Astro Galaxy - a realistic space exploration game

Hi, y'all.  Been spending time data mining the Forum while drivin' my bus around and a thought popped up:  A sort of 'reverse' guide to the game.

Goes something like this:  Bravo posts -- I waited to progress in the SEA course until I had the goodies for a Heavy Frigate and then put a bunch of Cargo Bays on it.  I use it to transport crews here'n'there.  Got a gas mine and a sulfur mine that no one's killed, yet. Is this the optimal route for a newb that is 'x' far in the SEA course or is/are there things you can suggest?

Folks weigh in with their input which might be --- A:  Nope.  You're doomed to crawl until further notice.  B:  "Ya friggin' idjit!  Wha'd ya go an' do sumpin like dat fer?"  C:  Could be worse; better than a sharp stick in the eye, though.  D:...well, y'all get the idea.

If some of the respondents tossed in 'Here's how you could _______' sorts of commentary, the thread could evolve into a useful critter.

Could even start with this entry.  The info in the "Bravo posts..." is accurate. 

So, what kinda input have y'all got?

I never waited to progress further in the SEA. The reward you get for completing the course makes it a priority and in my opinion there is no reason to wait because the game gives you what you need to do each step :)

Once I got through the academy I set up a small mining operation in one of the stars near Sol to collect materials to turn into fuel or sell at Earth. Then I went and collected the interstellar taxi missions from Earth that had me going to that same star. There is a nifty trick with taxi missions; you can accept them and then talk to the passengers in the cargo bay and ask them to leave (while you're still at Earth). Then if you look back at the station where you get missions there will be a completely new one generated. Using this method I would get three missions to the same star and while dropping them off I would collect the materials that I harvested, bring them back to earth, sell them, rinse and repeat.

If you join a corp soon you might be able to skip straight to SOS missions (which require faster wormhole generators and larger cargo bays) instead of messing with the taxi missions forever

Have to second what Rostin said... finishing the Academy should be a first priority.

After that, the help you can get from joining a Corp will be invaluable in getting "moving". Just a couple of Mk XXX modules is more help than you can imagine. Build yourself a small SOS ship with them, and you'll be cookin' in no time.

finish the academy and then we can talk...

I'm stoked that you posted what you did, Sargas. And a big thanks to those of y'all that have added to this 'Baby Book' that I'm hoping comes about.  This is precisely what da noobish amongst us need.  

Ya don't need me to note that you're absolutely correct.  To the best of my severely truncated knowledge, 'life' begins after SEA school.

As wet-behind-the-ears as I am though, I ought to ask --  With your experience, aren't there other tidbits you could share that'd help a li'l space duckling make effective use of the SEA stuff?

***Late Addition***

(I can hear folks grumblin' now.  "Damned noobish puddin' heads!")

The idea behind this post is -- FLASH!!  More clueless infant(ile) ship captains barfed up and deposited in Sol. -- 

We're no good to you experienced folks unless we progress.  Y'all have "...been there, done that, got the tattoos." 

It's no secret that the time involved in getting your feet under you is a big deal.  It's likely a (the?) biggest contributor to folks throwing in the towel and sayin', "Nope!  Too slow." 

Sargas?  If there's ANY friggin' thing you've learned that would mitigate some of the frustrations of watchin' timers count down, I am dead certain that I and some, more circumspect and bashful, creatures would appreciate the info dump.

If you had to crawl again, what would you do?  What would ya do differently?  How, knowin' what ya do now, would you make the 'baby steps' more interesting?  And, if y'all don't have any input on that, could you recommend a good bar to hang out in while we wait?

Best advice? "If you're the smartest person in the room, find another room."

Though, my wife says HER best advice was, "You're only helpless while your nail polish is wet... and even then, you could pull a trigger if you had to."

Take your pick.

Vote every day, it pays when you are small. Transport people around: in system first and out of system afterward. You do that till you can buy your first SOS ship. Improve you cargo and engine tech till you can do all in system missions at the same time. I remember doing about 6000 an hour with those in system missions.

1.) Don't buy another ship until you complete the academy.

