Stellar Aeon is set in a galaxy with millions of stars, hundreds of alien races, and several thousand years of history. There are no combat or PvP aspects to the game.

New players are given some basic resources to start out, and there is a starting 'job' system to help players both learn the game and get some starting cash.

When first starting, you're given a small mining company. Since you're taking over the company as the new CEO, you'll be asked to give it a name.

Your new mining company turns out to be more of a single-person business than anything else. You start out with one ship with some mining equipment installed, and a bunch of debt. On the plus side, you can totally ignore the debt, because it's an interest free loan.

To get the business going, you'll need to mine for ore and sell it to get money.

When you first enter the game, you will be aboard your ship, which is docked at a mining starport. There are a lot of things to learn here, so remember that you can use the 'help' or 'goals' commands at any time for hints. The help changes based on where you are, so when in doubt, see what 'help' says.

Here's a list of the various steps you'll learn about as part of the startup phase:

• Use the 'disembark' command to leave your ship and enter the starport.
• Use the 'nearby' command to find the Shipyard.
• Use the direction keys or the n/s/e/w commands to walk to the Shipyard.
• Register your ship with the 'register' command.
• Return to your ship with the 'return' command.
• Undock from the starport.
• Scan the nearby asteroid with the 'scan' command.
• Use the 'claim register' command to register a mining claim. Make sure you look for a good one - the automatic claim scanner can help with that.
• Land on the asteroid.
• Deploy your mining spider.
• Use the scan, up, down, and n/s/e/w commands to mine ore with your mining spider.
• Check your cargo with the 'cargo' command.
• When your ship is full of ore, 'return' to the ship.
• Use the 'launch' command to get back into orbit.
• Dock with the starport.
• Disembark.
• Find the Market. Sell 1 CM of any kind of ore. This will unlock the job system. You can use the 'cargo' command to see what ores are in your cargo hold.

Once the job system is unlocked, you're ready to start doing jobs.

Remember, if you forget what you were doing, use the 'help' command! It will direct you to the next thing you need to do.

By unlocking the job system, you've demonstrated a bunch of skills:

• You know how to find places in the starport.
• You know how to dock and undock with a starport.
• You know how to scan an asteroid, and register a mining claim.
• You know how to land on an asteroid and mine ores.

Now, we'll use those things to complete your first jobs. Use the 'jobs' command to see your current jobs.

The first thing to notice is that your jobs require processed metals, not ore. In order to get metals, you'll need to process ore at an Ore Processing Facility. The ore processor will convert ore to metal, which you can use to complete jobs. You can find an ore processor in the starport by using the 'nearby' command.

To use the ore processor, use the 'deposit' command to drop off your ore for processing. You can see how much is left to be processed with the 'list' command. You can withdraw metals from the processor with the 'withdraw' command.

To complete a job, make sure you have enough metal in your 'cargo' hold, then use the 'job complete' command.

In order to make mining easier, you might want to visit the Shipyard and 'buy' a couple of cargo pods. This will let you mine a lot more ore before returning to the starport.

Once you've completed all of the grade 1 jobs, you'll automatically move up to grade 2.

The grade 1 jobs don't require you to go anywhere: all you have to do is undock, land, mine, launch, and dock again. The grade 2 jobs are different. They require you to travel to deliver goods to another starport.

To travel to another starport, you'll need to leave orbit, and maneuvering thrusters aren't strong enough. Instead, you'll need to buy a stardrive for your ship at the Shipyard.

Once you have a stardrive, you can 'leave' orbit and set a course to leave the gravitational well of the nearby planet. After that you can set a course to wherever the next starport is.

While you're at the other starport, you'll want to mine some of the ore that's available there to complete more of your jobs. Some jobs may require you to go to different asteroids to find the right kind of ore to mine.

