Ten
The Best Planet is (outside of those
specially created by the Sysop) the
Mountainous, (L).
An Earth type, (M) is second best.
If you are on a game in which you
begin with a planet, regardless
of the type, if it is not in a dead
end sector, ABANDON IT.
It will be discovered and captured.
It doesn't matter if it has colonists,
even a Citadel. If your world is not
in a safe sector any other player can
stumble upon it, capture it, and all
your work is for naught.
Usually, you get planets by firing
Genesis Torpedos you buy at the
(H)ardware at the Stardock.
If your first planet is an Earth type
(M) in a low turn game, build it to a
Level 3 Citadel; Quasar cannon.
Once it has the Q cannon use as many Genesis
Torpedos as it takes to create a Mountainous
(L) World beside it.
Don't blow up an Oceanic or a Volcanic, have
one of each, if that's the way the Genesis
explodes. But more than one of each is a
waste.
Also remember, never blow up a planet without
creating another one to clear the debris.
You blow them with an Atomic Detonator.
(Also purchased at the Stardock)
If you have turns and want to trade en route
to Terra to collect Colonists, fine, but it
might suit you to leave your planet and travel
via the (E)xpress option.
Many players, to hasten Citadel building, don't
wait for the colonists to provide the necessary
amount of goods, but buy the fuel, organics and
equipment required.
If you have an (M) planet, you use it as
a supermarket from which to stock your (L)
Getting an (M) first has it's benefits.
a) players are not going to knock themselves
out to capture an Earth type. A brand new
mountainous is irresistible.
b) a Quasar cannon on an (M) Planet is some
protection for your Sector. You would set
the Q cannon to 20% sector, (depending on
how much fuel was there).
The (M) planet with the Q cannon would
protect everything in the Sector, especially
the Brand New Mountainous.
c) (M) planets create equipment and organics
at a faster rate. Loading it with cols means
that when you create your (L) you have all the
colonists and goods you need to go from Genesis
Torpedo to Citadel in one set of turns.
Regardless of the kind of ship you have, it
is one turn to land, take colonists and goods
from the (M) and release them on the (L).
This means that with even a 65 hold Freighter
it is Fourteen turns to go from zero population
to four hundred thousand cols plus all the goods
to build a Level 1 Citadel on the (L).
In One day,(actually one minute past midnight)
you have a Citadel on your Mountainous planet.
By loading the (M) Planet with colonists in
organics and equipment, leaving 1k in fuel,
you build all the goods you need, hence you
don't have to purchase them.
Eleven
Keep ferrying colos and goods to your planet
while it is building to enable you to go from
one Level to another as the previous completes.
To go from Level One to Level Two on an (L)
takes five days.
During those five days you ferry colonists
from Terra.
If you have an (M) put the cols there in organic
and equipment. Keep moving finished goods to
the Mountainous.
You should have the necessary goods loaded
on your (L) long before day five.
On day five, move cols to the (L) planet.
As Level 2 completes it is a simple keystroke
to begin Level 3 Citadel.
Twelve
One of the side reasons why you take
cols every day from Terra is to deny
them to others. With everyone grabbing
cols in the early days, there will come
a time when there are no more colonists
available.
A classic game produces only 750 cols
a DAY. It begins with a Million.
During the first weeks seems the number
of colonists remain at A million no matter
how many you take.
Then, suddenly you'll notice something like,
"1265 colonists are willing to leave Terra"
and when you take 65 and return you'll see:
"1200 colonists willing to leave Terra."
This means, if you take those 1200 no one
else can. Other players can't build. You CAN!
I can't emphasise this enough.
Newbies who have loaded their planets
with colos and keep loading them every
day are more likely to win than the
expert whose spent his early turns
gathering fighters, getting a Federal
Commission, spending his money on
a snazzy Imperial Starship, and
flying around looking for trouble.
When colonists dry up that expert
can't get enough to move a planet
from a Level Three Citadel to a
Level Four.
Thirteen
Once you have the Mountainous Planet
building a Level Five Citadel, that
is shielding capacity, you want a
Volcanic Planet at Level Three;
Quasar Cannon.
Few things are as terrifying as a
Quasar on a Volcanic.
As it demands four thousand and four
colonists, heaps of equipment and
organics and takes eight days to build,
you need to have "overpopulated" planets
with stacks of goods, to go from 1600
at Level Two to 4400 to build a Level
Three.
First move all equipment and organics.
Then move colonists and put them in
Ore.
As soon as you've clicked to begin
building the Level Three, begin
returning colonists to the M or L
or even O planet, and stack them in
equipment/organics.
You want commodities to sell.
And a space station to sell them to.
