Step 1: How to start.
Okay, first things first, one of the most common mistakes I see is where someone tries to develop each structure equally. This is not a good idea, since some structures are naturally better than others, and you actually need certain levels of certain structures in order to develop efficiently.
So, regarding "Urban Structures", "Solar Plants", and "Gas Plants", you should only build these as they are needed, rather than trying to keep pace with your other structure levels. In addition, you should only build the power plant which is most beneficial to your base. There's no point to building Solar Plants if your base only has Solar Energy of 1, for example. The only exception is if you have a planet which has equal levels of Solar Energy and Gas, then you can alternate between the two to save credits.
The very first thing that should be built on a base are Metal Refineries. Regardless of how much Metal is available at a base, these are still useful because they're the only way a starting player can initially improve their Construction rating, not to mention that each one increases the base's Economy by 1 (which means you earn more money each hour). I personally recommend building at least four before anything else (except for Urban Structures and Solar/Gas Plants, since they're necessary for a base to grow).
After that, the next priority is Research Labs. You only need one to start off with, but you will ultimately need a minimum of eight in order to build an Outpost Ship, which is the only way to make new bases. In addition, without Research Labs, you have no way to build other ships or a lot of the base structures. So, once you have a Research Lab built, start researching Energy and Computer technology. You will need eight levels of Energy (and 4 of Stellar Drive, which becomes available at Energy 6) in order to unlock Warp Drive, which is the prerequisite for Outpost Ships.
However, you also need to research other technologies; Computer technology allows you to send one fleet away from your base for each level, plus you unlock Robotic Factories once you reach Computer 2. Robotic Factories are like Metal Refineries, except that they increase Construction and Production by a base of 2, rather than based on the planet's Metal. Because of that, they're good on any planet, and work well to alternate building with Metal Refineries. It will also not hurt to research at least one level of Laser and one level of Armour technology while you're getting started.
The other structure that is absolutely needed for an Outpost Ship is, naturally, a Shipyard. However, you will need eight of these in order to build Outpost Ships. In addition, don't bother building any other ships until after you have at least researched Stellar Drive, as it is only then that you can send ships to other star systems and regions. It is even worth waiting until you reach Warp Drive to build anything, as Scout Ships are much faster than any other ship in the game.
Another reason not to build ships except for initial exploration is because a new player's bases cannot be attacked for seven days. There's no point in spending credits to defend your bases for the first several days, especially since the first two ship types (Fighters and Bombers) are not capable of moving on their own. And a third reason is because you can only have one fleet away from your base(s) for each level of Computer technology, so you can't have too many different fleets in any case.
Anyway, after you've built eight Research Labs, researched Warp Drive, and built eight Shipyards, you will be able to build an Outpost Ship (it costs 100 credits, though). Once it's ready, just send it to an empty planet and choose Build Base from the options after selecting it from the Fleet menu. The initial cost for a base is 50 credits, but it doubles each time, so it will become quite expensive to build bases as you progress.
So the conclusion of step 1 is this:
8 Research Labs
8 Shipyards
As many Metal Refinery and Robotics Factories as allowed too without wasting too many credits.
As many Urban Structures and Solar/Gas plants as needed to build the above.
Researched the following:
Energy: 10
Computer: 2 ( You should reach 10 as soon as possible tho )
Laser: 4
Stellar Drive: 4
Warp Drive: 1 ( You should reach 4 as soon as possible tho due to travel speed )
Warp tech is a must, because later on the larger ships will need a higher tech.
Weapon techs will be catchy at first, the only one you should really get first off is the laser tech, for fighters only.
Computer and energy will unlocked econ centers that will help your credits out.
If you have completed the above, then you will be able to build Outpost ships which allows you to expand your empire.
Before you do expand your empire, you add 1 fighter on your base so that people can not attack you with a scout. By this time you should be about lvl 6, so you should also start thinking about adding some sort of defensive structures. Among the amount of technologies that you have discovered with your current research you will now also have Plasma Turrets. You should build one of those while you wait for your Outpost Ship to reach it’s destination.
Step 2: Choosing a suitable planet for your next base.
Arid--This astro type is pretty much average except in area (where it excels), so it's a good choice for a base, though other astro types are better.
