Now I Own A Moon, What's Next?
1. Moon Size and Fields
Firstly, there is no field limit on a moon.
Moon sizes are not completely random. They are indeed affected by the percentage. The higher the percentage, the higher the chances are of getting a big moon. It's possible to get a 4k moon on 19% or an 8k moon on 1%, but it's very very unlikely. The exception is a successful 20% chance, this will ALWAYS give a moon of at least 8000km.
Moons start with one free field, this means that you need to build a Lunar Base first, when this is complete you will be given another 3 fields (using 1/4). If you want to expand a decent amount then you need to reserve one of these fields for the next Lunar Base, leaving 2 spare fields.
2. What Can I Build On A Moon?
Lunar Base's are the building that make the moon 'work', explained above.
Robotics Factory, this will shorten the time taken to build the facilities and buildings in general.
Shipyard, to build defense on moons. Note that IPMs can be fired at moons. ABMs present on the planet will intercept any IPMs fired at the moon.
Resource storage, pretty pointless to build this as it has no use.
Alliance Depot, only if yours is a universe with ACS
Phalanx, the main reason to have a moon. A device that will let you scan the surrounding planets for fleet activity that it arriving or departing at the planet. Will provide you with fleet consistency (with an exception in redesign - see below), time of arrival and place of origin.
Jump gates, allows you to move your fleet to any other gated moon you own at no cost. Note that only ships (and no resources) can be gated.
3. What Order Do I Build Things?
This all depends on personal taste. Some people advocate that you should build only Lunar Bases and Robotics Factories until you reach lvl10 on both, and then build a Phalanx to lvl 6 or more, and a Jump gate.
If you are an active crasher, or aspire to being one, then you should be thinking of getting the Phalanx up and running asap. If you are a more cautious player then you may think about getting some defense on the moon. Typically most gamers see defense on a moon as pointless, as it is ever so easy to fleetsave/res save with a moon, since moons cannot be scanned by another Phalanx. Defense can be useful to prevent your moon being destroyed in a Moon Destruction mission, which are especially common in speed unis. In this case you should have at least enough defence to force a draw with one RIP.
Below you will see two short build orders, these are by no means a definitive answer. If you are still unsure about what to build after reading this then politely ask someone near you who has a moon for their advice too.
Defensive Build
Empty Moon(0/1 fields used)
Lunar Base level 1 (1/4 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 1 (2/4 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 2 (3/4 fields used)
Lunar Base level 2 (4/7 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 3 (5/7 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 4 (6/7 fields used)
Lunar Base level 3 (7/10 fields used)
Shipyard level 1 (8/10 fields used)
Shipyard level 2 (9/10 fields used)
Lunar Base level 4 (10/13 fields used)
Shipyard level 3 (11/13 fields used)
Shipyard level 4 (12/13 fields used)
Using a moon in a defensive capability includes wanting to fleetsave from it and having some defense to protect any res on the planet and the ships a little if you do get caught out.
Offensive Build
Empty Moon(0/1 fields used)
Lunar Base level 1 (1/4 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 1 (2/4 fields used)
Phalanx level 1 (3/4 fields used)
Lunar Base level 2 (4/7 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 2 (5/7 fields used)
Phalanx level 2 (6/7 fields used)
Lunar Base level 3 (7/10 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 3 (8/10 fields used)
Phalanx level 3 (9/10 fields used)
Lunar Base level 4 (10/13 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 4 (11/13 fields used)
Phalanx level 4 (12/13 fields used)
Nuts Build:
This is how I build my moons up after already having one built up.
Empty Moon(0/1 fields used)
Lunar Base level 1 (1/4 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 1 (2/4 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 2 (3/4 fields used)
Lunar Base level 2 (4/7 fields used)
Robotics Factory Level 3 (5/7 fields used)
Robotics Factory Level 4 (6/7 fields used)
Lunar Base level 3 (7/10 fields used)
Robotics Factory Level 5 (8/10 fields used)
Robotics Factory Level 6 (9/10 fields used)
Lunar Base level 4 (10/13 fields used)
Robotics Factory Level 7 (11/13 fields used)
Robotics Factory Level 8 (12/13 fields used)
Lunar Base level 5 (13/16 fields used)
Robotics Factory Level 9 (14/16 fields used)
Robotics Factory Level 10 (15/16 fields used)
Lunar Base level 6 (16/19 fields used)
Jumpgate level 1 (17/19 fields used)
Phalanx level 1 (18/19 fields used)
Lunar Base level 7 (19/22 fields used)
Phalanx level 3 (20/22 fields used)
Phalanx level 4 (21/22 fields used)
Lunar Base level 8 (22/25 fields used)
Phalanx level 5 (23/25 fields used)
Phalanx level 6 (24/25 fields used)
Phalanx level 7 (25/25 fields used)
Decon Robotics level 10 (24/25 fields used)
Phalanx level 8 (25/25 fields used)
Decon Robotics level 9 (24/25 fields used)
Shipyard level 1 (25/25 fields used)
Decon Robotics level 8 (24/25 fields used)
Shipyard level 2 (25/25 fields used)
From here you get the idea decon Robotics while building up shipyard untill Robotics is at level 2.
