=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. A successful 20% chance (1667 light fighters) will ALWAYS give a moon of at least 8000km. You can have 20% chance by fight or you can buy M.O.O.N.S premium feature.
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.
=What can I build on a moon?=
- Lunar Base's are the building that will give you slots for other buildings
- Robotics Factory will shorten the time taken to build the facilities and buildings in general
- Shipyard is for building defense on moons. Note that Interplanetary Missiles can be fired at moons. Anti-Ballistic Missiles present on the planet will intercept any IPMs fired at the moon
- Resource storage is pretty pointless to build this as it has no use. Storage is useful on planet where you want production (if storage is too small, production will be stopped).
- Alliance Depot is useful only if you are playing a universe with ACS
- Phalanx is 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 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.
=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 fleeter, or aspire to being one, then you should be thinking of getting the Phalanx up and running as soon as possible. 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 defense to force a draw with one RIP.
Make sure you build Lunar Base first and never run out of slots because you will have to tear down something to get more slots.
=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?==
=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). Means level 2 would cover your system, 3 on the left and 3 on the right side. 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.
=What 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
- Incoming missions can be seen as well as returning missions to that planet (except recalled deployment)
=What 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 on incoming deployment
Special note: when scanning origin planet, you only see return time. If you scan target planet, you see only arrival time.
You can't phalanx moon or debris field!
A few things to note when using a Phalanx:
- phalanx more times before launching your attack
- When trying to time your attack choose your time carefully. Lag 2-3 seconds is possible
- When a deploy mission is recalled it will disappear from your phalanx
- Planets owned by (i I) [= space] are phalanxable
- 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!
=What are Jumpgates and what do they do?=
Jumpgates are expensive buildings that can be built on moons. You need at least TWO jumpgates (and therefore TWO moons) for them to function. You can 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.
Since v5.6.2, it is possible to upgrade your Jumpgate and therefore cooldown will be reduced depending how many upgrades you have.
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. A successful 20% chance (1667 light fighters) will ALWAYS give a moon of at least 8000km. You can have 20% chance by fight or you can buy M.O.O.N.S premium feature.
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.
=What can I build on a moon?=
- Lunar Base's are the building that will give you slots for other buildings
- Robotics Factory will shorten the time taken to build the facilities and buildings in general
- Shipyard is for building defense on moons. Note that Interplanetary Missiles can be fired at moons. Anti-Ballistic Missiles present on the planet will intercept any IPMs fired at the moon
- Resource storage is pretty pointless to build this as it has no use. Storage is useful on planet where you want production (if storage is too small, production will be stopped).
- Alliance Depot is useful only if you are playing a universe with ACS
- Phalanx is 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 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.
=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 fleeter, or aspire to being one, then you should be thinking of getting the Phalanx up and running as soon as possible. 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 defense to force a draw with one RIP.
Make sure you build Lunar Base first and never run out of slots because you will have to tear down something to get more slots.
=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?==
=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). Means level 2 would cover your system, 3 on the left and 3 on the right side. 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.
=What 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
- Incoming missions can be seen as well as returning missions to that planet (except recalled deployment)
=What 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 on incoming deployment
Special note: when scanning origin planet, you only see return time. If you scan target planet, you see only arrival time.
You can't phalanx moon or debris field!
A few things to note when using a Phalanx:
- phalanx more times before launching your attack
- When trying to time your attack choose your time carefully. Lag 2-3 seconds is possible
- When a deploy mission is recalled it will disappear from your phalanx
- Planets owned by (i I) [= space] are phalanxable
- 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!
=What are Jumpgates and what do they do?=
Jumpgates are expensive buildings that can be built on moons. You need at least TWO jumpgates (and therefore TWO moons) for them to function. You can 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.
Since v5.6.2, it is possible to upgrade your Jumpgate and therefore cooldown will be reduced depending how many upgrades you have.
