Build an Economy
Research Technology
Trade Early
Construct Defenses
Recruit Commanders
Week One in your Astroempires adventure is a critical one. Here you are under server protection so that other players cannot attack you. Be forewarned however, this period does slip by very quickly and if one is not prepared, it is considerably more difficult to progress beyond week one if one is not prepared with a strong infrastructure and adequate defenses
You start the game with a set number of credits, but those can be expended rather quickly... the goal is to have an economy that supports your empire's growth.
The way economy works in Astroempires is that having various income-generating infrastructure units and/or favorable trade relationships creates an income that is awarded every hour on the game clock. For example, an econ rating of "25" means that you are awarded 25 credits each hour of the game clock.
The first structure that should get your attention is the Metal Refinery; it awards an econ bonus of 1 cr/hour and also improves your ability to construct other structures on your base. Balance the building of Refineries with Space Ports; early on, spaceports provide a two-fold benefit: an income bonus of 2 cr/hr AND the ability to set up a trade route with other bases. See the section on Trade Routes for more details on making money on trade activities.
Your first construction efforts should reflect a strong push towards building income-generating infrastructure.
Getting an early start in research is very important. Each technology learned is a stepping stone that unlocks the ability to build more advanced structures, and to wield weaponry that will aid in survival in this harsh, competitive environment. Technologies, you will find, build on one another. Mastery of the basics will allow research in the more advanced knowledge areas. Be sure to build adequate research bases to allow expansion of your technology knowledge. The number of Research Facilities on your base will affect what higher level technologies you have access to. Keep in mind that this limitation applies for individual bases; so a base with fewer or no research facilities will be able to research from a less diverse selection of technologies than one with a higher level of research facilities.
Another important aspect of technologies are the bonuses they offer. Researching Energy early in the game is an excellent strategy alternative. The reason is that it unlocks higher level technologies AND also offers a bonus to the efficiency of one's energy producing structures (a 5% output bonus per level of Energy technology researched!) Alternatively, researching Armour, Shielding, Laser, Plasma, Ion,etc. and other weapons/defensive technologies will yield a bonus in combat for your units and base defenses.
One thing that many players overlook is the importance of establishing trade routes between their base and other neighboring bases. There are two advantages to establishing trade relations EARLY in the game:
Scan the various solar systems in your region for neighbors with open trade routes, or send a message to a prospective trade partner encouraging him/her to set up a spaceport so that you can trade with him/her.
Now that you've worked hard at building a self-sustaining, growing base, it is important to plan for its proper defense. When day 6 of your membership elapses, plan for a change in building cycles so that you can focus on building adequate defensive structures and units.
If you've planned your technology advancement ladder appropriately, you should, by now have access to defensive weapon technology. Spend on the most expensive and advanced defensive turrets as you can afford. Then spend the rest on building a fleet to add as a defensive screen to your base. Fighters are adequate unit defenses to start with. As you research higher levels of LASER and ARMOUR technology, your fighters will become increasingly more effective. As a gauge from my own experience, if you can afford and build Ion turrets or higher by Day 6, you're in good shape. That's not to mean that you're ensured defenses from any attacker (there almost always is someone lurking around that is more powerful) but it is a deterrent from opportunist attacks/pillages and makes attackers "think twice" before possibly losing a fleet to your defensive forces.
As a rule of thumb, start out with two or more levels of turrets and 300-500 fighters per level of turret to ensure a strong defense.
Up for debate is the question: should I layer my defensive turret-types? (i.e., build one, two or more levels of turrets of different types). From experience, it is better to save up and invest in the single highest strength turret one can afford. As you build new turrets, scrap the older ones to make space and free-up energy units for the newer turrets. Keeping around lower-powered turrets is pointless because you can use the energy, the population units and the building space more efficiently with higher-powered turret defenses.
By the time day 7 is reached, you probably have a strong base with defenses, a supporting economy and a defensive fleet on standby. The last two bonuses to consider is the construction of a command center and the recruitment of a base commander.
Building command centers is a prerequisite of recruiting a base commander, but there is also a benefit for building multiple levels of command centers: there is an attack bonus for all fleet units that are attacking/fighting from the base location.
Recruiting and assigning a base commander is a strong complement to any new base. There are several types of base commander disciplines you can train. (listed below):
Each base commander provides a bonus to a respective area/ability based on their specialty. Each base commander is also limited to one training discipline. You can however station several base commanders on a single base with different skill sets. Only one commander can be assigned as the official base commander at a given time. But you can swap out commanders depending on your current needs.
This concludes your initial briefing on the first week of base operations in the Astroempires galaxy. Good luck on your assignment and Godspeed.
