This is a "help get you started" kinda thing...PLEASE NOTE IT IS A WORK IN PROGRESS...AND IT WILL BE UPDATED EVERY FEW DAYS... IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE PLEASE CLICK HERE

To Begin:
Each game has many admin controlled settings, so this tutorial and any others may or may not be 100% accurate, but in general should be valid for most games. Ok onward....

The very best thing you can do is read the "FAQ's"(these can be found in the games toolbar in the "help" link, and also can be found on the games login page), that said heres a few tips... You've created your player ID and recieved your password...time to login for the 1st time...if all goes well you will find yourself at the options page....here you can change your password from the game generated one, select the language used , select a template set (how the game "looks" to you), select your avatar (either from the ones provided or by uploading your favorite), select a team icon (once u create a team this option becomes available), set map width (try the default 1st), and you can also register your player ID with the AAT Master Server for this game at profiles.aatraders.com (there is a link to do this). Make your changes and then click the save button... This takes u to the games main page.

Turns:
You will start the game with a certain ammount of turns available, and these starting turns may or may not be the games max number of turns. Turns are the single most valuble resource in the game.. bar none. So becareful in how fast you use them. You will get more every 5 mins.. but not in large ammounts (between 5 - 50 per cron cycle for most games) all turns, igb, intrest, planet production , ect is controlled by the scheduler, and is represented at the bottom of the page by the small counter. When the countdown hits 0, turns and such are given, and the counter resets to 300 (5 mins). So if you find yourself out of turns ..just wait for the timer and you will recieve them. The games turn rate can be found on the Settings page (this is outside the game - accessed from the login page).

1st Move:
Start by checking out the page layout, noting where things are.
Then locate the link to view your ship (found on the left side under the avatar - Ship Name: Your Ship) click this to view your ships current stats, credits, cargo, spies, dignataries, weapons & armor capacity, ect.

THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO CHECK FOR RIGHT NOW IS WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE AN ESCAPE POD!
The quickest way to end your game is to die without a pod. This puts you out of the game for up to 3 days (depending on settings). You CAN NOT DIE AS LONG AS YOU HAVE A POD, if your ship is destroyed and you have a pod, you will suddenly find yourself in sector 1 in a pioneer class ship.... and you will need to go buy a new pod, as well as a better ship if you can afford it.
Note:
Use the IGB to store your cash ..never carry large ammounts on your ship, if you do lose your ship you will also lose a large portion of any credits carried. Also any spies, dignitaries, beacons, probes, warp editors, genesis torpedos, sector genesis torpedos, mine deflectors, emergency warp devices, fuel scoop, nova bombs you had will be gone, lost with the ship.

Federation Tows:
if your ships levels are above the feds max size, you will be towed from the fed sector. If you have another ship in storage, even if the tech level of the stored ship is below that average tech level limit, you'll get towed into the middle of nowhere. in this event you should scan any links in the sector you've arrived in, and try to find an upgrades port. travel via warp link only. there is no way around this, unless you have no stored ships AND are under the feds max tech level. NOTE: Tows occur when the cron cycle reaches 0.

Ok now that we know you have a pod (if no pod then goto the device port in sector 2, get a pod and return to sector 1) lets go back to the main page. Assuming your still in or have returned to sector 1, click on the Upgrades Port, where you can spend whatever starting cash u have...remember to save a little bit to buy your 1st load of cargo.

Suggestion:
Upgrade hulls & engine only (when hull gets to lvl:10 buy mine deflectors at a device port). This ship CANNOT be stored so we dont wanna waste money on it. Save your cash for a columbus or endeavor. NEVER trade in your old ship when buying a new one! always store them (except the pioneer of course). They are safe money in the bank, and come in handy when you've mis-caluculated an attack. A good idea is to slowly upgrade them here & there when you have some extra cash as they count towards your over-all score. Also you will want to save up so you can also buy a stealth for sleeping in and to use for checking for spies, as well as for mapping and spy placement. NEVER sleep in your working ships...switch to a sleeping ship if possible. It is common for players with or without planets to get into their sleeping ship, goto sector 1 and let it tow them out randomly... or if ship lvls are low enough & no ships are stored to just stay hidden in 1.
Note: players can not be tracked from sector 1, so use this to your advantage. A good idea is as follows.. before logout (or going to anyplace you dont want to tracked to..ie your base) change into your sleeping ship (stealth) goto the device port in sector 2, scan for spies (enemy spies follow you when you change ships, and the smaller the ship the cheaper it is to scan, hence we use the stealth).