Note that it's not until you hit level 4 phalanx that you begin to really see how useful of a weapon it is. I personally recommend raising it to at least 7 (which is 49 systems EACH way so 98 systems total) which is the point where the duet cost of sending your fleet there as well as the cost of upgrading it further become quite high.
Also note that in my build I constructed the jump gate as soon as I hit my Robotics goal. This is so that I can gate my fleet there instead of spending the millions of duet traveling there. All I do is send my transports on a moon to moon deploy with the res I want to bring and then gate my fleet there once the transports arrive. If it's your first moon there's no point in constructing the jump gate until just before you start to decon your Robotics factory as the res is better spent elsewhere until then. I also build up my moons one at a time as it costs a lot of crystal and deut to do so and is difficult to do efficiently when spreading yourself between more than one.
4. Abandoning a moon
Maybe you have a small moon on a planet but want to get a bigger one so it cannot be destroyed by RIPs that easily. In this case you can abandon the moon like a colony. Change to the moon using the drop down menu and press on the link called: Moon "Moon" at orbit of [X:XXX:XX] where "Moon" is the name of your moon. There you can abandon it.
Once it is abandoned it will still be visible in the Galaxy for 1-2 more days but in that time it is owned by the space. Missions going to the moon will still proceed and are not automatically recalled. The moon will be displayed red bordered if it was abandoned.
How Do I Use My Moon?
1. What is a Sensor Phalanx and how does it work?
A sensor phalanx allows you to scan any planet within range (range is [(level of the phalanx)² - 1] solar systems). When you scan a planet, you get a readout in a popup of all fleets going to and coming from that planet, similar to the overview screen of that player, giving the exact arrival times, and the fleet composition. The advantage of this, is a player can scan your planet, see your fleet on a mission, and time his fleet to arrive 2 seconds after at your planet, this meaning he will destroy it for sure. This is why it's vital to avoid being in phalanx range. Every scan with a sensor phalanx costs 5,000 deuterium.
note:
Quoted
Quoted
What a phalanx can see:
If you scan the origin planet or the target planet:
- Fleets on attack mission (ACS too)
- Fleets on transport mission
- Fleets on espionage mission
- Fleets on hold mission (ACS)
If you scan the origin planet:
- Fleets on a harvest mission
- Fleets heading towards a moon except deployment
- Fleets recalled from all missions except deployment
- Fleets on moon destruction mission
- Fleets on colonise mission
- Fleets returning from a mission
If you scan the target planet:
- Fleets on deployment
What a phalanx can't see:
If you scan the origin planet:
- Fleets on a deployment mission
- Fleets recalled from deployment mission
If you scan the target planet:
- Fleets recalled from deployment mission
- Fleets heading towards that planet's moon or debris field from elsewhere
- Fleets returning from a mission
Special note: when scanning origin planet, you only see return time. If you scan target planet, you see only arrival time.
A few things to note when using a Phalanx:
A - The longer it's been since your last phalanx of the target the more inaccurate the time will be in your window. So be sure to lanx again within the last minute before launching your attack.
B - When trying to time your attack choose your time carefully. Avoiding a 1 second hit is impossible without cheating, 2 seconds is nearly impossible without cheating, 3 seconds is unlikely but possible, 4 seconds is possible and anything 5 seconds and above is probable. Also note that if it's a deploy mission your attacking to add 2 seconds to each of these times as there will be a 2 second lag with the fleet landing.
C - When a deploy mission is recalled it will disappear from your phalanx.
D - If you're in an ACS uni use a single ship ie a Large Cargo or Light Fighter when first setting the time. Do this with enough time for another attempt if you make any mistake as recalling it will cost you very little duet compared to your entire fleet which can then be ACS'd into the attack later.
E - Planets owned by (i I) [= space] are phalanxable.
F - When phalanxing the target planet you will see the time till the fleet arrives there. When phalanxing the origin planet you will see the time till the return of the fleet but not when the fleet is arriving at it's target - it is the complete flight time that is displayed in this case!
2. What are Jumpgates and what do they do?
Jumpgates are hugely expensive buildings that can be built on moons. You need at least TWO jumpgates (and therefore TWO moons) for them to function. You can then send a fleet of as many ships as you like between the two jumpgates once per every 60 minutes (in a standard 1x universe, 30 mins in a 2x, 15mins in a 4x and so on) TOTALLY free. Jumpgate travel is instantaneous. You can only send fleets between two jumpgates that YOU own.
