Mueh hehehe i am a mere pawn on the chess table that is 'slowranking' in fact. i am perhaps even the smudge on the side of the chess board, gained from beating unworthy opponents across the head

Btw, I was actually talking to thunder, you posted while I was typing.

im only here for the funniez, i am currently totally confused as to what is going on... i thought you referred to me

never mind then. back to the decks of old for me!

I just did a check of my PQI. It's just short of 250. I'm rank 411 and have+12 planet strcutres but I've not built them on a lot of planets.

It means my average production is almost 250 per planet. It was 180-200 at rank 200. As I've mentioned in another thread I'm a quasi-slow ranker for an NPC hunter so a mixed strategy is what I'm playing. I know someone else who ranks 5 times a day by killing NPCs. He's got past my rank in less than half the time. I rank once or twice a day then give the extra energy to my base. Over 100k energy donated so far but I am (but soon won't be) a legion leader so I need to make contributions to my base and legion.

So when you ask the question How am I doing? it's important to consider how well you are doing in relation to your strategy.

i wasnt a slow ranker and i had Quantum Overlay Engines and Singularity Launchers at that rank....

at rank 77 i was on +6's and astro cores. back when i could ironically afford them i havnt had to touch my planets for a long time. but now at 145 i really aught to upgrade

Edit: although at rank 77 i had nothing else... i didnt even fly with weapons back then

That's actually impressive. I got Singularity Launchers at 90 and am only just researching Quantum Overlays at 141. That said, I'm guessing you had mission Dyson/Exotic?

And how much real money did that cost you?

no , no mission exotic ( got that around rank 160) no dyson at all.
no money until i was about rank 90 (spent for F.A.T.H.E.R.S as well as a couple other things)

i got there that fast from my first 40 to 60 ranks were fast, then slowed a bit after (so i had mostly planets for research colonized early on) and first thing as priority i researched planetary (was on +5's and +6's) - scanning and energy. just started on weapons a few ranks before (got my singularity launchers then) and about rank 90 i jumped up on shields (straight to planetary shields)

had credits/minerals donated/borrowed and a few planets too.. didnt really colonize artifact worlds for a long time, so i didnt really colonize anything but research planets and no poor production or small planets either (so i was able to get high tech for my rank) (thanks to STORMKYN)

I've improved. Sorta.

Rank 70 Inergon Biologist
Size Class: Light Cruiser
Space: 244/244
Attack: 458
Defense: 189
Scan: 6
Cloak: 43
Cargo: 38/120
Upkeep: 580.7K
Max Energy: 165 (Trying to not use energy for awhile)
Hull: 1260
Shield: 35

Here's what I have equipped:

Weapons:
Dominion Cannon - Mark II
Heavy Graviton Shearer x3
Prototype Mech XV

Defenses/Shields:
Harmonic Resonator
Spacial Thrusters - Mark III
Thrust Stabilizer

Hull:
Merged Nanospere Plating x4

Energy:
Omicron Injector

Devices:
AI Supercomputer
EM Absorbent Panels - Mark II (Just maxing out my decks)
Kronyn Anomaly Engine


Production:
Research: 684
Minerals: 264
Artifact: 111


Highest fully researched modules:
Graviton Shearing
Quantum Capacitors
Force Projection Fields
Wideband Jamming
Nanospheres
Spacial Thrusters
Quantum Resonance Sensors
Hyperspheres (working on Global Meshing)
Spacial Docking (plus the first AI Logistics, to contribute to my base)

I've been trying not to use energy, but NPC and base battles came up. So, I'm not going to rank up for awhile starting... now. Hopefully.

i would suggest putting rank points into engineers up to 200.. even if you arent trying to use much energy.
that was the first thing my rank points went to till i got to 180 ( but wish i took it to 200) think i realized i wanted more at rank 90

I disagree with putting rank points into engineers at this point but it depends on the player strategy.

At about rank 100 or 125 the NPCs which drop power cores become available. 4 of those add a nice bit of energy and are more efficient than engineers. Also, think someone else made the point about researching energy being important. Better reactors give better energy/rank point spent. Tetrix already has a 10% energy bonus from being Inergon too. I put most of my rank points into energy now but that's only after getting to a decent ship size.

Someone also said don't upgrade very strucure when you research them. Again, I disagree. Low tier structures are really cheap and the boost in production compensates for the cost. It's only at +10 or +12 structures where things get expensive.

What I'd suggest is perhaps doing the Kronyn chain and switching to their race. It's a really good one to switch to early on. It's better than vygoid and there are some useful drops from the biweekly missions. Of course you'll have to do the Zolazin chain to get the free race change.

If you acn find a legion with a level 4 base dedicated to RP it's really useful. You might be able to to 5000-10000 research extra every day. It's a lot at your rank. Getting things researched quickly is key to this game.

I'd also suggested holding on to your red badges til you can get mk3 DM cannons.

i understand and did consider power cores and inergon... it is still a + + with that little extra energy and crew

I totally agree that energy is important. I really value ship size improvements though till Heavy or Massive Levianthan. In all fairness I had 200 engineers early on but this was a mistake. The rank points are better spent on ship size to fit more in. After Massive Levianth I threw loads of rank points into engineers and a few into tactical officers. Ship bots do the rest. I'm at Heavy Star Destroyer now with 3000 engineers and about 300 tactical officers. Unbuffed attack is something like 4600 and with all artifacts to boost NPC attack (apart from crux amps) I can hit over 8000 attack. Reckon I'll have 8500 with my last surge plexus.

My play strategy was NPC hunting which started somewhere around rank 150-200. That's why I value ship size. It's how I could fit in enough weapons and hull then eventually defences too to compensate for the high repair costs. NPC hunting means I level up prety fast too which compensates for the lack of energy.

4 power cores offer 200 extra energy for 40 space. 4 Genetarr transmitters offer 80 energy for 40 space which is equivalent to what engineers do but they also offer a nice scan boost. At rank 200 there's the complex tech part mssion which adds energy then at rank 220-ish there's XRPs to boost them a little more. by then most players will have intra-d colliders too. Squeezing all that in with 8 weapons, 5 hulls and whatever else needs a big ship. It was around rank 270 where I stopped using rank points for ship size and now I'm rank 439 with 2418 decks.

That said, for mission players energy is important and your advice makes sense.

Honestly, I find myself unable to do much in the game because my ship is so small. So I think I'm going to stick with decks.

I've actually been planning on doing a race change (with GP). I was going to switch to Vygoid, but I haven't quite decided on the profession. It will probably be a month or so before I have the GP, though.

For now, I think I'll stick with my legion. As far as the base shipments go, we have a level 3 base, which I generally get over 4000 research from daily.

Thank you for the suggestions.

Excavator is probably best. I'm Konqul Excavator and the extra 10% really helps out.

I'll remember that. Thanks.

That was one that I was actually considering. It was basically a tie among Excavator, Hacker, and Builder.

Hacker. Yuck. If you want to hack go Spy not hacker... hacker only helps you in hacking. Spy will help when it comes to qualifying for missions, staying off the BT (supposedly), helping your planets remain hidden while you guard them...