This site belongs to Merovech, formerly of Ceti, Epislon & Fenix; now resident of Gamma, Helion and Ixion.
holodomor
Welcome to Ben Wilson's (a.k.a. Merovech) Astro Empires guides. He started playing in August of 2007 and as of Spring 2010 plays on Epsilon, Gamma and Helion, having played in Ceti, Delta, Epsilon and Fenix. Early on, he listened to the advice of other players, which made him make some bad decisions. He decided to challenge the accepted wisdom of other players by looking at the underlying mechanics. These guides are the result of some of his findings. He encourages you to find him out in-game to let him know where his advice has fallen short.
The Seven-Ten Guide describes an optimized path to building ten bases in the first week of game play. This guide was developed prior to Astro Empire's modification of protection during the first week. AE changed the mechanics because free players were able to use guides like this to build ten bases—thereby circumventing the nine-base limit. What AE should have done is allow free players to have ten bases.
Having validated this guide during the Helion startup, I can say the guide works provided you keep an eye on your level progression and ensure you have adequate defenses. If your neighbors are at least five levels above you, this guide is ideal.
My Advanced Base Guide came with analysis on the optimal layout of an astro. This started with common wisdom and validating the accuracy of those assumptions. This guide retains some of the original common wisdom that has not been fully evaluated. This guide includes recommended structure goals for “free players,” those who do not pay to play. Those structure goals assume a “fully terraformed” astro (five-levels of terraform).
The Very Advanced Structures guide expands on the advice given in the Advanced Base Guide by discussing structures encountered through heavy reasearch (e.g. Multi-Level Platforms, Planetary Rings). It builds on the “fully terraformed” advice by showing what could be done with Multi-Level Platforms to give the free player the most enjoyment out of his bases.
For a quick reference, I put together a Production Structures chart. This simply organizes the various manufacturing and production facilities based on their relative cost. As players like to build bases with these structures cost-balanced, this chart provides a quick means to assess construction goals.
Small Fleet Doctrine is an analysis of efficient fleet design. The core tenant is that a player should focus on building fleets that are efficient against other fleets. This assumes that one knows the target, which means the player has to be somewhat aggressive to really pull it off. Some players assert that "blob" combat makes Small Fleet untenable. I contend that it only requires that players work together to build an efficient blob.
My Base Defense Guide offers a profit-based defense theory to game play. Operating under the philosophy that Astro Empires is essentially an economics game, this guide advises players on base defenses that help reduce their bases' profit-profile.