Movement:
To start use the warp links at the lower right side of the main page. Warp links cost a single turn for each one you use. This is the most cost effective way to get started, once you have a bigger ship you can start to move by realspace. Zou will notice the small 5x5 map on the upper right side of the page, this is the local real space map (the full map can be accessed from the maps link in the toolbar), becareful here as the turns per move cost changes depending on the distances involved. If you hover over a symbol here it will tell you the turns cost to move there. Use warp movement when ever possible at first, once your ship has bigger engines and the turns cost goes down you can freely start using realspace movement.

Scanning:
When you enter a new sector the warp links will update and you can and should scan them all. This will show you new ports, possibly player and independent planets, sector defences, and any ships present (though you MAY not see them due to cloaks or low sensor technology). Make use of notepad, wordpad, or open office to record this info as later in the game it may just help you win.

Trading:
Start by locating a trade port (most games you will find that goods & ore make the best trades, tho some admins mix things up for a better experience). This is where your ships hull size comes into effect.. the bigger the hull the more you can carry and the more you can make per trade (lowers turns used as well, which in turn improves your eff. rating. Also higher engines can help here). A good idea in trading is to do single trades at every port you visit, and to create trade routes to the very best ports ONLY (use the trade routes menu to setup routes). As you move from port to port, sell energy at every port that will buy it, even if its only for a credit or two per trade (you'll be surprised how much difference this will make).

AutoTrade Routes (planets):
start by locating 1 port for each cargo type. you must visit the port before it will be valid. this must be repeated for EACH planet, and MUST be to different ports (or the port will become depleted).
example:
3157 ore port
3126 goods port
2203 energy port
1708 organics port

ok i now have located & visited these 4 ports, and recorded them so i dont use them for another planet. now i go to the 1st planet that i wish to create an autotrade route for.
locate the purchase cargo ship link and click it.
"If you would like to purchase a Cargo Ship Click here."
select a pre-made ship model, or build your own (you simply select the hull & power levels, then click buy).
i choose to build my own, so i select 25 hull & 25 power then click buy. You may not have the cash to do this right away, so you can buy a lower level ship and upgrade as you can afford it.
now locate a click on the "Create Auto Trade" link.
nows the fun part. place your ore port sector number in the goods ending at box. goods port sector number into the ore port ending box, energy port sector number into organics ending box, and finally the organics sector number into the energy ending box. should look like the following.....

Goods: Please select ending point: 3157 (ore)
Ore: Please select ending point: 3126 (goods)
Organics: Please select ending point: 2203 (energy)
Energy: Please select ending point: 1708 (organics)

when your done click "create". if the ports are valid the route will be created..
"New Auto Trade Route Added.

Click here to return to the main menu."

if you dont recieve this messege, simply go back and see where you went wrong. most likely its a typo. give it another try.
note it may take a few cron cycles before you start to see any action. all cash goes DIRECTLY to the planet. also note on your planet menu, there is now route info and a picture of your cargo ship. Further please note that planets can become depleted if production levels do not exceed the amount being traded.

Auto Trading - Hull: 25 Capacity: 883,791 - Power: 25 Capacity: 1,767,582
- Goods at port 3157 - Ore at port 3126 -
- Organics at port 2203 - Energy at port 1708 -
Auto Trade Credits Received: 0
Delete Auto Trade.
If you would like to upgrade your Cargo Ship Click here.


Combat:
The new player should avoid all combat for the first few days or more, til they have built a decent attack ship, and figured out the most basic movement, trading and building skills.

Planets:
-Genesis Torpedo created planets:
Genesis torpedos can be purchased at device ports, prices vary. They can also be "found" in debris, see debris decription for more info. These are best used deep inside SG sectors, as bases and or banks. Planets created from Genesis Torpedos will have nothing at all when 1st made. Start by locating a sector to build in, reading the info on stars will help indicate the best sectors to build in. Port type should also be considered as well. In AAT the most desired places to build are in Upgrade Port sectors with blue suns. If this can be found in an SG sector consider yourself blessed! And the deeper inside the better! Once you've selected a suitable sector you will need Genesis Torpedos, Colonists*, Energy****, Ore**,Organics***, Goods**, some cash, and optionaly some Spies. Dignitaries are a coin toss, so its up to you, see the Dignitary entry for more info. Each game may have different ammounts of each thing needed in order to build a "base" on the planet (which allows you to upgrade the planet and it gives the planet a "base bonus" to effective levels in combat (default is +2 levels bonus, so a "based" level 15 planet will defend as if it was a level 17 planet). The number of planets a given sector can hold is controlled by the star the sector has, if any. See Stars below for more info. Start by clicking on the newly created planet. You will see the current planet production settings, these are a good baseline to start with, though most games will do well if you use the following as a starting point, until you can dial them in.

