Astro Galaxy - a realistic space exploration game

I have been playing for a couple of months now.

I think newbie status has gone, now that I have been attacked by two of the biggest corps in the game.  Not that I am bothered.  I joined the game expecting to take a few bruises as I learn the ropes.

Thanks for the offers from various corps, but I want to see what I can attain without help.  I believe that a game should taken for what it is.  Too much help at the beginning is like an athlete taking steroids.

Thanks also to those who have freely offered tips on how to progress, both to me directly, and through the guidance here in the forum.

One questions I have:  there are many recommendations to get far away from Sol, so why are the big corps still here?

Will I stick it out?

I don't know.  It is slow going to get anywhere, and once you have become the top player, what is left to achieve?  Indeed, what is the value of being top player?  Is the top player the one with the most power, most money, the most planets, or the most friends?  Or is it something else?

My ambition is to find something that hasn't been done yet, and be the first to do it.  I look forward to meeting you all in the game.

Fly safe, captains.

This is why I wanted you in the syndicate Garville :) you are driven, professional, and smart. Thanks for introducing yourself!

For me the game gets you hooked on constant improvement. I have no aspirations to be the best, I just want to be taken seriously and to eventually find a nice chunk of space to mine :)

The big corps remain because they are confident in their defenses.

Welcome. I know I got you a few times. I hope there is no hard feelings.  Big corps are around to help out people who need help. In TGE I do my best to help out all my members. From Corp ships to Advice.  Advice is something I can give you now. You will want to watch mining anywhere in 0,0.  What pirates remain, tend to hit people in 0,0. Your more likely to be attacked in 0,0.

SSS has many reasons to stick around Sol. Let me give you the two major reasons: Sol's stations and recruitment. Those stations are the only place in the game where you can buy minerals, hire personnel, upgrade ship hulls, etc. As for recruitment, it's easier to do it if we have a base there and make our overwhelming presence felt to the newbies. :)


If you do find something like that and it's of some significance to the game, then my hat's off to you (anyone can dump marine mk Is everywhere; no one has done that yet but it's not significant. Haha). I've played around with pretty much everything in the game (wasting a fortune and RPs in the process) so your ambition really is big. But I guess that is much easier to achieve than unseating me from my throne. LOL

I will see you out there. Good luck! :)

Hello Garville,

Ralph nailed your first question perfectly.

As for doing something nobody has done before, it is easy, wait for the next upgrade and be the first to beats aliens, visit a black hole, find an exotic alien module... Your name will stay in history... But you will not be alone to do it.

As for JJL being a pirate, nothing new there. For a top 10 player attaking newbies :(, I think he is the only one!!!

Good luck and see you around a black hole somewhere...

Hey Garville :)

Like others pointed out, a very interesting part will be the exploration aspect. We all want to be the first to find an artefact or to encounter an event no-one else has seen.

We start small, exploring our corner of the Milky Way, finding the right star and planet to call our new home, maybe name it "New Eden" or is it "Pandora"? You never know...
All we know is space can be harsh. It will constantly change, stars will go supernova, new stars will be born, planets may swing out of orbit and be lost in space.

And then, just as you finally manage to get a decent map chart and think you found all the stars it hits you... there's a void of 1500 Light Years between our local group and the next group.

Just as the stars are divided into small quadrants, so is the Milky Way divided into pockets of stars. But the space in between is not empty.
There are small groups of stars, very unusual stars. There are monsters, black holes, wormholes and events beyond imagination.

There's an infinite number of stars out there... You may find an alien artefact or a whole alien civilization that will attack on sight. Or something so unknown that it will suck your ship into a parallel Universe...

Is there a reason for the search... I don't know... but it sure is interesting :)

To be fair it was only as I was doing COMs and even then if I remember right I was doing nest. Those are so time consuming that sometimes I get bored. They do have a big enough timer though to usually come get their stuff if they are active. lol

Hey, Guys,

Don't worry, I don't carry grudges, especially when it says on the cover page that conflict is inevitable.  While my intention is to be peaceable, I will attack if I have been attacked.  Most of the contacts I have had in the game have been friendly, and I believe that there is respect and the beginning of several friendships there.  I often find that to be an important part of enjoying a game. 

I would like to correct what I said at the beginning about taking membership benefits being like an athlete taking steroids.  That was wrong of me, because it probably criticises a lot of people based on my own personal belief, which only applies to me.  It is not a strategy that would benefit my personal game playing pleasure, however I see nothing wrong in anyone else joining a corp as part of their personal strategy, and they should do it if that is how they enjoy playing.  Phrasing it as I did was unintentionally arrogant.  I apologise to everyone who was offended by it.

