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Before we even begin this Getting Started guide, I want to stress a couple things about Tanarus. First and foremost, you're going to die. Unless you have an incredible knack for figuring out games in the first 10 minutes (and I'm willing to bet you've never played a game quite like this), things will prove to be rough. But the good news is that everyone has gone through this. So don't be discouraged if you're dying -- a lot. Tanarus is a different kind of game because you're playing real people, and just like in the real world, some people are more skilled than others. Upon starting out, you'll probably run into a whole lot of people more skilled than you. But given time, your skill will increase. The game is not overly complicated, but it does require a grasp of the game's foundations. This Getting Started guide will walk you through some of the more "foundational" aspects of Tanarus, equipping you to experience the more complex strategies of the game. So once again, don't expect to jump in thinking your reign of terror has begun on the unsuspecting masses -- you'll be quite humbled, to say the least. We hope this Getting Started guide provides a foundation for you to fully enjoy Tanarus. Have fun!

Logging in and chatting

Upon login, the first thing you'll see is what we refer to as the Command Center. You will see other pilots coming and going here. Their names are listed to the right. Right-click on their name to see their stats. You can talk by simply entering text, or you can move on to the game arenas by pressing the Arenas button, then choosing Beginner from the list.

The beginner chatroom is somewhat similar to the Command Center. The difference is that this chatroom is divided among different beginner arenas. By default, you always enter the first arena's chat room. Pilots whose name is colored yellow on the roster to the right can begin talking to you and will likewise receive your messages on their end. Pilots whose name appears in any other color (red, green, blue or gray) are actually in the arena playing with the color representative of the team they're on. You'll notice several arenas are listed and you can view who's in these games (or are chatting) by clicking the arena's name in the window to the upper left.

To begin playing, choose the arena you wish to enter and do one of two things: hit the Play button, which will randomly place you on any available team color, or press the buttons with color names to whisk yourself away to the team color of your choice. Only five players are allowed on a team, so if you're not getting a response from any of the buttons you pressed, check to make sure that team is not full, or in fact, the entire city is occupied. If the city has an available opening, then you'll soon see a special "loading" screen and you'll find yourself looking at the home base configuration screen. Congratulations, you're now ready to put together a tank and roll out into the battlefield.

Home base

The home base configuration screen is where you formulate your attack plan. Five tanks are available which serve as a basic template design. For the purposes of this guide, we'll have you use the default tank, the Vanguard. Never mind the intricacies of the different tanks, or even that of the Vanguard for now -- we'll concentrate on getting your Vanguard equipped and out exploring and fighting.

The all-purpose Vanguard is great for beginners and veterans alike, but how you configure your tank for the role it will play is what sets the veteran apart from the newbie (a 'net term for anyone who's new at something -- not necessarily negative but often used in a negative fashion). A great configuration for beginners is what we call the "Reserve Power" Vanguard. Just click the LOAD button at the bottom right of the configuration screen. If it's not loading in the modules, then equip the following:

Phase Multiplier, Shield, Shield Boost, Stealth, Reserve Power, Supercharager.

With this configuration, your tank is equipped to not only fight and take damage, it's also ready to fill your battery back to a full tank when you run out of juice (twice even!). When you're ready to roll your tank out, press the "Enter" button at the button. Now for a public service announcement: we wish to remind you to remember your team color because any tanks you see of that color are your teammates. Do not fire on these tanks! This might sound obvious, but you can't imagine how many times a beginner has entered an arena and upon seeing a tank for the first time (or second time, or third) gets carried away with excitement and begins damaging a friendly tank. If you do this, be prepared for some teammate retaliation. Just remember your color! (And if you're one who intentionally resorts to this type of cheap thrill, be prepared to make enemies real fast)

Moving around

You'll find yourself at what is effectively your home base. You can move your tank just like you'd imagine a tank would move by simply pushing your joystick in the desired direction. You can move forward or backward, take a turn while in motion, or even pivot in one place. You'll notice that your forward motion is much faster than your backward motion, and you can measure your speed by watching the velocity meter at the lower right of the screen. But that's only half the story -- you'll also want to get familiar with using your turret. You can adjust your turret (i.e. your view) by pressing A to swivel left, D to swivel right, W to swivel up and S to swivel down. If you need to re-center your view, press the X key. If you hold down SHIFT while swiveling your turret, you'll get a "precision aiming" effect allowing you to fine tune your movement at the cost of a much slower response. This is great for when you need to accurately get someone in your sights who is at a far off distance. Precision aiming works both on turret and tank movement, so don't use precision aiming if you're trying to move somewhere quick.

