I was the Tribune of the People for a while, until being ejected from the position by my turning 100 and ceasing to be eligible. And then on turn 1324 I became the Prophet of the Wise One.

Since this page needs some actual content, I now give you the Sword of Damocles list of tips for new starships:

• Hail the other players in your current system, and especially the one you're paired with (if you are paired with another human player). They may be able to tell you where to find adventures or other useful features, give you advice, or some are even generous enough to give modules or energy to those who hail them politely and intelligently. Communication is the thing that makes the biggest difference between ships that survive and ships that don't.
• I know the signup process has already told you to do this twice, but it really is that important. So read the rules again after you've played a couple of turns.
• One of the first things you'll want to do is get your officers some skill levels. Since they learn from repairing broken modules, you might want to hold onto your demo modules at least until they've been repaired once by your officers.
• I sent my officers to school level 1 ($50 each) as soon as possible, but opinions vary as to whether this is a good idea.
• Everyone agrees, however, that you should seek out adventures. Not only do these give your officers extra skill levels, but you get free modules from them. Random modules, admittedly, but hey, they're free! The difficulty is in finding adventures that your as-yet-unskilled oficers can do. Fortunately, the Database of Wisdom has kindly provided a list of level 0-4 adventures to the TBG community.
• Another source of leads for adventures is the TBG Adventures Yahoo! group.
• If you happen to be in a system with a StarNet terminal, then make sure you have also subscribed to the Terminal Codes Yahoo! group. By sharing password data, it is possible to gain the "StarNet Hacking" skill for each of your officers without much difficulty.
• Another mailing list that can be helpful is the TBG Newbies Yahoo! group, where you can ask questions of other young ships, as well as some older ships who like being helpful.
• You need to have crew in order to succeed at most adventures, and the main way to get crew is to find a hiring hall. Sadly, you aren't given the location of any of these to start off with. However, the Out of Context has come to the rescue here by generously making available a map of the galaxy, with all the locations of useful things marked. The trade and shop data there is out of date, but Hiring Halls and Comet Clouds don't move!
• More accurate data on trade goods, shops, adventures and more can be gained by joining one of the many alliances and information sharing groups in TBG.
• Information on the current prices offered for trade goods by alien colonies is currently provided free to the public by the Galactic President.
• Take every opportunity that presents itself to access starnet terminals and cure plagues. These will start you accumulating favour with the Old Ones, which will eventually allow you to gain the Enlightenment skill level for your Science and Medical officers. You start with a natural source of Engineering favour, as you already have some working modules. Weaponry favour is a more complex question, as you get this from having alien enemies, but early on you may not wish to have aliens annoyed enough to attack you! The Prophets of the Old Ones will often grant free favour to young ships seeking enlightenment, so it can be worth hailing them once you have more than 50 favour in their field.

Beyond these tips, what you do really depends on what sort of ship you aim to have. The Sword of Damocles is primarily a long range warship, and grew rapidly by acquiring modules from passing aliens. What sort of ship do you want to be?

If you are looking at this page because you've encountered me in the game, and wish to know my attitude toward other ships, be aware that my attitude toward unknown vessels is based on two principles:

• Do unto others as they do unto others
• Food that talks is not food

Please feel free to hail me if you have any questions, or would just like to chat.

The Sword of Damocles.