Ok, wanted to document my plan of growth. Basically, I believe that arty is king, and am testing the theory to its fullest. I am almost exclusively (unless I find an x research/ mining planet that I can't resist) arty planets. All rank points and rescued prisoners are going into tactical officers and engineers.

I know I will suffer from decks at the beginning, but I am looking way down the road.

Current stats:

rank: 36
attack: 221
defense: 16
scan: 6
cloak: 45
cargo: 154/230
upkeep: 8.5k

decks: 34
engineers: 290
tactical officers: 177
helmsmen: 11
scientists 22

arty p/hr 507
research p/hr 101
mining p/hr 11

6 kills
18 deaths

From your 18 disables, I assume you need a lot more hull.

Hull will be a problem early on. Those disables have slowed down thanks to cloaking and an increase in attack. To add more hull would require more decks which I'm not doing unless via ship bots.

Right, but I would put all your deck space toward hull for now.

arti points ARE king, youve got that right, and the going will be long and tough if you only take arti planets, because you simply wont have the resources to build stuff on those planets that you get/take. early on it isnt so bad, but around rank 200ish, when you should be putting startlifting buildings on your planets, even for a very large planet where you only put 3 on it, thats 1.8billion.

but, if youd like to see how ive done it, heres a 10 month journey of progress.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18661

I plan on making credits via trading arties. Before I reset I was able to make tons of credits doing that. If I find a really juicy research/mining planet I will make an exception to the rule. And yes, I am impressed by your progress Icarium.

I read that thread last night after you left our legion. As a group, we are impressed

thanks. its just a bit impressive to see how fast you can go from a starry eyed noob, to a decent fighting ship Im by no stretch of imagination, the best out there, but im doing alright

A retaining a decent slash of modesty on the side .

I referenced your ship as an example of exactly that

Update

rank: 50
attack: 397
defense: 34
scan: 6
cloak: 90
cargo: 252/280
upkeep: 29.4k

decks: 52
engineers: 384
tactical officers: 252
helmsmen: 29
scientists 50

arty p/hr 893
research p/hr 176
mining p/hr 24

73 kills
76 deaths

[quote="bvent"]Update

rank: 50
attack: 397
defense: 34
scan: 6
cloak: 90
cargo: 252/280
upkeep: 29.4k

decks: 52
engineers: 384
tactical officers: 252
helmsmen: 29
scientists 50

arty p/hr 893
research p/hr 176
mining p/hr 24

73 kills
76 deaths[/quote
And I have joined The Black Knights

I'm going to update at the first of each month to keep track of my progress.

rank: 65
decks: 56
engineers: 486
tactical officers: 336
helmsmen: 40
scientists 58

arty p/hr 1335
research p/hr 231
mining p/hr 39

174 kills
132 deaths

Max: (w/o buffs)
attack: 666 (I have gained 4 dominion cannons and and a crimson auto-laser)
defense: 45
scan: 55
cloak: 85
space: 297/370
hull 485 (got my first protean armor)

With so few decks, I have to maneuver my mods dependent on my needs. I did screw up and accidently sold a drannik power core O.o

I have also rejoined Delta Surfers, and feel at home.

you might want some more hull. at half your rank I had nearly double your hull. your attack looks good though

Yeah, hull is a bit of a problem with limited deck space. I am getting more from arty production and plan on getting my 2nd protean armor soon to help with that.

December update

rank: 111
decks: 130
engineers: 799
tactical officers: 599
helmsmen: 126
scientists 196

arty p/hr 2318
research p/hr 447
mining p/hr 92

393 kills
197 deaths

Max depending upon objective: (w/o buffs and 20% kongul bonus)
attack: 1233
defense: 281
scan: 277
cloak: 110
cargo: 1680
hull 1140 (got all 3 protean armorories)

1100 hull at rank 100+ is very low.You should have at least 3 times that.

Or at least 6x that.

5*(1100/65) = 84.6, or 85 energy minimum to take you down... it's not -terrible-, though it's not taking full advantage of the build, either. If you slow down your ranking a bit more, it can help you build up your ship strength; 40-something ranks in 30 days is a bit fast for a small ship build that's pvp-focused (like you seem to be).

Yeah, I get that, but I have a hard time slow ranking.