Astro Space Efficiency Study

This site belongs to Merovech, formerly of Ceti; now resident of Epsilon.

Space Available

The charts below show the remaining available space for each astro type. Available space is calculated by the total space minus the space required for Urban Structures and Fusion/Gas/Solar Plants. The first chart shows the moon space available.

We have two considerations to make. Upgraded players are advised to build on moons because the smaller size makes building P-Shields cheaper. Generally speaking, the difference between a Moon and Planet in usable space is within two Terraform levels, which is significantly less expensive than the difference in P-Shield costs.

Moons

The general advice has been to take a Slot 1 over Slot 2 moon. This is because of the increased Fertility. However, the table reveals the difference to be slight to non-existant. This gap grows when Biosphere Modification is possible.

If you eventually replace all Solar Plants with Fusion, you will only gain two spaces, limiting the value of Fusion Plants when considered with their cost. Because the Fusion Plant column assumes unlimited upgrades, the value of an all-Fusion planet is not available to free players. This is an issue for Moons and Planets.

Arid and Tundras are generally preferred as research bases, and they are slightly larger than Gaias. This means Gaias are not the holy grail that is widely touted. Toxic Moons compete with Earthly, which means they should be considered when in Slot 4 and 5.

Planets

Free players are supposed to select Planets because of the added space. I suggest spending a bit of money to upgrade your account for one month and building two extra Terraforms, which will give you the general low cost of a Free account with the cost advantage of moons and the space of planets.

As with Moons, the available space difference between Slot 1 and Slot 2 is again slight; but Slot 2 is preferred. As with Moons, Metallic astros bear the greatest difference. This is due largely to their normal Fertility and size.

Defenses

Good Astro Defense includes:

2 x Disrupter Turrets
2 x Planetary Shields
2 x Planetary Rings

That consumes 4 slots and demands 5 Antimatter Plants to build, or 11 slots. So, when determining what you put on a base, consider the impact of defenses. (+4 energy, -9 slots)

Add to that the 10 recommended Command Centers (-10 energy, -10 slots). When added to the above, you need one Fusion Plant dedicated to Command Centers.

Combined Astro Defenses and Command Centers (+2 energy, -20 slots).

The following is the impact of the Good Astro Defense with Command Centers on planetary slots.

The following is the impact of the Good Astro Defense with Command Centers on moon slots.

Spaceports

Fifteen spaceports.

Shipyards

The above table assumes the astro is optimized for Production. Following the Efficient Fleet model, we would only build 12 Shipyards. However, for those who want to build Dreads, we include that calculation as well.

• 4 energy.