1. Moon Size and Fields
Firstly, there is no field limit on a moon.
Moon sizes are not completely random. They are indeed affected by the percentage. The higher the percentage, the higher the chances are of getting a big moon. It's possible to get a 4k moon on 19% or an 8k moon on 1%, but it's very very unlikely. The exception is a successful 20% chance, this will ALWAYS give a moon of at least 8000km.
Moons start with one free field, this means that you need to build a Lunar Base first, when this is complete you will be given another 3 fields (using 1/4). If you want to expand a decent amount then you need to reserve one of these fields for the next Lunar Base, leaving 2 spare fields.
2. What Can I Build On A Moon?
Lunar Base's are the building that make the moon 'work', explained above.
Robotics Factory, this will shorten the time taken to build the facilities and buildings in general.
Shipyard, to build defense on moons. Note that IPMs can be fired at moons. ABMs present on the planet will intercept any IPMs fired at the moon.
Resource storage, pretty pointless to build this as it has no use.
Alliance Depot, only if yours is a universe with ACS
Phalanx, the main reason to have a moon. A device that will let you scan the surrounding planets for fleet activity that it arriving or departing at the planet. Will provide you with fleet consistency (with an exception in redesign - see below), time of arrival and place of origin.
Jump gates, allows you to move your fleet to any other gated moon you own at no cost. Note that only ships (and no resources) can be gated.
3. What Order Do I Build Things?
This all depends on personal taste. Some people advocate that you should build only Lunar Bases and Robotics Factories until you reach lvl10 on both, and then build a Phalanx to lvl 6 or more, and a Jump gate.
If you are an active crasher, or aspire to being one, then you should be thinking of getting the Phalanx up and running asap. If you are a more cautious player then you may think about getting some defense on the moon. Typically most gamers see defense on a moon as pointless, as it is ever so easy to fleetsave/res save with a moon, since moons cannot be scanned by another Phalanx. Defense can be useful to prevent your moon being destroyed in a Moon Destruction mission, which are especially common in speed unis. In this case you should have at least enough defence to force a draw with one RIP.
Below you will see two short build orders, these are by no means a definitive answer. If you are still unsure about what to build after reading this then politely ask someone near you who has a moon for their advice too.
Defensive Build
Empty Moon(0/1 fields used)
Lunar Base level 1 (1/4 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 1 (2/4 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 2 (3/4 fields used)
Lunar Base level 2 (4/7 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 3 (5/7 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 4 (6/7 fields used)
Lunar Base level 3 (7/10 fields used)
Shipyard level 1 (8/10 fields used)
Shipyard level 2 (9/10 fields used)
Lunar Base level 4 (10/13 fields used)
Shipyard level 3 (11/13 fields used)
Shipyard level 4 (12/13 fields used)
Using a moon in a defensive capability includes wanting to fleetsave from it and having some defense to protect any res on the planet and the ships a little if you do get caught out.
Offensive Build
Empty Moon(0/1 fields used)
Lunar Base level 1 (1/4 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 1 (2/4 fields used)
Phalanx level 1 (3/4 fields used)
Lunar Base level 2 (4/7 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 2 (5/7 fields used)
Phalanx level 2 (6/7 fields used)
Lunar Base level 3 (7/10 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 3 (8/10 fields used)
Phalanx level 3 (9/10 fields used)
Lunar Base level 4 (10/13 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 4 (11/13 fields used)
Phalanx level 4 (12/13 fields used)
Nuts Build:
This is how I build my moons up after already having one built up.
Empty Moon(0/1 fields used)
Lunar Base level 1 (1/4 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 1 (2/4 fields used)
Robotics Factory level 2 (3/4 fields used)
Lunar Base level 2 (4/7 fields used)
Robotics Factory Level 3 (5/7 fields used)
Robotics Factory Level 4 (6/7 fields used)
Lunar Base level 3 (7/10 fields used)
Robotics Factory Level 5 (8/10 fields used)
Robotics Factory Level 6 (9/10 fields used)
Lunar Base level 4 (10/13 fields used)
Robotics Factory Level 7 (11/13 fields used)
Robotics Factory Level 8 (12/13 fields used)
Lunar Base level 5 (13/16 fields used)
Robotics Factory Level 9 (14/16 fields used)
Robotics Factory Level 10 (15/16 fields used)
Lunar Base level 6 (16/19 fields used)
Jumpgate level 1 (17/19 fields used)
Phalanx level 1 (18/19 fields used)
Lunar Base level 7 (19/22 fields used)
Phalanx level 3 (20/22 fields used)
Phalanx level 4 (21/22 fields used)
Lunar Base level 8 (22/25 fields used)
Phalanx level 5 (23/25 fields used)
Phalanx level 6 (24/25 fields used)
Phalanx level 7 (25/25 fields used)
Decon Robotics level 10 (24/25 fields used)
Phalanx level 8 (25/25 fields used)
Decon Robotics level 9 (24/25 fields used)
Shipyard level 1 (25/25 fields used)
Decon Robotics level 8 (24/25 fields used)
Shipyard level 2 (25/25 fields used)
From here you get the idea decon Robotics while building up shipyard untill Robotics is at level 2.
