2. New Player Guide

When you first create a character in PlanetSide, you will need to select a server to play on. Each server holds its own copy of the PlanetSide gameworld. When you create a character, it will only be playable on the server it was created.

The Server List will contain information to help you select the best server for you to play on.

Server List: Displays the names of the PlanetSide servers.

Location: Lists the general geographic location of each server. Currently, there are servers in the East and West of the United States and in Europe.

Status: Occasionally, Servers may be unavailable, due to patching or other maintenance. Status will tell you if it is available.

Ping: Displays the time it takes for a packet of information to travel from the server to you and back again.  A lower number is better.  This is influenced by many factors including your connection to the Internet, your ISP, etc.

Empire Needed: If a certain Empire could use your help on this server, their logo will be here.

Below the Server List, is a news pane that is updated periodically with information on new features and happenings in PlanetSide.

After you've selected a server to play on, click the Play Button on the bottom right of the screen to continue. If you do not already have a character on the selected server, you will be taken to the Character Creation process. Otherwise, you will be taken to your Character Select screen.

You may create up to eight characters on each PlanetSide server.

You will first need to choose the Empire that your character serves. You may have characters from two of the three available Empires on each server. Choose your Empire by clicking on its logo.

The New Conglomerate's equipment generally delivers the most punch, in a single but slower firing shot.  For example, the Vanguard assault tank packs the largest cannon available but has the slowest rate of fire.  Further illustrating the NC's focus on pure punch is their Jackhammer, a Tri-Barreled Auto shotgun that can tear up enemy soldiers and vehicles at short range but quickly loses effectiveness over greater distances.

• Colors: Blue and Gold
• Medium Assault: Gauss
• Heavy Assault: Jackhammer
• Anti-Vehicular Assault: Phoenix
• Anti-Infantry MAX: Scattercannon
• Anti-Vehicular MAX: Falcon
• Anti-Aircraft MAX: Sparrow
• Heavy Assault Buggy: Enforcer
• Heavy Assault Tank: Vanguard

Click here to learn more about the New Conglomerate

Though usually not as powerful as NC equipment in a shot-for-shot basis, the Terran Republic's equipment exemplifies the "more is better" attitude, specifically more lead. Their weapons generally have the fastes Rate of Fire, is demonstrated in their Medium Assault weapon, the Cycler, and their Heavy Assault Weapon, the Chaingun. Furthermore, their vehicles, the Marauder (Heavy Assault Buggy) and the Prowler (Heavy Assault Tank) can carry two independent gunners, as opposed to the equivalent Vanu Sovereignty or New Conglomerate vehicles that only have one gunner.

• Colors: Black and Red
• Medium Assault: Cycler
• Heavy Assault: Mini-Chaingun
• Anti-Vehicular Assault: Striker
• Anti-Infantry MAX: Pounder
• Anti-Vehicular MAX: Dual Cycler
• Anti-Aircraft MAX: Burster
• Heavy Assault Buggy: Marauder
• Heavy Assault Tank: Prowler

Click here to learn more about the Terran Republic.

Flexibility and mobility define the Vanu Sovereignty. While their equipment lacks the sheer power or rate of fire that their enemies enjoy, their weapons' built-in Armor Piercing mode gives them combat versatility that can't be matched. Likewise, though their vehicles may not have quite the top speed of other vehicles, the ability to hover across water allows them to strike from unexpected angles and thus shift the tide of battle easier than a conventional attack upon an entrenched opponent.

• Colors: Purple and Teal
• Medium Assault: Pulsar
• Heavy Assault: Lasher
• Anti-Vehicular Assault: Lancer
• Anti-Infantry MAX: Quasar
• Anti-Vehicular MAX: Comet
• Anti-Aircraft MAX: Starfire
• Heavy Assault Buggy: Thresher
• Heavy Assault Tank: Magrider

Click here to learn more about the Vanu Sovereignty.

After you have selected your Empire, you may begin creating your character. Each character has several options for customization.

You will first want to choose a name for your character. Names may be any combination of letters or numbers up to 31 characters long. Each character's name must be unique on that server. No spaces or extended ASCII characters are permitted, however.

Next, select your character's gender and face. The faces shown are only a small sample of the many faces and variants available in PlanetSide.

Finally, select your characters voice. This is what your character will sound like when sending Voice Macros. Clicking on each button will play a sample of that voice scheme.

After you have created your character, the character selection screen will show. Select your character and click "Play." You will be given your choice of where you first want to appear in the world. Sanctuary is your Empire's home continent, where you will be safe from the enemy while you select your certifications and gather your equipment. Choosing Instant Action will take you to a randomly selected region where your Empire is involved in heavy combat. New players are best off selecting Sanctuary, so they can select their Certifications and try out various weapons in the Virtual Reality Training Room.

