What are the basic things required for a new player to know how to do if they are new to TW or a TW retread?

1. Passive gridding
2. Paired Port Trading
3. Join a corp in every game (if you can)
4. Ask questions. (realize you are going to die, its not personal. Ask the guy that killed you: How did you kill me? and What can I do to stop it next time?)
5.....

H

5. Download & Register Swath
6. Read everything on www.navhaz.com
7. Learn how to map the universe and locate the Zero ports, and Alien home worlds.
8. Pay toll figs, avoid ALL figs if the owner is online
9. Don't rely on World Trade unless in a high turn game and you can watch it.
10. Don't build too early. Trade, map, grid bubbles study the planet and ship edits before you decide what to buy or build.

DO NOT enter a sector with an enemy fig while they are online! Or if you must, learn how to kill the fig fast!

Off the top of my fron...

Lawnmow
ZTM
Ptorp
Pdrop
Gridding
Macros
How to read the edit
How to read a dscan
The $/turn of common cashing methods
How to calculate turn cost of stuff

I think "retreads" (btw hate that term) need things a bit simpler than that even.

Lawnmow - never heard of it before seeing the "mow" script in TWX = express move while killing figs in path.
ZTM - This I knew, but if you've never used "helpers" before this is Greek = Zero Turn Map - a helper function.
Ptorp - entirely new use of this invasion weapon today, now it's a PvP weapon = photon
Pdrop - wicked use of planets as weapons, rarely if ever used in the mid 90's = planet drop
gridding - takes on a whole new meaning when paired with planet drops (Pdrop)
Macros - OK, yeah we had those! Strings of keystroke commands.
How to read the edit - Old door and HVS games did not have the * menu. I think we need an entire portion of this forum set aside to explain each of these edits and their effects on the game.
How to read a dscan - Density scan, we had that then, still very important today.
http://tradewars.fament.com/Cruncher/Advice.htm#Density Scans & Anomolies
The $/turn of common cashing methods - best to learn from corping with more experienced players who can teach you the finer details of cashing.
How to calculate turn cost of stuff - Yeah, desktop calculators come in handy! As do keen observation skills.

There's a few in other languages too. I think rev had
one for zoc. But basically it just plots a course from
your TA to where-ever you tell it, creates a macro
that moves to each and sends a figkill wave. It creates
a long string that looks like...

m 1234 * z a 9999* m 2345* z a 9999 * m 3456 * z a 9999*

There are some substantial weaknesses in a mow, but
early on nobody will have millions of figs out so it's a
good way to get from point A to point B before you can
be killed. It is possible to torp a mower if you're very
fast, or use an "anticipation" torper, but it's not easy. If
you use a mower sparingly (mow to dock, mow out)
then you can usually get someplace before the enemy
sets up a torper to hit you.



LOL, yeh, that's why I made this years back:
http://www.navhaz.com/dny_tw_tutorial.txt

It's still mostly accurate, altho some of the bot details
need updated.



Some sysops explicitly want people to spend time
discovering and learning the edit. There's a lot more
than just the * menu. Most of that menu you can find
in other screens. The real challenge is usually the
planets. Do they produce figs, product, etc? How fast
are they?

The game does a major change when planets get
mobile. So knowing that will shape your strategy.



Yeh, sadly people still don't pay attention to them. You
can scan from a non-figged sector and see whether
the adjacent stuff is figged or not. If you compare that
to a fig list (or have a script that does) then you can see
where your figs are and where the enemy figs are w/o
having to holoscan.



PPT varies based on TPW, but it's usually under 5k per
turn. SSM varies on TPW too, but it's usually under 10k
per turn. SST is around 12k per turn, depending on ports.
SDT is around 17k/turn, assuming good ports and 100%
ptrade. You can get upwards of 20k/turn SDT if you get
perfect ports, tho.

A little outdated, but still good:
http://tw-cabal.navhaz.com/strategy/economy1.html



Yeh, paying attention helps. Additionally, planning ahead
too. If you are 20 hops from dock, in a 4tpw ship, and need
to go get a ship from dock that has a twarp on it, why not
consider putting an xport ship somewhere in the universe?
I usually build an xport network in most games, and create a
macro like this:

x 22* 23* 24* *

You can xport from 22 to 23, to 24. And if one isn't available,
the game will still xport you to those that are. So you can build
a network, make a macro to xport you around it, and use that
to get yourself out of a bad situation sometimes. Or, at the very
least, use it to get ships from one side of the uni to another.

Yes, if someone is camping out in front of your door, having a transport ship near Terra is always handy. Enter Terra, mow to Transport ship, transport back home avoiding all the nasty stuff in between. And having a transport ship in each farm bbl comes in handy as well.

But back to basics - when running a mixed corp be certain to keep junk ships available for the reds to rob in, so when they bust loosing holds is not an issue. I would normally keep MF's for this, the red I'm with now is very frugal and uses scouts.

Ah yeah the bug Mega Robbing - I've been told the limits are 3,276,800.. 6,553,598, but that's the rob. The actual low is 2,949,120 / .9 = 3,276,800 and high is 5,898,238 / .9 = 6,553,598.

So, when a port has between 2,949,120 and 5,898,238 you can then rob the entire amount plus 10% no matter what your experience is as long as your alignment is -100.


When playing with photons (fotons) many new players forget that when they are carrying a photon and run into mines or nav haz, they blow-up in their faces and THEY loose turns.