Agh. Why did you guys register in Hydra instead of Io? More recent universes are always more fun.

Because Hydra is such a cool name.

Quote from OlimarandLouie

Because Hydra is such a cool name.

HydraLISK. No, jk, I registered in Hydra because I wanted to see you rage. Send me that 140 minerals that you stole from my box, and I'll move over to Io.

Sounds like space-eRepublik

I don't want to change my rank now.

Dark Matter -> Purchase Dark Matter -> SuperRewards/SponsorPay (tiny links at the bottom) -> Do surveys 'n shit -> Free Dark Matter -> Officers!

Quote from Swampfox

Dark Matter -> Purchase Dark Matter -> SuperRewards/SponsorPay (tiny links at the bottom) -> Do surveys 'n shit -> Free Dark Matter -> Officers!

I thought there was some way to get it from expeditions or sommat....

... What tiny links?

It actually works too. I tried last night, you can see on my Hydra account on the right that I've got some funky numbers for DM that I don't think you can get by buying.

The only things worth doing with Dark Matter are the Geologist and Technocrat officers. And even then, they're only worth it when you have 8+ colonies and high level mines / are researching weapons/shields/armour over level 10.

Are you kidding me? Commander+Geologist+Engineer at the beginning right when you start off can get you a massive lead. In fact, they're useful all of the time. For example, the Engineer will halve losses to your defense. Not useful? I think not.

You can, but you find dismal amounts, like 100-200.

If you had to spend 12,500 Dark Matter on a +10% mining bonus for a week. You'd rather have this bonus when your total mines are earning 1,000,000 per hour, than in the beginning of the game when your homeworld mines are earning 500 per hour total. You follow?

I don't use defences or turrets. I fleet save.

Not trying to derail the Dark Matter debate above, but I've found the Fusion Reactor to be nigh useless. Shit's too expensive for such a small reward. Thoughts?

There has often been a big debate surrounding Fusion Reactors.

At high levels of Energy Technology, Fusion Reactors provide considerably more Energy than Solar Reactors. Planet Temperature is also taken into account, colder planets generate more Deuterium, but suffer from less energy per Solar Satellite. So, if you are lucky enough to get a 160 field planet at slot 15 - you're gonna be laughing all the way to the bank with your insane amounts of Deuterium coming through.

The main thing you need vast amounts of energy for is the Graviton Technology upgrade. And the only realistic way of getting the 300,000 energy required is through Solar Satellites. Some people keep satellites for extra energy when their mines are at insanely high levels - and then the only real usage of Fusion Reactors comes into play in this scenario. You have 500 solar satellites and get hit, you can turn on your Fusion Reactors while you rebuild your solar satellites.

I personally never bother with Fusion Reactors.


All starting planets have 163 fields.

Edit: I personally think we should use this universe as a training ground. Then when Jupiter (the next universe) is created, we migrate there and play competitively?

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Feb 4 2011, 4:02 pm by Cardinal.

I now has 156.500 Dark Matter

Quote from name:Cardinal

Edit: I personally think we should use this universe as a training ground. Then when Jupiter (the next universe) is created, we migrate there and play competitively?

I'm game. I made an account in Io as well, yesterday at like 8, and I'm already to 7/4/6 and building another solar currently. Needless to say it's much easier when you know what's what.

EDIT: Also, it's hilarious when they accept famous names like Albert Einstein, John Donne, Jabba the Hut, but deny names like asdf jkl

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Feb 4 2011, 5:41 pm by poison_us.

The game is relatively 'boring' for the few weeks or so on a new account. All you really do is upgrade your mines, raid/farm with a few cargoes, and make a few more colonies. Once you start getting cruisers, recyclers, battleships, battle-cruisers - it starts getting interesting.

The main concepts are fleet-saving and fleet-crashing with a hell of a lot of espionage involved.

I've created a new account in Universe: Electra - it runs at 4x speed, so I'm refreshing my memory there while my Hydra slowly ticks along.

Fleet-crashing, you say?

Yep. Using your fleet to destroy other players fleets and collecting the resulting debris field with your harvesters. Profit.

You basically scan someone, find their fleet sitting at home (ie. not saved). Attack them with an Espionage Probe to create a debris field instantly. Send your fleet to attack his planet, and at the same time send a fleet of Recyclers to land at the debris field seconds AFTER your attack fleet hits.

Pro skills include using ACS attack techniques to scan your opponent once again before your attack lands, and then adding a fleet consisting of a probe travelling at 10% speed to your initial attack. This buys you 15 to 20 seconds to review the initial espionage report and decide whether or not to recall your fleet.

Many top players will fleet-save in chunks. So their 100,000 strong battleships fleet is saved in 8 separate missions and therefore fleets. Each consisting of 12,500 battleships.

So your initial scan found 25,000 battleships and you decided to crush it. using a force of 10,000 Battle-Cruisers. Without the full knowledge that 20 seconds after your initial espionage report, the 25,000 ships became 100,000.

And then what this all amounts to is the Sensor Phalanx structure built on large Moons with the ability to learn the comings and goings of all your fleets. Moon-shots and Death Stars.

Is there any sort of newbie protection at all?