% Fighters: 8, can be lowered once planet grows up a lil or if you "truck" in your own from an upgrades port
% Torpedoes: 2, can be lowered once planet grows up a lil or if you "truck" in your own from an upgrades port
% Energy: 15, can be lowered once planet grows up a lil
% Ore: 10, can be lowered once planet grows up a lil
% Goods: 10, can be lowered once planet grows up a lil
% Organics: 15, can be lowered once planet grows up a lil
% Research 0, do not use! this isnt used yet, it was for a future function, points placed here are wasted
% Build 0, do not use! this isnt used yet, it was for a future function, points placed here are wasted
% Credits: 40, this number is always the "left-over" % from the other productions from 100%

Once you've placed at least the minimums to base the planet you are ready to move on to the next step. upgrade the planet to level 17-18 for a good solid start. See the note on Colonists* below.

bank planets:
bank planets are built in several ways. one suggested way is as follows:

start by selecting a sector to build in using the above as a reference, once the planet is built and based, populated as high as you dare (if colonists go over 90% (default for planatary disasters) of planet max you risk losing colonists and commodities to planatary disasters. upgrade all levels to 15 or 16, stock the planet with all commodities, put max credits on it, then upgrade it 1 level all. this leaves it at 50% of max planet credits. when it reaches max, again upgrade it 1 level all, again leaving it at 50%. repeat this process until the planet reaches level 17-22 (depending on game settings. if you can only play once a day or less, use higher levels, if you can play frequently, use lower levels). experience will dictate, start low and try each. keep in mind that lower level planets hit max faster then bigger ones. the closer a planet is to its max credits, the faster they produce credits, this in mind, always leave 50% or more when ever possible, NEVER take 100% off a planet unless you realy have no other options, as this will severly slow down production.

* Colonists make everything, they are your best friends. Try to stay around 85% of the planets max colonists, if you get too many Colonists, you will start having planatary disasters, losing large numbers of your work force, ie Colonists. Each game has its own number of max Colonists (500,000,000 by default for a 0 level planet), plus for each level a planet is upgraded the max goes up (+100,000,000 per level by default), though this varies from game to game.
** Goods & Ore are used to build planet armor so dont let them run out.
*** Organics keep the colonists healthy & alive. Run out of organics and your colonists will starve, production will slow down, and if left this way to long, they will all die.
**** Energy powers shields, beams & SD's sector fighters need power to survive, tho they can go for quite sometime with out it, before degrading. High shields help protect planets planet cloaks help hide the planet AND its SD's if any. Planet Sensors help the planet AND its SD's to detect incoming ships.

Glossary Of Terms

Bounties:
Federation bounties:
This is very simple, attack a lower ranked player or attempt to place a spy on one of their planets and you will recieve a federation bounty. This will in turn cause all special ports to be closed to you (alliance controlled upgrades and spacedock ports will still be open, at 10x the standard port costs. This means you will be stuck in this ship until the bounty is paid, or collected by a player, or if the federation trigger is reached, the federation battle cruiser will visit you daily until the above conditons are met.
Player placed bounties:
The player placed bounty does not affect any ports, or cause federation attacks. These are simple bounties which will be payed by the placing player, to the killer, upon the targets death. When placed, the bouty ammount will be deducted from your account, and placed in "trust" til collected or refunded if the target dies without any other players help. IE attacking an indy, a failed nova bomb, self-destruction.

Debris:
Debris can be both helpful or harmful, though most often its just worthless space trash (sometimes that trash also contains enemy spies, selected by the game at random from all players, wether or not they have purchased spies, so be sure to scan for spies before you go home, to a team sector or logout. Though its a good idea to check periodicly, as they will also send reports on any indies, and other planets, that you encounter).
Some of us call it the "Debris Lotto", as like most lotteries, you lose more often then you win. So You take your chances if you play. The payoff CAN be great, But when its bad its BAD.
the following list is in order of frequency, from most to least.

Debris Types:

1) Nothing = "Your Engineers Have Determined It Is Useless Space Junk." See The Note Above About Spies

2) Add Turns = "You Have Found Extra Booster Modules That Give You Extra Turns Of Movement."

3) Remove Turns = "The Debris Was Boobytrapped And Caused Massive Electrical Damage That Takes Turns To Repair."

4) Add Torps = "You Have Found A Crate Containing [amount] Torps."

5) Remove Torps = "As You Approach The Debris It Stabs At Your Ship With A Bomb Pumped Graser And Destroys Torps."

6) Add Fighters = "You Have Found The Hulk Of A Carrier And It Contains Usable Fighters."

