moved after
initial placement.
Q. A Fatal Exception has occurred OE ….: …….. VXD + …….
the program will terminate.
A. The following web site may help to track down the cause. www.all-windows.com/win_exception.html
Q. When will there be a forum or a place to share user made campaigns?
A. Links to Fansites with downloadable maps and campaigns can be found by going
to www.lordwibble.com.
Q. Space Colony will run for a bit and become slow and choppy.
A. The following information may help you: support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=815069
Section 8 – Changes for the patch
Dogbots, Soldiers and Commandos can be located by clicking on the icon, which
appears just above the Colonist’s faces in the bottom right hand corner
of the screen.
The following Galaxy mode missions have been updated: Abayomi, Aelfwine, Batuuli,
Caerl, Ceolwulf, Pakendorf and Von Funck.
Colonists cannot be moved around outside when they are mad.
The issue with grass not being placed around golf holes has been fixed.
Characters no longer shoot at aliens inside the base when they are mad.
The disco music is now linked to the music option and not the speech option.
If you used the F1 key to save the game, the interface would be hidden, this
has been fixed.
Speech has been added when you tell a character to repair certain items.
Sometimes Colonists repeated the same set of speech, after already saying it,
this has been rectified.
The issue of the mission not completing when playing an 18-hole golf course
has been fixed.
Fribulan could use equipment, which required maintenance this has been fixed.
You can now assign a Colonist to a different task when they are shooting at
Rodents.
Venus could go mad but carry on working.
The issue has been resolved with the Iron Extractor walking through the base.
Venus can't get into the Nutrient Extractor. Instead she is going around it
all the time.
The Vaatz Galaxy mode map has been updated.
An issue was found which allowed colonists to train but the training availability
count didn’t go down.
Removing a Sentinel after it has been built didn’t change the status
of the condition.
The Fribulan tourist faced the wrong way when greeted by a colonist.
The issue with the Mechanoid suddenly freezing has been fixed.
Occasionally the green beam, which is displayed when items are being maintained,
was shown across the whole screen.
When the Anti fun league condition ran, it left behind the food chute when
the restaurant had been removed.
An issue with the Hover mine targeting weaker aliens first has been resolved.
Occasionally an objective was ticked even though it hadn't been reached.
Tourists attempted to play golf when the grass wasn’t planted.
The text will display correctly on Japanese versions of Windows.
Various other issues have also been resolved.
Section 9 - System requirements
OS: Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP.
CPU: 800mhz (1.2Ghz+ Preferred)
RAM: 64 MB (128MB Recommended)
HDD: 850 MB
VIDEO: 4MB, DirectX 8.1 compatible (800x600 upwards)
SOUND: DirectX 8.1 compatible
CD-ROM: 8X Speed
Product and entity names are the trademarks of their respective owners, and
not of Gathering of Developers, Inc., and are included for entertainment purposes
only. No product, person or establishment appearing or mentioned in this game
has endorsed this game or any of the actions described or displayed herein or
is in any way associated with Gathering of Developers, Inc. Any appearance or
resemblances of any character, person, entity or product in this game to any
other person, entity or product are purely coincidental.
Инструкции для тех, кто хочет играть в пропатченую лицензионную русскую версию игры от 1С с русскими шрифтами (озвучка в такой версии игры русская по умолчанию): У кого русская лицензионная версия игры запускается без шрифтов, то нужно "Включить поддержку текстовых служб для все программ". Для тех, кто не знает как это делается: зайти в панель управления/дата, время, языки и региональные стандарты/языки и региональные стандарты/вкладка "Языки"/подробнее/вкладка "Дополнительно"/ ставим галочку в разделе "Конфигурация совместимости"/жмём ОК/перезагружаемся/запускаем игру. Готово, теперь можно играть не только с русской озвучкой но у с русскими шрифтами. Чтобы пропатчить игру и сохранить русские шрифты нужно скачать патч 1.1 (например с сайта разработчика игры - Firefly Worlds), далее установить его в предварительно созданную "Новую папку", после того как патч туда установится нужно переместитьв корневую папку с игрой всё файлы КРОМЕ: Space Colony.exe и sc.tex. Готово, игра пропатчена при сохранении русских шрифтов. Делалось всё на Win XP SP2, на лицензионной русской версии игры от 1С, образ (.mdf и .mds) которой весил 814 Мб и требовал своего присутствия в виртуальном дисководе (с помощь любого эмулятора данных образов) для запуска игры, т.к. на момент написания этих инструкций "кряка" для данной версии игры не было (да и врятли уже будет), а "кряк" для английской версии игры сбивает русские шрифты, и в место них вы увидите "знаки вопроса".