Your responses in this thread have been even more educational than the advice threads.  I have a much better idea of what the game is about, and some of your motives too.  This will be a great help in the game.

@ SirEmi
I feel that if you put your post in this thread on your front page, or even on a linked page, you will get more people trying the game out. 

well most of the stuff he was referring to is all set to release with the next project completion :) I think everyone is very excited for it and it will definitely help keep players interested in this game.

Also, just because you join a corporation does not mean you need to accept free gifts from the players in it. I'm sure whatever corp you joined you could ask to not receive anything and be fine. Your motivations for joining a corporation should be comradery and just getting the chance to work with other like-minded players. This game is a lot more fun when you have people to talk to and support. :)

He is right, I for example wouldn't force you to use our corp COM ships.  I might insist on you taking a few turns with one of the corp science ships though. lol

All true. Also I'd say that your perspective/goals in the game play role here.

Your goals/gameplay can be a somewhat sandbox-like non-linnear experience. For many players getting help just means they get to their goals faster, but because of the sanbox-like nature of the game, those goals(mk1 marines everywhere lol) may be yours and your alone.

By that I mean that the objective of the game is not (necessarily) a race to see who can unseat Raph from his throne first and we all can have different goals/strategies. I think this non-linnear gameplay aspect helps a lot to keep anyone from truly gaining an unfair advantage.

Hi Garville and welcome.
the question, what is out there and why do we play and what is there to achieve?
a bit of escapism, a bit of character development, growth, management, finding "curios"
It really all depends on what you want to develop as a player.
I love economics and building stuff, and logistics etc so i just love finding a new system and searching for its secrets, which is mostly minerals and then turning those resources into equipment.
IMG have always been dedicated to self support and to finally leave Sol system to be totally independent. Our model now is pretty close to full self sufficiency and we rarely need to go back to Sol, except for rapid upgrades or to turn in a rescue mission.
Sorry to hear the top corps have been hitting you, i know we were not one of them. We dont do that at IMG. We have a non aggression policy with everyone bar those who choose to inflict piracy or assaults on others.
Dont get me wrong though, we have many enemies, and right now that would be the top corps.
It has been that way for us since day "dot" that someone higher than us has been beating us down. We survived to be a reasonable force.
Joining a corporation other than Sol Corp has its benefits in more social interactions with more active players, as well as the support a corp can offer. The downside of course, is you take on its political status and its conflicts, if any.
Good luck out there pilot. If you need a hand, drop me a personal message @ Dadds mailbox. I am da boss here lol

Thank you all for taking the time to reply.

It is good to know where I have some misconceptions.  Both the game and the players in it are proving to be more interesting than I expected.  This is my first attempt at this type of online game.

I think I will stay around for a while.

Wonderful! :D

The players in this game are a diverse lot and are indeed interesting :) it would be worth your time to read other forum posts and talk to some of them to get an idea of who you are playing with.

Good, I'm glad you decided to stick around.



(oh, btw.  The EoS is still recruiting)

As is TGE. lol

I would recommend either (me first though).

Either of us could help him go far in the game.  If you prefer mining then EoS would be the way to go though. If you want to do COMs and work on growing quicker, then TGE would be your best bet.  Don't get me wrong SSS is a good choice too. But from what I have heard from some of their members Raph can sometimes be a bit selfish with the corp ships. lol. No offense raph. Just what I heard.

Me controlling them assures many things in the game, Jam. That the ships are used very efficiently and not wasted is one. That you never ever going to catch up to me is another. LOL

I am also giving my members things that other corps don't give. 50 QPs every 25 days is an example. I don't want to explain any further though.

Anyway, I am not going to spoil Garville's thread about recruiting. He will eventually know what truly is the most powerful corp in the game. :)

Just remember corp power isn't everything. The only reason i am not much further up myself is because a good portion of my resources go to helping out my members.  I don't need to hand out 50 QP every 25 days  because each of my people right now can afford their own officers and VIP. If I wanted to just work on myself then yes i'd be further. But i'd prefer my corp grew as a whole.  I am not trying to criticize you though. You can run your corp how you like. I just thought I'd mention though the complaint by a few of your people on the corp ship usage. I am not revealing who they are though.  They are good people and loyal to you.  Also i'd still recommend SSS over IMG.  But I am trying to see where this guy might be a better fit.  Just because a corp is strong doesn't mean it is a good fit for someone. This guy if he is a miner likely will fit in with EOS better.  Laid back people doing COMs fit in well with TGE.  Though we are all pretty self sufficient.  I know Sargas's style from having worked closely with him. So I can tell what might be a good fit there.  Just as I know what is a good fit for people in my corp.  ITO might also be a good fit for this guy.  Perhaps even better then us.  Yes we are in a better position to help him, but that doesn't always matter. That is why I never make a huge deal with someone decides to join a different corp.  Most of the time I give people an open invitation to come join us if they want.  All I ever ask of my people if they decide to leave TGE is that they give me some sort of explanation as to why they are leaving.  After all it is the respectful thing to do. 

