Early Shipbuilding

Every race plays differently, and even within that there are different general strategies that can be employed, different tactics that can be attempted to maximize one's performance within that race. Here, we will concentrate on ships that can best be built to improve expansion in the early game. Please note that this guide is designed for Classic and Standard games.

Common Ships

Most races can build the following:

• Medium Deep Space Freighter - The Medium Deep Space Freighter is very cheap to build and has enough cargo capacity to handle local exploration and development. Every small cluster can use one of these to help distribute resources.
• Large Deep Space Freighter - The Large Deep Space Freighter is the logistical workhorse of the game. It can carry over a thousand colonists to a distant location. The hull is heavier than that of the Medium Deep Space Freighter, and so it should be used mainly for bulk transport.
• Super Transport Freighter - The Super Transport Freighter is very large, but is most useful to races with logistical advantages like the Cyborg or the Colonies. It is usually too expensive to rely on in the early game.
• Neutronic Fuel Carrier - This is the lightest ship in the game, and is the only vessel that can fly indefinitely with zero fuel use when lightly loaded. The massive fuel tank makes it ideal for fuel transport, but it is also one of the most efficient methods for moving money around the cluster.
• Neutronic Refinery - Only Colonial players have a free way to manufacture fuel. Most other players will want to be certain to construct one or more of these before the Ship Limit, though they are quite expensive - especially in Molybdenum.
• Merlin Class Alchemy Ship - Most players will need more than one of these vessels. Since the mineral cost is especially high in Duranium, the first one is generally used to create the minerals to build others.

Every race uses these differently, some not at all. Colonial players often rely on Cobols instead of Medium Deep Space Freighters, for example, and the Federation can't construct a Neutronic Fuel Carrier, relying instead on the large fuel tanks of their freighter fleet.

Race-Specific Ships

• The Federation - The Brynhild has Bioscanners, useful for finding natives. Other useful early vessels include the terraformers, the Eros and the Bohemian.
• The Lizards - For combat both early and late, the Lizard Class Cruiser is ideal. An Eros makes an excellent Hisssss! ship and is lightweight for cash transport.
• The Bird Men - The Resolute is an excellent combat vessel and also serves as a logistics support ship on contested borders.
• The Fury - The D7 is the workhorse cloaker, but a true expert with the Fury will master the D19b and the Saber "poppers".
• The Privateers - Meteors are the mainstay of the Privateer fleet. For easy cash, it's tough to beat the Lady Royale, which can also be used later for Rob traps.
• The Cyborg - Firecloud hulls should make up the majority of a Cyborg fleet, and make freight and warship transport far more efficient. The B200 Probe is very useful for early exploration.
• The Crystal - The Emerald and Ruby are the two most common early combat and webmine-capable vessels.
• The Evil Empire - In Classic games, an Imperial player will need several light fighter carriers to transport their "free fighters" from rear areas to forward supply. The Pl21 Probe is useful for exploration and intel gathering.
• The Robots - The Pawn is the best bioscanner in the game. Cat's Paws are necessary for early minelaying.
• The Rebels - The Falcon is the heaviest hyperspace vessel anywhere, and can move moderate amounts of cargo a vast distance. Falcons can also be used for a surprise Rebel Ground Attack. The Rebels can also build the Deep Space Scout, which is superior to either the Small or Medium Freighter and has gun ports.
• The Colonies - The Cobol generates free fuel when it moves. It makes an excellent local transport vessel, often supplanting the Medium Freighter entirely; it also has a Bioscan capability. The Aries is more efficient than the Neutronic Refinery at making fuel. The Gemini and Sagittarius are ideal space-based fighter factories and minesweepers, and the Lady Royale is useful for generating cash.

It's important to remember that different game formats will require different fleet compositions. It's also vital to tune your fleet specifically to fit in the space you have, with the planets you own or plan to acquire. Finally, there are several gambits or general methods of play which demand specific fleet compositions, and this is not covered here.

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