Quick-Start Guide

The intention of this page is to get you started as quickly as possible! Because it is short on details, refer to the other sections linked on the left for more information!

Navigating the Universe: Places in Quest for Yap are called "sectors" - your ships are always in a sector or on a planet that is in a sector. The map shows a two-dimensional galaxy of connected sectors. Click on a sector on the minimap or the appropriate number to the left of the minimap to move your ship or fleet to that sector. "Yellow" sectors have a link to another galaxy. You can always click the View Sector link on the left to see the places to visit and other ships that are in the same sector as you. Check the Moving Around page for info on Navigation and Jump Gates.

Ships and Fleets: In the Original game, you can have fleets of several ships. A detailed view of one ship always appears at the left. This is your "command ship". Change command ships by: Clicking "Command" next to a ship you own that you see on the main View Sector page, -or- find a ship you have elsewhere in the universe by clicking on the Player Info link at the right. When you have multiple ships in the same sector, you can add them to your fleet. This means they will follow you when you move sectors. When the options change to "remove from fleet" you know the ships are following you. You can do several things with your whole fleet at once, including buying/selling goods, purchasing some upgrades, and attacking enemy planets.

Shops: Sector 1 has several shops, including one for Ships, Equipment, Weapons, and Upgrades. "Green" sectors on the map like Sector 1 are called "mall" sectors and always have these shops. Visit these when you see one to see what is offered. In addition, there are Race Houses in Original and Trader Houses in Melee that offer special upgrades not available to all players. These locations move daily, so you need to scout them out. The Upgrades page goes into more detail about Upgrades and where they are available.

Turns: Turns limit what you can achieve in a single day in the game. They are distributed daily (Original) or hourly (Melee). Near the top of the screen, a count down to the "daily maint" is listed: this is when turns are distributed and other daily events occur(such as the movement of Houses). You can hold more than a day's turns, but eventually they will stop accumulating.

Combat: Your ship is destroyed if your armor count reaches zero. Weapons can damage shields, armor, or both. Armor-damaging weapons will not do damage until shields are destroyed. Drones do up to 5 damage to either shields or drones - they will also attack enemy drones, but drones can also be destroyed by your opponent's armor damage weapons. Single-ship combat in Melee is emphasized, whereas the emphasis in Original is on fleets. Combat in Original often takes place between mismatched ships, and only when warships fight does combat take more than one attack. In Melee, many attacks are necessary. Be sure to visit the Weapons and Combat page for details.

Ports and Trade: The primary way to make money in Original is through trading, and arguably also the best way to earn Exp. The Ministry of Trade in Sector 1 tells you which ports buy and sell which items - buy low and sell high! Now all you have to do is find those ports... You can only sell at ports above 50% and vice-versa. Be careful - buying and selling repeatedly at the same ports decreases profitability to where you could possibly lose money!

Planets: Planets in Original provide protection for your fleet and can also be used to build ships, including allowing access for your clanmates to your own race specific ships. Planets are built with a Terraform Device. You MUST add Drones to a planet you create or capture - planets without drones are undefended and can be instantly claimed by another player! See the Planets page for more info.

Cash in Melee: In Melee, you make cash by destroying ships(mostly NPC, 'non-player' ships). Civilians don't give much cash but are good when you first start. Scouts give more, but be careful because some can also destroy you.

Clans: The best way to learn to play Yap is to join a clan with a more experienced player. Get ready to follow directions and take advice!

Forum: If your clanmates aren't online or you just want to stop bothering them, head over to the forum to ask your question. The community here is always willing to help a new player.

Help! My ships are always destroyed!: It's fun to destroy other player's ships. There is no totally safe place in Yap - that would stop the fun! Planets are an expensive way to protect your fleet, but in a good clan they can be well worth it. If you're on your own, just try to log off in the middle of nowhere and hope you get lucky! Regardless, you WILL lose all your ships at some point - maybe even every time you play. Try to save up enough cash at the end of each day of play to buy a new fleet when you come back and have new turns. The winner at the end is not the player with the best ships - it is the player with the highest Experience(Exp) score.