Jumpate Episode II: Attack of the Conflux

Developer Net Devil, along with Mighty Games, released this game about 2 years ago. Although not well known, this game is in my humble opinion - great! It's like a space flight sim, but online. It has many cool features and you can play many roles -you fight monsters (ingame called Conflux); mining and toiling commodities for profit is available; and though PvP isn't well developed but it can be a fun experience! You can even be a pirate and steal others cargo! (Although, this isn't well seen by other players)

Story wise, Episode II casts you as a new recruit of TRI (The Reconstruction Initiative). TRI is like a space UN and takes care of reconstructing civilization after the Great Collapse, a cataclysmic event that destroyed planets and changed the laws of physics of the universe. Human space is now invaded by Conflux, an alien species that comes from an unknown sector of the galaxy or even from another dimension through a modified jumpgate in the center of the space where the cataclysm seems to have taken place.

Many changes have been made from Episode I which include that player can now own the new Player Owned Stations or POS as are commonly known, new types of Conflux, minor upgrades in ships and equipment, the introduction of artifacts - rare items that sometimes get high prices in the player market because of their use, and pure asteroids from which you can mine already refined items known as commodities of just 1 type, a good way to earn profit.

The game has great graphics for such low requirements. And, one of the things that many players like of the game the most is that to play it you don't point and click, but require real piloting skills, so if you crash it's no one's fault but your own! It also has an "intelligent" spawning system - conflux spawn depending on your rank (level) and the current sector you are in (the deeper you are in space the more dangerous the spawns).

Roleplaying here is very developed - in fact, the story line is often affected by players decisions and participation. GM's (Game Masters) - via the mission system of the game - ask players to complete both TRI (missions that affect all factions) and Faction (as you could have guessed missions that affect that faction in particular, but sometimes its effects can help the others as well) based missions for upgrades and story development. It's the player community's choice to finish them or not. Recently, there was a Hyperial Faction mission that promised players a certain item producer. When players finished the mission they found out that Hyperial lied to them and produced a Burglar device, introducing Piracy. The player community felt so offended by this betrayal that the current faction mission hasn't be completed for some time!

Another example is the current war between Hyperial and Quantar. Hyperial allied with the Octavius faction against this thread and the players that have shown patriotism and support of Octavia and Hyperial have been awarded by the GM's with National Honors - the highest medal one can receive from the Octavius Faction - and the newly introduced medal The Order of the Topaz (for showing support to Hyperial).

I must also say that the GM's are very connected with the player community, often helping organizing live events with them. A good example is the recent space race that took place. It was completely player organized but GM's offered help and supplementing the prizes were included unique race medals. Another way GM's encourage the player community to involve themselves in the game are the excursions every Wednesday to Conflux space as well the events they often create such as Sentient Conflux invasions. The GMs also roleplay with the community and auction rare items.

The game has 3 ways for player grouping: Squads - a group of players that share the same vision and unite and fight for the same interest (something like a guild). Mentor program - this program was introduced to help the new recruits to adapt to the Jumpgate universe by encouraging the veterans to help the new recruits. The benefits to the student are support and financing by the mentor and the mentor gets 10% of all the exp. his student gets plus medals depending on his/her teaching skills (how many students has he helped, how many students have gotten to level 10 and a combo of both). Finally the Wingman program - this way 2 people can unite for a flight session and share all the kills, experience points and credits they get.

Some of the more interesting aspects of the game are related to the fact that the economy is also very influenced by players. There are 3 different ways a player can do so: Tax Relief - by flipping certain structures in space called beacons to match your faction's color, tax from buying items to all members of that faction is reduced, plus the person who flipped the beacon gets some exp. for 4 hours while the pilot is logged in. Political Rating - by doing certain actions such as completing missions that benefit a faction or defending one of their sectors you improve your PR towards them. This benefits you in that you can buy certain items from their stations on sale for those with only with a high PR and also reducing the price in buy/sell transactions with the station. You can also affect your PR by killing pilots of the same faction who aren't PvP (know in Jumpgate as civilians), if your PR goes below -50% with a faction whenever you enter a sector with a TRI station in that faction, little fast droids will come out from the station and attack you! The third way players can affect economy is by buying and selling items across stations. Sometimes an item can get so depleted that its price can be raised significantly! Some items that aren't in production have reached the million in price.

I will give you now some tips for the newly started (ok noobs!):

Once soon as you install the game and a subscription, your next step is to choose a faction from the TRI League. Each faction has its own advantages. I will introduce them to you:

The Solrain Faction: This faction is great at mining, transporting goods and fighting, and before the Great Collapse it was their homeworld, Solrain, the Seat Tribunal of all the known systems. Joining this faction will award you:

Ø 5,000 credit signing bonus.
Ø Extended cargo space.
Ø Better Shielding.

The Octavius faction: Always militaristic and mercenary, this faction considers that blood is thinner than water, and personal glory dominates. Some examples of these are the constant civil wars that plague their planets and the fact that their isn't one emperor but 3, each one of them thinking they govern the others. Currently, they are allied with the Hyperial and are at war with the Quantar and Solrain Factions' Alliance. So be careful out there. Joining this faction will award you:

Ø 10,000 credit signing bonus.
Ø More Weapons hardpoints.
Ø Better Armor.

The Quantar Faction: Quantars are a very religious faction and have Nature and Spirits in high position, they are naturally born miners. They are also very united and the greater good of the faction comes before one's personal good. Joining this faction will award you:

Ø 7,500 credit signing bonus.
Ø Innate mining skills (this means that for example you mine 3.860 units of common ore, selling them at a station will be like selling 4 complete units).
Ø Ship maneuverability.

There are also 2 other factions who aren't really part of TRI but allied with them, you cant join them but I will add their information so you can know about the story that constantly develops :

Amananth: The always mysterious Amananth - so mysterious that until recently nobody knew who or what the Amananthii were. Even TRI doesn't recognize their sovereignty. One thing that is known is that their technology is far superior to those of the other factions and TRI fears that if they ever surfaced and try to dominate the others, their power will be difficult to overcome.

Hyperial: Hyperial pride themselves on tradition, order and nationalism. They had a war long time ago with Quantar over the Great Venure Belt Sector and lost. Since the war, their civilization has entered a state of decay and is unable to participate in the TRI effort because of the economic problems. Still, they produce medical supplies, often to cure ironically the destruction the weaponry that the same faction causes.

Many new players often crash while docking or mining, because they try to break using the breaks but remember, you are in space, an although the law of physics have changed some things remain the same. So, the fastest way to break is to turn around and apply full thrust, depending on your ship's current mass and weight it carries, the time you will delay breaking

Once you have chosen your faction, one of the best ways to get going is by doing simple transport missions between stations and once you get enough money buy a simple but better capacitor and engine. Also, kill the little Conflux called Jellyfish from level 1 to level 5, they are more rewarding and exp worth than most conflux at higher levels giving 5,000 credits and 500 exp per jellyfish. The disadvantage is that once you get to level 6, they just give 10 credits and 10 exp. So get them while you can!

Although all the aspects of the game can be very rewarding (Fighter, Pirate, Miner) the best way to get millions fast and quick is toiling items between stations, buying cheap, selling high.

When mining or artifact hunting buy a Rotacol, with this little item you can mark certain spots of where your findings are and return there when needed, or use it to mark a spot in a sector, that way you can go there if some player tells you about some asteroid in that sector. Simply type /Rotacol xx.x yy.y zz.z (being x y and z the coordinates) you can erase the waypoint by simply typing /rotacoloff. One example go to the Octavian sector of Great Pillars and type /Rotacol -54 31.7 103.3 and go to the spot the rotacol shows. You will find a big Radioactive Asteroid, the most lucrative of all normal asteroids, mine it and enjoy =)

Watch out for displacers, these items make possible artifact hunting but are in a limited supply and often reach high prices, so if you get a cheap one, keep it safe.

When you first enter the game and don't have a high tech mouse (doesn't has a middle wheel or/and third button) you should change the controls configuration, because these buttons are used to change between targets and many new players sometimes don't know what to do! In fact change all the controls to suit your needs as you see fit.

When mining asteroids try to find a POS (player owned station) with an ore depot or an ore refinery in space, refined ore is more valuable that the unrefined one.

When toiling items, this little program will help you find what is the best item to buy, and where to sell it depending on your cargo and current money: www.slopey.com

For a great database of known asteroids (they don't change, except the pure ones) and artifact pricing go to: www.myrotacol.net You can also find JGPaths and JGRot programs here, JGPaths finds you the closest path from one sector to another and JGRot is a plug in with many functions.

A great guide for the game is in fact the official page, for the US server go to www.jossh.com and for Europe go to www.mightygames.com . You can also find the latest news on those pages.

Want a map of all conflux spawns? Which sectors are safer than others? Visit www.confluxwar.net

This is a great fansite: www.jumpgateweb.com (Recently went down for unknown reasons)

In resume, JG is a great game, and if you like flight simulators, online games and roleplaying, this game is for you.

I wish to thank Squad U.Z.I for letting me join them in my stay in the game, to YonatanDM for teaching me how to mine and toil items and giving me some needed money =P, and all the people at the help channel that answered my questions cant remember you all but thank you!