Kuutei Senki:Gameplay

The World Map
The map that you're thrown into after the intro. This is the place where you visit various submap locations of the world of Kuutei Senki to undertake quests and challanges. Most storyline-related locations can be visited only once, and once the quest is completed, the area would become inaccessible. There are a few exceptions like Battle Island Blossom where you can fight certain battles repeatedly.

Right-clicking here invokes a menu which contains the following options:
 * Save (Red PC button),
 * Load (Green PC button),
 * Cards collected so far in all playthoughs of all routes (card pack button),
 * Achievements in current playthrough and how many times each route has been cleared (purple board icon),
 * Settings (Anchor icon).

The Submap "Board"
Once you select a submap, if it's a storyline mission, then shortly after introduction your ship will be placed in your starting point in the map. If you select Battle Island Blossom, you'll be allowed to choose your contest type and then then the round you want to play/replay, and then be placed on the submap board. The tiles in the submap board are called "masses".

In submap, when it's your turn, you can take the following options:
 * 1st option: Move: Use roulette to move. What numbers will appear on roulette will be determined by your current altitude. For ground level, you can advance 1-4 masses. For cloud level, you can advance 1-6 masses. If above clouds, you can advance 4-9 masses on map depending on what you score on the roulette.
 * 2nd option: Change altitude: You can increase or decrease the altitude of your ship by 1 level from the submenu; 1st choice increases altitude, 2nd one decreases. If you change your altitude using this option, you can't use the roulette to move on the same turn. 
 * 3rd option: Card: Views your card inventory. Here, you can view and sort your various types of cards, use event cards, and select upto 5 crew members who will participate in battles. You may use only one event card per turn, with the exception of card E001, which you can use as many as you want (they allow you to save on submap). Some event cards, after being used, still let you change altitude or move, some do not.
 * 4th option: Status: View the condition and stats of all the ships on map, as well as their crew and cards in their inventory.
 * 5th option: See Map: Lets you examine various masses of the map, calculate how many masses (at least) will it take to move to a certain map, and what a certain mass does (shop, battle, card+ etc.).
 * 6th option: Dark Resident (?): Summon Black Eushully-chan to give you ownership of the mass you're currently standing on (available only if the tile is empty, as in doesn't trigger any actions on being stepped on) at the cost of some money. If the tile is already owned by the enemy, you enter a mini-game where you have to choose the right option to succeed in taking over their territory, or the take over will fail and the money will be wasted. If you already own it, you can increase the level of your territory by paying more money. What owning masses does will be explained later in the next section.

