More questions.

[FromSweden]

1. What does the green square mean:
http://w1.733.comhem.se/~u73302453/system.gif

(BTW, notice the name of the system, coincidence or...)

2. About this slider again.
http://w1.733.comhem.se/~u73302453/economic.gif

I have to allocate atleast 1% in order to build anything at all? Right?

Could someone specify what the colors mean or how they are to be interpreted?

[The Wagster]

1. The green square means that there is a Planetary Special on that planet. You can tell what the special is by clicking on the planet and reading the info that pops up. You can then search the encyclopedia to see what that special is/does.

2. It's my understanding that you need at least 1% allocation before anything starts being built but, well, the game's buggy so that might not be the case.

The colour of the slider indicates if any of the resources you put into building are being wasted or not. When the bar is green all the resources are being used to build the ship but any other colour signifies wasted resources/money. I'm not sure of the values for each colour, I'm sure someone will tell you them soon

I like the way you post the pictures with the arrows, it makes it much easier to see what you're talking about

[DeckPrism]

2. If you build an item on the Planetary build queue (PBQ) that takes a minimum number of turns to complete greater than 1 and you pump enough into it on turn 1, you could cut back to zero % on turn 2 and still get it to complete IIRC, but that is a rare case.

1. I think planetary specials are also described in the readme file.

[Strifeguard]

Just to nitpick:

The military building slider *technically* can be set to less than 1%. Click the radio button that states "View By: AUs". You can now allocate an amount of AUs that it less than 1% of the total available number of AUs.

Either way, you still have to spend SOMETHING in order for production to take place (the exception already being mention about the 2-turn minimum to produce items.)

[jp42655]

I read that to colonize red planets one should send multiple colony ships. How exactly does one do that? I am assuming you would create a task force out of them, but how do you get them to go where you want them, especially if other planets are "tagged" to have colonizers sent to them?

Next one...in my home system I have multiple green planets. I have colonies on them and set migration to them also. Do I have to eventually turn that off, or will it balance itself and stop on its own?

Thanks,
John

[DeckPrism]

First, if you have auto-colonization off, you can form your colony ship task force just like you would any other. Or you could just build colony ships with multiple colony pods. If only one colony pod lands on a red world, you only get 1/4 the pop you normaly would. So at that point you have created a colony that you can't yet control. Other colony ships can land there until you get above 1000 pop. So, if the planet is tagged and you have auto colonization on, your next colony ship off the line will probably head there.

Yes, eventualy you ought to turn migration off, since you want those people going to other places.

[jp42655]

Cool! I have not tried it at all yet. I am currently racing a colonizer to a choke point to claim that system. The planets in question will be backfilled later but I thought I would ask ahead of time. I assumed (ooops, bad thing) that you could not send another colony ship once one had landed, but I now understand it is based on that pop point... thanks

Are orbital defenses worth the time/AU? Or, are my system ships better? I am thinking the system ships....

John

[DeckPrism]

I think people tend to think that orbitals are good at choke point worlds, particularly worlds with lots of moons. You can put 3 orbitals at a world for the planet plus 3 more for every moon. Orbitals give you more space to put goodies. Bigger is better when it comes to orbitals, since you are unlikely to scrap old ones often. Carrier orbitals can release an insane number of fighters. Orbitals with PD can help defend planetary bases if they end up orbiting the planet and are generaly on the right side. You can't specify where orbitals go in a planet-moon area. Orbitals only help out at the planet they are built at and can't help you unless you are attacked there. So, except in rare cases, I make sure I have system or star ships first.

[sageofwisdom]

The decision to use orbitals or system ships depends on what task you want them to perform. Of the two, only system ships can interdict an enemy fleet passing through your system. With only orbitals for defense, an enemy fleet can go right past your system without you having a chance to stop it. On the other hand, no matter how many system ships that you have in a given system, only one task force will join a battle. Additionally, that single task force of system ships is only a single target. System ships alone will not be able to stop a major attack.

Orbitals will only do any good placed at planets that your enemy will attack, or those that which you want to discourage him from attacking. Without the need for a warp drive, double the starting space of a starship, and only a minimal system drive; one orbital can be worth 3 or 4 starships of the same hull class. Furthermore, your orbitals each form an individual target for your enemy; making them more difficult for your opponent to destroy than your system ships.

[Longspur]

sageofwisdom,

A concise and clear comparison of orbitals and system ships. Have always just built system ships for the benefits you mentioned.

But, given that "insane amount of fighters" DeckPrism mentioned, orbitals do sound good for choke point or likely to be contested worlds.

Thanks.

[Patton1942]

I love orbitals. They're big, full of missiles and PD and worth x10 their weight in systems ships.

The reason is metioned above. 1 good missile volley can take out an entire TF, since its considered 1 target. Since each and every orbital is a target unto itself (not grouped into TF's) that same missile volley that just ripped your all system ships a new one in .5 seconds, will take out just ONE orbital. Its such a glorious waste of missiles.

they are extremely vulnerable to swarms of fighters though, even with PD. With this in mind and knowing their short life span in combat, I fill them up with 3 volley missiles tubes (sometimes only missile tubes with 2 volleys) and some PD. This way you get maximum bang while they're alive, and maximum defense when they die, and they do die.

I like to think of them as missile catches / missile sucker-upers.