You'll notice that your turret's facing is represented by a graphic at the lower part of your screen. Swivel your turret left or right and you'll notice the graphic will reflect your turret's actual facing. The Vanguard is capable of 90 degree lateral movement in either direction, which means you can cover an arc of a full 180 degrees to the front of your tank. If you swivel your turret up or down, a meter to the lower left represents your turret's angle in relation to the horizon. Again, you can get more precise movement by holding the spacebar and then swiveling either up or down. In the case of the Vanguard (and most other tanks), you have a much higher angle to work with when swiveling up as opposed to swiveling down.

What's important to note is that survival hinges on your ability to use the combination of tank movement (the joystick) along with turret movement (the keyboard). Your ability to move in one direction while facing another is a skill you'll do well to master for many reasons. Among these an increased "situational awareness" and the ability to fight while moving, to name just a few.

Energy

Go ahead and take a stroll through the arena, being careful to watch your radar for enemies (upper right of screen). Tanks are represented as solid squares of the appropriate color. Now don't rely too heavily on radar, since some tanks can actually configure themselves with modules that enable them to hide from radar, but be mindful of any tanks you do see. The radar display can be toggled with the F3 key to show greater distances. You can toggle up to three different radar ranges, but unfortunately, there's no indication of how far out you're seeing; you'll have to rely on relative distance to the other blips you see on radar to know just how far in or out your radar is set. As you travel about, keep an eye on your feed meter and your battery level, both located at the lower left of your screen. Think of the battery level as your fuel tank. Moving and firing causes you to consume battery power, and when your tank hits empty, it's in big trouble. Should you experience an empty battery, all systems on your tank shutdown save for your ability to move. But if that weren't enough punishment, your ability to move is severely hampered, and your tank comes to a veritable crawl. If there ever was a time to be called a sitting duck, it's when you've got an empty battery. We'll let you imagine the consequences of running on empty in the middle of a heated battle.

But all's not lost! The feed meter is there to help you manage that precious fuel so that you can avoid becoming a sitting duck. At this point, we'll take a turn in our guide: no longer will we call it fuel; instead, we'll now refer to it as energy. To avoid a no energy situation, you have what is called a feed meter which allows you to track how much energy is coming into your tank (or how much is being drained beyond the normal consumption of energy required for your tank's operation). Unlike the real world (where most of us live, hopefully), tanks in Tanarus can be constantly supplied with energy in order that they never run out. What's important is your proximity to an energy source. When your feed meter is in the positive (to the right of center, colored blue) your tank is receiving energy from a source, or as the case may be, from many sources. Your closeness to the source, or even the strength of the source will affect your input of energy. The closer you are to a source, or the stronger a particular source is, the greater your input of energy, and your feed meter will reflect this. You've probably noticed that your feed meter started out very high when you were at home base, but as you traveled further out into the city, it began to drop, even to the point of being in the negative (red, and to the left of center). It doesn't matter if you're a veteran or a beginner, going into the red on your feed meter is never a good thing. You can bring back your feed to the positive by getting close to an energy source, which will always be your home base (so remember where it is!). Of course, there are other sources of energy, but if there ever was an energy source you could count on, it would be your home base.

