let me begin by saying I am new at ogame. universe 11 is my first attempt at playing this game. this is nothing particularly original here. I even started late into the universe after some of my buddies from sacred got me hooked. so yes, I am a noob! but results speak for themselves. as of posting here, I am ranked 141 by points, 43 by research, 90 by fleet (150 or so without probes) and rising steadily.
I began in uni 11 in clan da, but it died from a fatal case of inactivity of all but a couple of the members. some of my new alliance members in uni 11, angel corpse and now also ac.it, had been taking a few hits. they didn't fleetsave or anything from what I could assume, as they wouldn't explain the circumstances. they would instead ask for resources after their fleets would be crashed and would send circular mails asking for resources. I wrote this quick little guide on how to get resources quickly and safely even for the little guy. better to show them how to grow instead of reinforcing their choice to not fleetsave.
this little guide may not be appropriate to a brand new universe, but is certainly appropriate for those joining established unis to play with their buddies. in that case, ask them to do some probing for you until the time that you get esp probes.
to begin with, as mentioned on the other guides, read the articles by t-ring. they will discuss how to keep your resources and such safe from others.
go to http://www.gamingjokers.com/orp/ and download the program.
become very familiar with combat simulators, I use http://www2.drago-sim.com/index.php
a big part of my rate of growth without crashing fleets is due to keeping what I have safe from others and what little is lying around uneconomic. my main planet is heavily defended, enough to keep all but large fleets from winning a battle. unless they have a non-economic reason to attack, the duet they waste flying there is not worth the resources and losses they would take. but defenses don’t make you profit in and of themselves, so no need to go overboard. what goes into research and building can’t be taken away from you like a fleet or smashed like defense.
generating income is another matter, I live off of inactives. mines provide a merely adequate income at this point in the game for me, but I do imagine I can switch to turtling because I don’t think I have any enemies just the usual opportunists. concentrate early on with a higher duet mine than you might expect, as you can not rely on getting duet from inactives. be aware of bashing rules, as they also apply to inactives.
using orp, beginning scanning several systems above and below your main planet. probe inactives to get information on defenses, as early on you will just be using small cargos and won’t have heavy offensive ships capable of smashing defenses. dump acquired resources into mines, defense, ships and research.
• mines are useful in case your ships get destroyed, but those solar plants get real expensive and solar satellites make nice targets.
• no need to build too many ships, as too many will just waste duet if you send more than you need. however, extras can be used to save resources between when your big cargo fleet makes a trip by your planet. that is if you are sure that the inactives are not going to become active mid flight and you then lose those resources if you lose that attack. I always send out a cruiser or two just in case.
• research plenty of espionage tech to keep you well informed and hidden from scans of hostile folks.
• keep computer tech on the high side, as the more fleet slots you have active, the more profit you can make.
• a big battle fleet may make you feel superior, but also makes you a nice target for others.
• be aware that when large cargos become available to you, they are faster than small cargos. small cargos become faster once impulse level 5 is attained.
expand the inactives that you target to increase your odds of finding ones that are highly productive. I would suggest hitting those with over 2000 at least daily, those with 1000 every other day, but don’t forget to hit the smaller ones, as resources can pile up on those when they are overlooked for days. you will find hidden gems that no one else seems to hit.
as inactives get noticed or the accounts expire, you have to find more options for targets. this entails expanding the range to either side in the galaxy you probe, a new location within your current galaxy or moving to new galaxies. I had very good luck when I expanded into galaxy 2, as inactives weren’t being raided at the rate they were near my home planet. I recently placed another planet in the center of galaxy 1 and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of inactives with energy over 2000. attack from the galaxy screen, send it to orp and probe any new inactives that show up. hit them immediately if they are worth it, as you can assume others will be doing the same shortly.
I also probe raid, but it is not for everyone. small numbers of probes aren’t particularly efficient given the resources that they retrieve. I found 1000 to be a nice number to start with, this retrieves about 5000 resources in 2-3 minutes. one thing to note that when hitting planets that are full, you will get equal amounts of duet, metal and crystal. there is a couple of downsides to probes, they make nice targets, inflate your fleet numbers, are hurt badly by defenses and are not real efficient with regards to duet costs. if not careful, you can waste more duet than you retrieve. at this point, I move onto the next planet. stay within plus or minus 20 systems until you get a good handle on not wasting more duet than you retrieve. later in the game they do allow you to strip mine those that do not use ground defenses. you and their resources are gone before they can get a fleet back to stop you.
I have a small fleet consisting of mostly cruisers, with the occasional battleship and bomber to bust new inactives. I just got destroyers but have yet to test them on anything. your best hauls will be those that are newly inactive, as they are likely to have large levels of resources just sitting there with some defenses. fleets might also be in orbit, so crash their fleet and harvest it at the same time you take the resources. splatter an espionage probe against the planet, send the harvesters and have your attack fleet arrive in waves a few minutes before the harvesters are set to arrive. you get the debris from their fleet, any ships you lost and the resources on the planet.
if they are out of range from ipm's, go in with whatever it takes to remain profitable in the endeavor. I have a surplus of duet due to small fleet of capital ships, so I don't have to make much duet in the combat.
if they are close, you would be surprised with the effects ipm's can do. I destroyed 533 small lasers with 6 ipms on one planet.
I can post cr's if folks would like to see the results. my best was 500k metal, 280k crystal and 138k duet in 3 waves from the planet I had ipm'd. decent profit, even when deducting the cost of ipms, for a quick and safe operation that didn't require a huge battle fleet.
please feel free to comment, I need to learn also.
good luck in your chosen universe.
chris
