Tactics & Strategy | Basic Play Guide | Grid Map

The term ‘grid’ refers to all the singularities that have been detected and that the Aegis is capable of entering, each one is called a ‘node’. The grid is split into five zones; each ‘zone’ contains a number of nodes, some of which allow long distance travel between zones.

The ‘hyper grid’ map shows all the zones the player can access, eventually this will be all five, initially it is just one. Nodes that allow long distance travel are marked in green on the hyper grid; they are referred to as ‘transfer nodes’. Press fire1 on a transfer node and the map display switches to that zone, the map is zoomed and all the nodes are shown. Pressing fire2 in this view on a transfer node switches back to the hyper grid map. As well as entering new zones, transfer nodes are useful for jumping straight past enemy units, they are confined to normal node transit.

Enemy units have a certain mass; this can be detected and used to display an enemy marker on the map. Enemy units move erratically and only seem capable of detecting the Aegis if it is on an adjacent node, stay well clear and they will not see you. Large and medium resource bearing rocks within the nodes can also be detected. Each node has a small bar next to it indicating the percentage of resource rich rock left in the node.

From the grid map screen it is possible to skip time without moving, this is useful if there are no enemies about and you just want to wait for an item to be researched or built.

As well as enemy units there are friendly aliens within each zone, you must find their location by destroying the larger enemy capitol ships that sometimes drop wreckage that can be analysed. Enemy units never go to these special nodes and they are very important as the Aegis and your own ships can be fully repaired free of charge.

Occasionally a node will be marked as unstable, these nodes are rich in resources yet very dangerous. Strange grid creatures live in the molten rocks that explode if touched and move unpredictably.