Name: Names may be any combination of Letters & Numbers up to 31 characters long.  No spaces or extended ASCII characters are permitted, however.

Male/Female: Sets the gender of your character. This option only affects face and voice selection. There are no gameplay differences between male and female characters.

Character Face Selection: Choose from the pool of available faces for your character.

Character Voice Selection: Choose the voice your character will use when using Voice Macros.  See the Voice Macro Appendix for more information about this.

Options Button: Click this button to access Game Options.

Back Button: Goes to Empire Select screen (if no characters have been created) or Character Select screen (if one or more characters already exist)

Next Button: After you're satisfied with the choices for your character, hit this button to register your character with the server.

After your character is registered with the server, you will have the choice to either enter the game at your Sanctuary, a safe haven for your empire, or you can choose to enter the game via the Instant Action mode.  For all but the most experienced First Person Shooter fans, it is recommended that they choose to start at the Sanctuary.  Though PlanetSide may share many similarities with other action games, there are just as many dissimilar traits that should be learned before attempting to conquer the planet of Auraxis.

Choosing to start at the Sanctuary will give you the chance to familiarize yourself with some basic yet critical information such as movement controls and recognition of friendly forces.  In addition you will be able to enter the Virtual Training Zones to learn about the many types of equipment such as the different weapons, support equipment, armor, and vehicles that can be acquired in the game.  Additionally you'll be able to choose some of your starting Certifications to help begin your career as a soldier for your Empire.

By choosing Instant Action, however, you'll start at a location near a Hotspot.  Hotspots are locations where your empire has detected combat to have occurred very recently.  Depending on the location of the Hotspot, you may spawn at a friendly Tower or Facility.  Note that you will not be able to choose which Hotspot you wish to be near as your empire will have prioritized this already.  Additionally if you spawn at a tower you will likely not have the chance to equip yourself to your satisfaction and nor will you have the chance to spend any certification points unless you are near a friendly controlled Bio Lab.  That said, choosing Instant Action is a quick and easy way to get into the thick of battle.

If you do find the action too intense, you can always choose to go back to your Sanctuary by either choosing to respawn at it when you die, or by hitting ESC and choosing the Recall to Sanctuary option.  See the next section for more information regarding this menu.

ESC Menu Options
Hitting the ESC key brings up this menu.  Below are the options available from it.

• Recall to Sanctuary: Choosing this option will take your character back to the Sanctuary.  This is useful if you find yourself far from friendly forces or just wish for a quick trip back home.
• Video Options: Allows you to adjust your Video settings.  These changes will be reflected the next time you start PlanetSide
• Audio Options: Allows you to adjust your Audio settings.
• KeyMappings: Allows you to change your control scheme.
• Instant Action: When selecting this item, your character will be deployed to a location near a Hotspot. 

Mouse Mode via Tab Key (default)
Many times in PlanetSide your Mouse Pointer will become activated automatically when necessary (e.g. accessing a terminal) so that you can easily select and move items.  You can, however, manually toggle Mouse Mode by hitting the Tab key on your Keyboard.  Note that while in Mouse Mode, moving your Mouse will move your Mouse Pointer, not your character's view.

Mouse Rollover Tips
By briefly hovering your Mouse Pointer over interface buttons you'll receive Mouse Rollover Tips that describe the button's function.

'?', 'X'
Oftentimes the title bar of pop-up windows will have a '?' and an 'X' in the upper left and right corners.  Clicking on the '?' with the Left Mouse button will bring up text help about the window (as well as granting you access to the Overview Help feature) and left clicking on the 'X' will close the window.

PlanetSide Logo
There are many objects of interest that your character may interact with.  To help acquaint you with objects that are new to your character, you will see the PlanetSide logo floating above it.  By approaching the object you will receive a pop-up text box informing you of the object and its function in PlanetSide.

Action Key
You may access objects in PlanetSide by hitting the Action Key which is the 'G' key by default.  This will allow your character to access terminals, board vehicles, and perform other important tasks.

Chat
By default, the Enter key will open up the Chat bar and enable you to compose a message.  Hitting Enter once more will send the message out on the particular Chat Channel you've selected.

