III. Your Hero

When you first enter Shattered Galaxy, you are in Hero Mode (as opposed to Battle Mode). Hero mode is used for interacting with other heroes, buying and designing units and exchanging resources, and moving to other provinces and planets.

In the center of the top two-thirds of the screen (the Action Window) is your hero, the representation of you and your accomplishments in the Shattered Galaxy world. Your hero does not fight and cannot be killed. All combat is between units, which are discussed in section IV.

A. Navigating

You, in the form of your hero, begin the game in your faction's capital. Capitals cannot be conquered by enemy units and are thus the only truly safe places in the galaxy.

1. Surroundings
   
   The Action Window shows a detailed view of a small area of the province where your hero is. To the bottom right is the Mini-map, which shows the entire province. Small dots represent other players and computer controlled persons. The green dot represents yourself, yellow dots represent allies, and red dots represent neutral or enemy persons. Lightly-colored glowing squares represent shops or other places of interest. Green glowing squares are portals to friendly areas. Red glowing squares are portals to hostile areas. A white box shows the region seen in the Active Window.
   
   Left-click on the Mini-map to center the Action Window on a location. Press <SPACE> to center the Action Window on your hero again.
   
   
2. Movement
   
   You can move your hero by using either the Active Window or the Mini-map. Clicking on the Active Window moves your hero to that location. If your hero is near a building, left or right-clicking on it in the Active Window will direct your hero to enter that building.
   
   Right-click on the Mini-map to move your hero to that location. Note that because you may have clicked on an obstacle, your hero may not be able to reach the exact destination you selected.

B. Introspection

Click on your hero or press F4 to view your hero's current status. The Introspection Window is divided into five regions: Division standings, reputation, political standing, attribute, and resources. Each is described below.

1. Division Standings
   
   The top left region shows your characters' rank in the four divisions of warfare. The symbols at the top represent these four divisions: (from left to right) Infantry, Mobile, Aviation, and Specialist. Click on the appropriate symbol to view your hero's standing for that division.
   
   The information shown is:
   
   a) Level: A numeric representation of your hero's capabilities in this division.
   
   b) Rank: Your hero's official title in that division. An alphabetic representation of rank. Rank increases roughly every three levels.
   
   c) Unit: The sum of the levels of the units owned by your hero that belong to this division. Units are discussed in more detail in Section IV.
   
   d) XP: Your hero's current experience points in this division. Heroes earn experience points when their units gain levels. Experience points are discussed in more detail in Section V.D.1.
   
   e) XP Needed: The number of experience points required before your hero's level increases in this division. When XP = XP Needed, your hero's level will increase by one. When a hero's level increases, he may have access to better chassis types and will also gain a point to assign to one of his four attributes.
   
   
   
2. Reputation
   
   Your hero's exploits are recorded and summarized in the reputation region, which is located below the division standings.
   




3. Political Standing
   
   While your division standings reveal your hero's advancement, such statistics are often irrelevant in political realms. Other heroes will judge your success and competence as a commander based upon your reputation and political status. Your political and reputation information is shown in the center region of the Introspection window, below your character's portrait.
   
   a) Name: Your hero's name as chosen during hero creation. Note that your hero's name cannot be altered.
   
   b) Faction: The faction to whom your hero pledges loyalty. You are automatically allied with other members of your faction or members of other factions with whom your faction is allied. Allies are discussed further in section V. Factions are discussed in more detail in section VI. Your faction's flag is displayed below the political standing region.
   
   c) Title: Your hero's official title, if any, in his faction. With titles come administrative powers. Titles are discussed in more detail in Section VIII.
   
   d) Prestige: A numeric representation of your hero's success in battle against other players (not aliens). After a victory against another player, your prestige will increase. After a loss against another player, your prestige will decrease. The magnitude of the change depends upon your prestige compared to your opponent(s).
   
   e) Record: Your hero's wins and losses for all battles (battles against aliens included).
   
   f) Honor: Every 100 points of honor provides a 1% health bonus to all of your units. Honor is gained by fighting in player versus player battles for your faction and is lost when fighting aliens. Mercenaries only gain honor when fighting for the weaker side. Abandoning your faction or joining a new faction will reset your Honor to 0.
   
   g) Accomplishments: Special accomplishments of your hero are recorded in this region, located below your hero's division standings.
   
   
4. Attributes
   
   The top right section displays your hero's attributes. Your hero's attributes affect many aspects of gameplay. For every level your hero achieves in any division, he receives one point to assign to his attributes. Any available attribute points are shown in the area above the attributes. Use the arrow keys to assign these points as you deem best.
   
   a) Tactics: Your hero's grasp on the intricacies of tactical combat. A hero's tactics determines how many units he can control during combat. Additionally, the hero with the highest tactics in any given battle is the field commander for his side (see Section V for more information).
   
   b) Education: The quality of your hero's formal education, specifically in chemistry, physics, and electronics. Higher education allows your hero to install more advanced weapons, power supplies, sensors, etc. in his units (see Section VI).
   
   c) Clout: The quality of your hero's political connections. Clout increases tribute from provinces owned by your faction as well as spoils obtained after conquering a province. Additionally, heroes with higher clout gain earlier access to more advanced chassis types (see Section IV).
   
   d) Mechanical Aptitude: Your hero's ability to install, jury-rig, and maintain mechanical systems, specifically his units. High mechanical aptitude lessens weight restrictions when designing units, effectively allowing more potent designs to be created. Mechanical aptitude also has a small effect on what technology he can employ (see Section VI).
   
   
5. Resources
   
   Without wealth, reputation and rank are meaningless. Resources are required to repair, buy, and enhance units. Each resource represents a different aspect of unit/item research and design. With the exception of money, resource prices are dynamic and based upon a faction's supply and demand of the resource in question. For game play purposes, Shattered Galaxy resources are limited to five:
   
   a) Money: While many factions create their own currency, money is represented in the ubiquitous Galactic Credit for simplicity's sake. Unlike other resources, money must be earned, not found. Because of its versatility and constant value, factional governments often reward heroes with money.
   
   b) Ore: Ore represents metals of all varieties. A large amount of ore is required to generate even small quantities of rare metals, such as platinum or titanium. Conversely, metals such as iron and copper are much more common. All items require some quantity of ore. Fortunately, it is quite common.
   
   
   
   c) Silicon: Complicated circuitry requires silicon. Sophisticated AIs, as are present in some equipment, have especially high silicon requirements. Silicon is also a priority resource for energy management systems.
   
   d) Uranium: Radioactive uranium, available in the form of uranite, represents energy and power. It is required in the construction and charging of all power supplies. Uranium is the rarest and often the most valuable resource.
   
   
   
   e) Sulfur: Sulfur, a primary component in primitive gunpowder, is essential for weapons and targeting systems. Sulfur is the most plentiful and thus (generally) the least valuable resource.