Jumping in at the deep end

[Jtownsend]

I've sent off my first turn in accordance with what we've discussed. Unfortunately, it's looking like a very crowded game and my 3 system empire has 6 "border" warppoints not including internal ones. I'll send the first colony ships out praying for dead ends, but there's nothing obvious that way (although I suppose there's no way of knowing.)

Although this clearly gives me a disadvantage at turtling, my tech aims (PPB) seem to accord with that strategy. So, next turn I'll be designing (if not sending out) minelayers.

The design I noticed in the FAQ was a small transport with 2 layers and cargo space. This struck me as a lot of cargo-to-laying ratio for a defensive minelayer. If I am near to my mine-producing worlds - in system - wouldn't devoting more space to laying components and less to cargo make sense? I'm not sure if advanced storage has an impact on this particular cargo issue.

EDIT: Also, I can put 1 or 2 small warheads on my 10kt mine. Would putting one in to get more (harder to sweep) or two for a harder hitting mine make more sense in the early game? Some players are smart enough to sweep, but on the other hand, simply annihilating wayward visitors also has a certain appeal.

As well, although I realize this would most often depend on what one discovers in neighboring systems, how early should I start slipping other constructions into my (EB) queues on the three homeworlds? Space stations for extra construction would be done in one turn, as would most any ship I could design.

There are some things I don't know when I'm meant to start with - mines, troops, weapon platforms - well, units, really. I am a peaceful 81 ER 102 Hap Berzerker race, so I don't expect my people to be naturally despondant. But I've also not experienced an in-game reverse to know how many troops I need and when.