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 Home > FAQs, Tips & Tricks > Earth & Beyond Tips |
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Earth & Beyond Tips
Chat
The chat window can be very useful for asking questions, requesting help and forming groups, but it is also used for a few other purposes... The chat window is also used to display system messages, information from your ship's computer and from the current sector or base. You should understand what the different messages are and who can see each one. The types of messages and their default colours are:
 To send a message, hit Enter and a small window appears just below the main chat window. This window indicates which channel your message will be sent to (Local, Group, Broadcast, etc.). You simply type your message and hit Enter again to send it. You can set which is your default channel in the Chat menu. Personally, I set my default channel to Local, as this is where I ask most of my questions, because they are generally along the lines of "Where's the gate to XYZ?"... i.e. the question is really only relevant to the other players in the sector where I'm currently located.
If you want to send a private message to a specific player, there are a number of ways to do this. The first is to target the player, which will open a set of buttons above the targetting display, one of which is Chat. Alternatively, you can click their image at the top-left of the screen. However, there are often times when you cannot target the specific player because they are not near you (they might even be in a different sector or system). If this is the case, hit Enter to open up a send window and type in "/t {player-name} {message}", for example,  ). By
replying personally to the sender, you are more likely to get noticed and invited to
join them.
If you have received a Personal message, you can reply using the R key. This will always send the message to the last person who sent you a Private message. Navigation Three words: GET A MAP. It is almost impossible to get about in Earth & Beyond without a map. In the main E&B display, you can show the map and switch to a Galaxy view, but I find this utterly confusing. Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer a paper map I can run my finger over (while furrowing my brow, nodding to myself and looking all knowledgeable). I'm amazed that there isn't a map in the box, however, you can find maps on-line. At the time of writing, I know of two sites that have maps. The first is the 'official' map available from the E&B site at Earth & Beyond Galactic Map  . Personally,
I find this one a bit busy. Instead, I use the maps put together by TreKain over
at the Maps by TreKain site.
These maps have a couple of minor flaws, but generally will help you get about.
The other thing to get your head round is how it all fits together... You play the game in a Galaxy (Andromeda, for example). This Galaxy contains a number of Systems (Sol, Tau Ceti, Alpha Centauri, etc.), each containing a number of Sectors (Earth, Saturn, etc.). Within each Sector, you'll find Nav Points, planets, bases, etc. Using the Galactic Map by TreKain (see above), we see this as: 
You should be able to just make out the various routes between the sectors in the image above. The point is, when you need to get from Station A to Planet B, you'll need to work out a route.
Vendors Something I didn't spot for ages is that, in starbases, the types of vendors can be determined by a pair of coloured banners on either side of their stall, as below:
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