Asteroid--This astro type has a low fertility and area, but it has a high metal, and more importantly, it is the only astro type with 2 crystals, thus meaning that it will have access to crystal mines, which means it will provide a relatively high economy. Very good choice for a base, though you don't want to only have asteroids because terraforming will be very costly in the long run. Perfect for Economy bases.
Craters--This astro type has a high metal rating, but a low fertility and relatively low area, and the crystals there are more of a red herring than anything. Avoid for the most part.
Crystalline--The "Holy Grail" of astro types, since despite its average area and low fertility, it has the best crystal rating of all. However, most of these have been claimed already...but a few are available still. Definitely a good choice for a base. Best choice for Economy bases.
Earthly--This astro type has a high fertility and a decent amount of metal and area, so it's a very good site for a Research base.
Gaia--This astro type is identical to Earthly except that it has more area, and thus is even better for a Research base.
Glacial--Low metal and only average fertility make this into one of the poorer choices for a base, but the high area helps to redeem it at least a little bit.
Magma--Average metal and fertility, but low area. However, it has a very high gas rating, meaning it is an alright choice for a base.
Metallic--Virtually identical to the Crater astro type, this should be avoided just as much. Can be used for production if production capacity is the only focus.
Oceanic--Don't let the high fertility fool you; with a low metal and low area, this is quite possibly the worst astro type of all.
Radioactive--Average metal, low fertility, but good area and gas. This isn't quite as good a choice as some, but it's better than it might seem at first glance.
Rocky--With a high metal, decent fertility and average area, this is quite possibly the best overall astro type for ship production. I personally consider this to be one of the best astro types because of that. Nr 1 Production base.
Toxic--Low fertility, average metal, but good area and gas make this into a surprisingly good choice for a base. The extra area makes it worth turning into a research base.
Tundra--Average in just about everything except area, where it is one of the highest. Just like the Toxic astro type, this is worth turning into a research base.
Volcanic--Average fertility and metal, but low area. Not the worst, but there are several choices which are better.
Construction of a Planetary Shield or a Planetary Ring costs 50% on Moons ( Small planets are descripttioned moon ), and 25% on Asteroids.
So to sum this up, there are 4 planets which are good for Research. Some are better than others. These planets are:
Earthly
Gaia
Toxic
Tundra
Economy bases:
Asteroid
Crystalline
Production bases:
Rocky
Metallic ( not recommended but if no Rocky available then these works as well )
QUOTE ("Widget:")
FWIW, here's what my base location criteria has become (with thanks to Jaimehlers and everybody else who's given advice on the subject, I've revised some of my opinions because of it):
No matter what you plan to specialize in at any given astro, the two most important factors are Area and Fertility.
+ Area because the cost of terraforming gets high quickly (multi-level platforms start high and go to astronomical). I look for planets (not moons) with at least 85 area; with two exceptions: crystalline planets or moons, when available, for the econ boost of 3 crystal; and asteroids, again for bases that are primarily econ-boosters and trade centers, because of their 2 crystal.
+ Fertility because the cost curve of Urban Structures, and the lower your fertility, the more you have to build, using valuable area on your astro. Eventually, you’ll switch to Orbital Bases, but high fertility keeps Urban Structures more affordable until then. I look for at least fertility 5 and prefer 6 or better, which usually means I’m looking in a system’s 20 or 30 position, because of the +1 fertility for those orbits. Crystalline is my only exception. Early on, I picked up a couple asteroids in the 11 and 12 positions for quick econ growth – if I could do it over, those bases would be in the 20 or 30 columns or they wouldn’t be asteroids.
With this in mind, here’s what my scouts look for:
Primary - Area/Fertility
Arid 95/5
Asteroid * 65/4
Crystalline (any) fertility 4
Gaia 90/6
Rocky 85/5
Tundra 95/5
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Secondary - Area/Fertility
Earthly 85/60
Craters * 85/4
Metallic * 85/4
Radioactive * 90/4
Toxic * 90/4
* In the 20 and 30 position only, to bring fertility to 5
Notes:
+ I always prefer astros in the 20 and 30 columns (+1 fertility). Gaias and Crystallines are the only types I like in the 10, 40, or 50 columns. If nothing better was available, I might consider Arid or Tundra in those orbits.
+ Asteroids and Crystalline make the list for economic centers, but I limit them to 50% or less of my bases.
+ Despite its 95 area and 5 fertility, Glacial is not on my list because it has only 1 Metal, which hurts its early development potential.
