Rhombus Lord of Rigel User Guide
- October 27, 2023
- Rhombus
Table of Contents
Rhombus Lord of Rigel
INTRODUCTION
Initial work on what would become Lord of Rigel began one spring day in 2014.
We were discussing 4X Expand, Explore, Exploit, and Exterminate) space
strategy games.
At that time there had not been many in development for years. A few we had
followed in the early crowdtunding era changed scopes or didn’t appear that
they would ever release. So we sat down and worked out the basic outlines for
what we wanted to see in Lord ot Rigel, drawing on influences including
Babylon 5 and Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
We wanted a more in-depth tactical combat system, and some ideas that might
help with pacing the end game such as adding in elder species locked in a cold
war and grand menaces.
Lord of Rigel is the end result of nearly eight years of toward steps,
missteps, and restarts. Work on the version you are now playing began in
earnest in late 2019. While much has changed with space strategy games and the
world during the intervening years, we are pleased to bring you a game that
while in some ways may have evolved differently than our initial vision has in
others exceeded it.
Let’s shape the galaxy together!
Sincerely,
The Rhombus Studios Team
Early Access
Tutorial
Basic scenario to learn the game. Explore the Altair sector and establish
first contact with an alien species.
MAIN GAME
Generate galaxies with up to 256 stars. Play as one ot eight species: the
hive minded Aranids, diplomatic Humans, the warrior Katraxi, industrious
Ornithon, Selach traders, the expansionistic Tharrn, mysterious Xantus, or
telepathic Yalkai.
SKIRMISH
Mode with early game technologies and eight species to select from. Build
Custom ships and test them in batle.
MILITARY VICTORY
Conquer your foes or build lasting peace through diplomatic treaties.
ROADMAP
Additional Playable Species:
As Lord of Rigel develops through Early Access additional species with more
unique economy mechanics will be unlocked including the playable Synth and
Tulock. The mechanoid Synth consumes industry tor population growth while the
Tulock requires no tood production.
Elder Species:
The Arcturus and Rigelans, the Elder Species who declared themselves guardians
will also be present in-game.
Doomsday Clock:
The Doomsday Clock will mark galactic tension with the Elder Species and the
risk ot a second great war beginning.
Victory Conditions:
New victory conditions including the Galactic Council and research victories
will also become available.
Grand Menaces:
Extra galactic threats that will challenge even the Elder Species will be
revealed during Early Access.
Getting Started
Your first turn
Lord of Rigel involves many systems from managing your colonies, and fleets, researching technologies, and engaging in diplomacy and spycraft. As you play the game more game mechanics become available.
First Turn Tasks
Explore
Select your Heet at your homeworld and select a nearby star. To expand and build new colonies you need to explore other star systems to find good planets to expand to that can support populations and tood production.
Focus
Each ot your planets can be assigned a tocus. This can be Balanced, Agriculture, Industry, or Research. This assigns populations to optimize output fo that tocus. Set your homeworld to a focus or leave it Balanced.
Production
Select an item tor production in your homeworld’s build queue. A colony ship or outpost ship is a good first item.
Research
****Select a technology to research. Hydroponic Farms or Research Laboratories are good first fechnologies tor new players.
Press End Turn
Next Steps
Explore
Continue exploring with your Heets. Once they have reached all explorable stars in range you can continue exploring when you’ve built new colonies or outposts or researched new fuel technologies.
Expand
Once you’ve found a planet you can expand using Colony Ships. If a Heet in a system has a Colony Ship you can use the Colonize option to settle a new world.
Basic Reference
Key Resources
Population
The single most important resource are your citizens. Each unit of population is one billion people. Population growth and expansion is key to having a strong economy and representation on the galactic council.
BCs
Billions of credits. An empire-wide resource. Needed to maintain ships, buildings, and units. BCs are produced by taxing the population, trade freaties, buildings, trade depots, and exporting surplus.
Food
Food is needed to feed your empire to grow your population. Surplus tood is automatically shipped to planets not blockaded to planets that can not produce food. Unused food is sold for BCs.
Production
Used to produce ships, buildings, and units at a planet. Overproduction can create pollution.
Research
Research points are an empire-wide resource. All generated research points contribute to the technology you have selected to research.
Secondary Resources
Morale
Morale effects production output on planets. Pollution, starvation, and contict can all reduce morale. It morale is too low a planet risks rebelling.