Note that it's not until you hit level 4 phalanx that you begin to really see how useful of a weapon it is. I personally recommend raising it to at least 7 (which is 49 systems EACH way so 98 systems total) which is the point where the duet cost of sending your fleet there as well as the cost of upgrading it further become quite high.
Also note that in my build I constructed the jump gate as soon as I hit my Robotics goal. This is so that I can gate my fleet there instead of spending the millions of duet traveling there. All I do is send my transports on a moon to moon deploy with the res I want to bring and then gate my fleet there once the transports arrive. If it's your first moon there's no point in constructing the jump gate until just before you start to decon your Robotics factory as the res is better spent elsewhere until then. I also build up my moons one at a time as it costs a lot of crystal and deut to do so and is difficult to do efficiently when spreading yourself between more than one.
4. Abandoning a moon
Maybe you have a small moon on a planet but want to get a bigger one so it cannot be destroyed by RIPs that easily. In this case you can abandon the moon like a colony. Change to the moon using the drop down menu and press on the link called: Moon "Moon" at orbit of [X:XXX:XX] where "Moon" is the name of your moon. There you can abandon it.
Once it is abandoned it will still be visible in the Galaxy for 1-2 more days but in that time it is owned by the space. Missions going to the moon will still proceed and are not automatically recalled. The moon will be displayed red bordered if it was abandoned.
How Do I Use My Moon?
1. What is a Sensor Phalanx and how does it work?
A sensor phalanx allows you to scan any planet within range (range is [(level of the phalanx)² - 1] solar systems). When you scan a planet, you get a readout in a popup of all fleets going to and coming from that planet, similar to the overview screen of that player, giving the exact arrival times, and the fleet composition. The advantage of this, is a player can scan your planet, see your fleet on a mission, and time his fleet to arrive 2 seconds after at your planet, this meaning he will destroy it for sure. This is why it's vital to avoid being in phalanx range. Every scan with a sensor phalanx costs 5,000 deuterium.
note:
Quoted
Quoted
What a phalanx can see:
If you scan the origin planet or the target planet:
- Fleets on attack mission (ACS too)
- Fleets on transport mission
- Fleets on espionage mission
- Fleets on hold mission (ACS)
If you scan the origin planet:
- Fleets on a harvest mission
- Fleets heading towards a moon except deployment
- Fleets recalled from all missions except deployment
- Fleets on moon destruction mission
- Fleets on colonise mission
- Fleets returning from a mission
If you scan the target planet:
- Fleets on deployment
What a phalanx can't see:
If you scan the origin planet:
- Fleets on a deployment mission
- Fleets recalled from deployment mission
If you scan the target planet:
- Fleets recalled from deployment mission
- Fleets heading towards that planet's moon or debris field from elsewhere
- Fleets returning from a mission
Special note: when scanning origin planet, you only see return time. If you scan target planet, you see only arrival time.
A few things to note when using a Phalanx:
A - The longer it's been since your last phalanx of the target the more inaccurate the time will be in your window. So be sure to lanx again within the last minute before launching your attack.
B - When trying to time your attack choose your time carefully. Avoiding a 1 second hit is impossible without cheating, 2 seconds is nearly impossible without cheating, 3 seconds is unlikely but possible, 4 seconds is possible and anything 5 seconds and above is probable. Also note that if it's a deploy mission your attacking to add 2 seconds to each of these times as there will be a 2 second lag with the fleet landing.
C - When a deploy mission is recalled it will disappear from your phalanx.
D - If you're in an ACS uni use a single ship ie a Large Cargo or Light Fighter when first setting the time. Do this with enough time for another attempt if you make any mistake as recalling it will cost you very little duet compared to your entire fleet which can then be ACS'd into the attack later.
E - Planets owned by (i I) [= space] are phalanxable.
F - When phalanxing the target planet you will see the time till the fleet arrives there. When phalanxing the origin planet you will see the time till the return of the fleet but not when the fleet is arriving at it's target - it is the complete flight time that is displayed in this case!
2. What are Jumpgates and what do they do?
Jumpgates are hugely expensive buildings that can be built on moons. You need at least TWO jumpgates (and therefore TWO moons) for them to function. You can then send a fleet of as many ships as you like between the two jumpgates once per every 60 minutes (in a standard 1x universe, 30 mins in a 2x, 15mins in a 4x and so on) TOTALLY free. Jumpgate travel is instantaneous. You can only send fleets between two jumpgates that YOU own.