So what are these other sources of energy? Well, they take the form of recon stations and satellites. If you press F2 you'll notice a grid that represents the current city. This map doesn't show buildings or structures, but instead shows sources of energy and the position of friendly tanks only. You'll notice your home base as being located in one of the four corners as an appropriately colored hash mark. You'll also notice the home base of all the other teams in the city. Remember, home base is always in the corner, but what are those other hash marks located in ordered parts of the city? Those are recon stations, and they serve as a mini home base of sorts. These recon stations supply power to your tank, similar to your home base (though as not as strong) and they allow you to configure your tank, and repair damage just like home base. The difference is that these recon stations can be captured by the enemy (thereby rendering it useless or even deadly to you until you re-capture it); don't allow you to switch to a new tank; and don't allow the equipping of certain modules. In effect, recon stations are a smaller version of home base when it comes to their capabilities, and they can be quite temporary during the course of the game. Any hash marks that are colored white represent neutral recon stations. Any neutral station is incapable of supplying energy until it is captured, but is able to equip and repair any damaged tank, whether its yours or the enemy's. Think of these neutral recon stations as non-partisan bases whose services are available to anyone, friendly or not. We won't worry too much about capturing recon stations and making them your own, but instead will focus on the power these recon stations give (and take!).

Just like home base, recon stations supply energy that directly affects your feed indicator. The closer you get to a friendly recon station, the greater your energy input. However, should you approach an unfriendly recon station or unfriendly home base, you'll notice a drop in your energy input. Get too close, and you'll notice a drain indicated by your meter going into the red. This energy is not being transferred anywhere per se, but rather is seeping from your energy feed. Often times, you'll be traveling in the city with an idle energy feed; you're precariously balanced between your own energy source(s), and the source(s) of the enemy's, and have wandered into the "stalemate" of energy input. Should you stay at idle for too long, you might find yourself in trouble, simply because the energy you're spending to move is not being replenished with any type of positive energy feed. It might take a while for your battery to completely drain, but with enough firing of weapons, or any other type of module activated, they'll eventually take their toll on your tank. Fortunately an idle energy feed means you're not far from getting to a precious recon station, so you can quickly get to some much needed energy. This is also a good time to note that the Vanguard configuration we recommended is actually quite suited to the empty battery experience. Should you find yourself with a dead battery, your Reserve Power module will kick in, filling your battery then disappearing from your inventory. And since you've taken the added security of a Supercharger, you'll have twice the holding power of a non-supercharged tank.

Radar

Let's take a look at your radar again. Remember, tanks are solid colored squares representing the color of the appropriate team. Recon stations are hollow squares of the appropriate color. Other icons to look out for on your radar are white dots, which represent missiles (friendly or not) and colored circles representing satellites.

Communication

You can talk to your teammates over a private channel by hitting the ' key then typing your message. Only your teammates will be able to read these messages, and you'll get visual feedback on just such messages by its color. If you're on the red team, then any red colored messages mean that it was typed by a teammate for your teammates eyes only. To talk openly, press the / key and type your message. Any messages you read that are colored white represent open channel messages, and of course everyone can read these. It's important to keep an eye on your messages, especially those of your teammates'. If you missed a message or want to refresh your memory on what was said, you can hit page up or page down to scroll through the buffer.

Fighting and shields

If you're feeling lucky, go ahead and take on an enemy tank. Now before you get yourself into a whole lot of trouble, weigh out whether you have enough power in the area to fight (remember, you consume a lot more energy when you begin firing) and whether the odds are in your favor. Avoid a two on one (you being the one, of course, otherwise go for it!) or any number beyond that. For now, stick with a one on one or better yet, jump into a fight in progress that has favorable odds.

You'll notice what's called Armor and Crits (Critical for short) on your dash with a number to go along side these. Your Vanguard has an Armor value of 60 and a Crits value of 60. Protecting both of these is your shields, which you happen to have because you picked the shield module when equipping your Vanguard. But before we discuss shields, we'll talk about Armor and Crits, because these are available to all tanks, unlike shields. Let's say your shields get breached. When this happens, you begin taking damage to your Armor. When your Armor is brought to zero, you begin taking damage to your Crits. When your Crits hit zero, you're dead. There's no difference between Armor and Crits in that both are affected the same way by weapons, but they are separated in order to give you an idea of the seriousness of your tank's condition. Taking armor damage may not be all that harrowing but watch your crits go down, and you're probably thinking it's a good time to excuse yourself from a fight. As a beginner, start thinking about beating feet home when you start taking significant armor damage. If you wait till you're taking crits damage, you'll probably regret it. And you'll be surprised how fast those numbers go down when you start taking damage. The moment you start taking damage to your crits, your tank begins to spew white puffs of smoke. You don't see this on your end, but your enemies do and then all those documentaries you ever saw about how lions will divert their attention to a wounded prey will take on new meaning. If your crits get seriously low, you begin to spew black smoke. You're in serious trouble at this point. All eyes are definitely on you. Likewise, keep an eye out for enemy tanks with the same symptoms. White smoke means they're hurting; black smoke means they're just about dead meat. Armor and Crits do not replenish unless you enter a recon station or home base.

