CASTES 

Alien nations have several castes with unique attributes and goals. Castes can be either aggressive or harmless and their allegiance to one another can be either ally, enemy or neutral. Certain castes can also be found as crew members serving aboard craft of another caste. For example, a military caste craft might typically contain paramedics, system engineers, flight engineers and marines.

The race of class can be TERRAN, SYRION, KANDORIAN, EMPIRIAN, VESPERON, DROIDAN, FALKERIE, MANDORIAN, GAMMULAN, ZELON, VALKERIE, or CREDIAN.

AGGRESSIVE CASTES

1. MILITARY

This type of caste is combat oriented and includes the player. This type will always attack raiders, insurgents and other hostile classes and are responsible for maintaining law and order within the region they're in.

2. EARTHCOM

The thorn in the side of GALCOM commanders. These guys, like Police, are part of the auto-generate class and are created in regions close to where pirates and criminals are found. An Earthcom craft is also automatically created when the player becomes a rebel or the court-martial flag is set. Each time the player destroys one, another is created and dispatched to find him. Once they find him, he must agree to escort them to GALCOM HQ. Once the player accepts, COMMLINK is activated and his career ends if he is found guilty.

3. POLICE

Every alien nation has it's own police force operating within their regions. This caste attacks raiders and criminals only. Attacking this caste causes you to be attacked by them each time you enter a region controlled by police castes of the alien nation you attacked. In this manner, even if the Terrans are friends of the Empirians, attacking an Empirian police caste will result in your ship being attacked each time you enter the region. To relax the rules a little and address gameplay issues, as long as the player does not destroy the caste, on exit from the region, all will be forgotten and the incident treated as an accident. Police are part of the auto-generate class of castes and are created at random in most all space regions.

4. MARINE

These guys are used for ground combat and security detail at facilities.

5. RAIDER

Generic caste which attacks other castes regardless of alliance, for gain. They are part of the autogenerate class and are created at random in various regions. Raiders will usually flee if Police or Earthcom castes are detected within the region. Raiders in a region will affect the existence of castes such as traders, commercial, explorers etc and can severely impact the growth of the region.

6. INSURGENT

This caste is the thorn in GALCOM’s side and is found scattered across the galaxy. They are not raiders but will usually either engage in combat with GALCOM or EarthCOM military ships if detected. Insurgents usually plan precise attacks against Terran assets in space and on planets.

7. ASSASSIN

These guys are deadly and are usually created in areas where diplomats are found. Once these guys detect a diplomat caste, they will attempt to destroy it. They will also attack ships that contain special guest characters scripted to appear in ACM scenarios.  They are part of the auto-generate class and are created five jumps from a recently created diplomat caste. They will then seek out and attempt to capture it. If a diplomat caste containing a special guest character is detected, it will be given the highest priority for attack.

8. MERCENARY

The typical hired gun. They are part of the auto-generate code and will by default be allied to the nearest fleet which they are created near. Like assassins, they have advanced weapon systems and will attack diplomat and military castes.

9. CRIMINAL

Anytime you encounter this caste, you should attack them and take them to the nearest friendly station for a reward. Since they have often escaped from prisons, they may sometimes have access to advanced ships that they have stolen from their captors. They are part of the auto-generate class and are created at random in various regions. They will flee from EarthCOM, Police and GALCOM castes and usually attack defenseless castes for gain.

HARMLESS CASTES

10. EXPLORER

Due to the vast expanse of space, there are several uninhabited planets and moons. This caste is generated by alien nations at intervals to explore the defined region. It is usually accompanied by colonist and worker castes. All this class does is fly to the region, hang around for awhile, leave a probe and return home. If the planet or moon is uninhabited and not claimed by any other Alien Nation, they will leave the colonist and worker castes behind to cultivate the planet and find another place to colonize. The colonist and worker castes will then automatically start to build cities and structures on the planet on a priority scale. Including military castes in a class with explorers ensures that they can defend themselves in case of an attack.

11. COLONIST

This caste contains personnel and families for cultivating a planet and is usually found with exploration castes. When created, the population of the planet will increase and colonies, cities, etc, will start to sprout up all over the planet. This caste determines the population of the planet.

12. SCIENTIST

This caste is usually part of an exploration class and permits the rapid evolvement of an alien nation's planet. These guys will depart from a world as soon as it has built at least two factories. Scientists being present in a region will boost that region's development by increasing it's CLASS level.

13. DIPLOMAT

This caste often contains special characters scripted to appear in ACM Missions. They travel from station to station at random. Diplomats containing special characters will normally beam the special character to the player's ship if the diplomat caste is under attack. It is then up to the player to make sure the guest arrives safely at his/her destination.

14. TRADER

This caste is responsible for the advancement of the galaxy. They travel from region to region at random. Some trader castes containing special artifacts or information about their whereabouts can be created. Most trader castes will deploy mining drones on planet and moons. Once they dock at a starstation or starbase, it will then contain more trade items. They are part of the auto-generate class and are created at random in various regions. They then visit each station or base in the galaxy until they go out of scope. Traders increase the TECH level of a region they're in.

15. PARAMEDIC

This caste contains advanced medical equipment, which they use to assist other castes during combat. It is a violation to destroy this type of caste even by accident. No alien nation attacks this caste. Having this caste in a class makes the life factor of personnel within the class increase at a high rate and their fatigue factor drops rapidly. They are part of the auto-generate class.

16. WORKER

Used for structural repairs and construction. This caste being present in an area or class will accelerate the rebuild time of objects.

17. COMMERCIAL

This caste consists of commercial personnel and operates similarly to traders but in addition are also responsible for the development of new cities.

18. JOURNALIST

Your typical annoying caste. These guys are part of the auto-generate class and are generated at random in regions of conflict. They are never attacked, by any class but may be caught in the crossfire. If this caste is in an area where a violation occurs, any illegal action the player performs will result in a violation point being levied. Destroying them has the same penalties as paramedics.

19. TOURIST

This caste is part of the auto-generate class and travel from region to region at random. Anytime this caste reaches a planet, a random number of resource points are added to that planet.

20. HACKER

These guys are a general nuisance. They have access to advanced computer technology, which they can use to disrupt the systems of craft within their vicinity, leading to systems malfunctioning or even taking damage, until such time as they are out of range or are destroyed. They are part of the autogenerate class and are created at random in various regions.

21. SENGINEER

These are system engineers who are used for system repairs. They are usually found aboard ships of other castes.

22. FENGINEER

These are flight engineers used for flight operations. They are usually found aboard ships of other castes.