Walkthrough
Starting The Ur-Quan Masters
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HINT: Save your game on a regular basis. Keeping multiple saves will let you go further back if you make a mistake without realizing it. If you use a lot of saves, be sure to familiarize yourself with the interface for selecting which one to load. It shows the in-game date of the save, the position of your ship and other information to help you choose your load point more easily. |
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HINT: If you want to depend as little as possible on this walkthrough, keep a notebook (a single sheet of paper is not remotely enough) to record what you learn from the people you talk to. The story can drive itself without needing too much slow planet-by-planet exploration, and it can be more satisfying to make progress without referring to outside sources like this guide. |
Upon first starting the game, you will be at the edge of our solar system, called Sol.
- You will find Earth (the third planet) surrounded by a red shield. In addition to the Moon, there is a space station orbiting the Earth. When you approach, a drone will fly out and converse with you. Upon reaching the station, you can make contact with Hayes, who will tell you that the station needs radioactive minerals and that you can find them on Mercury.
- Go to Mercury, scan it and dispatch a Lander to collect the radioctive (orange) minerals. Mercury is inhospitable, so it is advisable to land near the minerals and return to the ship (use the escape or secondary fire key) as soon as you have acquired the radioactives. If the Lander is destroyed, you can go back to Earth and get another from Hayes.
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HINT: Radioactive materials can also be found on the moons of Jupiter, which are less dangerous than Mercury. |
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HINT: Lander Hints can provide more suggestions on gathering resources using the lander. |
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HINT: The trip to Mercury is a bit tedious. At the beginning of the game is really slow at first, as you acquire more RU (Resource Units) and better technology from Melnorme, you will be able to make it faster, better at turning, and stronger in combat. |
- Take the radioactives back the Starbase and give them to Commander Hayes. He will send you too the moon.
- Scanning the moon, you will notice that the "Energy" scan has detected something. Dispatch a Lander and investigate.
- When you get back to Earth and talk to Hayes, you will be interrupted by an Ilwrath Avenger, which attacks your ship.
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HINT: Fighting Hints can provide suggestions on dealing with space combat. |
- After you have defeated the Avenger, Hayes will arrange to configure the Starbase to maintain and upgrade your ship.
At this point, the linear portion of the game is over. The rest of this walkthrough consists of instructions for intermediate objectives, including acquiring items, forming alliances with other races, and instigating various events.
Gaining Allies
Some of the aliens you encounter can be convinced to help you. In some cases, this means a formal alliance: they send a delegation to Earth and you can build their race's ships at the Starbase. In other cases, they will give you a few ships but you will not be able to build them yourself.
The Spathi
- To communicate with the Spathi, the Captain must learn their secret cypher, either by meeting Fwiffo on Pluto, or by buying information from the Melnorme.
- Once the captain knows the cypher, he can find the Spathi leaders on Epsilon Gruis Ia (241.6 : 368.7). Give them the secret cypher and ask them to join your alliance. They will require that you prove yourself by eliminating the 'Evil Ones' from their historic homeworld, Epsilon Gruis I.
- Land, eliminate the Evil Ones, and collect the biological information that they leave.
- Return to Epsilon Gruis Ia. The Spathi will thank you and ask you to come back later. As usual in this kind of situation, it does not matter how much game time passes before you return. Start another dialogue with them and they will ally themselves with you.
The Pkunk
Any Pkunk you meet will be friendly. They will direct you to their homeworld, Gamma Krueger I (052.2 : 052.5). When you get there, they will offer you the Clear Spindle and you can convince them to give you four Fury ships. You can never build these ships at the Starbase.
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HINT: Make sure that you have four empty spaces in your fleet, when you visit the Pkunk homeworld. If you don't want the Fury ships, you can scrap them for RU |
The Orz
You can make a formal alliance with the Orz just by conversing with them in space. They can be found near their homeworld, Gamma Vulpeculae I (371.3 : 253.7).
The Shofixti
Making an alliance with the Shofixti is a more complicated process.
- (Optional) Visit ZEX of the VUX at his private planet, Alpha Cerenkov I (422.1 : 198.6). (The Melnorme can tell you where to find him.) He offers to give you the remaining female Shofixti if you bring him a certain legendary monster.
- Capture the beast at [[Delta_Lyncis|Delta Lyncis I] (570.4 : 979.5). This is difficult unless your Lander has been upgraded by the Melnorme.
- Bring the creature to ZEX at Alpha Cerenkov I (422.1 : 198.6).
- Land on the planet's surface and retrieve the Shofixti Maidens.
