Test Center Survival Guide
By Star_Ranger

Many times since I began on Test Center I have heard the stories of folks loosing houses, harvesters, or resources. I thought I’d write this to help prepare folks for what to expect on TC as well as how best to prevent something like this from happening to you. I suppose this comes from my experiences on TC. I, also, have lost two houses and a fleet of small harvesters. Test Center is there for testing and WILL go down unexpectedly for possibly extended periods of time; you can ask anyone who has played there for any length of time and they will agree.

Being prepared can make a great deal of difference on how positive your experience is on Test Center while testing. Below are some basic tips that can save you some frustration. I welcome any other tips or advice that other testers can also offer:

House Maintenance:
I would recommend saving up to pay on a house enough for seven days minimum, more if you can. Even if you don’t like where you placed it at least you will have enough on it to keep it when/if you move it. I am sure many would recommend even more on a house (like a month).

Harvester Maintenance:
Like houses if you plan to keep the harvester I’d recommend seven days at least. Some like myself use throwaway personals; these types can be used to whatever level of risk you are comfortable with.

Administrative Rights:
Test Center offers three characters to play. Always add your alternate characters as administrators to your houses and harvesters; this can save you frustration if one of your characters cannot log in. Also, if you have a close friend you trust you can add them as an admin or just hopper access as well.

Splitting Resources:
Another tip would be not to put all your eggs in one basket. If you are sharing out a house it is easy to split up equipment and resources to some of your other characters. If not on other characters, you can store some in your house, some in the bank, and some in your backpack.

Stocking Vendors:
Vendors have had some nasty bugs in the past. I’d recommend stocking lightly as possible, but this requires you to restock more often. I am sure some of the master merchants on TC have better pointers on this.

Check the Boards:
One of your best defenses against getting stung on TC is to stay aware of the issues others are having. Check the bug threads and Test Center forums for issues and possible workarounds. Some one else’s testing can save you from falling victim to the same bug. You can, of course, still test it just using one unit of resource or one of your alternate characters specifically for testing critical bugs.

It is important to note that even be taking these steps you *still risk losing* while playing on Test Center. We all take that risk by playing in a testing environment. One example of this is the conversion of my harvesters to BER1’s :/ I still had to replace all of my harvesters. Even taking these steps to minimize your risk, I would still say to expect loss while playing on Test Center. There are some of us that enjoy testing the new stuff first and that is reward enough to endure the risks.