so i can't unzip the files to it's default aurora location it's unzipping into my downloads folder but it calls itself aurora1.51full something like that anyway. also is there a manual for this game that tells us how various things work?

Another question. I've read about rescue a ship without fuel in aurora preview to C. joining another fleet will cause to divide fuel and refuel a ship without fuel. Is it true for this version of aurora?
I have a cargo ship with no fuel.

Thanks!

Darren,

For your window size question, there is a mod available here which can help. I've Never used it personally but it has helped some other blind players I know.

You really will want to look into a larger monitor longer term if you can, just because you'll be dependent on the game mode continuing his work. Admittedly, he's likely to, but just something to be aware of.

You have to use the mod. the dev won't  support small screens.

Darren,

Yes, drop the mod into the game folder and run it. Make sure it's game version 1.95. YOu'll have a configuration screen which lets you pick a bunch of stuff, and you want to enable resizable windows.

Darren,

The reason you aren't seeing what I mentioned in the second part of the guide, which was written some time ago, is that the version of the game you've downloaded isnew and does not currently have keyboard shortcuts. They will be added in the next version, which is going to be released some time in the next few weeks.

Part three of my guide was updated to the newest version, however.

Darren,

At the moment there isn't anything more from my articles, as I'm trying to see if any alternative presentation might be better. THere's a lot on the official game forum, though, and people here or on Skype who can answer questions. One problem with the game is that it's hard to explain in isolation, and there are already tons of tutorials explaining the non-accessibility issues, like how to do ship design.

ok i joined it thanks london

Darren,

I can't really help if I don’t know specific windows you're having trouble with. The game mechanics are largely the same between the older and new versions, but the UI is better in the latter.

If you're trying to do ship design, for instance, you need to look at the Class Design window, which has two tree views, one for components you can use and another for existing ship designs. There is also a third for components on the current ship but that is hidden behind a radio button by default.

Ship design is one of the few places you need to double click, the rest of the game screens are navigable with tab and arrows. Still, unless you have specific areas you're trying to solve, it's hard to help. The game does not hold anyone's hand. Ship design is a good first step, and possibly the most complex screen you'll have to deal with.

Darren,

That is literally the main screen of the game. It is the place from which you access all other windows. It is also the system map, but we don't really need to use most of the map controls for navigation.

If you don't explore the other windows you won't begin to understand what's going on.

You should look at some playthroughs on youtube.

Darren,

No, there are currently no long-form playthroughs of Aurora by the blind. LordLondon and myself were thinking of doing one, possibly sharing the database back and forth over a few years to demonstrate how things work. That's still in the future, however.

A good set of first steps for the game is something like this...

1. Open the Officer’s window, by tabbing to "Commanders," and pressing enter. Despite the name it is used to deal with all sorts of officers, including civilian administrators/governors.
2. Check the "Automated assignments," checkbox, to let the game handle the problem of assigning ship commanders and such without you having to worry about it.
3. Tab through to find the tree view with a list of officer categories. Expand "Administrators," at the bottom, and find a governor who is at least admin rating 3, or whatever rating is required for Earth, from the population screen. Tab through the rest of the fields and find their list of bonuses, read them. It's the first list.
4. Repeat until you find a person you like, and finally tab to the third list, which is the list of potential assignments. Select "A3, Earth," or whatever world name you chose, and go back and hit "assign."
5. You'll find the second list now shows they were assigned as governor for Earth. If you open up Earth's colony summary and explore the screen a bit with screen review, you'll see their info listed.

This is a step-by-step process which will work the same no matter how many colonies you have.

Research, which is also important, works similarly. You have several lists of current projects, research fields, and scientists. You select a field you want, a project within that field, and a scientist, and the game defaults to assigning them the maximum number of research labs they can handle, or the max you have available, whichever is lower. You then hit "create," and suddenly you have a new project in your list.

Research of some kind and assigning a governor are both things that will need to be done at the beginning of every game, and will be easier once version 1.10 comes out with more support for keyboard shortcuts.