I have sorta followed this post (ignored the bits about rank freezing and slow ranking)

Few corrections so far.
1) quasi expanders are more like a 0.5% - 1 % drop rate
2) to find the hybrid you do not need to start Controlling the Silthion
I have my gemini cannons and have never touched that mission. No completion, no starting, nada, absolutely nothing, etc.

Don't forget Dark Arms Carriers and the RSL Confinement Center. The rescued prisoners really add up.

Blue, feel free to PM any questions for 2nd opinions.

i've got one QSE out of 24k, but I think I got it around 16k.

So I'm the only one that uses them from my own arti pool, me who's just gone on a 60+ rank NPC run?
Containment Cage (Uses Left: 33)
Repair Nanodrones (Uses Left: 48)
Not a world record, but you get my point.

Auto for 10 ranks a day and your cage supply will drop.
It took me 8 npc slots to keep my cage supply steady, before this I was getting lots of help from a few friends.

Seeing the repair timer can be a problem at the lower ranks when Elites are involved. - gotta use nanos or wait
Having a 200mil repair and needing to repair 10+ times each day for a few weeks can dent your credit supply - use nanos to help


This doesn't make you an expert on autoranking. Don't be so quick to diminish what others have said.

Nope not auto-ranking, read again. NPCing for 50 ranks. Also conveniently today was the first time I've ever auto-ranked.

So... what's everybodys favorite sort of planet?

rift then dyson (mission then natural) oceanic, gaia, crystal, terra, icy, desert and finally plasmas.

mine

Thx Bluecifer this guide is great.

Chapter 3, Part 1: Planets

Planet - n - Latin - Wanderer

Planets are the life and blood of any GL player. Without planets, you wouldn't be able to research new tools, gain new artifacts or pay for your upkeep. Finding planets, taking them, holding them and eventually upgrading hem is one of the most important actions you can perform.

Finding planets

To find planets, you have to scan them. This can done:

Here

To scan planets, you need a lot of scanning power. The more planets you have scanned, the more you need to find even more planets. You can find ally's planets, enemy planets, and unoccupied planets. No planet is more likely to show up*. However, some types are more and more likely to show up.

When you can no longer scan more planets, the button will turn grey. You need to either get more scan or purge planets from your database with Planet Purgers (another reason why having lots of artifact helps).

*Enemies can put cloak on planets. Your scan must be higher than the planet's cloak for them to be scanned.

Taking planets:

Now that you've found some planets (or just kept on reading from the last section). Unoccupied planets can be colonized straight away. Enemy planets must be attacked and have their population lowered to 10 or below. When this happens, the planet becomes invadable. Artifacts such as Engineered Viruses, Ion Storm Charges and the like are very useful when trying to invade planets.

Saboteurs are very valuable when attacking planets. Zolazin Saboteurs can destroy one researchable structure on a planet (population, minefields, shields), if the planets population is below 100.

Holding planets:

Planets need defending, or else they can and probably will be taken. There are a number of ways you can defend a planet:

Shields and minefields: A mix of defense and attack structures. Good at making planets a pain to attack.

Shields and Population: Very effective at slowing down invasions, often making them just to difficult to take the planet (Warning: takes up a lot of space)

Cloaking: Cloak makes planets much more difficult to kill. While not very effective at low ranks, cloak can make planets completely invisible, and thus, untakeable.

In case planets are being attacked, artifacts like Sentry guards and Shield Guards can make an invader's life a LOT more difficult.

Upgradig Planets:

This is where some of the special artifacts you can recover from NPCing become useful. However, other artifacts can be used. Chassis's give 1 production point (sometimes 1 in 2 different categories) per 1 space, making them very space efficient. Other artifacts can be recieved from special NPC's, and a list can be found here, where as chassis's and other run-of-the-mill artifacts can be found here.

*Part 2: Planet list, coming soon*

drannik traps are a much bigger boost. at 2500 for att/def on the planets, instead of the 300 or so that the sentries give.

But it is important to note that drannik traps only drop from rare drannik npcs - unless i missed an uncommon or 2.

Also .. IMO .. attack on a planet is relatively useless unless you are using a good attack % buff like darkmines or heist dispatch center. When someone drops Ion Storm its a 15% debuff when someone drops a Orbital Mass-Disruptor its a 30% debuff, and since the max def and att structures are both size 2 1200.. for the same size the invasion defense is hindered less by the Ion Storm debuff.. In addition to that every structure that is attack instead of defense means my attack is doing that much more damage and I will have a better chance at dropping your planets pop before you are even alerted. Extra attack only means I might have to have another tab open and quickly pop a nano and thats only if the planet attack is SUPER high.. top rings are nice because they take the lag element out of an invasion.. without the extra pop on a planet the planet might be swiped while you are even online without giving you the ability to quick defend or pop a pod..but .. 1 good pop structure is about the same size as 7200 extra invasion defense (after legion bonus).. so kinda a toss up..


so in conclusion..
if you are going to defend a planet I like MAYBE 1 pop structure (topop) and as many obv shields as I want to sacrifice production for ..

the CTL arti that does population is a good sub for topopolis because of the other artis that add population that cost less space, 2 space elevators is 100, CTL arti is 500 + 50% thats only 3 spaces vs. the 6 for topop rings

[/quote]

very good call .. I pass over that ct lab item all the time always thinking its a waste .. thanks!

no prob i find myself using it quite frequently especially since those items are normally very cheap both in the pub and the GTC. add council base, size 2 for another 100.

so:
2 elevators - size 2 - 100 pop
1 CTL arti - size 1 - 500 pop
1 council base - size 2 - 100 pop

700 pop total
1050 after % increase
concil base adds 500 invasion defense
size5

topopolis rings - size 6 - 1000 pop

without council base:
600 pop
900 pop after % increase
size 3

either way you have a better trade off than using crapopolis rings. Only time I would use them is if I was bricking a REALLY REALLY good planet while waiting to make it invincible.