Soldier Management Bar

• Inventory Button ('I' by default)
• Used to access your current inventory
• Character Button ('O' by default)
• Used to View your current statistics or Implants
• Squad Button ('P' by default)
• Provides Squad Information and other group functions such as Friends List or Player Finding
• Map ('M' by default)
• Accessed via the Map Button or 'M' key (default) to open or close the Map Screen.  An incredibly useful reference tool.  See the Map Appendix for more information about the Map Screen and its functions.
• Vehicle Pane ('Y' by default)  
• Used to Control Access Settings or manage who is allowed in your vehicle
• Outfit Pane ('U' by default)  
• Used to form an outfit or perform management functions

Grief System Feedback 
From time to time you may see your Empire's logo with a number next to it pop up.  This is to inform you that you've just caused damage to a friendly soldier or object.  As you accumulate points you will receive progressively harsher punishments from simple warnings to equipment failure or worse.  Grief points will automatically dissipate over time though.  See the Grief System section for more information.

PlanetSide is a first person action game in which three empires are fighting for control over 10 Battle Continents. These continents range in climate from lush temperate to arid desert and from frigid arctic to blazing volcanic. In addition, each empire has its own Sanctuary and Main Base where their soldiers can plan, regroup and reequip if necessary. Your goal as a soldier is to help conquer and control the Battle Continents for your empire.

Each Battle Continent has several facilities that can be captured and controlled. Capturing a base requires hacking into the Control Console with a Remote Electronics Kit (REK). This initiates a countdown sequence that if successfully completed, aligns the base to the empire the hacker belongs to. 

After a Control Console has been hacked, but before it transfers control over to the new Empire, the Empire that used to control the facility loses all of the above abilities as the facility becomes inactive during that time.

Note that if someone from the facility's controlling Empire manages to hack into the Control Console before the countdown sequence has finished, that Empire will immediately resecure their control of the facility.

For a facility to be successfully captured, the Facility's Silo must NOT be devoid of NTU's at the end of the 15-minute Hack period, otherwise the capture process will fail.  See the sub-section on Resources for more information about this.

Once the base successfully transfers allegiance, the base is now controlled by that empire and all benefits it provides are now available to the controlling empire. See the sub-section on Facility Features for more information about these benefits.

Facilities must be captured in the order mandated by the Continental Lattice. The Lattice is a network of interconnections between bases, linking their benefits to each other and dictating the facilities that are available for capture by each Empire.

• In order to capture a facility, an Empire must control a base that is directly linked to it.
• If an Empire does not control any facilities on a continent, and thus has no links, it must control a facility linked to one of the warpgates that connects from another continent.
• The first base linked to an Empire's Sanctuary warpgate may always be hacked and captured by that Empire.
• For facilities to share benefits, they must be linked on the Lattice. If a facility's links to the rest of those on the Lattice is severed, they will not share benefits.
• If a facility is hacked, the controlling Empire may not hack enemy bases linked to it until they have secured their own facility.

Successfully capturing a facility will give you access to its equipment and the benefits that those offer. Certain doors will now remain locked to opponents unless they manage to unlock it with a REK. In addition, friendly soldiers may:

• Use the facility's Respawn Tubes to reappear there if they are killed.
• Access Equipment Terminals for Weapons, Armor, & other miscellaneous equipment.
• Utilize Vehicle Terminals to create ground or air vehicles if available.
• Heal themselves at Medical Terminals.

• Hop into a Wall Turret and blast away at opponents or let it defend your facility in automated mode.

Extending beyond the defensive walls of each facility is an invisible Sphere of Influence (SOI).  This SOI powers certain types of deployable objects that defenders may place to aid them against enemies.  The SOI also prevents the High Altitude Rapid Transport (HART) Shuttle from deploying drop pods within it. (SOI's are visible on the map interface for ease of reference.)

Each facility provides its own unique set of benefits to the side that can maintain control over it. These benefits are shared among facilities on the same continent when connected to each other through the Continental Lattice. Facilities do not need to be directly linked in order to shared benefits, so benefits will be shared as long as there is an unbroken chain of Lattice Links between the facilities. On the continental map, icons over each facility will represent the benefits that it can access.

• AMP Station (Shielded Vehicle icon): Charges the shield generators of vehicles while they are in a friendly Sphere of Influence.
• Bio-Lab (Respawn Tube icon): Reduces respawn times at friendly linked facilities.
• Dropship Center (Wrench Icon): Enables Vehicle Repair and Rearm Stations.
• Interlink Facility (RADAR Display icon): Enhanced RADAR abilities.
• Technology Plant (Tank icon): Provides Access to Advanced Assault vehicles - Reaver, Medium Assault Buggy, Medium Tank and Sunderer.

