Frequently Asked Questions

Admiral Quixote is frequently asked for his opinion about various issues in the game.  He has asked Commander Panza to transcribe a Frequently Asked Questions list and make it readily available.  Given limited time, he has mostly limited his responses to issues that have not been addressed elsewhere.

What advice would you give to a new recruit?

First of all, have fun.  That is the entire point of playing.  Second, think about what you wish to accomplish and then plan your strategy.   Third, be aggressive.  I know some good players who never bother defending their homeworlds because most players are too timid to attack a player in the early game.  I disagree with this strategy, but it usually pays off for them.  By the time the end games roles around, the timid players no longer have the opportunity to attack the aggressive players…   So have fun, think about your objectives, and be aggressive.

If you would like some specific ideas and links for learning the game, the following PDF file may be helpful.

Why do you recommend games with less than 500 planets?

I am attracted to Planets because I like to grow my empire and consider the best strategy to defeat my opponents.  I do not like to spend vast amounts of time on micromanagement.  This gives me a large bias in favor of maps with a relatively small number of stars (about 5 to 20 per player).   This comes after being successful on several large maps. There is nothing as tedious as managing an empire of 400 or more planets.  IMO, you get all of the fun with less populated maps and you eliminate most of the tedium.

Some players have suggested that I still play in galaxies with thousands of planets, and merely avoid being “greedy” for planets.  I strongly disagree with this for several reasons.  1) Some may consider this greed, but if I'm going to play, I try to play well.  IMO playing well means exploiting those resources you can obtain.  So in galaxies with large number of planets, the choices are to deliberately play poorly or to accept lots of tedium.  Neither answer is satisfying to me.  2) If you have many planets for every player, you diminish the need for competition.   This is a wargame, galaxies should encourage competition for resources.

Like most things, the law of diminishing returns applies to limiting the number of planets per player.  This is why I like a minimum of 5 planets per player.  If you have less planets than this, the strategic elements of the game are greatly reduced and starting position becomes more and more important.

How do you create your maps?

Before creating a map I do a lot of thinking.  Then I doodle on scratch paper to pin down what I want in a map.  I go through many iterations of this process before I actually open a map-generating program.  Once I know exactly what I want, I usually end up placing each planet by hand, but sometimes I use the cluster generating tools.  Since I haven't found a map-creation program that has all the features I like, I switch back and forth between MapMaker, MapEditor, and ClusterGen.

As players of my games have noticed, I am partial to clusters.  Clusters require more strategic thinking from players than just a mass of stars.  It is much easier to defend a small cluster which means attackers need to more carefully plan their assaults.  I believe this enhanced interaction between offensive and defensive players adds a lot to the game.

And of course, I use a ratio of 5 to 20 stars per player when I am creating a map for a particular game.

Do you have any suggestions about jumpgate warfare?

Jumpgate movement occurs at the end of the turn.  When you get your next turn, your ships will appear at the outgoing jumpgate, but the enemy should not be able to see it.  In theory, this reflects the fact that your fleet isn’t really there yet, but is about to exit from the jumpgate.   There is one important exception to this:  If the enemy scanned you as you entered a jumpgate, they can then see you at the outgoing jumpgate. (So jump from a secret jumpgate when surprise is important.  And have scouts near your enemy jumpgates).  In practice, your fleet starts the turn at the outgoing jumpgate and is vulnerable to detonating minefields.

Never, ever build a jump gate over your main base.  Personally, I would never build a jumpgate over any planet, but some disagree.  I love it when my enemies do this.  Since the enemy won’t see me when the turn starts, it allows me to pop in with my fleet, board any ships I like, blow up his base, and leave immediately.  Note:  Do not leave immediately if you want to capture disabled ships.  Leave at least one ship behind.   If you boarded any ships, these ships will do (since you can’t give them orders until next turn anyway).

When building jumpgates, make sure minefields are over/near the jumpgates.   This way, most races can’t zoom out of the jumpgate to attack your base.  If they come with minesweepers, they must wait a turn to sweep and then you’ll see them.

