Black Prophecy Beginner’s Guide

Space Cadet Central

Reakktor Media’s MMO space simulator, Black Prophecy, has already started making waves in the industry and all with good reason; the game is marvelously designed with large epic-sized encounters for players as well as a multitude of weapon and ship choices available for customization and upgrading. Not everyone understands exactly how to make use of all the features in the game and it can be somewhat overwhelming at first with all the options, choices and abilities available. That’s why this Black Prophecy beginner’s guide will walk you through the basics of gameplay and navigation.

Accepting Missions And Flight Control

There are two modes of interactivity that primarily determines how you will interact with other players, NPCs, and objects in Black Prophecy. The first and main mode is the flight control method where players will fly the ship around, shoot at things and maneuver throughout space, freely.

The second mode of interaction is basically a user menu HUD. This can be accessed at any time simply by pressing the ‘Space Bar’, which will bring up the HUD. In this menu players can access other non-combat or flight related information or details, such as checking the status of a mission or contacting another NPC or player.

A few quick keys to keep in mind for later missions in the game include the ‘U’ key which brings up and displays all enemies, friendlies and neutral craft and objects within the vicinity. From this menu players can quickly select a target (especially for ship wrecks) to either loot them or interact with them. From this menu it’s also possible to auto-pilot to a new mission sector by highlighting it from the menu and clicking on the exclamation point in the center of the screen.

Weapon Grouping And Specialty Weapons

Weapon grouping is about as important in Black Prophecy as it is in any MechWarrior or Rogue Squadron title. Depending on the weapons you have on your ship will determine what sort of grouping will best suit your play style.

For instance, you may have two lightning cannons and two flame throwers on your ship, and considering that the lightning cannons are long range and the flame throwers are short range it would helpful to group the two lightning cannons together in the first group and the two flame throwers together in the second group. This way, at a distance you’re only using the lightning cannons and when you get in close to a target you can use the flame throwers to finish them off without wasting unnecessary resources and energy.

Some weapons or tools are considered specialty items that may be required to complete a mission. Such as the gravity cannon. In order to use the gravity cannon you’ll have to disable all your other weapons using the weapon grouping bar at the bottom of the screen. You may notice that specialty weapons will then become enabled after all other weapons have been disabled. This is sometimes necessary for escorting, transporting or missions that require you to move objects around.

Buying, Selling And Equipping Weapons

After each mission you may receive reward items. These items are put into your storage facility. To access these parts you’ll have to dock at a local station and open up your storage, which is located at the top of the screen along the toolbar. From here you can open up the ship’s equipment screen with the icon on the right side of the screen. You’ll need to keep both windows open and drag the equipment from your storage compartment into the ship’s appropriate equipment slot to replace or swap out old parts.

In order to use salvaged or quest parts, your ship skill meter will have to be at the appropriate level. For instance, if you receive a level 7 cockpit from a mission quest you’ll need up grade your ship skill in the character level-up screen to level 7 in order to access the new cockpit and equip it onto your ship. The same applies for all the parts on the game, including wings, engines, weapons and thrusters. Take note, though, that you can only level-up other parts of the ship to the max level of the cockpit. For example, if you want to use a level 5 engine you’ll have to level up the cockpit to level 5 first and then you’ll have to level up the engine attribute to level 5, after that you’ll then be able to equip the new engine. Parts can only be leveled up to the max level of your cockpit…so remember to level up the cockpit first before leveling up anything else.

Flying Tips And Tricks

Black Prophecy takes place in a completely free-form environment; this means that if you see asteroids floating about you can actually fly to them and into them. The same applies if there are ship carriers or battleships nearby. In other words, the best way to manipulate the environment is to use it to your advantage. If you know your ship lacks the horsepower to outrun an opponent or your ship lacks the firepower to take down opponents in a few hits, then it would be wise to use the environment to your advantage.

Flying in between the crevices of a large carrier ship or in between floating asteroids can help stave off opponents who may be hot on your tail. If you can use the environment to create distance from dangerous pursuers then it would be wise to do a quick spin and take them out if or when they get stuck on a ship part or they crash into an asteroid.

Just remember, though, Black Prophecy is a lot like Mortal Online and PvP makes up for a big part of the game. Try to stay in groups or leech off of a higher level player when doing missions in open sectors where anyone can PvP anyone.

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