- Take them to the Delta Gorno system, where you can find Tanaka, a male Shofixti piloting a Shofixti Scout. He will attack you. Flee repeatedly (this consumes a good deal of fuel, so be sure you have enough) until he realizes you're not the enemy. The fastest way to gain his trust is to insult him (the Melnorme hint at this).
- Once he trusts you, you can give him the maidens, and two months later, the Shofixti will arrive at Earth and ally themselves with you.
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HINT: If you kill Tanaka, his brother Katana will appear in the system. Katana can also be used to repopulate the Shofixti species. |
The Shofixti are very useful allies. Once they join your alliance, the crew cost goes down by 2 credits.
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HINT: If you lose a thousand or more crew, the cost per crewman will increase from 3 to 5. If the Shofixti ally with you before this point, the cost will be 1 RU per crewman from then on (regardless of how many you lose). If the RU cost has already increased due to crew loss, the Shofixti will permanently set it to 3 RUs. |
The Yehat
Take a Shofixti Scout to Yehat space (near Gamma Serpentis I (492.3 : 029.4)) and show it to a Yehat pilot in a hyperspace or in a planetary system. A civil war will begin, and one side will be happy to supply you with four Yehat Terminators whenever you meet them in space. The other side is hostile, and there is no way to tell the difference until you talk, so be prepared to fight.
There is no way to make a formal alliance with the Yehat.
The Zoq-Fot-Pik
To recruit the Zoq-Fot-Pik, go to their homeworld at Alpha Tucanae I (400.0 : 543.7). The Zoq-Fot-Pik willingly join your alliance. (You can find out where they are by investigating Rigel after Hayes tells you about a transmission from that direction)
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HINT: The journey to to Alpha Tucanae is hazardous. You need to be able to out-run or out-gun the Ur-Quan ships in the vicinity. |
The Arilou
The Arilou will not join the alliance directly, but they will supply you with the rather useful QuasiSpace portal opener.
- Go to the HyperSpace area north of Gamma Circini on the 17th of a month. A star will appear out of nothing at coordinates 043.8 : 637.2. Move to that star, it takes you to QuasiSpace.
- Open the starmap, navigate to the big star on the top right. This is the Arilou homeworld.
- Talk to them about everything, give them the Warp Pod found in the Ur-Quan dreadnought wreckage on Alpha Pavonis VII (056.2 : 800.0)
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HINT: While you are in this area, this is a good opportunity to get rid of the Slylandro Probes |
- When you return to Earth and talk to the Starbase Commander, he will tell you of the Arilou's arrival and give you three Skiff vessels.
The Syreen
After you complete the Mycon Sun Device quest, go to Betelgeuse and talk to Talana. She will tell you about their great revenge against the Mycon, and join your Alliance.
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HINT: Unlike other alien races, Commander Hayes will not inform you that the Syreen have joined your Alliance. However, their ships will be available for you to build. |
The Supox
The Supox will join the alliance once the Ultron is repaired.
The Utwig
The Utwig will join the alliance once the Ultron is repaired.
The Chmmr
Once released from the Slave Shield, the Chmmr will give you massive amounts of help.
- First, complete the Ilwrath Removal quest.
- Take the Sun Device to Procyon (074.2 : 226.8) and orbit the slave-shielded world (planet II). Use the Device.
The Chmmr will awaken and grant you the Avatar ship, as well as a list of things you will require.
- Go to the Supox homeworld, Beta Librae, after the Supox and Utwig attack the Kohr-Ah and speak with them to gain the location of the Sa-Matra, Delta Crateris (620.0 : 593.5).
- Go to the Chmmr with the Talking Pet, the Utwig Bomb, and the location of the Sa-Matra.
The Chmmr will take two weeks to rig the Utwig Bomb to the Flagship. The Bomb will take up more than half the Flagship's module locations and all of the lander locations. The Chmmr will also provide you with unlimited resources (RU becomes infinite, allowing you to build as many ships as you want!)
Collecting Devices
These items are needed to complete the game.
Mycon Sun Device
Required to complete the Chmmr Process and bring them out of the slave shield.
- Go to Betelgeuse (412.5 : 377.0) and make contact with the Syreen.
- Go to a Shattered World and locate Egg Fragments.
- Go to the Mycon Homeworld at Epsilon Scorpii (629.1 : 220.8) and ask about the Egg Fragments.
- Go to the Syreen Station at Betelgeuse. Speak with Talana and show her the fragments (you must have spoken with a Mycon about the fragments beforehand, or have bought information on the Syreen from a Melnorme trader)
- Take the Syreen Shuttle Talana gives you to Epsilon Camelopalardis 1a (593.7 : 393.7, deep in Ur-Quan space) and land on 1a. Find the Vault on the moon and have the engineers on the Shuttle open it up.
