Quick Guide

Hi all,

Here is my own guide for achieving a top score.  Someone try to beat my 173,000!

1.  Don't zigzag near the beginning of the game.  Follow a linear path.  You'll want to reach an alien planet for oxygen purposes as soon as possible.

2.  Near the beginning, always do 10 for probing gas giants.  You'll have enough iron to rebuild any destroyed probes, and the worse you'll come off (if it's resource poor) is 10 Hydrogen (which still nets you 10 more fuel than you started with).  Don’t do this once you get the Ultraprobe unless you have an Si to rebuild if destroyed.

3.  Near the beginning, don't drill past 7.  I found the risk/reward at this stage is poor, as you're more likely to destroy your drill, and building a new one is 4 iron.

4.  As you progress, if your hull is in good shape, and you're in a system with gas giants and rocky planets, visit the gas giants first.  This will give you an idea of how much energy you can expend on the rocky planets.  On the rocky planets, consider drilling at 10.  You'll occasionally get the "great surprise" and have your fuel tank refilled.  Just make sure you don't use up your hydrogen and helium before you drill at 10 in case you hit the fuel pocket.

5.  Later on, when probing gas giants, I always start at 5.  This will give you an idea of how resource rich the planet is.  When probing at 5, if you:

• Get 5 H, move on
  
• Get 20 H (plus maybe another 2 H) probe again for 7 or so and move on
  
• Get about 17 H and 17 He or 20 H and 20 He, probe again for 7.  If at that point you get around 7 or 8 of each resource, then start applying the following strategy (if you have the patience/you’re desperate for fuel)
  
• Start probing at 1 each time.  This will usually yield 1 of both H and He.  Repeat until nothing is left.  This will ensure maximum efficiency and no wastage
  

6. If you’re good on fuel, skip visiting the gas giants in star systems
7. Even if you’re set for metals, ALWAYS visit rocky planets.   You may get a random event giving you a new technology.  Later in the game, when you have all technologies (or all the ones you want/need), don’t bother visiting unless you need resources
8. As soon as you’re able, take the spherical ship.  It is the worst on fuel, but has the greatest number of slots (20).
9. Later in the game, once you’ve obtained the biggest ship, try not to occupy more than 4-5 slots with resources (including Omega).  I usually have 2-3 for fuel, 1 for iron, 1 for oxygen (sometimes), and 1 for Omega.  
a. The reasoning here is that you should try to have as many technologies equipped not just for greater efficiency, but so you can obtain Omega from certain special events
10. Try to leave 1-2 slots open when travelling between star systems in case a random event gives you resources e.g. fuel
11. Similarly, don’t fill up your fuel/oxygen/hull when travelling between star systems.  A random event may give you a big chunk, and you’ll have wasted the resources
12. Revisit old star systems that proved fruitful.  Once you leave any system and return, all metal and gas deposits will be refilled.  The same applies for supply stations.
13. If you’re going to terraform a planet, make sure you first drill for anything you might need/check for anomalies; once you terraform, the resources available will be the same as one with a breathable atmosphere i.e. Cu, O, Co, C and Au.
14. When you reach a system with a new ship, fly there first, even if you’ve already obtained the sphere.  Switch to the new ship so you can drill and probe to your heart’s content (without fear of wasting resources since you’ll abandon it once done).  
15. When you have a random encounter and you’re given a yes/no choice e.g. explore or leave, it’s generally best to always explore.  It seems that on balance, you’re more likely to get something positive e.g. resources, new tech than have something bad happen e.g. forgetting a tech, damaging your ship – except for the following:
i. With the explore the bow, stern, or go away – go away
ii. With the touch it or leave it, I believe touching damages your hull
iii. With the judges/architects, select wait, which should give oxygen
iv. With the instance where you can feed the organism Omega, only do so if you want tech, otherwise you’re wasting the Omega


Here is a list of all the technologies and a rough ranking in terms of importance


Telescope – Annoying when it’s forgotten, the telescope is a prerequisite for the Interferometer and Gravitational Lens

Interferometer – Indispensable.  Can tell you which systems are worth visiting, and if any anomalies are present (including black holes)
Gravitational Lens – Telescope on steroids.  I rarely install it.

Ultra Probe – Crucial.  Sure, it makes your probing more efficient, but its main function is extracting fuel from stars when planets become occupied.

Life Seed –  Mandatory.  I’ve found this to be pretty crucial towards the end of the game.  Times I’ve lost closer to the end were usually as a result of running out of oxygen.  Why use an Omega to get 25 O when you can terraform an entire planet that you can even return to later for more?

Shield Generator – Absolute must, and is a prerequisite for the Void Fluctuation Projector, Supra-Conductors, and Thermal Resonance Generator – I’d say you’re pretty good with 2 out of the 3 installed, but with all 3, you probably won’t take more than 10-11 damage even on neutron stars.

Geo Scan – I’m kind of mixed on the Geo Scan.  Up until the last ¼ or so of the game, you’ll likely be landing on all planets and probing gas giants anyway.  It can be quite useful, though, for scanning rocky bodies for anomalies, or to see if it even has resources you need.

Gravitational Well Generator, Tau Stasis, and Subspace Reactor – you won’t ever need all 3 until right near the end of the game, where a few systems can’t be reached otherwise.  I’m not sure about Tau Stasis and the GWG, but in the description for the Subspace Reactor, it says that less fuel is used as well.

Planetary Expansion – Pretty useful.  Use less fuel to extract more resources.  One of the only techs that you can break down, salvage the parts (one Cu), and still rebuild (provided you have iron).  Late game you shouldn’t need to drill as much for iron if you have multiple shield upgrades, so you’ll probably abandon this tech at that point.

Gravitational Sails and Solar Sails – Mid-journey, I may have 1 of these 2 installed, but they don’t really seem to justify occupying a slot.  If anything I keep the Solar Sails because it can be dismantled for 1 Au, and no techs require more than 1 Au.

Death seed – I don’t normally equip the Death Seed since you can usually gather enough fuel around stars without the need to wipe out occupied planets.  This can take a toll on your hull, but is mostly mitigated with multiple shield upgrades
Wormhole Generator – I never bother, waste of a slot

Ansible – Useless.  Once the aliens rob all your precious stuff, this tells you which systems are occupied – but it doesn’t say which planets, so you’d probably visit the system anyway.

Cryonics and Shared Cryonics – waste of space.  Shared Cryonics requires normal Cryonics to function, meaning two spots are taken.  The oxygen savings don’t justify occupying two slots.


Required techs that can’t be forgotten and that will always be installed:

Hydrogen Probe
Drill
Interplanetary Reactor
Space Folder



Happy space faring!

Great guide. Thanks so much!