Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)

[Suicide Junkie]

Basic Empire Operation:
- A red scrunchy popcan icon means You need to build a spaceport!
- Send ships back home before they fall below half supplies. Once the yellow fuel barrel icon appears, its too late.
- Recovering crippled or out-of-fuel ships. (use of tenders, repair bays and solar collectors)
HowTo: Decide what type of colony to make.
- Are you running out of some resource?
- Are you falling behind in research/Intel?
- Special-effect facilities.
- And how these apply to the value/size/conditions of the planet and your empire.
HowTo: Build some basic, legal ship designs
- Test them in the simulator!
- Test ships against common enemy designs, not just against each other.
HowTo: Coarser points of politics.
- What each treaty type actually means.
- Trade resources to keep the ecomomy running.
- Tips on how to not unduly upset an AI.

Generic tips:
- Build weapon platforms/sats when your planet finishes facility constrution.
- Emergency build colonizers, take breathables first, then explore.
- Never bother with funny-shaped wormholes unless its your only choice.
- Defend chokepoints, not planets.

EDIT: formatting

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 28 October 2001).]