Here's an approximate list of the steps needed:

• Check your grade 2 job list. See if you can mine any of the metals where you're at, before you leave.
• Make sure you have any metal you need in your cargo before leaving.
• Go to the Shipyard and buy a stardrive. The lowest grade boron or lithium drive is fine.
• Use the 'job accept' command to pick up any cargo delivery jobs.
• Undock from the starport and 'leave' the gravitational well of the nearby planet.
• Set a 'course' to the starport you're delivering cargo to.
• Dock with the destination starport.
• Use the 'job complete' to deliver the cargo and complete the delivery jobs.
• Consider mining some ore from nearby asteroids while you're here. The ores you'll get here will be different from what you can get at the starting starport.
• Bring back whatever metals you need to complete the last of the grade 2 jobs.

When you're done with all this, you'll have a ship with a stardrive, multiple mining claims, a decent amount of IMU for upgrades, and you'll know how to deliver cargo to other starports.

For grade 1 and 2 jobs, you could do everything you needed at these mining starports. However, these mining starports are at the edge of human explored space! Our homeworld is in another, completely different star system.

For grade 3 jobs, you'll need to make some deliveries to the homeworld, pick up some cargo, then bring it back to the starting starport. In order to go into interstellar space, you'll need to buy an Interstellar Scanner at the Shipyard, then get some fuel from the Fuel Depot. This will let you leave the star system and start flying to the homeworld.

Once you're in interstellar space, you can just set a ''course' to the homeworld's star. After you've arrived, set a ''course' to get to the proper orbit. Dock once you arrive, then complete the jobs and pick up new cargo.

Once you're done at the homeworld, set a course back to the starting starport to finish the deliveries.

Here's an approximate list of the steps needed:

• Mine and process ore to get metals you might need to deliver to the homeworld.
• Buy an Interstellar Scanner for your ship.
• Buy some fuel for your ship at the Fuel Depot.
• Leave the star system.
• Set a 'course' for the homeworld.
• Dock with the starport at the homeworld.
• Complete the delivery jobs.
• Accept the delivery job to return cargo to the starting starport.
• Buy some steel from the Commodities Market so you can complete the steel delivery job.
• Undock and leave the star system.
• Set a 'course' for the starting starport.
• Dock at the starting starport, then complete the last of the delivery jobs.

At the end of this, you'll know how to travel to other star systems and deliver cargo to the homeworld.

The grade 4 jobs will have you make deliveries to several different star systems. One of these systems may also have an asteroid where you can mine fuel. Mining fuel there will help a lot with the fuel deliveries, and keep your fuel costs down.

Having a good place to mine your own fuel will also help in the future, when you're burning a lot of fuel on exploration jobs.

Grade 5 jobs are even more deliveries, but at grade 5 you'll see your first scientific surveying job! This may require you to go fairly far from home. Be sure to buy a Planetary Scanner before trying to complete the survey job.

What you'll need to do for the survey job:

• Buy a Planetary Scanner for your ship.
• Get enough fuel to get to the target and back.
• Accept the job. If you don't accept it, it won't complete.
• Go to the target star system.
• Use the 'scan' command to scan every single star, planet, and moon in the system.
• Check to make sure you've scanned everything with the 'scan check' command.
• When you scan the last thing, the job will automatically complete.

Grade 6 jobs include some new job types: a mining survey, and interstellar exploration. For the interstellar exploration job, just fly to that general area and see if you can find anything unusual, like a wormhole.

For the mining survey job, like all survey jobs, you need to accept the job before you complete it. You'll also need to buy a Mining Scanner for your ship.

Once you've accepted the mining survey job, go to the star system and scan everything in the system. Make sure to also run the mining scanners, using the 'scan mining' command.

Like all survey jobs, the job will automatically complete when you scan everything in the system. Don't forget to use the 'scan check' command to make sure you've scanned everything!

There are no more mandatory jobs at this point. Your company is fully qualified for all job types! As you continue to do jobs, your job rank will increase, but you can pick and choose which ones you want to do.

It's up to you where you want to go next. Exploring the stars can let you discover alien starports, alien exploration probes, and alien races. You may also find mining asteroids that have rare minerals you can mine and bring home.

Whatever you decide, we hope you have fun on Stellar Aeon!