Fortunately, what's keeping you from experiencing armor and crits damage is your shields. You'll notice a graphic at the center of your dash showing a bird's eye view of a tank. To the front and rear is a colored band representing forward and rear shields. Since your shields are on, the band will be a complete circle but it is in fact a two part display. When these shields are fully charged, they're colored white but as they take damage, they move from white, to yellow, to various shades of brown, and then a variety of reds. When the shields are completely knocked out, you won't see any shields at all. When a shield goes completely down, it won't begin recharging until 3 seconds go by, at which time it will slowly move back up the color scheme until it finally reaches white again, assuming you're not taking damage on that particular shield. With that in mind, it's quite possible to take armor or even crits damage, then to have your shields charged back up so that you can make your escape without suffering fatal damage.

In order to maximize your survivability, you need to learn how to dynamically alter your shields. You can do this by pressing the Q or E keys. If you press Q you'll distribute shield power to the forward shield at the cost of deducting an equal amount from the rear shield. The same holds true if you were to press the E key, in which points are added to the rear shield at the cost of equivalent points taken from the front. It's a good idea to learn how to transfer shield strength between the two sides, especially if one side is receiving the brunt of the damage. To equalize shield distribution, press the = key.

With all this in mind, go ahead and jump into a fight. You might not win, but at least you'll understand what's going on. To target a tank, which will aid you in determining a tank's shield damage and who's driving it, hit your C button to cycle forward (Z cycles back). A targeted tank turns into a solid white square on your radar, and on your visual display will have a yellow arrow above it. You'll also notice that the pilot's name and his shield status (whether on, damaged or off) and what team he represents by the color of his name. If you happen to notice that a tank appears visually, but does not appear on radar, then be aware that tank is using a Stealth module: he'll neither appear on radar nor will he be picked up by your targeting system (which means you'll never be able to tell his shield status). Now observe your shield damage and what's happening to your tank when engaging in a fight. Remember to always keep moving and use your turrets. Watch your power and how your enemy is responding. And if you die, ask the person who killed you what exactly happened. They might tell you something you didn't know or might even hand out a tip. There are lots of tactics when it comes to fighting, and that's covered in our tactics section. We obviously can't anticipate the many ways one can die (you may die from someone who wasn't even in the fight!) but learning these basics will help you along.

Should you win the fight or need to make some repairs, go ahead and drive over to a recon station or your home base. You'll see a white square (or in the case of home base, an appropriately colored one) on the ground. When you drive over this, you'll see an R appear on the upper right of your screen near your radar display. When you see this, hit the enter key and you'll be taken to the familiar configuration screen. If you've sustained damage to your armor or crits, these will quickly be replenished. And if you've expended any reserve powers, these will also be replenished as you watch your battery indicator slowly fill up. Wait till it stops filling up entirely before you leave. It might even fill up and then start over again, reflecting spent reserve power modules that are being replenished. Now spending time repairing or equipping your tank leaves you vulnerable to damage because even though you're on another screen (and not necessarily "in the city"), your tank is still visible to the enemy. Worse yet, when you're in the configuration screen, your shields are automatically dropped! So if you notice you're taking damage while configuring your tank, or you actually die while in there, it's because something was shooting you. So be careful when running from a fight and entering a recon station -- someone might follow you and wait for you to enter before they finish you off!

Have fun exploring the rest of the game. You've probably noticed there are more tanks and more modules to experiment with and we encourage you to check them out. You can dig further into our strategy section for more advanced information, or you can experiment on your own. There's a lot more to Tanarus than what's covered in this Getting Started guide, so be sure to read what's available in our Strategy section.