# Quick Start

| This tutorial will walk you through building the simplest of all possible missions: a one-on-one fighter duel. This will be a bare-bones mission (for example, it will have no briefing), but you'll be playing it in less than two minutes. First, launch `Fred2.exe`. It's in the same directory as the main freespace program. The screen should look something like the picture at right.

The green ship you see is the player. The player has to be called Alpha 1, so you have to put that ship into Alpha wing.

To do that, first click on the ship or drag a rectangle around it with the mouse. The ship should turn from green to white.

| Now, find the button that looks like this, near the top center of the screen. Click it once.

A dialog box pops up. Type `Alpha` and click OK.

Now we need an opponent. Find this selection box, a little bit to the right of that button. Click on the little triangle on the right side and a menu will pop up. Scroll down and pick `SF Mara`. (It will be in red.) |

Holding down the Ctrl key, left click on the grid about 300 meters in front of Alpha 1. This will create an SF Mara, which is hostile by default. The main part of the FRED2 window should look like the picture at right. (The grey information rectangle will disappear if you move the mouse.)

Okay, that's it! Time to save the mission and give it a try.

Pick Save As... from the File Menu. Call the mission `duel.fs2`. Do not change directories; all missions have to go in a certain directory, and FRED2 puts them there by default.

Finally, pick Run FreeSpace from the File Menu. Go to the Tech Room, choose the Mission Simulator, and check Single Missions.

Your mission should appear as `untitled`. Jump in your ship and blast that Shivan fighter!