2.) It's never too early to start making a strong science network
   2a.) Combat tactics, cargo bays, and WHGs are great first tech trees to work on

3.) When you do get a second ship, keep one in Sol to do interplanetary missions while the other one goes and does interstellar ones. It's always good to keep at least one ship close to Earth

The best thing I can do for you now is sell you some faster engines (just remember that they will eat more fuel)...

Perfect.  Keep it up, y'all.

I'm gonna add my next steps and toss'em out there for commentary.  I'd encourage any and all new captains to add THEIR first steps into the mix and let the 'powers-that-be' shower us with their combined knowledge and wisdom (ok, ok...tongue a LITTLE firmly in cheek).

Share with us how y'all took YOUR baby steps...

Bravo posts:  Alright, here I am.  Done all the SEA school stuff up to the 1st Interstellar jump (10 HOURS!?  Oh, God.)  Got a Heavy Frigate with 6 Cargo Bays, Iridium shields, a MAU @ 42%, a Sci Lab, Living Qs, a Viper outfit, FTL II, and a Wormhole gizmo.  HAVE NOT made the interstellar jump yet, mostly 'cuz I haven't figured out how to satisfy the SEA requirement without locking myself out of the game for half a day...

You can plot interstellar courses while you do activities in the system.

So while you have the timer going to jump to the nearby star keep doing those taxi missions in Sol

Bless you, Rostin.  Your place in Heaven is assured.

I've been going through the Forum info like a madman tryin' to find out how not to have a 10 hour siesta this early on.  The info in some of these posts so far is stuff I haven't seen elsewhere in the various Forum strategy entries.  Good stuff.

Like the little kid in the Dickens story, "Please, Sir.  I'd like some more..."

That's why I messaged you the other day warning you that the beginning game is really long and boring :) and that is why you should keep a ship around Earth and have other things to do in the other systems while you wait for those killer jumps.

It's also why I recommend faster engines as starting research projects

And don't forget that multiple engines on one ship will also make the ship go faster. So if your tech isn't that great you can just install more engines to get the same effect as one big engine

Glad ya brought up multi-engine...I've been fooling around with that.  I had 2 FTL Is on my bus and it did as advertised, cut travel time at the expense of increased fuel use.  Following the SEA segment that netted an FTL II, I installed it alongside the remaining FTL I.  It did not yield noticeable improvement (I'd have to reconfigure my bus to verify that with the numbers).  I've since gone to the single FTL II and cannibilized the other drive space to fit in another CAB.

 So, the question is, does it make any sort of sense to mix different Mark equipment?  Are there any perceptible benefits/deficits to doing so?

Depends on what you are going for I guess. When I started I just used whatever I could get and worked up to higher levels. Once I got to good landmark Mks I used uniformity to make all of my ships identical to others of the same type

Here's my very own tip, some may agree, some may not...

In the first month or two, maybe, it's useless to get powerful FTL drives, because money is kinda scarce then and it's kinda wasteful to spend extra solars in one single jump, also since an FTL MK I is already enough to send you around Sol. From Earth to Pluto its just seven minutes, what's the point of spending hundreds more solars just because you want to speed it up to five minutes? I doubt time is that precious to you guys.

As for Wormhole Generators, an WHG XXXX, like the one I'm using now, is good enough. Costs slightly more fuel cells but can send you around much faster.

It is also advisable to keep a spare WHG I in your SOS ship's cargo bay because if you happen to run out of fuel and solars while 100 LY away from Sol, you won't want to use the WHG XXXX any longer. Either this, or you have a LVQ at around 70% efficiency so that you can reduce the workers on your WHG, reducing its power but also reducing the fuel cost. LVQs at 100% efficiency are almost useless.

And...blind jumps are not as stupid as you might think. It costs less fuel and allows your ship to jump a distance of 50 to 150 LY away from your current spot, which is perfect for SOS missions in the future, because it lands you in the 3rd to the 5th rings, and those are where you earn the most money. And also a quick reminder: keep as many medicines as possible in your SOS ship's cargo bay, they could be useful.

Anyways, I'm not really Mr Astro Galaxy Expert, if I happen to say something wrong, just say.