Bots are one of the few races that can (relatively) safely use jumpgates in their space. Just keep many overlapping cloaked minefields over it and one uncloaked minefield covering it. I'll let my readers work out why this is a good idea. Even then, jumpgates are a vulnerability and attackers may either sneak in (with cloakers) or send in a sacrificial minelayer to clear the way.  You will need to make your own risk-benefit assessment based upon your own unique circumstances.

What are some of your favorite chunneling tricks?

If a player has been so foolhardy to ignore my advice and builds a jumpgate over a major world, the Borg can really make them pay.  Send in a chunneling ship along with your fleet and – on the same turn – have a firestorm ground chunnel in a major base.  Ground chunnel occurs after jumpgate movement, so your base will start on the enemy planet protected by your fleet.   This is a wonderful Borg tactic as it blockades the enemy from launching pods as you assimilate.  You can also combine this tactic with the next one if desired.

In a number of games, I have ended my turn with a fleet over a major enemy base and had to consider what he might build next turn.  This surprises me, because IMO the players should have already built ships and been off being aggressive with their resources.  Nevertheless, when you are in this situation, set all of your ships to NCH except one chunneling ship.  It should then warp chunnel to another chunneling ship far away (ideally in the territory of yet another enemy, but empty space will do if you don’t have time to be elegant).  Any ships built by your local opponent will be immediately channeled far, far away as you calmly assimilate his base.   This is a lot of fun!

Borg chunneling ships are very visible.  Unless you want to give a local Scavenger chunneling ability and have him build Junks for you (and unless you really, really trust the Scav, think twice about this), it is hard to sneak up on people with your chunneling ships.  So think outside the box.  Since shipbuilding occurs before chunneling, you can build a chunneling ship that will receive your incoming chunnel the turn it is built.  This is a great way to surprise the enemy.  You can also be very, very mobile with this tactic.  Build 4 probes with the same engine (if you might encounter hostiles, take some spares).  Make sure you carry at least 800 MCs and 60 Moly in your ships.  When you get to an area in which you would like to exploit, build a base and recycle four of your probes.  On the same turn, build a military base.  On the next turn, build a bare-bones firecloud with the four engines and warp chunnel to where it will be built.   This tactic can really shock even experienced players if they are not expecting it.  However, given that I’ve published my tactic, experienced players should now be prepared for it.  It is still a very effective way to greatly increase your mobility.

Any suggestions for those of us who play on multiple computers?

Many of the features within Planets for taking notes store the information on the client.  So if you load your turn on another PC, none of this information is available.  Some players zip their entire /War directory and put in on whatever computer they are using.  However, there are simpler ways to help play on multiple PCs without going to this much work.  I send gamemail messages to myself with reminders for the next turn.  Since the gamemail goes through the host, anytime you unpack your RST, you’ll get the message on the machine you are using.  Just make sure you send the message to the right player ;-)

I also use the ship logs as memory aids.  For example, I’ll have my minesweeper say “500 ord repeating cloaked gravs” if I’m laying small grav minefields to be uncloaked at a later time.

How do you save time managing your turns?

I use the minister features quite a bit.  I would like to use the fleet command orders, but I have had problems with these and rarely use them.  The tiny green buttons on your main ship and base screens are also quite useful.  The M button determines if your unit is affected by ministers. If there is an X through it, the ministers do not affect the ship or base.

The V button is a time-saver if you give orders to each individual unit. When you scroll through your ships and bases, you can click on the V after you give it orders. Then the unit will not appear again as you scroll through them. Unlike the M button, the V button resets itself each turn. I find it very, very useful.

In large games, I also give orders for my bases that should last about 5 turns (for example, build 50 farms).  Then I ignore the bulk of my bases for five turns and then go through all of them again.  I have not had to do this since I quit playing in games with over 500 planets, but it was a very useful tactic when I used to play in games with thousands of planets.