NOTE: The shipbuilding process at Planets.nu uses four different systems, each briefly described in the Build Queues page. Check your game's Settings to make sure you are in a Classic-style Priority Build Point (PBP) game before going on.
The PBP system was created for the original VGA Planets as a way of rewarding players for successful combat, and is now used mostly in Classic games. When a starship is destroyed in combat, the winner of the battle receives PBPs. The greater the hull mass of the destroyed starship, the more PBPs are received.
In system-generated games, there is a hard ship limit of 500 total starships that can be built (can be changed in Custom games.) The purpose of this system is twofold: to prevent the game from becoming too complex, and to encourage players to begin fighting in order to build replacements. Once the ship limit has been hit in a game it is not possible to continue to build starships without eliminating some first.
In the early game (before the number of starships is within 10% of the starship limit), every starbase with a build queued will have that starship built. Builds will not consume any PBPs unless they are constructed on starbases using a pbN code. This code is not generally needed in this stage of the game.
In those turns when the starship count is within 10% of the starship limit, but the limit has not yet been reached, every starbase with a build queued will have that starship built, but all builds will consume PBPs until the player has fewer than 21 points. Bases with a pbN code will build first and will consume PBPs until, again, the player has fewer than 21 points. At these bases, it is possible to both priority-build and clone a ship during the same turn. (NOTE: Some doubt has been raised with respect to the validity of this last statement in games that have been created recently.)
After the ship limit has been reached, normal cloning will be disabled and only priority builds (see below) will be permitted. If at any time the ship limit is not again reached by priority builds, a standard build subphase will occur.
Each starbase build phase will have two subphases. Please note that there is a build phase both before and after combat. (See the Host Order for more details.)
In the first step, players with 21 or more PBPs will perform Priority Builds. For each available ship slot, the player with the greatest number of PBPs will get a starship build.
If that player has a starbase with a pbN Friendly Code, the starbase with the lowest pbN Friendly Code (i.e. pb1 then pb2 then pb3, etc.) will receive a build. If that player does not have a starbase with a pbN Friendly Code, the next starbase in the build order with a build queued that belongs to that player will receive the build. In this case, the build will be considered a Priority Build, and the queue will not advance until the next non-Priority build takes place. If multiple bases share a single pbN code, builds will be attempted for that code in order of planet ID number, counting up either from 001 or the last base to build, depending on the specific situation. (NOTE: This is a change from TimHost and earlier versions of Planets Nu Classic, which would build in reverse order.)
All Priority Builds will consume PBPs.
This above process will be performed as long as the ship limit is not reached and there are still players with 21 or more PBPs and a starbase with a queued build.
If, after the Priority Builds are complete, there are fewer starships than the ship limit, standard builds will be performed until the ship limit is hit. These will occur at starbases in sequence, in ascending order by planetary ID number, and the position in sequence will be remembered between turns. Priority builds which occur at a starbase scheduled for a standard build during that build phase will not set, bypass, or circumvent the build queue, with the sole possible exception of the final build in a turn. Note: All ship cloning takes place during this build subphase.
On those builds which consume PBPs, 1 PBP will be consumed for each 50 KT (or fraction thereof) of starship hull mass, up to a maximum of 20 PBP. All starships with a hull mass of over 1000 KT will cost 20 PBP to Priority Build.
Priority Build Points can be earned in several ways:
For more detailed information about the specific timing of shipbuilding, please refer to the page on The Host Order Of Shipbuilding.