If you've got what it takes, do what I did: Sell the 20 QPs that you got after the course and build a science ship with the 1st ship. With the 2nd ship, start raiding mines and destroying them afterwards. Focus on inactives, but if they aren't enough, focus on one weak corp at a time. Expect revenge and lots of silly taunts and death threats (LOL) but it's fun (that's why you play AG, right? to have fun). Income is a lot better than transporting boring prospectors, and every day is a huge payday, especially when you're a week old in the game and have no one to rely on to. Research WHG and cargo bay, and when they're high enough, start doing SOS. Start buying VIP and hiring officers. You can still continue pirating at this point. Now focus researching on marines and shields. Once you have 5 SOS ships, you can then start making COM ships and start researching combat tactics. By the time you start COMs, you can stop pirating. Now make or force peace with your enemies.  :))

That's what made me where I am now, more or less. The beginning is the most crucial part of your growth because it can last many months if you start off on the wrong foot. I never followed other newbie guides because they were too slow for me and if I wanted to catch up and be no. 1 (Mata had 90m power when I started), I needed to do something different. You need to have an exceptional resolve though because you won't win in the end if you give up on setbacks. Always plan months ahead. And most importantly, choose your enemies wisely (read: don't touch SSS). :)

Nice dig at IMG  :lol_sign:

Way cool, y'all.  You folks are sure a bunch of helpful critters -- got me waiting for the other shoe to drop, though.   :))  Am wonderin' when the sharks are gonna bare their toothy li'l grins and chomp a mouthful of my hide.

Which brings me to the next chapter in the Junk Drawer saga.

While @ work, my space bus wandered into Alpha Centauri's environs.  Dropped off some hitch-hikers from Sol.  I've got some fuel to spare and an Atmospheric and regular mine aboard, fully staffed.  I'm not all the way through the Forum stuff, yet.  I haven't run into any input about the first SEA space jump's aftermath.  

So, here are the questions:  Exploring the new system is a given but does it make any sense for a shave-tail like me to put in facilities this far out, yet?  I haven't been pounced on by pirates (thus far), no predators have purloined any of my goodies in Sol (BTW, I think I read somewhere that there's a grace period for us know-nothin' newbs before the animals attack.  True?).  I haven't progressed to the SEA stuff that entails puttin' in a Station, yet.  Am trying to figure out the mechanics of that.  It wouldn't be too encouraging to put it in and then have some space beastie swallow it, right off the bat.  Gotta watch my pennies.   :sweat

Putting facilities far away is very sensible.

1.Raphael doesnt like others to put facilities in Sol.
2.Alpha Centauri is not far away.
3.You probably have space to put 10 facilities and manage it with just one station.
4. ++ For your information SOL corp members are 80% more likely to get attacked, especially if they ae as weak as you. Noncorp members too.

I wasn't attacking them at first, but Dadds felt like he needed to do something against pirates. That eventually led to his downfall. LOL

You'll have a tough time finding open space in the systems around Sol (In quadrant [0,0]) to put down miners/collectors

+1 to what Madden said. He is exactly right. You might get some other newbie attacking you but that is kind of unavoidable anywhere in (0,0) besides GJ 674

Hmm Rostin but that doesnt seem to be the case at ... Uh ... My exbase at Tau Ceti, luckily I managed to relocate 13 aths before I was attacked, and my weekly survey of the area showed that almost 80% of the slots there are vacant.

++And you sure are making money from that MIF at Triton huh  :19:

Is that only recently? Someone might have cleared out inactives

Back on point, ya hi-jackers!   :))

So far, I (and any number of lurkers skulkin' about) have gotten some interesting info dumped into our collective laps.  A decent mix of Aggressive and Passive/Aggressive postures have been outlined.  Some strategic information got shared, e.g., ...range out from Sol, pronto...Science is beaucoup vital...Be picky about taxi missions - use the "I can't take you there." dialogue to pyramid profitability...a couple of bug-lets in the SEA school stuff and their fixes were shared.  And more, because some of the things offered led to "Hey, I read somethin' about that in another Forum post!" and encouraged further exploration and data-mining.

My hat's off to y'all and I appreciate it mucho.  The community here is sorta surprising.

