This is an overview of some basic concepts in the game. For more comprehensive information, please see the HELP command in-game.

Races

The complexity of this question can only really be answered by playing each race yourself. However, here are the basic ideas:

ALIENS- Attack very fast, have acid blood that causes damage to opponents. Disadvantages are that aliens tend to be quite fragile, and they severly lack ranged weapons.

PREDATORS: Have a very high healing rate and are strong in both melee and ranged. Preds can become invisible by aquiring a shiftsuit.

MARINES: Synthetics are strong in hand-to-hand combat, have good snipe power, and very rarely run out of movement even in difficult terrain. However, synthetics cannot heal because of their non-organic nature; therefore the only way a synthetic can regain full hitpoints is by dying Humans can heal between battles, and have lower hitpoints than synthetics. Humans have the strongest snipe in the game.

Stats and Attributes

To see a detailed character sheet, type score.

To view only your current stats type attr.

Your stats determine how well your skills are, IE, if you want to hit people you need coordination, if you want to dodge you need agility.

-Maximum stats for each attribute is 210.

-The skills are respectively listed under the attribute they rely upon, you can view these by typing practice.

Equipment

Each race has different types of equipment, but it is roughly divided up into two types, EQ and MEQ.  EQ is what you can get for free.  Each race has a location near their recall/"Guild", that houses some starting equipment for them.

 -PREDATORS-> Up from recall in the crate.

-MARINES-> East, then up from recall..

-ALIENS-> In the pool of blood located in your recall room.

MEQ stores are located throughout the mud. Recently the locations have changed, so please ask on your race channel for help in locating stores. When you reach a store, type list to display the store's inventory.

Experience/Currency

Mission Points (MPs) are used on AvP in place of the Gold and Experience found on most other MU*s. MPs are used to buy MEQ and to promote yourself to the next level.

You receive MPs every time you kill something. The best way to gain MPs quickly is to kill mobs, not players. You do get MP for killing players, but it's not as effective as killing mobs. Pkilling is encouraged/required on AvP so get used to doing it, and also get used to dying. For now, try to avoid PK battles until your character is stronger.

Levels

Leveling is not automatic as it is on some MUDs due to the fact that here on AvP, you must decided whether to level or save your MP to buy MEQ (usually the latter is the best choice). To level, type promote and follow the directions given. If you need to see how many MP you have, type score and read the line that says "You have # mision points." Make sure you practice your skills each time you level!

-PREDATOR -> One south and a couple west, it's a forest, kill the castrated yautja and iz'te'ets.

-ALIENS -> There are impregnated humans around your recall area, it's a big square, you can go two north and then east or west, just follow.  Should be easy enough to figure out.

-MARINES -> South, South, West, South from recall, kill the running aliens, get their heads and give them to dr. hentir, who is South, South, East Up, West, West.

Abilities

Abilities are covered in the Abilities section of the AvPmud.com website.

Skills

To see your skills type practice.  Each skill is listed under it's respective attribute, IE, the skill melee uses your coordination attribute, healing uses your health attribute and so on. It also displays your current spare practice points and the maximum that you can train a skill up to.  

To practice your available skills, type prac {name of skill}. You must do this in your race's recall location. 

Some skills use more than one point to increase, be sure to note the cost before practicing.

To unlearn a skill type unprac {name of skill} this must also be done at your recall.

Guns

First you must get the appropriate ammunition, which is most commonly smartgun ammo drums (for marines) and energy packs (for preds). Then type rel.

This is called Sniping. To do it, you must be wielding a ranged weapon. Then, type shoot {name of target} <{direction, optional}>. You can hit targets up to two rooms away with most guns.

Aliens cannot use guns but may have other skills that work in similar ways. Check with your local Queen for details.

Space

The simplest way to get to space is to use a ship. However, ships are often not available as they get stuck on various planets when people die after using them. It is possible to traverse space without a ship if you have an air source. The best form of this is MEQ, but some newbie eq also functions as vacuum-safe. For Predators, a rebreather works. For Marines, a small oxygen tank with mouthpiece. For Aliens, an upgraded emergency breather.

Various planets and other objects are located throughout space, and most are at fixed coordinates or in a specific orbit, making them easy to locate. Here are some coordinates of common planets/ships:

[00-00-00] The Corporate Offices of AvP

[16-04-00] LV-426 (Alien Homeworld)

[02-01-00] Yaut (Predator Homeworld)

[03-01-00] Tierra

[02-04-00] Ceres

[02-16-07] Earth

[19-08-04] Pelure

[11-05-02] Rhikora

[11-05-02] U.S.S Organon (PK Zone)

[10-04-00] Exodus (space station)

[03-07-02] U.S.S Socrates

[06-06-06] Weyland-Yutani

When a ship is available, enter it and find the bridge or control area. 
When you reach the bridge, sit down. Then use the command drive {direction} to move the ship. To enter planets or other ships type drive in {name of object}.

Clans
Clans are a place for players, usually higher level players, to have their own start points with amenities such as teleporters and heal rooms. They can make the game more fun to play, and are a good place to make close friends on the MUD.

To view the current clans on AvP, type clans. To apply to a clan, first you must meet the reqs for that clan. Most of these are posted on the Usenet Terminal, or you can ask a member of the clan who is on at the time. To apply to a clan type apply {number of clan on the clans list}.