- Go to Talana. She will set a trap for the Mycon.
- Go to the Mycon Homeworld and tell them about Organon, suggesting that they implant it with a Deep Child.
- While the Mycon fleet is headed for Organon, you can steal the Sun Device from a planet on Beta Brahe (639.5 : 231.2).
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HINT: Once you have shown the Egg Case Fragment to Talana, you can exchange it for the Rosy Sphere at the Druuge homeworld, saving yourself the 100 crew that the Druuge would ordinarily charge you. |
Clear Spindle
The Clear Spindle is one of three devices used to repair the Broken Ultron for the Utwig.
- Refer to the Pkunk ally quest.
Rosy Sphere
The Rosy Sphere is one of three devices needed to repair the Broken Ultron for the Utwig.
- Purchased from the Druuge at the Zeta Persei (946.9 : 280.6) star system. Cost: 100 crew or one Mycon Deep Child fragment. The Mycon fragments are required in the quest to get the the Mycon Sun Device so you should get the Mycon Sun Device first.
(Note: if you purchase the Rosy Sphere with crew and never sell crew to the Druuge again, you will not suffer an RU increase for slave-trading)
Aqua Helix
The Aqua Helix is one of three devices needed to repair the Broken Ultron for the Utwig. There are 3 ways to obtain it:
- Tell the Thraddash (Delta Draconis I (253.5 : 835.8)) to attack the Ur-Quan's enemies, then go to Zeta Draconis (277.6 : 867.3) while the fleet is gone.
- Take the Umgah Caster to the Ilwrath and command them to attack the Thraddash. The Thraddash will be too busy fighting the Ilwrath to stop you from taking the Helix.
- If you manage to destroy 25 Thraddash ships (ships destroyed at their worlds don't count), they will admire and respect you and form a new culture to fit your example. After doing this, you may travel to Zeta Draconis and retrieve the artifact unharmed.
Broken Ultron
Finally, the last piece. The Broken Ultron itself.
- Make contact with the Supox (e.g. at Beta Librae I (741.4 : 912.4)). If you are friendly, the Supox will give you the broken Ultron.
A Powerful Bomb
- Repair the Ultron, then bring it to the Utwig. The Utwig and Supox will attack the Kohr-Ah, and also tell you the location of the Utwig Bomb (Zeta Hyades VIb (850.0 : 937.2)), suggesting that you get it.
- The Druuge will be at the planet when you arrive, and you will have to fight with them.
Taalo Shield
The Taalo Shield is a device that stops the Dnyarri from being able to control you mind. Since you will get a Dnyarri soon, this device is important.
- Go to Delta Vulpeculae 2c (372.1 : 261.9), in Orz space. The Shield is on 2c, a moon in this system. It is guarded by Orz, but they will allow you through if you are friendly.
Talking Pet
This creature was discovered by the Arilou and restored by the Umgah, who also accidentally unlocked the mental powers that are totally suppressed in most Talking Pets.
- Bring the Taalo Shield to Beta Orionis (197.8 : 596.8). The Talking Pet will try to have you kill yourself, but the Taalo Shield will stop him. He then summons several Umgah to attack you. Fight off the Umgah Drones.
- Once the Drones are defeated, you can take the Talking Pet. The grateful Umgah will hail you as a hero, give you 500 biological data units as a reward... then immediately attack you, since heroes are boring. To make the attack interesting, they will graciously give you several Umgah Drones-take them and run!
Optional Quests
Burvix Caster
This device is an alternative to the Umgah Caster. The Melnorme can tell you about the Burvixes and where to find their homeworld.
- Go to Arcturus (964.5 : 579.1). The Caster is on a moon orbiting the first planet.
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HINT: Once you get the Umgah Caster, a better use for this Caster surfaces: Load up the Flagship with empty High-Efficiency Fuel Tanks and go to Zeta Persei. The Druuge will fill your fuel tanks to the brim in exchange for the Burvix Caster. This fuel can be used or returned to the Starbase for huge amounts of RUs. |
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HINT: You cannot perform this free fuel trade if you have already done the mission to acquire the "Powerful Bomb" as the Druuge will be hostile to you from that point on. |
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HINT: Instead of the "Fuel-Trick" above, you can exchange the Burvix Caster for the Rosy Sphere, one of the replacement parts for the Ultron. This way, you can avoid paying the Druuge with crew. |
Ilwrath Removal
- First, acquire one of the hypercasters:
- the Burvixese Hyperwave Broadcaster or
- the Umgah Caster from the Spathi ally quest.