Got your egos buffed enough?

Cool.  One o'the things Raph pointed out was "...plan months in advance..."  Let's talk about that some.

 Scenario:  Bravo's Beasties are almost out of diapers.  Will be done with the SEA stuff (if interested, there was a MAJOR delay -- 16 friggin' hours worth! discussed a little in the 'Bugs and Problems' Forum topic.)  As a side note, I thought about doin' this step-by-step for the benefit of the bare-butt newbs like me.  Because "life begins after SEA school," I'm gonna switch horses mid-stream and be more situational versus "Here's what I've got, here's where I am, etc."  The BBs are out in the great wide universe now and I don't want to spill all my candy and popcorn in the lobby.

That said, here's my situation in a nutshell:  I've got a "To all who see these presents, greetings..." parchment sayin' I'm outta school, am trying to grow a gas station in another system, have a single ship, but it's flexible and useful, am ramping Science as fast as practicable (and maybe a bit past that) and I'm soaking up info from every vector and avenue I'm aware of.  

What da F...  Oooops.  Seriously, though --  What would y'all suggest for a newly graduated, wet-behind-the-ears, "Wow!  I didn't know ya could do that!" kinda goof do next?  And I'm specifically interested in your input colored with Raph's "...months ahead..." theme.  How does a space pup go about growin' without major trauma?    :sweat

Its been like that for months why dont you check it out? Problem is I havent been there for a few weeks and the PvP corp may have taken up all the slots.

Here is what it all comes down to...

$$$ MONEY $$$  :dribble:

Seriously though, money is the name of the game when it comes to Astro Galaxy. There are various opportunities out there to collect aaaaalllll the monies you can whilst still wanting/needing more.
Mining, piracy, SOS missions(x4), COM missions(x2), exploring alien wrecks, interplanetary taxi missions, interstellar taxi missions, private contracts, begging(???), etc. all of these will net you cash and more.

What Raphael (AKA, "The One Above All") means by "Plan months ahead" [at least I THINK this is what he means...] is figure out how much a project is going to cost you and how you should produce/work to make that happen in the most efficient way. For example, figure out what you want to use a ship for before you even purchase it (hull size really matters). It might make sense to use hybrid ship designs at first but later on when you're a logistical vet raking in millions of $ a day you will think to yourself "Why on EARTH did I put THOSE modules on THAT ship???" Think of any investment you make as basically nonrefundable. Manufacturing, income, and science all take time. Don't blow all of it on the first thing that catches your fancy when there is something else that will help you out much more in the long run.

My Tips:

1.) Balance your research and economy. It will do you no good to be able to make mk L WHGs when you can only afford a mk X after a week of saving.

2.) SOS missions are GREAT for newer players to develop towards. They only require WHGs and cargo bays and both of those modules are essential for any other ship you will need. (pro-tip; look for SOS bubbles in the outer rings, they pay the best)

3.) Don't worry about power until you can start making ships that can effectively use that power.

4.) Don't waste QPs on speeding up ANYTHING until you can afford to buy your own QPs.

5.) Always have a goal in mind!

I'll give you a tip, although you probably won't understand it. Sometimes moving faster (and paying more for it) increases your profits, versus moving slower (and paying less). To really understand, you need to see an example. I'll try to fish...

Here... Getting things done fast is sometimes strategically and/or economically better. Let me try to give an example by creating a scenario to explain it. Lets say I spend $223 in transportation costs to acquire and sell $1205 of materials in the span of 72 hours. If I instead spend $446, which is twice as much, to get the same job done in 48 hours then in 72 hours the net result is I spend $669 and sell $1807 of materials for a total profit over the former example of $156. In this particular case anyway, one has to (ideally) graph these linear equations and see where they intersect to know when the profit switches hands.

I know thats confusin', but the nitty gritty of Astro Galaxy is .... ya .... in the numbers.

If you just play and ignore most of hte numbers, you should do ok. You'll do better if you join a corp. Myself, I took the slow route to success. I started out explorin'. And minin'. I'm still explorin'. And minin'. But that's what I enjoy. Do what you enjoy.

