This is a diary of one run through the Ten-Seven Guide. This diary originally began as an objective test of the Ten Seven Guide, which began on October 16, 2007 (Tuesday morning). What follows is a more detailed listing of how Ben Wilson applied the guide to local conditions. He started on a Slot 2 Arid Moon. You are supposed to start on a Rocky, Crater or Metallic. Since Arid is optimal for Research, he broke with the normal dogma and decided the first base would be pure Research. The consequence is a loss of one Metal, but an increase in Fertility.

Your base will start with one Urban Structure and one less than the normal Solar Plant output.

Day One

Play-by-Play

Notes

Ben lost four hours productivity because of sleep. However, the banked credits were quickly expended. By the last hour, he was strapped financially again. So, the queues served their purpose and incidental lost time was not relevant.

Day Two

Play-by-Play

Notes

Try to focus on building the Shipyards and Research Labs over Factories and Refineries. That helps you produce your Scouts and Outposts. For a slightly slower but cheaper reconnaisance force, research Laser and Armour and build two Corvettes.

Ben failed to attain the goals in Metal Refineries and Robotics Factory by two each. However, he sprinted ahead and reached Shipyard-8 early. He also developed scouting ability early by using Corvettes instead of Scout Ships. This allowed him to identify a Crystalline Moon (orbiting a Gaia Planet) in a freshly developed region that he hopes to start his first Commerce base on early in Day 3.

Day Three

Base Overview

Base Actions

Planting the second base early on Day Three was rewarding. Violating the order a bit, Ben chose to capture the Crystaline Moon and Gaia Planet. This satisfies one of his Commerce base and his second pure Research base objectives. As the System was occupied, Ben chose to deny a future rival both rare finds. This puts him behind in establishing Commerce bases, all three of which should be built today. Both bases were established one Region South of his home Region.

Once the second base was established, the play-by-play became harder to describe, so Ben abandoned it. On the Crystal Moon, he focused on building Crystal Mines instead of Research Labs but otherwise followed the original three-day build quota. This allowed him to ramp up his economy. He also established his first Spaceport early to start trade with the first base and add a little more to the economic engine. By the end of Day-3, the base economy was XX.

The third base was another Crystal Moon, and he likewise followed the pattern. By the end of Day-3, the base economy was XX.

Not Yet. The Gaia Planet is focusing only on building up its Production ability at first. The objective is to establish the foothold and ensure defenses can be built on Day Six. Once the production capacity is developed, then focus shifted to barebones Research capacity.

Trade

Ben also established trade routes within the empire, which is a bad idea long term. However, for 13 credits, he started earning 12cr/hr between his first and second base. He continued to build five Spaceports on the other two bases to allow all three bases to trade together. The trade at the end of the day was 26 credits. The total imperial economy was 118 per hour. This allowed Ben to fill his Construction queues and begin production of 3 Outpost Ships at the beginning of Day 4.

Day Four

Ben fell behind on base construction, having only built 2 new bases on Day Three; instead of the four base goal. However, at the beginning of Day Four, he dispatched his third Outpost Ship to his third Commerce planet (an asteroid). Scouting with his Corvette, he was also able to identify two Production base locations (Rocky and Crater) by the end of Day Three. He also identified two Gaia planets for potential Research use.

After establishing the third new base (four of ten), he built a research base on a Gaia Planet (5 of 10). During the middle of Day Four, he established his first Production base (Rocky Planet). At the end of Day Four, he established his second Production base (Craters Moon, 7 of 10). Thus, while starting the day at a one base deficit, he ended the day with a one base surplus.

Day Five

Day Five began with Ben working on improving his newer two bases. He also built more infrastructure on the older five bases, although he has still not fully satisfied the construction goals of any of the bases—except for Crystal Mines. He let his queues die down after the first quarter of Day Five, and built his last three Outpost Ships. Over the next two days, he must amass 22400 credits to reach the final goal. With trade, his present economy is 380, which means he has to improve his economy to at least 470 credits per hour. To accomplish this solo, he is building towards ten Spaceports per base. This should improve his economy by 70-105 credits per hour.

With three hours remaining in Day 5, Ben established his eighth base. This keeps him on schedule to complete the ten bases. His economy is 500, which suggests that his income is sufficient to build the two bases. To help ensure success, Ben started building Goods (3 per hour at one base) to help defray the construction costs on this newest base.

The remaining two bases have already been scouted out, and are in different regions than the other bases. Ben placed the production bases generally where they could help the non-production bases with fleet production.

Day Six

Ben started Day 6 with his queues mostly quiet. The newest base (Production) queue is the lone exception as it is still building basic construction and economy. Today, he must try to earn 19200. Tomorrow, Monday, is his last day of protection. So, his goal today is to ensure there is a Shipyard on each base. Fortunately, all bases have at least one—except the newest one.

With construction efforts focused on Base 8, the other bases have turned to producing Goods. This is sometimes a maligned production item. However, by building single quantities and filling his queue, Ben is able to improve his economy by 11 credits an hour. This effort should help reduce the cost of Base 8.

Base Nine

Base Nine was built early on Day 6 and was a production base. Its primary focus was to build core production capability, one Shipyard and five Spaceports. With these complete, Ben was able to establish two new trade routes, which pushed his economy over 600.

Base Ten

Base Ten was an error and a do-over. He built his tenth base on a Slot 3 Radioactive Moon, instead of the Slot 2 Rocky Planet. So, he razed the base. This allowed him to buy his Tenth base for 3200—not a total loss, but very embarrasing. He had to build another OS (2 hours) ship the OS to the location (5.5 hours) and then get to building. He established the final tenth base with ten hours remaining on the free upgrade.

Defenses

By the end of Day 6, the first nine bases had Plasma Turrets (2x for some) with 100 Fighters. The loss of time for the last base caused a delay.

Day Seven

I stopped playing when the account upgrade expired. My major research goal was all technology necessary for Cruiser, and I attained that:

Aftermath

Final Base Structures

Base One

Base Two (Commerce)

Base Three (Commerce)

Base Four (Commerce)

Base Five (Research)

Base Six (Production)

Base Seven (Production)

Base Eight (Production)

Base Nine (Production)

Base Ten (Production/Research)