Planet & Campaign Editor: Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to some of the most common questions about the editing tools. If you have other questions about playing or creating Space Colony campaigns, please feel free to or join the spacecolonyforever Yahoo! discussion group and post your questions there. We'll answer them if we can, and they may wind up here.

Q: I want to try making my own Space Colony mission but it seems so complicated. Where do I start?

A: I recommend printing and following the Step-by-Step Tutorial for Creating a Simple Campaign. It's a fairly simple introduction to the editing tools. From there, you can work your way up to more complicated missions. The info on this site can help, as can downloading, playing and examining other player's campaigns.

Q: I downloaded another player's campaign but I don't understand how to open the file and play it. What do I do now?

A: It's not too hard. Follow the instructions here.

Q: When I play my campaign, the map doesn't appear the way I designed it in the Planet Editor. The colors and landscape are all wrong. Why?

A: You must set the type of terrain in both the Planet Editor and the Campaign Editor. In the Planet Editor, click one of the three colored rectangles next to the mini-map to set gray, green or red terrain. In the Campaign Editor, click on your mission in the list (e.g., "1 Planet Name [-> Victory]"), then click Edit Scenario, then Options, and finally under "Terrain Type" choose type 1 (gray), type 2 (green) or type 3 (red) to match what you chose when you created the map.

Q: How does income work? I'm not sure what settings to use.

A: Base income is set in the Campaign Editor. First click on your mission in the list (e.g., "1 Planet Name [-> Victory]"), then click Edit Scenario, then Options, and finally under Income, use the up/down arrows to set the amount. This number, minus wages for your colonists, goes into your account every 4 hours of game time. Wages are based on the pay rate you set in the Finance section of the Bridge Screen. For example, if you set income at 1000 credits, wages at 20 credits (the default setting), and have 6 colonists, you'll receive 880 credits every 4 hours (i.e., 1000 - 120 (20 credits x 6 colonists) = 880).

Q: How many mission goals can I have?

A: In theory, you can have as many as you want. However, only 8 goals fit on the mission briefing screen. More than that and the player won't be able to read them. I recommend setting no more than 3 to 5 goals for a mission. If you want to set more goals than that, maybe you should include them in subsequent missions instead. The goals should also make sense in the context of the mission. For example, set training goals for skills the colonists will actually need to meet other goals. Or, set a friendship goal in one mission and romance goal in the next.

Q: Is it possible to use maps from the main game in my own campaigns?

A: Yes. You can use the main game maps but not the campaigns. You'll need to write your own campaigns to go with them. To use a map from the game, first find the file for the map you want in the Space Colony maps directory. Copy and rename the file you want, but be sure to leave the original file in place.

For example, browse to the maps directory (probably something like C:\Program Files\Firefly Studios\Space Colony\maps\). Right-click on the file Abayomi.map. Choose copy from the drop-down menu. Then right-click anywhere in the map directory and choose paste from the drop-down menu. You will now have a new file called "Copy of Abayomi.map" along with the original Abayomi.map file. Rename the copied file Abayomi1.map (or whatever you prefer as long as it differs from the original file name). Now you can edit the new map in the Planet Editor and use it in the Campaign Editor.

NOTE: If you can't see the .map file extension, go to the menu bar at the top of the choose Folder Options from the Tools menu at the top of the screen. Click the View tab, and then scroll down the list of options and un-check "Hide file extensions for known file types".

Q: I want to play test my campaigns fully, but it is tedious to play through several missions to get to the end each time I change something. Is there a way to skip ahead?

A: Absolutely. The level skip cheat and bank account hack are both useful cheats for testing multiple-mission campaigns. The first allows you to beat a mission at any point. The second allows you to add credits so you can buy the items the player would normally have accumulated during previous missions. Both cheats can be found here.

Click to return to the Planet Editor or Campaign Editor page.

Text and site design copyright © 2004- Stellalune. Game art, screenshots, Space Colony name and logo copyright © 2003- Firefly Studios and Gathering of Developers. All rights reserved. See the main page for copyright guidelines.