RAW SOURCE: Maf: Starfleet Battles Player Experience

URL: https://perryjones.medium.com/maf-starfleet-battles-player-experience-64a69981a47e Published: Aug 8, 2022

Content (close paraphrase, unfiltered)

Originally, players entered the game in game year 1988, one year after WW3 ended. As of 2024, entry moved to 1984 — a WW3 ceasefire phase, with nations rebuilding armed/space forces.

All players except Starfleet Captains begin with a frigate and 1 million Helvatica Dollars/Stellar Credits; Starfleet Captains begin with a destroyer. Initial campaign: protect NPC asteroid miners from pirates in a nearby solar system, spawning outside a station. The Executive Officer (Game AI) teaches shields, propulsion, weapons, maneuvering, targeting, navigation (map hotkey, zoom, right-click travel), and basic docking/traffic control procedures. Ship/player respawn at the original spawn point on destruction/death. Three escalating/de-escalating pirate battles based on win/loss record. After the third battle, players return and dock (this time manually guided) at the station, learning the Communications HUD along the way.

Players are neuro-chipped, enabling NetCom (think-to-communicate network, also activates Communications HUD) and guided avatar movement/interaction via the neurochip. Players may explore their ship's interior; NPC crew answer questions when asked. No permanent residence is required (ship = home), but station/city apartments, planetary residences (farms to luxury mansions), moon/asteroid habitats, and rented space (hotels, casinos, campgrounds) are available; players may design/build their own residence if skilled and land-owning.

In 1988 (the original first game year), annual salary was $540,000. Players start with $1,000,000 for body enhancements, personal weapons/ equipment, Skill Books, or ship enhancements. Annual salary (role- appropriate) pays out in 12 monthly installments from account creation. Additional credits come from completing activities or Market sales. Players start with 4 NPC "friends" for emergencies, crashing at their place, FPS backup, short-term loans, or as a wingman.

After core flight/combat/navigation/communication/avatar training, players choose among 5 Training Tracks (any order, all required): Mining, Exploring, Ship Combat, FPS (urban), Industrial/Business.

Exploring: generates new space, teaches obstacle maneuvering, solar system surveys, and deep planetary surveys (year length, rotation period, axial tilt, moon count, flora/fauna, hydrosphere %, presence of intelligent life).

Industrial/Business: teaches the Market and Stock Market, buying blueprints, using manufacturing facilities, acquiring materials, and listing finished products. A Blueprint is required to manufacture anything. Creating an Original Blueprint requires Research Skill, Intelligence and/or Coding Skill, a stated Blueprint Objective, and time/Skill Points/Experience Points proportional to the product's level — more points invested improves the blueprint's effectiveness/efficiency. An Original Blueprint allows up to 100 runs (no upper limit on total), 5 units per run. A Blueprint Copy costs 1/5 the time/Skill Points, no Experience Points, but caps at 20 runs, 4 units/run. Blueprints sell on the Market via a Production and Sales License.

Mining Track: swap to mining modules, travel to a moon/asteroid belt, survey and mine via ship or hand-held laser under a Mining Contract, deliver a full cargo hold to the Contract Maker.

Combat Track: contracted/government-ordered pirate clearing; swap to upgraded weapons modules, upgrade sensors/comms, purchase more powerful gear if skilled enough.

FPS Track: 5-man squad clears an area of enemy NPCs. Players receive personal armor, boots, basic shield, and weapons (kept after completion). Ingress via dropship to the target body, then vehicle to within a kilometer, then on-foot approach avoiding enemies/dangerous wildlife. On completion: difficulty-appropriate credits, several low-tier personal weapons of choice, and one ship weapon/enhancement (railgun, torpedo/ rocket launcher, phaser, laser, missile rack, ammo, enhanced power source, mining laser, shield, armor, life support, expanded/specialized cargo hold, enhanced drive, ECM suite, sensor suite, comms suite, etc.).

Combat damage types: Electromagnetic (damages shields, then electrical systems once shields down; minimal vs. armor/hull); Heat (affects missiles/rockets/unshielded drones, minimal vs. shields); Explosive (affects shields, electrical, propulsion, weapons, armor, AND hull — broadest damage type). Weapons can be configured for bonus damage against a specific type. Ships are destroyed when shields, armor, and hull all reach zero.

All Training Tracks teach manual docking/liftoff and planetary/platform landing, and expose players to more pirates (optional to fight except in the Combat Track). Skills required per Track are learned via purchased Skill Books, trained at 1 point per real-world second; up to 5 skills may train simultaneously if each is in a different Track. Skill Points come from Track completion, play time, defeating opponents, exploration, bounty hunting, FPS, etc., and can also be bought as bundled "neurochip" packages on the Market.

Missions/Tasks/Quests/Epic Arcs are assigned by an Agent (in-person or NetCom). A Task is single-action, low risk/reward, never awards a ship. A Mission is single-action, higher risk/reward than a Task; high-risk Missions may award a ship. A Quest combines several Missions with exploration/retrieval/combat, paying out per completed stage. An Epic Arc ties to a specific Training Track and a Storyline, may include multiple Quests/Missions, and always awards at least one ship on completion.

Players may also create these for others to complete, earning: 100,000 credits per Task, 1,000,000 per Mission, 10,000,000 per Quest, 3,000,000 per Mission-within-an-Epic-Arc, 20,000,000 per Quest-within-an-Epic-Arc (if the Arc follows both a Training Track and a Storyline). A Storyline (background/history for a person, place, state, or activity) earns 40,000,000 credits if accepted by game moderators after review.

Players may buy/sell anything on the Market, by Contract, or outside the game. Initially, 1 USD = 1,000,000 Stellar Credits or Helvatica Dollars; 1 Helvatica Dollar always equals 1 Stellar Credit. Market prices fluctuate with supply/demand, including external player activity. Any item listed anywhere is mirrored simultaneously on the Helvatica (Kila Vas) Market; buyers travel to the seller's deposit location to collect. Selling doesn't require a Production and Sales License; only blueprint/manufactured-goods sales do. After completing all 5 Training Tracks, a Game License is required to unlock most in-game income activities.