Metal, crystals, solar and gas are secondary considerations, dependent on my specific plans for the base. Energy is least important, since Fusion and Antimatter plants don’t depend on the astro’s natural resources and each level of Energy tech increases your total output. In the late stages of development, you’ll probably start scrapping Solar and Gas Plants to reclaim area. ( Quote ended )
Alright. We’ve now had a look at what planets there are out there, and what good they do. The next choice is to figure out what our next base should be. That’s easy. It has to be a research base. Reason? You’re first base is a totally random located planet, and thus you could be unlucky and got stuck on a shit planet. This gives you 2 choices. Leave the planet be as it is for later to disband it, or you can turn it into your first production base, to help you later on in the game.
Now. Seing as the 2nd base needs to be research then you need to look around in your starting region, to see if you can find any available planets which are suitable for research ( see above for suitable planets ). You will then have to send your Outpost ship there so you can start up your base. The initial cost of a 2nd base is 50 credits, so if you haven’t wasted too much credits on fighters or other structures, then you should afford this right about now, or when it lands. Make sure you are online during the travel time so you don’t get any surprises. The most important thing you have to think about when picking a new planet, is it’s position. If the planet is all the way to the left, then it means it’s close to the sun and the fertility and solar will be higher there than on the planet/planets to the right of it. The more to the right in a system you build, the lower fertility/solar you get and the more credits you need to spend on housing and power plants.
Once you have set up your base, you should build 8 Metal Refinery’s, 4 Robotic Factories and atleast 2 Research labs. This planet will mainly be your research center as it’s your first one, so you will have to increase all 3 of these as much as you can, with only Urban Structures and Solar/Gas plants when you need too. Once this base reaches 10-12 econ, you should put up Plasma Turret x 2. Once this is done, you can build 1 shipyard for the purpose of accessing Fighters.
By the time you have done this, you should have another Outpost ship ready in your first base.
The next base we should build now is a pure Economy based base, so you will have to find a location suitable for econ ( see above for suitable planets )
I my self prefere Crystalline planets, but they are rare and hard to come by. Asteroids are the 2nd best option. Do take notes from what I said about your research base. The further left in a system the more fertility and solar there is, and the more you can build without having to build housing and power plants. You should build the same as on your research base but instead of research labs, you should build Economic centers instead. By the time your econ reaches 10, you should add Plasma Turret x 2 as well for better protection. By the time of this, you will most likely be above lvl 10, and in which case lvl 15-16 players can attack you ( which is why we added the turrets ) In addition to the turrets, I also want you to build atleast 50 Fighters per base for better protection.
Your first 3 bases are most likely located in the same region which is fine, but your next ones, you will have to go outside of your current region in order to spread out more and make your self more safe. Bases that are clustered up too much are easy targets, as enemy players can then attack them all and thus lower your income by quite abit.
Primary Production Bases: Rocky are my favorite. 3 metal gives them a quick boost to construction and production until Nanite and Android Factories become cost-efficient. Plenty of room for Shipyards, at least one Spaceport to get them into your trade network, and space for Command Centers and base defenses. You won’t be able to build lots of economy-only structures if you’re planning to build big capital ships, and probably no research unless you want one lab to “bank” credits with.
Primary Research Bases: There are a few planets to chose from. Some have higher fertility than others, and some build structures alittle slower than others, but they are all good for the very purpose of Researching.
Primary Econ Bases: Crystalline when you can get them and Asteroids. You won’t be able to do much else with them; enough shipyards for a small defensive fleet and base defenses, mainly. But they’ll give you a quick econ boost and you can develop to take at least 3 incoming trade routes.
Multi-Purpose Bases: Arid and Tundra have the area and fertility to fill multiple roles. They make good “beachhead” bases when you expand to new galaxies or regions distant from your home world or main fleet base. It is a strong secondary research base, has room for 3 incoming trade routes, and a 99 econ – and the growth will continue, though slowly. These Astros can also fill any of the primary roles listed above if there’s no “favored” planet available in a good location.
Notification:
Quote Black Widow:
"I would like ppl to choose pos 2 rockies as the main choice for all bases apart from pos 1 crystals and pos 3 research on a gaia. Astros should always be pos 1 or pos 2 only. And gas planets should always be in pos 4 or 5 if u have to pick them."
Step 3: Securing your current bases as well as expanding
Step 3 is probably the most important step of them all. By the time you reach this step, you should be above lvl 10 and have your first 3 bases secured with some fighters as well as Plasma Turrets or even Ion turrets if you have researched that far yet.
Step 3 requires a lot of econ, so your empire growth will most likely slow down abit due to the costs of research, defence building and defencive fleet building.
Your main priority now is to make sure you get atleast Ion Turret x 2 on all your bases as well as increase your fighter protection per base to 100 fighters. The reason for this is that other players will now may to try and attack you. If they do their ratios will terrible compared to you. By ratios I mean this:
Attacker loses 750
Defender loses 500
Debris in space: depending
If ships are destroyed during an attack, a percentage of the cost of the units destroyed will be converted to debris which will remain at the location of the attack. The percentage of debris left when a ship is destroyed is determined by the following formula: 2 x owner Armour technology.
Debris will remain untill someone picks it up with Recyclers. 1 Recycler turns 10 debris into 10 credits, and the Recycler is your most important ship in both peace and war. Make sure it survives by never leaving them alone to pick up debris while you are offline incase someone comes in and kills them.
If someone manage to take your base and occupies it, then you have to free it your self or have someone you know or someone in your guild free it for you ( If they are in your guild they can not take over the occupation )
“If your base is attacked, the structures will suffer no damage. However, your base defences and any fleet you have at that base will attempt to protect your base, and can be destroyed (does not include defenses) or damaged.
If the attack is successful, they occupy your base they recieve 30% of your base income each hour. You do, however, still have full control over the base.”
How to free your base if occupied:
You have to either build ships on that specific location to kill or try to kill the enemy ships above. Most people leave 1 fighter there in order to keep the occupation, but some people may be idiots and leave a whole fleet there, in which case you will need more than just a few ships to take them out.
Once you have managed to kill the enemy fleet, there is an option to revolt and take back full economic controll of your base. You do this by clicking on the fleet name of the fleet you have on the base previously occupied, click attack and then the revolt button. If you do not do this, your attacker will tap you of credits every hour.
Also. If the agressor has to much fleet there, you can also build 1 single Fighter in order to prevent the aggressor to pillage you every 24 hour. He/She will still get the hourly income, but won't be able to pillage you
Back to track:
Once all your current bases are well protected for your lvl, you can start consentrating about expanding your empire again.
If you are on a free account, 9 bases is the maximum you can get, but if you are upgraded you can get as many as you want in the time limit that you are upgraded. The cost for making a new base does however double for each base meaning:
Base 2: 50 Credits
Base 3: 100 Credits
Base 4: 200 Credits
Etc etc.
Your main goal when expanding your empire is to build this:
3 Research bases ( 1 that is mainly focused on Energy and Computer, 1 that is focused on Armor and defence, 1 that is focused on weapon and fleet )
3 Economic bases
3 Production bases ( although you can build enough shipyards on all your planets to increase the overall production time, tho this will lower the amount of structures you can build in total on each planet )
At all times your first base as well as your research base should be working all the time, and once you are capable of building Disruptor turrets, you have to stop expanding again in order to resecure all your other bases.
When you expand your empire you need to know that by the time a new base reaches 10 econ, you will have to build your best turret x 2 on them. This also depends alittle when it comes to best turret. If your highest turret is Plasma, then Plasma Turret x 2 is needed. If you can build Ion Turret, then build those instead. If your technology is high enough for Disruptor Turrets, then we enter a whole new phase.
If you are Disruptor capable, then I need you to build Ion Turret x 2 AND Disruptor Turret x 2.
You may ask your self why, but the answer is quite easy. Ion Turret is your lowest turret with shields, and are very good against enemy fighters, while the Disruptor Turrets are very good against larger ships, such as Cruisers and Heavy Cruisers. This will of cause cost you quite abit, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Once you have atleast 2 turrets on your new base, then you can go back to increasing it’s econ, production capacity and construction capacity all depending on what kind of base you’re aiming for.
----------------
A full protocol about defences will be online soon, as Marduk is in charge of that one, so stay tuned for the latest goodies in base defence :)
I wish to thank GSM Portugal for the oppertunity to make this manual.
I also wish to thank GSM Portugal, Black Widow, Marduk and Buzz for their input, which helped me make this manual even better.
