Welcome to Io, once a beautiful moon of Jupiter, developed into a grand resort world for asteroid miners of the old Sol system. Now it is about all that is left in the old Sol sector. These days Io is a dangerous, semi-abandoned, post-apocalyptic wasteland crawling with desperate loners just trying stay alive long enough and earn enough microbots to get launched back into space. In short, people just like you.

There are automated ScrapBins, MiniBars, and ToolShops spread throughout the hotels on Io. Those are vending machines that sell Iron, Alcohol, and Hardware, respectively. Each machine type must buy the types of goods that is doesn't actually produce itself. Therefore, you can make a tidy profit in microbots by buying hardware from ToolShops and selling it to ScrapBins, etc. There are also Pantries in the hotels -- with their locks long since broken off. You can take free goods from a pantry and sell them to the vending machines. That will increase your profit margin substantially.

There are also Gambling Kiosks scattered around the hotels of Io. Kiosks sell all manner of equipment to make your stay more pleasant. You can upgrade your fannypack to a nice, roomy backpack for a few thousand microbots and you can then outfit the pack with additional boxes to carry more cargo. Kiosks also sell directory services; for a few microbots they'll tell you the location of the nearest Pantry, Transport Booth, or neutral Milibots. Oh, and you'll want to make some milibots yourself, too, for safety. You'll need microbots and iron (get iron at a ScrapBin or Pantry, remember...) to make milibots.

Milibots can be used to attack other players, but that's probably a bad idea for a recent arrival on Io. Rather, build as many as you can and just keep them with you. They'll defend you -- even when you sleep.

Now, your first priority should be to get off of Io -- it's crowded, dangerous, and economically depressed due to the large numbers of new arrivals trading there. Fortunately, Io has a working spaceport accessible from room 2000001 of the first hotel. You can buy a jetpack at any kiosk and just fly straight to the spaceport by typing in the room number. Or, you can save your microbots and find the first room of the hotel you are in. That room will have a doorway to the first room of the next lower hotel. You can keep going from hotel lobby to hotel lobby -- always to lower room numbers -- until you reach room 2000001. Once at the spaceport, it costs 100,000 microbots to purchase a railgun launch into space. Of course, you'll need a starship; a fannypack just isn't appropriate equipment for space travel. Unfortunately, the spaceport won't take fannypacks in trade. You'll have to upgrade to some kind of backpack before the spaceport will accept your gear in trade along with the 100,000 microbots, and outfit you with deep space equipment. Note that you become much more visible to the other denizens of Io once you trade in your Camouflaged Fannypack for one of the larger, brightly colored backpacks. Also, you'll need to pass through room 2000001 to reach the spaceport. There may be unsavory types lurking there. Don't loiter at the Spaceport; type T to (T)rade with the spaceport quickly -- or click on the spaceport if using a browser -- and get out of there fast! Once launched, you'll again be a sitting duck in Sector 1 of space. There will be a wormhole there. My advice is to take the wormhole immediately and keep moving from wherever it takes you. Only when you're several sectors away from the wormhole exit should you stop to ponder your next move.

Now that you've put some distance between you and the wormhole exit, you can look around. Type I from telnet -- or click the Inventory link from a web browser -- to assess your situation. You'll see that you are in some galaxy, possibly a spiral or cluster or any of several other common galaxy types. You'll see the size and location of the galaxy as well. You may also notice that the spaceport exchanged much of your terrestrial gear for equivalent deep space equipment. Here are some of the things that might be useful in space:

• Battleship (Traded for a Battlepack): A fine ship that holds many, many pieces of military and sensory equipment. The tradeoff of the more military-oriented ships (and packs) are that they won't hold as much cargo; you have many advantages over a Freighter, say, but you can't make money as fast as a ship with more cargo capacity and fewer equipment bays.
• Cargo Holds: While every ship comes equipped with a minimum of 40 holds (the equivalent of pack boxes on Io), more holds are better for efficient trading.
• Planet Locator (Traded for a Pantry Locator): With one of these you can type L at any time and Locate the nearest Planet. (Click 'Locate Planet' from a browser).
• Planet Scooper (Traded for a Pantry Scooper): This lets you automate trading planet/port combinations with a single $ command. (Click on auto$scoop from a browser).
• Navigation module (Traded for your GPS): These are used for locating TradingPosts (similar to Kiosks), finding Black Holes (much like the malfunctioning Transport Booths of Io, only they throw you farther), and seeking out fleets of Neutral fighters (like neutral Milibots, you can park your ship under these while you sleep for some minimal protection.)
• Shields (Traded for Armor Plates): You can carry up to ten of these, depending on the equipment capacity of your ship. Each shield gives you 10% more fighting efficiency when attacked by enemy fighters.
• Targeting Systems: You can also carry up to ten of these. Each targeting system adds 10% to your fighting efficiency when you attack enemy ships and fighter fleets.
• Rocket Boosters (traded for Jetpacks): You can carry many of these. A booster is a one-use device that lets you warp to any other sector in space.
• Computer: A computer augments other equipment, letting you automate some functions that would otherwise be tedious. Also, a computer will assist your Planet Locator and Navigation Module to ensure that you always calculate the shortest path to objects you're seeking. When used with a Planet Scooper you can automate the building of fighters when hovering over an iron-rich planet.
• Fighters (traded for Milibots): These are the basic defensive and offensive fighting unit in space. You can build one from one hold of Iron and 400 microbots. Make lots of these. They fly mostly under their own power so it doesn't take much antimatter to carry lots of them around. When left with your ship, they guard you while you're sleeping and can be used to attack other ships while you're flying around the universe.
• Scout Launcher: With one of these you can launch a fighter on a random course to report back to you everything it encounters. You can send scout fighters long distances, but the longer the mission, the more antimatter it requires to launch them.
• Sector Scanner (Traded for a Room Scanner): This device lets you see enemy Starbases and fighter fleets before you actually enter a sector. A sector with a ! (exclamation point) appended holds a starbase and a sector with an = (equals sign) contains enemy fighters. These are very useful if you're traveling in an area containing attack-mode starbases. Computrade and Automove also avoid enemy starbases if you're equipped with a Sector Scanner.
• Black Hole Orbiter (Traded for a Transport Booth Jammer): This lets you actually enter a sector containing a Black Hole. If it weren't such an obvious tactic, such sectors would be great places to hide. However, a Black Hole orbiter is quite useful to prevent you from being thrown to some random place in the universe when you accidentally warp into a black hole sector.
• Statistics Module: Also called a Statmod, it will let you generate a Player ranking report, view your Facts of Commerce information, and will also keep statistics on your Planet Scooper's efficiency. This last feature will optimize your autoscooping to ensure that the maximum profit margin is automatically maintained.
• Tractor Device (Traded for an Antigravity Device): A tractor device will let you move ports to other sectors and also move your fully-upgraded bunker, if you have one, into another sector. Moving your bunker will help to keep enemies guessing at your location.
• Homing Device: When you attack another ship you will also get an option to simply attach a homing device to them -- if you have one. The 'Your Deployed Forces' report will show you the location of any ships carrying your homing devices.
• Homing Device Launcher: This lets you place a homing device in a sector where it will attach itself to the next passing ship. Seed your favorite galaxy with a few homing devices and keep tabs on the other residents -- as well as careless travelers just passing through.
• Microbots: Money. Fiat Currency isn't accepted anymore -- but common industrial microbots make a handy substitute. Further, they retain their industrial functions and can be used to make things like milibots, bunkers, and starbases.
• Antimatter (traded for energy): Antimatter is ship fuel. Your ship will manufacture antimatter at a steady rate, perhaps more than 100,000 grams per hour. Without antimatter your ship won't move at all. Use antimatter wisely and, if you have more than you can use, build a bunker and store the excess there.
• Reputation Points: When you attack other forces -- or an enemy attacks you or your forces -- you'll get reputation points. These get added to your score, resulting in your score remaining unchanged even after you expend many fighters attacking an enemy. Your enemy, on the other hand, as the non-aggressor, will receive far fewer rep points and will drop in the Player rankings.

You may encounter enemy starbases in your travels throughout the Universe. Generally, starbases are built to guard a sector to keep other ships out. A starbase may guard a normal planet, a nice TradingPost, or an enemy bunker. A very large, expensive starbase usually is hiding something important. Perhaps a whole team of battleships or a resort world is behind that Level 14 starbase. Starbases can be configured to attack any enemy ship that enters the sector, so be careful out there. Stumbling into an attack-mode starbase might cost you thousands of fighters, most of your cargo holds, and your military equipment. Attack-mode starbases are the main reason you might want to carry a sector scanner while trading in unfamiliar galaxies.

There are 25 resort worlds scattered among the galaxies. You already know about Io, the resort world in sector 1 where you started out. The other 24 are somewhat randomly spread across the universe. Each resort world contains hotels with a total of 80,000 rooms. Unlike Io, these lost worlds are far less crowded and are likely to have far more lucrative trading possibilities as a result. Further, a resort world might be guarded by a single starbase. If you find a completely uninhabited resort world, you might not want to advertise the location!

Space is huge, but sooner or later you'll encounter other starships in your travels. Most ships you see will be inactive and will show the captain's name followed by the tag [asleep]. If you see a ship tagged [awake] you might want to quickly move out of that sector. The captain may be an enemy, an opportunist, or may mistakenly believe that you're there to attack! If there is a huge fleet of fighters accompanying the ship, leave very quickly! Of course, if you're the aggressive type, such an encounter may be an opportunity to make a new enemy...

Some captains deploy fleets of fighters to guard a sector or the ships within a sector. A defensive fleet will prevent any other ships from entering their sector. Also, fighters can be deployed as spies to report the passing of other ships. Even spy fighters, which will peacefully allow you to pass through the sector and even to trade there, will defend any other ships in the sector.

Wormholes are naturally occuring short-circuits in the mesh of space. The useful thing about wormholes is that they can be used for a free trip to another galaxy. It is also possible to artificially create a temporary wormhole -- if you have enough microbots. TradingPosts have the technology necessary.

TLR is a free game and anybody can create an account and play. The web login page is at Ioresort.com

You can telnet to Ioresort.com(206.212.236.197), port 2323 to play via a pure text session. The Linux command to connect is:
telnet ioresort.com 2323