New & Improved: The Beginner's Guide to the First Seven Days

[Aliens from Mars]

And the extra econ will put him over lvl 30 and he'll get occ'd and then quit. Your point is?

Because my point is quite clearly: I bet you a one month upgrade he doesn't last around more than 2 months in this game at a reasonably competitive level.

[Wlerin]

Then why are you even bothering to comment?

[Aliens from Mars]

???

I was trying to be helpful, take a chill pill brah.

[Nagel]

Rocky Moon - 960 (1143) (27/12)
Crystalline Moon - 870 (1024) (27/12)

Says it all really. Multiply the difference and its even worse.

18 bases 2,142
19 bases 2,261
20 bases 2,380
21 bases 2,499
22 bases 2,618

In summary, Metal 2's suck.

[DerekMessina]

Awesome! Thanks for the guide. It was a very big help for me as a beginner. Appreciate it!

[REVCubs]

hey mate, thats a great guide. I am an old AE player and i use it. lol, i just thought i would congratulate you on the excellent guide.
Thanks you,
Cubs.

[takiwa]

nice guide, just thought I'd add a chart to make it a little easier for the new players to see a graphic of the planets/astros in their orbitals.

[DarkDay17]

I would have to disagree with this chart. In another thread on Kappa P&W it was talked about the change in meta-game and in today's meta-game, if it isn't Metal 3 its no good. Prod is king in the newer servers and therefore Rocky > all and if you need a research base a Rocky Planet is the way to go.

[Nagel]

Rocky, Crater, Roid > All

Fixed

[Wlerin]

Rocky, Metallic, Crater, Roid > All

Fixed

Also, from a different thread

Planet > Moon

Rocky 1/2
Metallic/Craters 2/1 or Rocky 4/5
Asteroid 2/1
Metallic 4/5

Could probably stick Rocky 3's in there towards the end somewhere, but I haven't done any math.

[Ugborg]

After that point you're really not looking hard enough.

Or it doesn't matter.

[takiwa]

I would have to disagree with this chart. In another thread on Kappa P&W it was talked about the change in meta-game and in today's meta-game, if it isn't Metal 3 its no good. Prod is king in the newer servers and therefore Rocky > all and if you need a research base a Rocky Planet is the way to go.

And I would have to disagree with your disagreement. I will pick a 1st/2nd orb Gaia over a Rocky any day for a research base. The extra area and fertility FAR outweigh having an extra metal, when you factor in the prices of the Rocky having to build advanced structures a lot sooner to keep up with the Gaia to support massive lab building. I'm not talking a mixed base here, 20 labs and 20 SYs, 10 ECs, with a few JGs thrown in for good measure, but rather a dedicated research astro.
Same thing applies somewhat to JG astros, although in the long run I would have to agree that the metal outweighs the extra energy, but I added it because those astros are still considered for this job.
Believe it or not, you still have quite a few people that play this game old school, and do quite well at it. Metal is a big deal, but it isn't everything, and not having a metal 3 rock doesn't mean you lose. That chart was meant to give the beginning player a visual reference of the OPs synopsis on what bases were good for what purposes, and I hope it serves its purpose for some.

[Wlerin]

I would have to disagree with this chart. In another thread on Kappa P&W it was talked about the change in meta-game and in today's meta-game, if it isn't Metal 3 its no good. Prod is king in the newer servers and therefore Rocky > all and if you need a research base a Rocky Planet is the way to go.

And I would have to disagree with your disagreement. I will pick a 1st/2nd orb Gaia over a Rocky any day for a research base. The extra area and fertility FAR outweigh having an extra metal, when you factor in the prices of the Rocky having to build advanced structures a lot sooner to keep up with the Gaia to support massive lab building. I'm not talking a mixed base here, 20 labs and 20 SYs, 10 ECs, with a few JGs thrown in for good measure, but rather a dedicated research astro.
Same thing applies somewhat to JG astros, although in the long run I would have to agree that the metal outweighs the extra energy, but I added it because those astros are still considered for this job.
Believe it or not, you still have quite a few people that play this game old school, and do quite well at it. Metal is a big deal, but it isn't everything, and not having a metal 3 rock doesn't mean you lose. That chart was meant to give the beginning player a visual reference of the OPs synopsis on what bases were good for what purposes, and I hope it serves its purpose for some.

All astros should be production first, anything else second, so you shouldn't have a "dedicated research base". The lack of metal also means both labs and advanced structures take longer to build, so even though you don't need them as early you still lose out in the end. Use a base building calculator, there are several out there. Rocky > Gaia.

[takiwa]

All astros should be production first, anything else second, so you shouldn't have a "dedicated research base". The lack of metal also means both labs and advanced structures take longer to build, so even though you don't need them as early you still lose out in the end. Use a base building calculator, there are several out there. Rocky > Gaia.

All your astros are production first, anything else second. Sucks that you can't force everyone to play a certain way over the internet, but that's how it is.

My research bases (and yes, I do have several dedicated) do have production on them, but it is secondary. I have dedicated production bases....and even a couple of dedicated JG bases as well. Funny that this didn't seem to stop me from having a top 100 account on Epsilon or Fenix.

If you would like to write another tutorial on the way you play the game in hopes of teaching the newer players a better way, then by all means do so. My chart simply expounded on what the OP said. I agree with his way of playing, I have done this for years and have never had an issue with rank, fleet, econ, or any other stats. If you don't agree with what was laid out in this tut, start a thread and explain why. Tell the newer guys why they should play your way. Make a pretty chart and post it. I will read it with an open mind.

[Wlerin]

I doubt you've actually read the OP, since what I wrote is more or less exactly what it says. Maybe stated a little more strongly (as it should be).

Economic: Crystalline. These are best because you can build crystals mines on them, which are cheap way to boost your economy really fast. If Crystalline planets are not available, default to rocky. It should be noted that crystals are slow-growth bases that ultimately will not be able to pump fleet as fast as other astro types. That's why you should take at most two of them. The purposes of these bases is making money.

Production: Rocky. Craters or Metallic astros can be used in a pinch but look for rockies first.

---Production bases are intended to increase your production capacity; your ability to create a warfleet. In the future, you'll build lots of shipyards and a few orbital shipyards on these bases. To some degree, all of your bases should be production bases.

Research: Rocky bases are the best because they develop faster. Research bases will ultimately build at least 22 labs each, so area becomes a concern. Therefore, pick rocky planets; this is one of the cases in which the benefits to planets are seen rapidly. If rockies are unavailable, a two metal arid, tundra, or gaia astro is also acceptable, since they possess high fertility and area. You should plan on building labs on at least three of your first 10 bases.

---Research bases are pretty self-explanatory. Eventually you'll put a bunch of research labs on these bases.

All bases should ideally perform all tasks, as, for example, 10 level 10 Economy Centers are much cheaper than 5 level 20 Economy Centers. Labs are perhaps the only exception to this rule, and then only because of Tachy limits and lab level requirements.