Starting Sequence of moves, first 10min.

"Quick Strike"

-Build Cap. Ship Hanger, and make a Carrier
-set up mines
-Build military research

-Make 3 or 4 scout ships and send out on auto explore

-send carrier to closest light defended planet
-make 5 light frigits and send to carrier as spawn

-train 2 points in hull reinforcement
-buy 1 in fleet logistics

*Check for closest homeworld of enemy

-Build colony frigit and send to col. planet with cap ship at it

-build 2nd military research
- send cap ship and 5 frigits to closest homeworld

-train 5 more frigits
-upgrade cap ship

-new colony add civ growth 1 point, and set up mines

-train LRM frigits

*When cap. ship hits homeworld of enemy embargo and clear, try to take out the frigit hanger.

-Build 3 LRM, and 6 Light frigits
-Upgrade to super hull reinforcement x2 points
-send new fleet to world woth cap ship, pull back if losing untill back up arrives.

-Check Pirates

-10 MINUTE MARK

dont forget to max out the pop on your home first and raise others not to lose money in taxes.

Coilshot

Posted by antracer on another topic....


Or just a little overwhelmed... There's alot to look at and keep track of, and it can seem a bit over the top.

In addition to reply #4, which has some helpful bits:

1- I never build scout ships, not until later when I'm searching out enemy fleets. Maybe it's just me, but there's not enough resistance early game in the planets next to you to warrant it's use, and as you will see later down the line, your other ships will handle anything they find just fine.

2- Play TEC. I say it again because it's the race most like yourself, so the decisions will make sense and you don't have to consult the "book" to find out what you're doing.

3- I build, in this order: Cap Ship Facility, Resource Excavators, Civilian Lab. I build the KOL CapShip and then 3 or 4 Cobalts, then the "colony" frigate. I send the Kol and the cannon fodder to the nearest planet and take out the rabble. I then send the colony ship just as the last is being cleared. I can then send the "fleet" onto the next planet and clear the rabble, then send the colony in to that one. Wash, Rinse and Repeat. Build more Cobalts to replace the damaged ones, and a few extras to help keep the advance moving along. Depending on the map, you can carve a nice niche for yourself rather quickly.

4- Turn off the pirates. They are annoying at first, and always come at a time you need to be doing something else. Later, you will realize that they are great for leveling up your Cap Ships. By then you'll have a handle on research and building and defending yourself to combat them.

5- On the first planet settled, I build a 2nd Civilian Research Unit, that way I can research Volcanic and Ice World colonization. I can also research Trade. On the 3rd planet, I build a military research unit. By then, trade is done (usually...). I go back and build trade ports for all planets, upgrading the slots as necessary to do so.

6- During all of that, my first priority is getting my CS and Fleet numbers to the next level, then getting the 2nd military research up so I can tech LRMs and the missle techs. I want a 2nd Cap Ship, a Dunov. I pair this with my KOL. The two in tandem are deadly fun. The Dunov has shield support that helps out the KOL and the Cobalts, which along with LRM's makes a nice early fleet.

7- While you're not busy doing all of that , I upgrade my planets. There are only two upgrades that I worry about until later in the game. The pop increase (upper left) and the explore planet, 3rd on top IIRC. I max those ASAP. If you hover your mouse over the dollar figure upper right, you get a breakdown of where your money is, or isn't. Do it every few minutes. You'll notice planets will cost you money until you develop them. Artifacts and bonuses are pretty self explanatory... you just want them as soon as you can get them.

8- Beware of spam. It's easy to spam ship and building types to win. I don't, forcing me to be better in the strategy department. Be aware that the AI may spam certain units later on, forcing you to match, but the "mighty LRM" usually takes care of that. I also limit myself to 1 trade port per planet. It's too easy to spam these and make too much money. If all you want to do is "win" spam away. If you want to actually "play", don't.

9- The market is your friend. Buy and sell what you need to. Don't worry about minor fluctuations of 10 or 20 credits, the time is more valuable. As long as you don't buy during spikes or sell during drops to the floor you'll be OK. This will be especially true with 1.04 where the market has been beefed a little on the sell side.

10- The K.I.S.S. principle: Keep It Simple Stupid. (not to infer you are, it's just how the saying goes...) Don't go off on tangents until you have the basics down. Start on a SMALL map with one opponent. Turn off the pirates. Make the AI run "easy". Get a feel for the interface. Push buttons, click on things... Especially all those little things on the left of the screen. Learn a few keyboard shortcuts for screen focus. Click on a planet and hit the space bar, then the caps lock.

Lastly, have fun. Don't worry about being overwhelmed... do what you can and learn what to do... THEN go out and kick butt.

For me i don't build military lab unless i get a good income. I have lots of money and lots of ships. i do quanity and not quality.
1. Cap ship + factory
2. 2 scout auto mode
3. Metal/Crystal mines
4. all resorcues to figrates
5. kill all npc in a weak planet( easy to do since i have about 5-6 frigates alrdy.
6. capture a npc with a colony( build after sending fleet to kill)
7. build 2 civic research trade.
8. money money money- more to frigates.
9. Build some planet def.
10. when a good amt of planets are annexed, i build 4-5 military labs at once while researching all of em. And thats it.

Kidcase: Limit yourself to one trade port per planet? Why hold yourself back? It's not like other players can't spam trade ports. It might be a bit harder for Advent and Vasari but they can still do this fairly easily.

Trying out your "Expand and Defend" right now, Kidcase. Already got 3 planets and 3 asteroids under control and about to take down a heavily defended planet. Only about 12min in so it seems to be working well so far will let you know how it works out in the long run.

My tactics tend to be cap a few planets and bunker down for the long haul

Are you taking note that has plan only takes into account the first 10 minutes of the game and take into consideration that it's goal is to establish a good foothold straight off the bat and is not a long term strategy for a game.