Hub planet

A Hub planet is a planet that is used as a central storage/warehouse to optimize trading, autoroutes and building queues / hub fleets. Building a hub planet is a very recommended strategy to reduce to a minimum the need to micromanage the shipping of resources across planets.

A Hub planet is optimally

* Placed among many other planets, so the routes are quite direct (not many hops), reducing travel times. The earliest example is Orpheus.
* Equipped with either the highest-level shipyard for ship production, or even the only one (you can forego building shipyards on any other planets, and send them from the hub if the need arises)
* Equipped with a Trade Hub and placed close to the New Babilo market, for reduced market trading times. Usually this means to make Ishtar Gate your hub.
* Equipped with a hub fleet

## Set Up

### Autoroutes

All planets not designated as Hubs will be named Origin planets

* One Autoroute links every Origin planet to this one. This results in N-1 autoroutes for every group of N planets with a Hub, which is the minimum possible number.
	+ All "Use %" set at 105% checked at the Origin side for every resource.
	+ All the resources at the Hub planet side will be at "Use %" 0%.
	+ option "Show advanced options for autoroutes" recommended to add the "Extend to new resources" checkmark.

* As your Hub planet will be the origin/destination of each autoroute, you can simply build the needed cargo fleets on the big shipyard of the hub planet, and from there either establish the autoroute or merge the new cargo fleet with an existing autoroute to increase its capacity.

* This set up will
	+ Take unneeded resources from the Origin planets (that is, the ones that are being produced in excess of their comsumption) and deposit them on the Hub planet, thus making this an automatic **export** route *for every resource*.
	+ Take resources from the Hub that are needed in the Origin side (e.g. fuel for Foundries or oil for plastic factories), thus making this an automatic **import** route *for every resource*.
	+ Both retrievals and deliveries take into account the precise amounts needed to keep the factories stocked until the next pass of the Autoroute. Amounts are **dynamically and automatically** adjusted as buildings are built, destroyed or activated/deactivated. The next pass of the Autoroute will carry the needed resources.

### Hub fleet

* The Hub Fleets take care of the automatic shipments needed to build the building at the building queue in a planet.
* Build a big cargo fleet as the hub fleet of the hub planet. Bigger is better, in the sense that it is faster if you do not need several round trips to supply a sudden demand, but it can be increased apace. You don't need hub fleets on any other planet.
* Check the options for "Automatic construction for building queue" and "Automatic shipping for queue (BETA)". The Hub Fleet of your Hub Planet will then automatically send the required resources as soon as you place an order for a building queue on any Origin planet. The building will then automatically be built. Resources will already be available at the Hub planet due to the previously set up Autoroutes.

### Market fleet(s)

Build Cargo Fleets for market selling. It is preferred that they are

* Dedicated (you do not use them for anything else)
* Fast (to reduce travel times)
* Several of them

Though the need for "several" and "fast" is very much reduced if you concentrate your selling during the idle bonus phase.

### War fleets

War fleets are optimally produced in the Hub planet due to its highest Shipyard level, and the readily stockpiled resources found here.