I won't go further and explain the many benefits of being the most powerful. I will leave that for you to figure out. Stop going out of topic now. LOL

If he is going to mine I would recommend NHC more than EOS :)
And the lack of corp ships in our members' possession ensures steady and stable growth. No reliance on something that can be taken away.

Only way they lose it is if they leave or if the ship is being upgraded. I try to provide replacements though. lol.  The corp science ships being passed around between everyone also helps.  But I do encourage my people to build their own stuff and be self sufficient. I don't want them relying on me. I am just using corp ships for what they were designed to do.  Be ships for the corp. Not just the corp leader to use. lol

I am a newer player than yourself. I've talked to you in the SOL message list.

As a new player who often plays the way you described in many different games, I think when you don't take lots of gifts and upgrades from other more powerful players, it forces you to play the game and genuinely - without illusions - get to know it. All of hte gifts and upgrades do give you a shortcut to higher power ratings, but they don't teach you the game. My feeling is if you can't enjoy the game without gifts and upgrades then you probably won't enjoy it with them because in order to really learn the game you'll eventually have to go without. No player can infinitely give you gifts and always be available to walk you through the game.

So whether a player goes without early on or later, it's the litmus test for their ability to stick. In many games I've played, there were quite a number of players who coasted on freebies and then hit a wall when the gifts stopped. They never actually played the game up to that point. It hits harder too because they waited so long before playing the real game. All that they've done up to that point will be lost and it'll hurt. And it hurts even more if the gifts were being given to them by the game and not other players. The game intentionally deceived them.

However, there's another phenomena I've noticed in the different games I've played. The game at the lower tiers can be different from the game at higher tiers. So it's still possible for someone like myself who doesn't like freebies to enjoy the early tiers but hit a wall later on when the game changes noticeably to one I don't like.

And for higher tier players, it comes naturally to help the lower tiers because they've played in those tiers and know how much they can help. However, sometimes you have to give the new players room to navigate the game on their own for a while. It's hard to resist the impulse to help them, but you have to understand: not all players like to be drowned in loot and upgrades. And the lower tier game is not worthless just because the items are so weak or because the lower tier player has such small powers. If the game is at least moderately similar from the bottom tiers to the top then letting the lower tier players learn the ropes early can help prevent them from having a hard crushing blow when they discover they don't like the game much later in their playing career. They'll still experience grief and leave the game disgusted, but it won't be as heavy hitting.

Lastly, the best way to help a low tier player is to answer any questions they ask. Do not answer questions they don't ask. If they've at a prior time declined money and gifts then don't offer them unless asked for.

well said...

the EoS agrees.

Who exactly are you addressing this reply to? Garville?  :)

You are absolutely correct.  The problem with this game is how much harder things are at the lower tiers.  In the beginning you got really long jump timers. The pay from transport missions is really low. Mining isn't really very profitable. Though pirating at low levels can work well. One of the reasons early level mining is a pain though isn't so much from the pirates. You also have to deal with people who are inactive or barely active that have left modules on planets/moons that might have something halfway decent on it.  Overall the beginning requires a lot of patience. Many players quit when they are at the Venus stage of the academy. I used to like to go to Venus to take pop shots at the inactives there because some of them would sometimes drop diamonds. So yes that told me what stage of the academy they were at.  Getting new upgrades for their ships is slow.  As time goes on they can eventually attempt SOS's. But the problem is they find they aren't making much off them because they aren't able to go further out to get the good ones.  So some start on COMs. Unfortunately many try to use armor when they are first doing this so they really aren't making a lot of money because of armor repair. So the slow start with all this is what causes many to become frustrated and quit.

In the higher tiers your mostly going to be doing COMs for good money. Unfortunately though you got to deal with long attack timers.  Like in the early game people do get bored. Only people at this point feel like there really isn't much left for them to do.  So there are some who end up quitting because of how boring things are.   Now I create the corp ships to help my other members. Unfortunately though for some it does rob them of that early learning experience. I do try to encourage them to do stuff on their own and they don't get corp ships right away.  Sometimes I am still in the middle of working on one so a new member needs to wait a while.  In that time though I do offer advice and do what I can to help.  I don't just give them high MK modules though.

I would just like to inform everyone...

I win :)

It's an extreme pleasure to have you aboard Garville. I never had a doubt in my mind.

Hi Garville

P.S Your name sounds a bit like Garfield. Maybe I've been watching too much cartoons.