7) Remove Fighters = "When you bring the debris into your hanger it becomes unstable and explodes destroying [amount] of your fighters."

8) Add Armor = "You have found a derelict ship with extra units of armor you can add to your ship."

9) Remove Armor = "As you approached the debris it exploded in a thermonuclear fireball that stripped off units of your ships armor."

10) Add Energy = "You have found portable energy contains that can give your ship a one time boost of energy."

11) Remove Energy = "You have brought abord an energy sink that triggered as soon as the artificial gravity was enabled and it removed units of energy."

12) Add Credits = "You have stumbled upon a hidden pirate credit bank and it contained credits."

13) Remove Credits = "The debris was actually a disguised pirate ship. They boarded your ship and stole credits."

14) Random Enemy Spy = "Your engineers have determined it is useless space junk."

15) WormHole = "You have found an artifact that triggered as you approached. It created a worm hole in space and sent you to sector xxxx."

16) Single Tech = "You have found an upgrade package that will upgrade the [tech] by [levels] levels." Tech Levels From Single Random Tech Selection Are Upgraded 1-3 Levels

17) Single Tech = "You have found a Nanite Cluster that attacks your [tech] tech and destroys [levels] before you can stop it." Tech Levels From Single Random Tech Selection Are Downgraded 1-3 Levels

18) Military Upgrade = "You have found a military grade upgrade package that upgrades all of your tech levels by [level]." Upgrade 1 Level On All Tech Levels

19) Military Downgrade = "A massive antimatter explosion occurs when you approach the debris and it damages all of your tech levels by [level]."

20) Add Sector Genesis Device = "Though slightly damaged you have found a usable Sector Genesis Device."

21) Remove Sector Genesis Device = "An Electromagnetic Pulse suddenly erupts from the debris destroying one of your Sector Genesis Devices."

22) Add Nova Bomb = "You have found the floating wreckage of a large starship and locate a usable Nova Bomb inside the hulk."

23) Remove Nova Bomb = "As you approach the debris a message comes over the communications saying that planet killer weapons are not allowed in this area of space. Your Nova Bomb immediately becomes unusable for no apparent reason."

24) Destroy Ship = Without Pod: "You have come upon a booby trapped Nova Bomb. Your ships suffers massive damage as all of your ships tech levels are stripped away but your ships survives."

25) Destroy Ship = With Pod: "You have come upon a booby trapped Nova Bomb. It explodes destroying your ship. Fortunately you have an escape pod."

planet farming:
The fine art of Planet Farming. the planet farmer is the guy that builds tons of planets, populates them to near max, dials in the planets production rates to near optimum (varies from game to game) then sits back and skims his credits for the rest of the game. most of the planets this player builds are known as "banks". these planets generaly speaking are rich planets to take. though most times they are well defended, they can usually be taken quite easily. planet farmers rely on the large number of planets they maintain to carry them. at first this requires lots of "micro-management", a full time pursuit, which leaves little time for other things. this is good for players who have little time to play. once planets are built, and they start making credits, this player starts to see the results of his hard labor and no longer needs to spend so much time in planet management.

Nav Computer:
Use this to find your way to known or even unknown sectors. Advanced players use this to locate player created sectors known as SG sectors or sector gens. When employed, the nav computer will "plot" a course to the sector you input, this may then be used by clicking the underlined link, or added as a saved route which may be reused as needed. Note: Nav Computer uses the ships computer level for determining distance, so the higher the ships computer tech, the futher the end sector can be. If you recieve a messege stating that you need to upgrade your figher tech, simply move to a new sector and try again, repeat until the sector is found. If you recieve that messege and your fighters are of a decent level (20+) and fail repeatedly, chances are the link your looking for is inside an SG sector.

Nova Bombs:

Nova Bombs fired directly at Planets, IE from the same sector cause more damage then Nova Bombs fired through Warp links, though Nova Bombs fired through Warp Links DO NOT appear in the local FNN News, or in logs.
~Nova fired at planet Result: Mis-fire, Ship damaged (direct Nova attack from the same sector)
"FNN has breaking news that Gvar has used the feared Nova Bomb and missed!"

~Nova fired at Planet RESULT: Mis-fire, Planet & Ship both damaged (direct Nova attack from the same sector)
"FNN has breaking news that Gvar has used the feared Nova Bomb to try and destroy a Planet. The Nova Bomb blew up outside the Planets atmosphere and caused massive damage to the planetary infrastructure."

~Nova fired at Planet RESULT: Planet damaged or destroyed (direct Nova attack from the same sector)
"FNN has breaking news that Gvar has used the feared Nova Bomb 1 time to destroy a Planet and all ships on it."

