Beginner's Guide to Nova Raider
Please read through this Beginners Guide before starting to play
First off I want to cover the basics so that you get the most from this game and have the best ship for your time that you spend in the game.
Loading Nova Raider Full screen with chat.
"c:\progra~1\intern~1\iexplore.exe" -k http://www.novaraider.com
Nova Raider does not have chat enabled when you go into full screen. This can be a hassle changing back and forth to see if any of your Guild Members are trying to talk to you. The above command line is run by using the Run Command from your Start Menu.
This command or shortcut will cause Nova Raider to run in Full Screen mode with no Address Bar, no Status Bar and will have to be closed in one of 2 ways. Right Click on the Icon in the Start Menu bar and select Close, or hitting ALT-F4 with the Nova Raider screen showing.
*** Basic Beginning Stategy to get the most out of Nova Raider
1. Stay in Map 1 for as long as you can.
The reason for staying in this map has many benefits. One, it provides easy kills where you don't have to waste Uranium on ammo. Two, it also provides more Gems for you to craft into better skills. Three, players cannot shoot on you or kill you while you are in this map. You can shoot on higher level players that jump back into Map 1, but it is not recommended as most likely you will die fast.
2. Collect as much Stars, Uranium, and Gems as you can while in Map 1.
At level 9, the aliens in Map 1 no longer give you Experience or Stars. This can be a bad thing, but the benefits of the Uranium and Gems well outweighs the loss of Experience and Stars. There are 3 different Aliens in Map 1.
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Volhnean Scout |
Syfr Drone | Volhnean Soldier |
| Level: 3 | Level: 4 | Level: 5 |
| Hit Points: 5 | Hit Points: 10 | Hit Points: 10 |
| Max Player Level 6 for Stars and EXP | Max Player Level 7 for Stars and EXP | Max Player Level 8 for Stars and EXP |
*** Buying your first ship
In the game they recommend at one point to buying your first ship. SKIP THIS, as it is a waste of your precious stars. The next ship up is a way better buy, and never pay stars to upgrade your ship, it is a waste of stars as you will eventually upgrade it again at some point.
I think this was put in here to try and make you purchase stars which are not cheap, and could cost you hours of wasted time trying to fight off other players and finding stars in Resources and Aliens that you will find in Map 2.
PLEASE NOTE: If you are going to put money into this game, it is better to purchase the Starter Pack for $4.99 then it is to buy the $99.99 pack. 20 Starter packs will give you 90,000 stars versus the 80,000 that you get with the $99.99 purchase.
*** Gems and Crafting
Collecting Gems and Crafting them is the only way to add extra abilities to your ship. The more gems you collect the higher your gems will level up. This ability gives you added bonuses on your ship which will make you stronger in the long run. Hit Point increases in Map 1 are virtually useless as the Aliens do not do that much damage and there are 4 repair stations in the map.
Click on the Red Square Area to access Gems and Crafting.
You can also Buy, Sell, and Trade materials from this menu. I would not recommend buying Gems from other players, it does not seem like a good investment on most of the items sold.
Click on the Red Square Area to access Crafting after opening the Gems Menu.
Once you are in crafting, click on the Craft button on the left to Craft your Gems. I would not recommend using the Craft Automatically as it costs 100 stars and stars are vital to you buying ships and other equipment in the game.
Click on the Red Square Area to access your Inventory.
Here you can place gems on your ship to give it special abilities. Note the different shapes, each shape has a different level to it and more advanced technology to place on your ship.
*** Guilds
Click on the Red Square Area to access Guilds.
Guilds are where you can get your friends together or invite other players to join your guild. You can also join a guild but you must be in the same map and a member of that guild must send you an invitation.
PLEASE NOTE: If you decide to start your own guild, it takes a lot of Uranium to build stuff inside your guild headquarters. Be prepared to transfer tons of uranium there.
Click on the Red Square Area for transferring and other items.
Inside this menu you can transfer Uranium to your guild. Any member can transfer into the guild for construction and other stuff, but you must be a creator in order to build stuff in your guild headquarters.
Click on the Red Square Area to access your Guild Headquarters.
Once you are in your guild headquarters,
click on Build on the right hand side of the screen.
Inside this menu you can build many things inside your headquarters. The first thing you want to build is a reactor. This will allow you to transfer resources that you pick up on map 2 and create Uranium. Remember, you must transfer Uranium from the My Guild menu in order to build items in your Headquarters.
PLEASE NOTE: You must enter map 2 in order to collect resources, map 1 has no resources available.
*** Research and Upgrading
Research and upgrading is the last important part of the basic guide. Without research and upgrading you cannot compete against other players in the game. Look on the mini-map in the lower corner right to find the wrench, this is where you go to research and upgrade.
Move to the red square are to access the Space Garage.
This is the best place to go to access research.
Clicking on Next in the Research Progress box after it is finished will not always start researching the next thing you want researched. It is best to go to the Space Garage and select the Research tab there.
The best thing to start off researching is your weaponry. It is located under other research.
Click on the box marked in red to start researching weaponry.
I recommend researching this up to your level and if you stay in Map 1, keep on researching this until you reach your level. This allows you to kill aliens a lot faster and can benefit you when you do move on to map 2.
This is the end to the Beginners Guide to Nova Raider. In the Intermediate guide, coming soon, I will be covering more aliens, all the ships and what to do in PvP battles. Also anything else that may be pertinent to getting the most out of Nova Raider.
Thanks for reading,