BENEFIT DESCRIPTIONS

Shield Generators: Each vehicle has a shield generator installed in it. When they enter an Amp Station's SOI or the SOI of a facility linked to an Amp Station, the shield will begin charging to its maximum strength, which is a percentage of the vehicle's base armor. After the shield takes damage, it can recharge again if it is within a friendly SOI though any armor damage done to the vehicle will remain until it is repaired by an Engineer or at a Repair Panel. If a driver takes a shielded vehicle outside of the friendly SOI, the shield will remain, though it will not recharge if it takes any damage until the driver returned to an Amp Station's SOI or any SOI linked to an Amp Station.

Vehicle Repair and Rearm Stations: Rearm and Repair pads provide a quick and easy way for vehicles to repair damage and to replenish their ammunition supplies. Each facility is equipped with a several aircraft landing pads and ground panels that will perform these functions. When a player is in control of a vehicle, they can approach either the pad or panel, depending on whether they are controlling an aircraft or a ground vehicle, and remain stationary to begin the repair process. Aircraft do not need to land on the pad, but they must remain near the pad to be repaired. Similarly, ground vehicles will be repaired automatically if they remain stationary near the Repair and Rearm Panel. Multiple vehicles can be use the pads or panels at once.

To replenish a vehicle's ammunition, the player in control of the vehicle must be stationary near the repair pad or panel and will get a message that they may hit the "G" key to access the vehicle inventory menu. Players may store inventory loadouts in a favorites menu for quick access, similar to the Favorites Menu of an Equipment Terminal.

Enhanced RADAR Abilities: Facilities linked to an Interlink Facility will gain certain enhancements to their RADAR systems. All enemy vehicles will appear on RADAR, except for cloaked vehicles moving at 50% throttle or less and deployed Advanced Mobile Stations. All running enemy infantry, including cloaked Infiltrators, will appear on the RADAR. Enemy infantry, including cloaked Infiltrators, will appear on RADAR if they are within a Spitfire Turret or Motion Sensor's detection radius, regardless of whether they are moving or not.

The Facility's Power Generator is the heart of any facility's operations. In order for any Facility Features to function, the Power Generator must be fully functional. Since it is a common tactic for enemies to try and destroy the Generator when they are invading a base, all friendly soldiers inside of the facility's SOI will receive a warning whenever the generator is under attack. When a generator is first destroyed, players would be wise to exit the generator room quickly, as it will explode. The generator will begin to automatically repair itself, but this is a slow process that consumes base resources.

Operational Facilities will consume resources known as Nanite Technology Units (NTU's). Facilities will consume NTU's whenever they are required to automatically repair damaged to damaged equipment, such as Vehicle Terminals, Phalanx Wall Turrets and the Facility Power Generator.

The NTU Silo, located within the courtyard of the facility shows how much NTU's are left.

If a facility ever runs out of NTU's, the facility will turn neutral. As mentioned previously above, if the Silo within a Facility is empty, any Capture Process WILL fail unless the Silo is resupplied before the 15-minute Capture Process is complete.

You can resupply Facilities by using an Advanced Nanite Transport (ANT) to gather some of the energy at Warp Gates.  The ANT can then haul the harnessed energy to Facilities where it will be can be reprocessed into NTU's for the Facility to use.

Once you purchase ANY vehicle Certification, you will then also be certified to purchase and drive the ANT. You can obtain ANTs at any Ground Vehicle Terminal, including those at your Sanctuary.

Filling up an ANT with Warp energy requires you to drive to a Warp Gate and deploy the ANT within the Warp Gate bubble. Once the ANT is filled, it will automatically undeploy.

Simply drive the ANT near a Silo and deploy it.  The Warp energy will then be transferred into the Silo for the Facility to process into NTU's. Note that you can resupply Friendly or Neutral Facilities but not Enemy controlled ones.

• The objective of your empire is to capture and control as many facilities as it can across the ten Battle Continents.
• Hacking into the Control Console is how a facility changes hands from one empire to another.
• Hacking into a Control Console begins the transference process of the facility.
• Hacking requires a Remote Electronics Kit (REK).
• Facilities impart a variety of benefits to the side that control them.
• Each empire has a Sanctuary that is a safe haven from enemies.
• As facilities operate, they consume resources in the form of Nanite Technology Units (NTUs).
• The NTU silo next to the building shows the current amount of NTUs the facility has at its disposal.
• If the NTU level at a facility drops to zero, the facility will turn neutral, negating any ownership aspect.
• Advanced Nanite Transport (ANT)vehicles can be used to resupply facilities.
• Certification for ANTs is automatically granted once any other vehicle certification is chosen.
• ANTs harness the energy of Warp Gates once they are deployed within the dome of a Warp Gate.
• To resupply a facility NTU Silo, deploy a charged ANT nearby in the courtyard.