Nova Bombs can and will destroy your Ship if its below a certain average tech level (admin setting - default avg tech lvl 15 to survive). Mis-fires are quite common, in fact the Nova Bomb will mis-fire more often then not. Most useful for taking out large ammounts of SD's, or when "Bombing a Planet out of existence". Not a good idea to use these if you plan to keep the planet after taking it.

Logs:
Check your logs everytime you login, theres is tons of info here. Somethings wont get logged (such as nova bombs fired through warp links, planets of yours that have gone independant also will not be logged) but most things are.

Stars:
Suns these come in 5 colors, each represents the number of planets that can be built in a sector.

Red: 1   Orange: 2   Yellow: 3   Green: 4   Blue: 5

This is very important when it comes time to build planets.
Space beacon:
This device lets you place a messege, name ect, into any uncontrolled sector, and in some player controlled sectors (zone settings determine this).

Space probe:
These devices allow you to explore space with out having to endanger your ship. They can be set to real space move, warp link move, or as stationary sentries. be warned... these devices use YOUR turns to move so be sure to upgrade the probes engines. High cloaks will of course help hide the probe, and high sensors help probes collect useful data. Probes that encounter enemy sector defences will be destroyed, and this will not appear in your logs, the probe will seem to have vanished withpout a trace. Probes are not included in the bounty system, so you may destroy enemy probes with impunity, though its owner will be alerted to its destruction.

Warp editor:
This device allows you to create a permanent warp link to (one-way) and from (2-way) your current sector to any other real space sector (exception: Federation space will not allow "both way" type links, though you may link TO them one-way, also they may not be used to or from SG sectors). Warp editors may also be used to REMOVE warp links (same rules as above). Carry energy on your ship as you will need it and some cash in order to use this device (in either mode), and prices vary depending on distances involved.

Genesis Torpedo:
This device will create a new 0 level planet. You will then need to transport in a certain minimum number of ore, goods, organics, and credits before you can base the planet. Based planets can be upgraded. A good idea is to populate the planet with as many colonists as possible, as they will create cash for you, in addition to generating other productions.

Sector Genesis Torpedo:
This device creates a new sector in whats known as sub-space, and can only be reached by warp link travel, players use these devices to create hidden bases. When used correctly they can give a player a very secure base to work from, though are by no means impossible to find or hard to take away.

Mines/Fighters:
Mines are torpedos dropped in space, they are the same torps that your ship normaly uses for combat. Fighters & Mines in this sense are known as SD's or sector defences, and can be dropped in any uncontrolled sectors, generally in your planet sectors.
Note: when entering a new sector "blind" ie without scanning as in 5x5 rs map, or warplink moves, a sector with fighters will give you the option to Retreat, Attack, Attack & Run or Cloak into sector. Sectors with Mines only, will not warn, you will move into the sector and if your Hull size is over a certain value (admin setting) into the Mines. this is what Mine Deflectors are for, so make sure you carry as many as you can afford.

Emergency Warp Device:
Carry as many of these as possible, they can help save your ship when attacked by other players. When your ship is attacked via normal attack (Nova not included), they will hopefully warp you away to safty, but be warned, they do not always work, as they may degrade over time (admin setting). Also if you find yourself stuck somewhere and out of turns or in a sector without warp links, the EWD can help you move away to a new sector (manual use). note: some players use EWD's manually in hopes of being randomly warped to an enemy sector (EWD movement doesnt cause the SD's to attack you - very much like Federation towing, which is also used this way).

Zone Settings:
Many new players (and even some veterans) are unaware of these. They set the laws of YOUR space. They determine whether or not ports will trade to outsiders, determine who can drop SD's, build planets, drop Probes, ect in your space. also can be set to NOT allow any ship attacks in that sector, though planets can still be attacked as normal, it only protects your ship. Team Leaders should also remember to set the Teams sector laws, as they are seperate from the personal settings.

Dignitaries:
These can help your planets be more productive, however they can also become Embezzlers and give away your cash to other players! So be careful if you choose to use them.

Spies:
These can be placed on your planets (in the event they go independant or are captured), as well as deployed to enemy planets (warning: if attacking a lower ranked player would result in a bounty, then placing a spy on that players planet will also result in Bounty) in order to steal credits, damage planet resources, and possibly capture the planet without a single drop of blood being dropped. Spies can be set to work on a planet, or to catch a ride in the enemies ship - sending you reports on planets visited, ship stats, transfer to new planet to do the above, ect. Spies may NOT be placed on Federation, Alliance or Independant planets.

Planet Credit Max: