TUMs Astro guide!

[The United Mankind]

In AstroEmpires, like most games of this nature the first instinct is to take all the Astros (Planets / Moons) next to you. I know how you feel, I was once there myself. The feeling of owning the whole system you started in is a powerful draw, but don't. Why? Well, there are several reasons, but most importantly: many Astros are crap, simple as that, while others are effective in different ways. Here's a handy wee look at what's good, what's not so good and what you shouldn't touch with a 6-foot barge pole.


Section 1: What to avoid like the plague.
The following Astros should never be colonised under any circumstances.

Oceanic
Glacial

Why? Simply because these Astros have 1 metal. Metal is the lifeblood of your base; it will determine your rate of production and construction down the line and with a low metal, you will be looking at a great drop in these values, not to mention a doubling, if not tripling, of the time it takes to build the base up. I could go into a lot more detail on why and how this is, but it's best just to keep it simple: NEVER COLONISE THESE ASTROS. EVER.


Section 2: Taking my word for it - What to aim for.
Like in most things there are certain combinations that work well together and others that don't. In this section, I will head through some of the combinations that work well for certain types of bases.

Economy:
For economy bases (bases that focus on economy) you will need to get yourself Crystals. Crystals make a serious difference to your economy. Get Crystalline if you can; if not, asteroids. Asteroids have greater limits to their area but a good asteroid is not as rare as a Crystalline Astro.

Aim for no less than 4 solar, don't worry about gas. The higher the fertility the better, however with the asteroid you will need to make a trade off if you want higher fertility with solar. This is not worth it. Aim for a orbital 1 in any respects. If you find a Crystalline with solar 1 or 2 it really isn't worth taking as the advantage of the crystals will be outweighed by the vastly increased power costs and wasted space / population.

TL;DR – Aim for orbital 1 Asteroids, orbital 1 or 2 Crystalline if you can get them.

Production:
Craters, Metallics and Rockies make the best production facilities. Each have 3 metal which makes a serous difference both in development time and in your final production. Aim for Orbital 1 where you can, orbital 2 is not terrible. Anything beyond is a waste of time. The goal is to get the best bang for your buck in the long run, and securing a steady power source is important if you want to achieve this. When you are starting out with any of these planets feel free to build a handful, and I mean only a handful of crystal mines to help your early economy. These however will need to be disbanded as you start to build Terraforms to increase your area. Remember a building with only +1 economy is a waste of time in the long run.

Asteroids can also be used as production facilities and used well however will will never offer the same overall production levels as any of the above due to the much lower area. However this is balanced out with the 75% discount on the two most powerful defensive buildings down the line. Construction of crystal mines is advised on Asteroids, even if they are being used for production. However it is good to limit them to 10, 15 at the most.

The best production and probably best overall Astro you can get would be a Rocky Planet in orbital 1. 3 metal, 5 fertility and 4 solar making the most successful combination for long term production and construction.

TL;DR – Craters, Metallics and Asteroids make good production bases in orbital 1, sometime 2. However Rockies in orbital 1 are the way to go!

Research:
For bases specially for research you will need to focus on two things. Fertility and Area. Of course this does NOT include letting the high area and fertility Glacials into the mix. These two attributes must be backed up with at least 2 metal or you will find that the base will build slower than a London tube train. We effectively have two winners for research bases. First is the Gaia; its high fertility and area makes it an excellent choice in either Orbital 1 or 2. Best 1 if you can. The second is the Earthly. It has slightly lower area than a Gaia but not by much.

If you are unable to secure either a Gaia or an Earthly, an Arid or a Tundra could do the job as well. Arids and Tundras have the highest area of any planets in AE and this nicely compensates for the drop in fertility you get by choosing it. Of course Orbital 1 is preferred, 2 is acceptable.

TL;DR – Get a Gaia or Earthly, orbital 1 if you can. Arid and Tundra are OK too.

All round:
Most planets can make all right bases. It all depends on what type of game you are going to play, simmer or warrior. All bases offer economy and production, even when your bases are specialised you are still improving these both. To choose your own well-rounded planets, have a look through the next section and decide for yourself!

TL;DR – Do whatever you want, read on for more details.


Section 3: Not taking my word for it - What to aim for.
There are several values on each Astro which determine how good it is. These are: metal, solar, gas, crystal, fertility and area. Basically the higher these values are, the better. Here's a basic run down of what to aim for.

Metal.
Minimum – 2
Maximum – 3

Most Astros have 2 metal. This is all right but not great. Astros like Asteroids, Metallics, Craters and Rockies all have 3 metal. Metal is important and improves construction and production as well as speeding up early base development. 3 metal is what you should aim for for most bases when you can. However remember, even 3 metal is crap without good solar and fertility.

Solar.
Minimum – 3
Maximum – 4

Solar is determined by the Astro's place in the solar system. The Astros at the far left will have 4, then next to them 3, 2 and so on. 3 solar is the minimum you should ever take, unless you have a high gas level which is unusual. Solar is the most common power source so aim for 4 when you can and it will make your life much earlier and profitable down the line.

Gas.
Minimum – 0
Maximum – 5

Gas is not as important as Solar as only certain planets have a large supply of Gas. If you can get a planet with 3 or more Gas, excellent, however it isn't the end of the world if you never build Gas plants. Gas is determined by two things. One, the type of Astro you take. Two, the orbital. Planets in the forth and fifth orbital get a +1 to gas. This said if you do get that +1 to gas you will be wiping out solar completely so only aim for it if you can get 5 gas.

Refer to the Astro base value reference guide at the end of the guide to know which Astros have what gas.

Fertility.
Minimum – 4
Maximum – 7

Fertility is determined by two things: One, the Astro type. Two, the orbital of the Astro. Fertility determines how much your 'population' will raise with each level of 'Urban structures' so clearly the larger it is the more you will save in the long run. Every single structure in AE costs 1 population. No more. No less.

Astros in the second and third orbital’s get +1 fertility. Refer to the Astro base value reference guide at the end of the guide to know which Astro's have high fertility.

Area.
Depends on the Astro type and whether it is a moon or planet. Moons are obviously smaller but have discounts of 50% on the largest defences down the line. This can definitely help in the long run. Asteroids are the only Astro that there is only the one area for, no planets or moons.

Larger area means you can build more on the Astro before having to use structures to artificially enlarge it, while Astro’s with smaller area typically have special advantages like higher metal, crystals or gas. Its up to you to balance them out.

Refer to the Astro base value reference guide at the end of the guide to know which Astro's have what area.

Crystal.
Crystals only appear on certain planets and allow you to build crystal mines. For each crystal mine on your planet you get +1 to your economy per level of crystal. 1 crystal on a planet should really be ignored except when starting out, this is because +1 economy per level is not worth the area and population cost down the line.

Regardless 2 and 3 crystals are worth getting when you can but of course there are trade off's on metal and area. Only Crystalline and Asteroids have greater than 1 crystals. It's also worth noting Crystalline planets are extremely rare.


Section 4: Base rate easy reference Astro guide:
Type -------Metal ---- Gas --- Crystal --- Fert ---------- Area
Toxic -------- 2 ------- 4 ------- 0 ------- 4 ------- P-90 & M-79
Gaia --------- 2 ------- 2 ------- 0 ------- 6 ------- P-90 & M-79
Magma------- 2 ------- 4 ------- 0 ------- 5 ------- P-80 & M-71
Metallic ------ 3 ------- 2 ------- 1 ------- 4 ------- P-85 & M-75
Rocky-------- 3 ------- 2 ------- 1 ------- 5 ------- P-85 & M-75
Craters------- 3 ------- 1 ------- 1 ------- 4 ------- P-85 & M-75
Glacial ------- 1 ------- 2 ------- 0 ------- 5 ------- P-95 & M-83
Oceanic------ 1 ------- 2 ------- 0 ------- 6 ------- P-80 & M-71
Crystalline---- 2 ------- 1 ------- 3 ------- 4 ------- P-80 & M-71
Asteroid ----- 3 ------- 1 ------- 2 ------- 4 ------------ 65
Tundra -------2 ------- 2 ------- 0 ------- 5 ------- P-95 & M-83
Arid ----------2 ------- 2 ------- 0 ------- 5 ------- P-95 & M-83
Earthy ------- 2 ------- 2 ------- 0 ------- 6 ------- P-85 & M-75
Volcanic------ 2 ------- 4 ------- 0 ------- 5 ------- P-80 & M-71
Radioactive -- 2 ------- 3 ------- 0 ------- 4 ------- P-90 & M-79

*Note. In chart P = Planet. M = Moon

[The United Mankind]

Comments and Criticism welcome.

[TimNeilson]

one thing I have to say is that there really isn't all that big a difference between orbit 2 and 3 astros. both get the extra fert bonus, and you're going to get rid of all energy plants that give you less than 4 base energy anyway, so it only slows you down a little in the beginning, until you have the construction to build fusions at a reasonable speed.

[ecoli73]

comments:

For production ranked:

1) first position Rocky moons/planets
2) first position Crators/Metal
3) Second/third position Rocky moons/planets
4) second/third position crators/metals

For 3 and 4, since I don't build less than +4 energy stuff, there is no difference in 2nd/3rd position for me. people who do build < +4 solars obviously wants 2nd position

For eco and decent production:

astroids

Crystals are nice for the initial income boost but when income becomes less of an issue, astroids are better

For Research:

Why don't you try a rocky planet? Good production and research...

I like gaia...for some reason I don't like earthly.

Also, a +5 gas toxic might be good for a JG only base.

[Jolly Teaparty]

For Research:

Why don't you try a rocky planet? Good production and research...

Seconding this, using rockies as research platforms is working better for me; lessens the negative impact a research base has on your production capacity. In fact all my research bases are also excellent production bases, but I'm still a relatively new player. The only things I have settled are crystallines, rockies, and asteroids, all either slot 1 or 2, normally 1, never 3 or higher. I've experimented with Gaia moons and I found the extra 4 area over a rocky horribly overrated.

I also don't use asteroids for the crystal. There just isn't room for it, and I'd rather have a Nanite Factory/Spaceport in that 1 area, which gives the same economy boost but does other stuff too.

[DeltaKiller]

Just horible, wish you had never posted this
We're going to have skilled noobies *cryies*

Very nice guide, will help new players a lot

[Flute]

needs explanation for "P" and "M" in area chart

/moved to T&G

[Ockham]

Nice one.

Only disadvantage of this guide is that it does not make a difference between upgraded and free account. Players on free accounts have limitations, so they must take greater care when colonizing an astro.

This astro guide is also quite good, and contains some useful hints for free account players.

[Bobman]

I don't completely agree with you, but on the whole a great guide, you may help many a noob.

[fractalship]

thanks for the guide! it helped me quite a bit when choosing astros-even though i wasn't always able to follow it. (I first read it on the wiki.)

[The United Mankind]

thanks for the guide! it helped me quite a bit when choosing astros-even though i wasn't always able to follow it. (I first read it on the wiki.)

Drop me a PM with some of the parts you had troube with and I'll see about improving them

[Event Horizon]

A good guide but a bit dated on some of the information I would say.

1. Crystallines have greatly fallen out of favor. A lot of newer players make the mistake of taking a whole bunch and then getting farmed repeatedly. The two metal is not worth the extra crystal. Asteroids are better. Because of the pillages it takes a long while before crystallines can safely grow bigger econs than their roid counterparts. And the 3 metal on asteroids means they also make excellent production bases.

2. Gaia, Earthly etc. for research bases is just ok if you're playing a free account and are really concerned about the extra space, but 2nd position rocky astros are probably still better because of the extra production and faster development. They have quite good area as well. If you're absolutely positive you will never ever upgrade even for a month here and there then maybe use the metal 2 astros suggested to get the extra area but otherwise rockies reign supreme.

3. First position astros are fine for bases that will go full production and need the cheap energy to fuel their OS but second position are better for research because you get the extra pop to fit in the labs. First position roids are a huge pain in the butt because of only 4 Fert. Space becomes a problem very fast and I find second position roids to be much much better. The only time I use first position roids is to build a central jumpgate for the blob to sit on. And these days if you want to be competitive in the long run you need to be prepared to turn a lot of your bases in to research bases as time goes by so you can pump up that armor and cybernetics level as fast as possible with a fully linked network so making more of your bases combo production/research bases is not a bad idea meaning 2nd position rockies become even more valuable.

[Arjani]

2. Gaia, Earthly etc. for research bases is just ok if you're playing a free account and are really concerned about the extra space, but 2nd position rocky astros are probably still better because of the extra production and faster development. They have quite good area as well. If you're absolutely positive you will never ever upgrade even for a month here and there then maybe use the metal 2 astros suggested to get the extra area but otherwise rockies reign supreme.

If you're a pure free player, arid/tundra planets will make better research bases than gaia/earthly, because of their higher area. In fact they'll even give you a higher prod cap than rockies, because their higher area means you can stack up more MR/RF.

But I generally wouldn't recommend anyone to take 2 metal bases, whether or not they're upgraded. Almost all players who stick around for more than a few months do get an upgrade at some point, from their friends or their guild if not from themselves, making it a lot more worthwhile to get rockies for research. You can't get very far in this game without upgrading.



I would add is that there should be no such thing as a pure economy base or a pure research base. All bases are production bases first and foremost; anything else you stack on them, like crystal mines or research labs, are just extras. Hence the importance of picking rockies even for research bases, because you will be pumping fleet out of them as fast as you can.


EDIT: Thousandth post

[Brogren]

My comment would be this:

Even if you actually do colonize a glacial or something it is still possible to have an ok base on them.
I got 2 glacials atm (stupid move i know) but both are about this:

Construction 385 cred./h
Production 539 cred./h
Research 322 cred./h

Economy 253 cred./h
Owner Income 253 cred./h


So glacials CAN be made to reasonable production but ofc i would probably be at about 650 atleast if metal 3

[Arjani]

I agree that any astro can be turned into a decent base. It's how much you invest into it, and how intelligent you are about building it up, that matters the most. But if you get an astro with good stats, it's a lot faster and cheaper, and in end-game you will end up with a somewhat better base due to the soft caps on raising structure levels