right after I read the posts about the gas planets I scanned for a new planet and it was gas. Unfotunately it was Large, Very Sparse, and enemy occupied Yellow=not much worse than my gas. Orange=not completley horrible compared to my gas Red=VERY BAD for me

Should I research energy flat out, or do I alternate between energy and planet improvement? I'm assuming planet improvement means better research buildings?

dont forget, youll need more than energy to finish missions, some missions require attack and defense and other things,like (WARNING:SPOILER) prevent meteor impact. I balance research, I only keep energy 1 tier ahead. It's your choice though.

don't forget to research "Advanced Sensors". this is where you get better scanners to find new planets. No point lvling up if you can't find new planets to colonize ;P

Also, like my last post, some missions require scanning like (WARNING:SPOILER)Supernova Potential.

I figure if I do flat out energy, I'd get more energy sooner, meaning I can level up faster and faster. Or if I go for planet improvement, I can get research faster and faster.

I have the 1st energy tech finished- the Advanced Energy Tech, and the next tech is Cold Fusion which is 600 research points. Should I go for that (I get my first energy generators, right?) or should I go for Planet Improvements and get more research potential to max out my gas giant?

Should I try attacking enemies as well? I saw the enemy list and some were listed as "untested" or "unaccomplished".

For everyone, the research in scanners/energy/planetary construction will yield positive effects. Weapon/def research only for defending/attacking planets

Always try to get new reactors, relays. It helps you level. IGNORE those +1 charge relays. Loss of 5 energy is bigger than +1 second.
Are you prepared for war? Are you able to come in daily and find you just got blasted due to retaliation? I would not hit/kill anyone before I get good equipment, of which you should actually be focus on leveling/new planets in the lower and mid ranks. Also, note that some missions need you to have war requirements (kill/battles/hack/raid) I would ignore these until I am prepared. Always remember, there is always someone out there getting stronger, so you should focus on getting stronger rather than randomly killing people.
Warring won't give you much, unless it involves a good planet.

Thanks for the advice, Barracuda.

I actually got attacked by a newbie player a few hours ago, and he's at my level and legion rank. He's a Ingeron physicist, whereas I'm a Silliyx Fixer with the extra deck and hull bonus.

I just researched the 1st weapons tech so that I can mount weapons on my ship. I'm trying to decide whether to research armor or defense technology (just the first tech so I can have the modules) or go for the 600 research points for the fusion tech.

I figure, if I have my ship with tons of deck space, I can mount a lot of autocannons to scare away newbie attackers or get revenge on whoever attacks me.

I'm a bit confused on the +1 second thing. I have 4 Power Conduits installed on my ship. I get 1 energy every 3 seconds. With 4 Power Conduits, that means I shave 4 seconds off? I'm confused.

Go for the fusion tech

Autocannons don't scare anyone. (8x) You want to fight? Get better ones. You'll soon see what I mean by this.

Default = 1 energy per 3 minutes
With this relays 4x +1 charge, the 3 minutes is reduced to 2 minutes 56 seconds. 4 seconds ain't much, but the loss of 5x4 energy by installing them is what makes it do more harm than good. (note: there are other items that reduces charge time, like tier rewards)
Wait for the next relays, those are +3. Now that's worth it, but some may think otherwise. Count up extra energy gained per 12 hrs. You will see that +1 is negligible, +3 quite little... Once you get better relays, you will see that's a BIG difference.

well i got to argue on the first power relays, there only worth it if you have the cores to make up for the lost energy, and you should remove them before ranking up.

Personally I didn't think relays were worth it til +6 or even +9.

Energy in general is overrated after a certain point. Right now with my best 3 reactors and 4 conduits I have 341 total energy, which recharges 1 every 2:14. That means it takes me over 12 hours to fully recharge. As long as I log in and spend energy at least once every 12 hours, I don't lose anything. (I don't usually leave the reactors installed unless I'm about to level, but lately I haven't had cargo space to leave them off and I don't want to sell them!)

If you play regularly, more energy just means a larger empty pool.

well cur
Exactly why relays are incredibly useful, even though they only hack off small amounts of time they add up quickly

(formula used, 180-totalcharge/180*3)

No Tier = 100 energy in 300 minutes
1st Tier (+1) = 100 energy in 293 minutes
2cd Tier (+3) = 100 energy in 280 minutes
3rd Tier (+6)= 100 energy in 260 minutes
4th Tier (+9)= 100 energy in 240 minutes
5th Tier (+12)= 100 energy in 220 minutes
6th Tier (+15)= 100 energy in 200 minutes
7th Tier (+18)= 100 energy in 180 minutes
8th Tier (+21)= 100 energy in 160 minutes
ect....
So from this we can see that once the 2rd tier is gained each new tier reduces you wait for 100 energy by 20 minutes which (IMO atleast) is a huge amount of time to be reduced. Many will argue that the 7 minutes reduced by the 1st tier isnt worth it, well I disagree, the 1st tier is for incredibly low ranks with incredibly low max energy so even though that 7 min dosnt seem like much at higher ranks at low ones its a godsend you just need a core or 2 to offset the energy reduced by the conduits.

I'm plugging along, now I'm Randk 7 and hope to get Fusion Tech in 2 or 3 hours.

I colonized my 2nd planet which is a Very Small Desert Planet with Sparse minerals, research, and artifacts. So I built 3 mines, 3 artifacts, and 2 research labs.

Are planets usually like this?

Also, what does "condition" for my modules mean? Perfect, Excellent, Very Good, etc?

That planet doesn't seem so great.

The condition doesn't effect anything other than resale value. Modules break eventually, and they costs credits to fix. They work at 100% till they break.

Thanks.

What planets should I keep an eye out for and colonize? Minimum criteria? Or should I just colonize every planet I see since scan doesn't go back up, meaning I'm stuck with those scanned planets forever?

Scan does go back up, you need to research scanning to make it go back up. Dont colonize anything smaller than average. And avoid sparse planets like the plague. Remember, you are not stuck with a scanned planet forever, Star Chart Purger. Your scanning should NEVER go to 0. Always try to research scan if you want to find more than 3 or 4 planets. The lowest scanning you should ever have is 10-20%.

Im gonna have to argue this, when you get up into the higher ranks getting better scanning is so time consuming its actually more efficient to go into the 5ish% range rather then wait to research better scans. If you ahvnt found enough good planets of course.

Well, Im fairly new, rank 33. I edited the post

Theres no reason to edit your post, how else will people see what the something is thats being proved/argued wrong?

I found 4 planets and my scan is now at 4%. My homeworld gas giant, a ocean planet which is enemy occupied by someone at rank 131, and a Tiny planet with crap resources, and my 2nd planet I colonized.

Does scan ever go to 0% or does it go down to 1% and stays there no matter how many scans you do?

So should I hold off on scanning for a while? Just keep going full out energy and planetary improvement? Or should I just alternate between energy and scanner techs?