I like the idea about keeping three tabs open each for buying minerals/gases and for the manufacturing screen. If you're going to be buying a lot of module materials that'd help. It's surprisingly simple, but I've never done it before. Whenever I needed to know the amount for something, I'd just write it down in a text file and reference that. Later on in my experience I started using the spreadsheet (which someone linked on this forum) which has formulas for the modules. Of course, while doing all that I clicked on minerals and gases every time I need to make a new module, instead of keeping 3 tabs open - 2 for buying.

I still think a max link for modules with numeric input is a good idea. Don't need any messy solutions. As it's, if I have the materals in my cargo and I want to make a max shield, I got to click on the field and enter the max value. It's fine, but it's not ideal.

And of course: I like what the OP is saying and agre. Roman numerals don't help.

Having many ships and stations doesn't mean that you have to spend a lot of time in the game. Most of the time nowadays I log in to just check the corp board and forum. That said, I spend more time responding to forum posts and corp boards than actually playing the game. LOL

But it does give you more opportunity to be busy in the game. When you start out with just one ship, travelling to another star or getting anything done is very slow. You have lots of reasons to be afk, unless you buy QP. But later on... It's a different experience. Multiple ships allow you to explore all hours of the day, if desired. You can mine and do missions too. And then there's the issue of managing all your modules and upgrading everything, wherever it may be. As you add ships and stations and module slots and modules to the planets, it certainly does give you more things to potentially do, if that's what you desire.

Active scans are very useful in war time (to beat an enemy you need to know the strength of the enemy). In peace time, it gives you an idea if you are falling behind in tech levels or not.

It is fun to know that I can encourage captains

I assume ship power is not a good enough gauge then?

Module positioning does not matter unless you like your modules neatly organized

And yes! If you go to modules -> cargo bay modules and then click an empty slot; then whichever module you click next will be moved there, even if it's already installed!

As for moving modules between ships the easiest way is to use a station

One thing I do is put my LVQ/WHG/FTL near the module at the top and left. Reduces scrolling. I use LVQ a lot.

Another thing I do is put my miners at bottom and right. Not sure if it helps.

I'm getting int othe habit of clicking the sections when looking at modules. Larger ships makes it necessary.

Humbly looks at his science/hour..... Oh, hmm, 15500.

So you're a factor of 1000 higher than me. Or three orders of magnitude.

Got to say, my friends, it's all relative. Why? Because I'm having fun. :p

My entire time in astro-galaxy I was aware other players had ~1 billion ship/station power. Certainly doesn't stop me from enjoying the game. I'm not the kind of player who wants to get to end game asap or will quit. I play and play, regardles.

It's the journey which matters.

One thing I am trying to avoid is being overwhelmed by ships/stations/miners/etc. It's always on my mind when I'm playing. I'm always wondering "Lets see, how can I minimize the time I'll be playing per solar? I like to be afk."

My opinion is games should reward us minimally if we're playing more than 1 hours per day. But it all depends on the game. Some people really do not have more than 30 minutes to devote to gaming on a given day. Doesn't mean they shouldn't game.

Don't take what I say personally. And I've gamed a lot in my life. I've probably been addicted a few times.

There was one browser game I played which decreased your experience after an hour or two to 20%. That's not enough, imho. And yet the dumb thing also had a cash shop which allowed you to buy more time so it'd be 100% again. /shake head.

[max]

I agree the Roman Numerals don't really help.

Roman numeral for 30: XXX
Roman numeral for 80: LXXX
Roman numeral for 172: CLXXII
Roman numeral for 324: CCCXXIV
Roman numeral for 911: CMXI
Roman numeral for 1003: MIII
Roman numeral for 1075: MLXXV

Someone tell me how it helps!!!! What is my brain not seeing?

I got mild (insane!?) OCD. I like modules to end in V or X (no ugly I's). Ocassionally an I slips through.

NOW I will add being able to click on the drop down in manufacturing to quickly set the MK level is nice. I use it all the time to set it to maximum. Of course, you can type it, but I'm lazy and my mouse and me are really good friends. BUT * THIS IS A BIG BUT * you can't click on a dropdown if hte module input box is set to a number. This is the case with the cargo module. WHY?

PLEASE GOD (sir emi) put a max link for modules in manufacturing which have a numeric input box. Or a dropdown.

/agree

W.O.W

  

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...  
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.

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.

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.

Where did you read that it will go on? It won't. It will be a draw.

Are you saying new players don't have high enough attack to break through 100k shields before a draw is called?

Needless to say, I engaged in pirating a long time ago (those were fun times). If another pirate like me would come around, that pirate won't attack your station if you have at least 100k shields.

Couldn't the fight go on (not indefinitely) and the attacker win if my weapons are too weak to deplete her shields before she depletes mine, even if my shields are really high? Isn't it just: Whoever depletes the other first, will almost always win.

Maybe what you're saying is 100k shields demands X attack which the attacker (supposedly) doesn't have? This could matter if there're limited combat rounds and the attacker can't hit me hard enough to deplete me before the fight is over.

"At minimal cost" would be vipers, but I won't suggest that you defend your miners. As long as you don't piss someone off, no one would really bother to attack you. Also, don't be discouraged by the power ratings. Mata had around 90m power when I started. You can enter the top 20 in several months if you have a sound game plan.  

What magnitude of higher power rating does one need to reliably defeat an opponent's station? 1x? 2x? 3x?

How much shield/armor is needed?

I'm working with these numbers right now:
1 shield: ~8000
1 armor: ~7000
viper: ~14000 atk
laser: ~10000 atk

Am I better off with JUST marine modules, or are vipers/lasers needed?

I'm guessing the only defense I'll have is against new players who haven't joined a corp.

Can anyone supply me tips to defend miners on a planet, at minimal cost? I realize with the extreme power rating curve there's no chance of me surviving versus long lived players, but I want to hedge my bets. Also assume I'm at a gas giant, so cannot place planetary defenses.

First started shooting 11/27/1964:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVll6UzZEoY

Always check your ship cargo log for any problems with transactions...

We might actually add a buy back button at maybe 125% of the cost for transactions done with NPC in the future.

I did check the log. My thinking is since the ship was older than the 14 days allotted for the log then the other FTL X didn't show, since I kept it in my cargo for a long period of time without using. I had two, but turned out not to have enough module space.

Also the sell price of 8791 which I received when I sold the installed module coincides with what FTL X with 30 personnel would yield. FTL I when sold at the salvage ship yielded almost exactly 1/10th. If the other FTL X was included, it should have been higher. So, assuming it wasn't my imagination, it deleted the FTL X in cargo without actually paying me for selling it.

I've moved on and don't really care anymore about this, but I still don't know if it was a bug or my imagination. As I wrote above, I tested the idea it might be removing modules with the same name in the cargo. I bought two FTL I modules, put one in cargo and installed the other with full personnel. When I sold the installed module, the other one remained in cargo. So I was unable to repeat the "bug." It's possible it was my imagination, but I think there's more to it than that.

Without being able to repeat it, I'm wasting your time. I will try to repeat. I'll reply here if I do.