Imports/ Exports
Excess food is imported and exported. This can be used to support planets that can not have their own tood production. It a system is blockaded or under quarantine imports and exports stop.
Pollution
Pollution is generated by excess production. This can reduce planet morale and food production.
Planet Information
Size
Planet size ettects the total population a planet can have and how much industry is supported betore pollution occurs.
Climate
Planet climate effects total population, pollution tolerance, and agricultural output of a planet. Many planet climates can not support any food production. Hostile climates can also increase building maintenance costs.
Minerals
Planet minerals effect total industrial output on a planet.
Gravity
Planetary gravity impacts productivity and maintenance costs if the gravity is different from your homeworld’s.
Basic Exploration
Stars
Different types of stars have higher and lower chances for habitable planets. Brighter stars (Blue) tend to have more mineral-rich planets while dimmer stars (Yellow-Red) have more organic-rich ones.
Nebulae
Nebulas slow down fleet movement and also can jam shields in combat. Planets within nebulas tend to be more mineral-rich.
Navigation
Hazards such as neutron stars and black holes can slow down fleets or prevent movement through an area outright while wormholes allow for near-instant travel.
Fuel
Ships are tree to move anywhere within fuel range. Fuel range is based on your best-researched fuel technology and sets a range from your colonies and outposts you can freely move within.
Fuel
General Bindings
Tactical Bindings
Common Issues
Some Text is Obstructed or Interface Panels Are Off-screen
The games officially support a 6: or 21: ultra wide screen aspect ratio.
Other resolutions might cause some of the Ul elements to be cut out or hidden.
To fix this, follow these steps:
Change resolution to a 16:9 or wider aspect ratio resolution, such as
1920×1080
Settings or Keybinding Issues
If you encounter issues with Settings or Keybindings, please try the
following steps:
Go to the Settings Menu press reset and close the menu.
If this does not work, close the game reopen it and follow the same step in
the main menu.
If that does not resolve the issue, close the game and delete the
PersistentSetings and InputMappings save files found in C: users YOUR USER
\AppDatalLocal\LordofRigel\ Saved\SaveGames
The game Does Not Initially Load if I switch Steam Accounts
If you have multiple Steam accounts and you switch between them please try the
following steps Verily the game integrity cache in Steam and try relaunching
the game.
If this does not resolve the issue delete the PersistentSettings and
InputMappings save files found in C: A Users YOUR USER \APPpDatalLocal
\LordofRigel\ Saved\ SavedGames
Game Does Not Remember Last Monitor in Multimonitor Setup
Lord of Rigel will default to monitor 0. If you wish to change what window the
game default loads change your monitor 0 in your windows settings.
In Windows, you can use hotkeys to move the window on launch:
Shilft+WindowstArrow Keys
MY PLANETS ARE NOT PRODUCING ITEMS (BUILDINGS, SHIPS)
If no population is assigned to industry items will not be constructed. Check
your population count and set the colony focus to industry. Colony focus is
intended to keep planets relatively self-sufficient. If you do this make sure
there is enough food in your empire to feed the planet!
MY EMPIRE IS NOT PRODUCING RESEARCH
If no population is assigned to research in your empire new technologies can
not be researched. Check your population count and set the colony focus to
research. Research and construct buildings that provide research bonuses such
as Research Laboratories to speed up research.
I’M NOT ENCOUNTERING OTHER SPECIES
Keep exploring and researching fuel cell technologies to expand your range.
Outposts and new colonies will also expand your explorable range.
I CAN’T QUEUE MULTIPLE CONSTRUCTION ITEMS
Use the left shift while clicking to queue five items. items on the left side
of the build menu (buildings, projects) can not be constructed multiple times
per colony while buildings on the right (ships, units) can.
SOME TECHNOLOGIES ARE GREYED OUT IN THE TUTORIAL
This is intentional so players can safely learn about research selection early
on. The main game does not grey out tech selections unless yoU are missing a
prerequisite tech.
HOW DO I SPLIT MY FLEETS?
Clicking on the ship icons in the fleet movement menu selects and unselects
ships. Unselected ships remain behind when issuing a new move order which
splits your fleet. If a Heet is in transit it can not be split.
HOW TO I CANCEL FLEET MOVEMENT?
If you have issued a move order, click on the Heet and select cancel in the
Fleet movement window. This will cancel the current move order. If you have
hit the end turn and the fleet is in transit and you have not researched
communications technologies you will not be able to issue orders.
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
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