Amalgamation ships: yourself (or the enemy)
Klingette boppers: the enemy (or yourself)
Stars: superheated balls of gas and dust, giving off
light and heat
Super novas: exploded stars, which
interfere with short- and long-range scan
Star bases: refuel and repair stops
Wormholes: transport you to a random sector of the
quadrant
Interference: when short-range scans are damaged
The short-range scan shows a the current sector. It is displayed in the large area in the upper right corner.
When you leave a sector, DSNewt saves the number and kind of astral bodies in the sector. To conserve memory, DSNewt does not save the position of the astral bodies. While it is disconcerting the return to a sector and find all the stars rearranged, we find that the surrealism of this "feature" adds to the overall playing experience. (The real reason is that it saves memory.)
The long range scan is shown on the middle left of the DSNewt window. The scan is arranged in a three by three grid. Each cell in the grid has three numbers (or asterisks if you are on the edge of the quadrant or question marks if a star exploded in the sector). The first number is the enemies in the sector, the second the star bases, and the third the stars.
The long-range scan will update as the number of enemies, bases or stars changes.
Tap the Overview button to display the quadrant overview.
For every sector in the quadrant, the overview shows the number of
enemies and star bases in the quadrant last detected by the
long-range scan. If you have not scanned the sector, the overview
will show a question mark in the sector.
Because enemy ships do not leave a sector unless fleeing from battle, the quadrant overview gives an accurate picture of where to find the enemy ships.
In battle, you will need to know the condition of the enemy's ship. Tap the Scan button to see how much damage has been done to the targeted enemy.
Damage to the short-range scanner appears as fluctuating interference in the short-range scan area. By watching closely, you can discover the position of bases, stars and enemy ships. Moving to another sector will not fix this problem.
Damage to the long-range scanner is shown by question marks in the long-range scan area. Damage to the long-range scan will not remove information from the quadrant overview. However, when the long-range scan is broken, information will not be added to the quadrant overview.
The radiation from a star gone super nova mimics damage to both the short- and long-range scanners. Leaving the sector will fix the problem for the short-range scan, until you return to the sector. The long-range scan will always show question marks in a sector with a super nova. The overview will show an asterisk (*) in the sector.
Much of your time will be spent patrolling the quadrant for enemy ships. Your ship can fly via autopilot, or with manual controls. Autopilot currently has difficulty navigating around large objects like stars, super novas, bases and enemy ships. You cannot change the autopilot destination after it is set to navigate around the barriers; in this instance, the manual controls offer more control.
The warp and impulse sliders set your speed when using the manual controls and in autopilot. You may change the speed "on the fly." The impulse drive can be set to quarter, half, three-quarter or full impulse. The warp drive has a range of warp 1 to warp 9.9, in increments of 0.1. The game starts at full impulse and warp 5. The faster you move, the more energy you will use per turn.
At speeds of less than full impulse (one square per turn), the short-range scan will not reflect the movement of the ship until the ship has flown a full square. It may appear as if the ship is not moving; check the impulse slider for the speed.
To use the manual controls, point the ship in the direction you wish to go, and start the impulse or warp drive.
Tapping in the long-range scan also selects a heading, but only in increments of 45 degrees.
or warp 
drive button to start or stop the
drive.
Your ship will continue in the selected direction until you turn off the drive or select another direction. If you see you are about to fly into a base or star, tap to one side of the barrier to change direction. You do not need to turn off the drive.
If you do fly into a star or base, you should suffer no damage. The navigational computers will automatically shut off the drive before there is any chance of an impact. If the navigational computers are damaged, the computers may not shut off the drives before the impact, and the ship will be damaged.
The autopilot will take you directly to where you want to go without the chance of overflying. To use the autopilot, select a destination and start the autopilot.
Your ship is equipped with an early version of the autopilot, which has problems flying around barriers. The navigational computers will stop the ship, and you must fly around the barrier and turn off the drive before restarting the autopilot. You can also use the autopilot to fly around the barrier by selecting a destination perpendicular to your current heading.
To dock, you must slow to quarter-impulse speed. The easiest way to dock is to use the autopilot, which will fly you at the selected speed to the star base, reduce speed to quarter impulse, and dock.Tap on the star base, then the Autopilot button.
To dock manually,
If your ship is flying at faster than quarter impulse speed when you try to dock, the navigation computers will shut off the engine and deliver a warning message. Slow to quarter impulse using the slider (tap at the very end), tap on the star base to set the proper heading, and tap on the impulse drive button.
If your impulse engines are damaged, you can be towed into the base. Fly into the base at low warp. You should automatically stop, unless your navigational system is also damaged. Once stopped in a square adjoining the base, tap the base then the Autopilot button.
Once docked, you will regenerate 1,000 units of energy. Repairs to the ship will take 1/5 as long.
Before leaving base, use the slider to return the impulse engine to the previous speed. To leave the star base, choose a heading pointing away from the base and turn on the autopilot or one of the engines. You can change the heading or choose an autopilot destination while still docked.
When your drives are damaged, you will not be able to fly using that drive. It is considered a good tactical decision to flee the battle when one drive is damaged. When two drives are damaged in battle, it is likely that you will soon die.
Damage to the navigational system is one of the most aggravating problems that can occur. It causes your ship to fly like a drunken cadet, changing course randomly, even on autopilot. If you need to dock at a star base when the system is damaged, it might be easier to fly using manual controls.
[Ship's Controls | DeepSpaceNewt | Manual Overview | Armament]