Various Masses
In the tactical map, the "masses" i.e. tiles have various symbols on them, each of them triggering an event if you (or anyone else) step on them. Some of them require that you move the exact no. of masses needed to land directly on them, some will be activated only by passing over them; no need to stop exactly at that tile.
 * UP = Increases the altitude of the ship by 1. Must land exactly on mass to activate.
 * DOWN = Lowers altitude by 1. Must land exactly on mass to activate.
 * Crossed Swords = You can attack any 1 enemy of your choice. Must land exactly on mass to activate.
 * Leaves and Crown = Something positive happens in favor of you, such as you getting to attack anyone, stealing money from someone, advancing an arbitrary no. of masses, reaching starting point for repairs etc. However, depending on the situation, the event is not always neccessarily "good" for your objective. Must land exactly on mass to activate.
 * Bat Icon = Something bad happens to you, such as lost of a random percentage of money, taking damage by a random percentage, getting stuck of a certain no. of turns, getting your engines frozen (so that you always score 1 or 0 on roulette), getting pushed backwards and various other handicaps. Must land exactly on mass to activate.
 * SHOP = Summon Eushully-chan to buy, sell and organize items. Just pass over it to use it, no need to land on it exactly.
 * Warp Hole = Get teleported to a specific tile. Must land exactly on mass to activate.
 * +C+ = Gain a random battle/event card. Must land exactly on mass to activate.
 * -C- = Randomly LOSE a battle/event card. Must land exactly on mass to activate.
 * S = Starting point, if you reach here while it's active, your ship gets repaired (if damaged) and the corresponding amount of Lots is deducted from your purse (even if that causes your balance to go negative) and a certain bonus amount of money for reaching the Starting Point, which increases every time you reach the starting point. You only get these benefits from starting point of your color (Red), and if it's not active, you don't get these benefits at all. Pass over it to trigger. If an enemy lands exactly on your starting point, it gets deactivated. You can disable enemy start points the same way. Pass over the masses with anchor icons to activate your own starting point for use.
 * Anchor Icon = Checkpoints. Passing over them each time will activate the starting point. Each time you use the start point as mentioned above or the enemy steps directly on them, they get deactivated and you'll need to reactivate them using these masses.
 * Empty Mass = Nothing happens if you step on them. However, these are the masses you can use Black Eushully-chan to take over, and raise the "level of ownership" on them with additional money.
 * Lv X = A mass that's owned by someone, "Lv X" determines the level of ownership. The color denotes which side owns that mass; red means you, any other color is usually enemy. Nothing happens if you land on your own masses, but the next turn you can increase the level of ownership using Black Eushully-chan. If you land on an enemy-owned mass, you will have to pay Lots to the enemy (and vice versa if enemy steps on your masses), but the next turn you can attempt taking over their land by summoning Eushully-chan and playing a mini-game (jackpot-style) where you have to pick the right choice to determine whether you succeed taking over or not. The level of a mass depends how much Lots the enemy will have to pay the owner upon stepping on them, and how difficult it will be to take over the land.

Additionally, there are many spinning card pick-ups placed on the map which give you predetermined (as in, not random, always the same in all playthroughs) battle, event, or "important" cards. Blue cards can be picked up by any ship, you or enemy. The rare golden cards can only be picked up by you. Also, there are spinning coin pick-ups placed on maps that give you a fixed amount of Lots. They can be picked up by both you or other ships. To pick up these one time pick-ups, you must: 1) be at the lowest altitude possible on that mass, 2) must land on the mass containing the pickup directly; passing over the mass won't do.

Using Event Cards and Other Tabs in Cards View Screen
If you select "card" from the in-map menu, you're taken to the cards view screen. The screen has 4 tabs: However, any number of E001 cards can be used in one turn, they allow you to save on map, and then let you both use another event card and turn the roulette.
 * Crew: The leftmost tab, views the crew onboard your ship. You can select or unselect the crew members that will man the ship and take part in battle. Upto 5 crew members can be selected, and their order of attack in battle will be based on the order you select them. In and outside of battle, only the passive skills of the selected crew may trigger. Those onboard the ship but not selected as active crew from this screen will not participate in battle and nor will their passive skills trigger.
 * Battle: View the list of your battle cards. Here, you can turn specific battle cards "on" or "off" by clicking on them. Only cards that are turned "ON" will appear during battle, those turned "OFF" will not appear in battle even if you're at the corresponding height. Turn off cards that you think is too valuable to use in the upcoming batles of the current scenario, or to make only specific cards appear (if you're planning a special attack that you know the combinations of).
 * Event: You may use only one event card per turn. They cannot be used during battle at all and are essentially the "consumable items" in this game. Most event cards, such as move multiplier, healing cards, altitude-changing cards, damaging cards (directly, not by means of battle), cards that drop traps, handicap others' movements etc. allow you to spin the roulette to move after being used. However, events that involve the movement of a ship(you or enemy), instantly trigger a battle or summon Eushully-chan for shopping etc. do not allow you to use the roulette, using them will end your turn immediately.
 * Important: Cards awarded for achieving certain feats and map pieces required for progressing with the storyline. However, this section also lists the "Basic Battle" cards available. You can have any one of the Basic Battle cards available at a time, and it can be changed at your base (to be explained later).