Guide: Mining for natural resources

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The foundations of a strong empire are its mining and freight network. Without a reliable supply of resources, growth will always be an uphill struggle.

Natural resources

There are five natural resources that can be mined: beron, farsu, limbalt, olzine and ziryl. Each of these resources is used for a different purpose, so strategic priorities will determine which should be mined for and how aggressively.

Beron
Farsu
Limbalt
Ziryl
Olzine
  • Beron: required for the construction of buildings and structures e.g. mines, farms, power stations, laboratories, etc. No colony structures can be built without it. It’s a fairly common mineral found in large deposit sizes.
  • Farsu: the base material used in the construction of ship hulls and parts. Without farsu, shipyards can’t produce any ships!
  • Limbalt: used to produce ordnance for ordnance-based weapons (energy weapons do not need limbalt as they are powered entirely by a ship’s internal power supply).
  • Ziryl: required for the production of energy-based ship parts e.g. plasma cannons, shields, and beam turrets. Some structures also require ziryl for their construction (only laboratories at the moment). Ziryl is a rare resource and deposit sizes are small.
  • Olzine: is used as ship fuel. All ship engines can travel at at least warp one without needing fuel (free warp), however, much faster travel is possible when olzine is available.
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Guide: Ship Weapons

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Weapon selection for ships and fleets will make the difference between victory and defeat. As an empire grows, so will its access to increasingly more powerful weapons. However, strength shouldn’t be the only consideration when designing your ships…

In this post, we’ll take a closer look at some of the ship weapons currently being used in the Alpha galaxy. You can find more details on ship weapons on our recently updated wiki page.

Weapon types

The most important point to consider when choosing a weapon is whether to go for energy or ordnance based – each option has its pros and cons.

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Mankind: Ocean (Clipper class)

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Each civilization in the game has one Clipper class hull, Ocean, is Mankind’s. Clipper class hulls are neither suited for battle nor transportation, but they can do what no other class of hull can…

Strengths and weaknesses

The Ocean is a small, lightweight hull, but it is a must-have ship for anyone playing as Mankind (likewise for each civilization and its own Clipper class: Poisk for People’s Realm, T12 for Syntis and Hunter for Ripchee)!

What makes Clipper hulls vital are their unique special slots, which make them the only hull class in the game compatible with cloaking and mine detecting/sweeping technologies.

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Guide: Interstellar Travel

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During the early stages of a player’s empire, it can take a few hours just to get to the nearest star system! But no civilization should let distance intimidate their ambition or deter them from expanding to resource-laden, far-off worlds.

Through strategic usage of fuel (olzine), and the research and development of new engines, vast distances can be tamed and an interstellar empire can flourish!

A player’s empire covering multiple star systems. The galaxy isn’t visible where a player has no scanner coverage e.g. no ship in the vicinity.

Thruster and warp speeds

When ships are ordered to move, they do so automatically using either thruster or warp speed:

  • Thruster speed: within a star system or when in battle
  • Warp speed: in deep space (not in a star system)
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The People’s Realm: The Admiral

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The Admiral, of The People’s Realm, is a gigantic beast of a ship! It’s currently the largest ship in the game, extremely powerful, and we think it looks awesome.

Strengths and weaknesses

Orbital bombers can only be mounted to cruiser class hulls, and fighter carriers only to battleship class hulls (via the large weapons slots on these hulls). However, the Admiral is a distinguished exception. Its large weapons slots are universal, which means they can be used to mount ANY large weapon e.g. orbital bomber, fighter carrier, or torpedo launchers.

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Updated Ship Designs for Mankind

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In our previous post we showed you some of the hull designs we had for both Syntis and Mankind.

While the feedback we had from our community was positive, there did seem to be a consensus that the hull style for Mankind was a bit off (mostly related to the red-ish colour scheme).

Accordingly, we passed this feedback on to our design team and put them back to work!

In the below images we wanted to show you a couple of updated hull designs for Mankind. Neither of these ships were revealed in the previous post, but the other Mankind ships from that page are also getting a similar design update.

Let us know what you think in the comments below 🙂

The Tribal Class Destroyer

The design for this ship remained relatively unchanged, mainly the new colour scheme has been implemented. This ship has already been imported in to the game, so we’ll bring you video of it in action soon.

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New Ships – Mankind and Syntis!

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Did you see one of our new ships on the cover image of our Facebook page? It belongs to the Syntis – keep reading to find out more…

We’ve also got some other ships to show you. Another from the Syntis and a few for Mankind. Some 2D conceptual drawings, through to the finished 3D model that you’ll be able to take command of in the game!

The Syntis

First up, we have a Defender Class and a Neutralizer Class from the Syntis.

The Syntis use a practical naming system for their ships, rather than the more grandiose labels a civilization like Mankind would use. A Syntis Neutralizer is the equivalent of what Mankind would call a Destroyer.

Type 12 Defender

Initial concept drawings – click for larger image
3D model at advanced stage
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Battle Videos – Fighters, Lasers and Beams

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Hey everyone, following on from our recent battles screenshots post we had a lot of requests for some video which we’re pleased to have here for you finally!

The previous battles post explained how battles will work, so if you haven’t a chance yet to read that post you can find it here.

In the following videos you’ll see lasers, rockets, beam weapons, and even a swarm of fighters at work! If you’re short on time, make sure you at least watch the last video at the bottom of this article!

If you like what you see please let us know in the comments below. There are also a few battle/weapons related Trello cards on our feature board where you can join in the discussion and help shape the development of Beyond Dark.

Two small fleets – all out attack

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Beta Civilizations – Vote for Yours!

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When Beta launches, you’ll be able to choose from four civilizations to play (eventually twelve). In development, we’ve already been working on two of these: Mankind and the Syntis, so they will be ready for Beta. We recently put up a post here on the Syntis and will do the same for Mankind soon.

But we need to decide the other two civilizations to have ready for Beta – which we thought we’d leave up to you guys!

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Battles: Rocket Launchers & Preview Screenshots

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Hi everyone, we’ve had a lot of requests for more info on battles, so we’re pleased to be able to give you some sneak preview screenshots from our early testing – a taste of what’s to come…

Our developers have been working on the core battle engine, shields, lasers, and some pretty awesome rocket launchers! We’re very excited with the progress so far, and are looking forward to getting some videos out to you soon.

Frigate vs Fleet Skirmish

In this scenario a battle has broken out between a frigate and a fleet of four smaller ships. The combatants exchange laser and rocket fire, before the action eventually comes to an explosive conclusion!

The fleet sends a volley of laser fire towards the frigate
Before adding some rocket fire in to the mix…
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