- Go to the Ilwrath home system Alpha Tauri (022.9 : 366.6) and use the Umgah Caster. They will believe you to be the twin gods Dogar and Kazon, allowing you to command them to stop attacking the Pkunk.
The Ilwrath will attack the Thraddash, and the battle will annihilate both the Ilwrath AND the Thraddash Fleets.
Final Quest
Equip your ship, fly to the location of the Sa-Matra, Delta Crateris (620.0 : 593.5), use your Talking Pet to confuse the large Ur-Quan fleet, fight against the last ships guarding the Sa-Matra, then fight the Sa-Matra itself to get its shield down. Finally enter the Sa-Matra with your flagship, activate the bomb and get away with the escape-pod. Now watch the ending movie :-)
Optional Quests
These tasks are optional. While helpful, they do not need to be completed in order to finish the game.
Slylandro Probes
The Slylandro Probes belong to a race of creatures that live in a gas giant, Beta Corvi IV ( 033.3 : 981.2 ). You can learn about them from the Melnorme, who sell the location of their homeworld as "information about current events." In addition, the Thraddash and Zoq-Fot-Pik can both tell you what general direction the probes are coming from.
This section contained incorrect information. Some investigation will be needed before it can be fixed. In the mean time, here is what the present author knows:
- If you go directly to the Slylandro homeworld at Beta Corvi IV at 033.3 : 981.2, you will be unable to convince them that the probes are harmful. (You can ask about the probes as much as you like, but you will not be offered the option of informing them that the probes are attacking ships.) I did three things before I went there that I think may have had an effect: I waited for Hayes to warn me about the probes, I bought "current events" information from the Melnorme until they told me about the probes, and I lured a probe (it seems that there is usually one in the upper left of the Beta Corvi system if you arrive after Hayes has told you about the probes) to the vicinity of their planet and destroyed it there. After I did these things, I was able to inform them that the probes are destroying ships.
If you convince them that the probes are destroying ships, The Slylandro will give you a code to destroy any probe you meet. If you destroy the probes with the code you still get the RU.
The next time you return to Beta Corvi IV (even if it is immediately after you leave with the code), the Slylandro will inform you that they have succeeded in reprogramming a probe to seek out other probes and order them to self-destruct. From this point on, the number of probes will go down until you will no longer encounter them in the game.
The Melnorme Traders
Melnorme Traders are present at every super-giant star system in the game (if you don't see them when you reach the system, check the planets or wait for them to come out into view). Also, if your ship runs out of fuel and is dead in the water, a Trader will appear and offer to help. Finally, if you use either the Umgah or Burvix Caster, a Trader vessel is all but guaranteed to come looking for you.
Rainbow Worlds
- (862.5 : 700.0) Alpha Andromedae I
- (766.6 : 866.6) Beta Leporis I
- (039.5 : 745.8) Beta Pegasi I
- (853.4 : 879.7) Gamma Aquarii I
- (602.0 : 297.9) Gamma Kepler I
- (741.6 : 508.3) Gamma Reticuli I
- (996.0 : 904.2) Groombridge I
- (283.6 : 785.7) Epsilon Draconis I
- (543.7 : 827.0) Epsilon Lipi I
- (468.1 : 091.6) Zeta Sexantis I
Bio-Rich Worlds
- (178.7 : 033.8) Zeta Ptolemae I (Warning: class 6 weather)
- (258.3 : 375.0) Zeta Gruis I-A
- (287.5 : 404.1) Beta Ceti II-A
- (160.4 : 364.5) Alpha Herculis II, III (bad weather)
- (110.4 : 333.3) Delta Virginis II
- (079.1 : 327.0) Gamma Virginis I, VI
- (029.1 : 325.0) Alpha Virginis VI-A
- (114.0 : 184.7) Beta Volantis I-B
- (074.2 : 226.8) Procyon III-A, III-B
- (356.2 : 825.0) Iota Draconis I (Bad weather and dangerous animals; expect to lose crew even with a fully equipped lander. Also very mineral rich.)
- (372.1 : 261.9) Delta Vulpeculae VIII (Very mineral rich.)
- (026.7 : 364.5) Gamma Tauri II-B, III-B (IIb is extremely rich, some hostile)
- (160.1 : 174.6) Alpha Wolf IV-A (some tectonics, very nasty organisms, hard to kill), IVc (tect = 6, more organisms than data)
- (131.2 : 126.0) Delta Centauri II-A
- (335.4 : 235.4) Delta Mira I-A, I-D (tectonics, fast aggressive organisms), IIb (atm = 3, tect = 5, few organisms)
- (230.6 : 228.5) Alpha Saurus III