And to put into perspective the power of corps.... Join one and you'll be more powerful than me. That's how powerful joining one is. And I've played for several months. There's no single thing you can do right now which will have higher returns.

The second most powerful thing is probably to invest in science labs... just sprinkle them like rain in the cosmos. Most players won't attack them. I've never had mine attacked and I've never heard of anybody attacking them. If you worry someone might attack them, you can reduce the chances by always leaving room on the planets so players who might want room don't have to attack inactives to make room. Alternatively, you can harbor ships permanently at Earth and fill them with Science Labs. Nothing at Earth can be attacked, but putting science labs on your ships permanently will consume module space.

Planing in advance: This is what I do all the time.

First you need to understand how to make the most money from the smallest investment (at start it is SOS). Once you find out plan to extrapolate it to the max. With that I know precisely how much money I make per week. Now I know what I can spend.

I have build a spreadsheet that tell me the cost of any ship with any module, the time every module need to build, the cost in research points of any MK for any module. With that information I can research the appropriate tech levels. I can order the appropriate modules so that all needed modules be available at the appropriate time. I do the same for the upgrades. The higher the MK of the modules the more you need to plan because they take longer to build. Some of my modules take now 8 months to build, you can imagine the planing. I have close to 2000 manufacturing bays running full time. Lots of planing, lots of money :)

Do not be afraid, it comes slowly as you learn the game and also only if you want to become a top performer in the game.

Wow.... I didn't expect any less from you, but still. That is baffling  0o

W.O.W

  0o 0o

For your information 'planing' is spelt as 'planning'.

And Antilak...are you a mathematician or what? I'm not really bothered to count all these stuff. Back at school, I was terrible with maths, and now I've forgot everything I've learnt. What? "graph linear equations and see where it intersects"??? Duh...  :wounded1:
And your right about "sprinkling SLBs like rain in the cosmos", every time I do SOS missions, I carry a dozen SLBs and just dump them in the nearest systems. 70k RPs an hour for a sucker like me is really awesome. MAU XXXs!! Woohoo!! Strategic Nukes? Well...close but not yet.

French is my mother tongue so you will all have to forget my typos... :)

Oh... :)

At least you learnt a new spelling today  L:)

*learned :)

both learned and learnt are correct. It just depends upon which flavour of the language you speak.

http://www.grammar-monster.com/easily_confused/learned_learnt.htm (http://www.grammar-monster.com/easily_confused/learned_learnt.htm)

I'm with Madden, Consul :P

If you guys really want to correct madden, it's "you're right about.."

-.- dude im typing from my phone.

I had to warn em.

The spreadsheet somebody(s) put together:
http://forum.astro-galaxy.com/index.pp/topic,8838.msg73472.html#msg73472

Do what you enjoy. That's what I do. I don't always follow the numbers.

What a handy li'l info dump, Antilak!   Way cool.  My thanks to all involved in putting this together and disseminating it. 

Notes to newbs like moi:  Spent some time/effort/resources putting together a dedicated Search and Rescue/Combat Assault craft using the goodies generated by SEA graduation.  As a bunch of folks noted in previous posts, getting out into the Great Beyond and running SOS/COM ops ASAP is a goooood thing.  I made some progress putting in a gas station @ Gamma Alpha Centauri.  Plans are to use it to facilitate SOS/COM missions and to maybe make a few pennies.  FYI, it's a public station currently selling Fuel (although there isn't much to trade, yet) and buying Meds and Food.  From other Forum posts, I've gathered that becoming a Merchant isn't too sensible, so far.  Am hedging my bets a bit and hoping that, in the (near?) future, players will be able to set their own prices which would make Commerce a profitable venture.  We'll see...

What are y'all doing to progress?  I'm really interested in your input.

Im pretty much sending my Scout VII ships to the 4th rings with cargo filled with fuel and meds, earning cash and using those to manutacture MAUs to be installed in a COM ship Im building. Many thanks to Martok and co for leaving SCORP, when u guys were around I was scared to use the millions I had saved up, for fear of some emergency, but after you left I managed to double my power.

Oh yes and in case you didnt know u can optimize ur ships at the Earth Shipyard. Check it out, but I dont think u shd spend ur cash buying those atm.