Maximizing resource production

## Completing Main Missions

In the very early game, the Main Missions rewards can provide sufficient resources to significantly speed up the base building process. Once the player's base gets to Expansion zone 4 and they build the Medium Utility Ship Dockyard, the primary source of resources from then on will be from mining. However, up through starting Expansion zone 6, the Main Missions will still be a major source of resources. Even after that, since every bit helps, players should continue to pursue the Main Missions and collect the rewards.

## Base Building

For most of the game, the primary source of resources will be from mining. That makes choosing which base upgrades to build one of the most crucial areas in which players can help themselves increase their resource production. In general, players should follow this priority scheme:

1. Base upgrades needed to improve mining production
2. Base upgrades needed to satisfy prerequisites for the next base expansion zone
3. Other base upgrades related to resource production
4. Building warships and all other base improvements

Everyone understands that war and other operational needs may push the building of warships and combat operations to a higher priority level but, the more a player can focus their efforts on building up their base infrastructure, the better off they will be in the long run.

The most critical upgrades in the first category are:

* Generic Port I, Expansion zone 1 (20 Industrial Port Command Points (IP/CP))
* Generic Port II, Expansion zone 2 (+30 IP/CP)
* Generic Port III, Expansion zone 3 (+30 IP/CP)
* Medium Utility Ship Dockyard, Expansion zone 4 (switch to Medium Utility Ships)
* Generic Port IV, Expansion zone 4 (+100 IP/CP)
* Resource Port I, Expansion zone 6 (+60 IP/CP)
* Resource Port II, Expansion zone 7 (+60 IP/CP)
* Utility Platform Dockyard, Expansion zone 8 (switch to Large Utility Ships)
* Resource Port III, Expansion zone 9 (+100 IP/CP)

* Mining Command Center, Expansion zone 6 (Basic Mining Platforms (BMP))
* Mining Research Center, Expansion zone 7 (Intermediate Mining Platforms (IMP))
* Refining Platform Research Center, Expansion zone 8 (Advanced Mining Platforms (AMP))

Mining Platforms can be helpful with improving production, especially Intermediate Mining Platforms (IMPs) and Advanced Mining Platforms (AMPs) because they allow two utility ships from a player to mine the same node.

Also, if the player's warehouse space fills up, resource production will stop, so they should ensure that they build as much warehouse space as they can.

* Warehouse I
* Warehouse II
* Advanced Warehouse I
* Advanced Warehouse II

Since utility ships can't be destroyed in combat, normally they will need to be built only once and so only the first level of the dockyards will be necessary.

In the third category, four of the base upgrades produce resources with no additional cost or effort, so it is helpful to invest in every level of those upgrades as fast as is reasonably possible.

* Small Integrated Plant, Expansion zone 2 (+metal, +crystal, +deuterium)
* Smelting Plant, Expansion zone 3 (+metal)
* Crystal Synthesis Plant, Expansion zone 3 (+crystal)
* D20 Electrolysis Plant, Expansion zone 4 (+deuterium)
* Habitat I, Expansion zone 2 (+ueCoins)
* Trading Center, Expansion zone 3 (see Don't rely on resource trading below)
* Outpost Command Center, Expansion zone 4 (see below)
* Habitat II, Expansion zone 4 (+ueCoins)
* Advanced Habitat I, Expansion zone 5 (+ueCoins)
* Docking Command Center, Expansion zone 8 (see below)
* Advanced Habitat II, Expansion zone 8 (+ueCoins)

+metal, +crystal, +deuterium: increases metal/crystal/deuterium production by the base itself

+ueCoins: in-game currency to buy resource in galactic faction quests and from trading posts

## Docking to resource nodes

When the player completes Expansion zone 4, they will be able to build the Outpost Command Center. Outposts can be docked to some resource nodes. Docked nodes cannot be mined but, when the player's Base is relocated to the node, there is a resource bonus for being docked which does not require a utility ship or any effort, and works even on resource nodes that have been depleted and can no longer be mined.

The amount of the resource bonus is a function of node size. With basic outposts, they can only be docked to level 1 or 2 resource nodes. When the player has completed upgrading the Outpost Command Center to level 5, they will be able to dock to level 3 or 4 nodes. With Expansion zone 8, the player will be able to build the Docking Command Center allowing outposts to dock at level 5 and 6 nodes.

**NOTE:** The only issue with docking to mining points is, because docking blocks all mining, if you are in a union and sharing an area with other members of your union, having nodes that are blocked may impair the over-all mining production of everyone in the cluster. The exception is depleted nodes, that cannot be mined, but still produce income when the player's base is docked there.
while others require only an outpost.

## Don't rely on resource trading

* Note: Here we are referring to the Resource Trade feature on the Domestic Affairs menu, which is not to be confused with purchasing of resources from a Trading post at a Space City

One of the persistent myths of the game is that some resources (usually deuterium) are more valuable when traded than other resources. The fact is that all resources have the same equivalent value. For example, a utility ship can mine 600 metal in a certain amount of time. In that same amount of time, the same utility ship could also mine 15 units of crystal or 6 units of deuterium. And in the hold of the utility ship, 3000 metal, 75 crystal, and 30 deuterium would occupy the same amount of storage.

Even when the Trading Center has been updated to level 5, there is still a 40% cost for trading resources. So if a player goes to trade 3000 metal, he would receive only 45 crystal, or 18 deuterium. The 75 units of crystal would trade for only 1800 metal or 18 deuterium, and the 30 deuterium would get only 1800 metal or 45 crystal.

Cleary, it is better for a player to mine what they need, if at all possible, rather than suffer the overhead of trading. Trading is still a useful tool in many circumstances, but players should keep its cost in mind and use it as little as possible.

## Trade up utility ships

The mining production of ships increases by more than a factor of two for each step up in size. In addition, having fewer, but larger, ships mining will allow the player to focus on resource nodes that are closer to their base, keeping the travel time overhead to a minimum.

When the player's base has reached Expansion zone 4, they will be able to build the Medium Utility Ship Dockyard, which allows the construction and use of X10 - Medium Utility Ships. Scrap all of the X8 - Small Utility Ships and replace them with the medium size.

When the base gets to Expansion zone 8, the player will be able to build the Utility Platform Dockyard, which allows the construction and use of X20 - Large Utility Ships. Again, scrap the medium ones and replace them. Note that Resource Port III will give a total of 400 Command points for utility ships, which is enough for ten of the large model. In addition, the X20 has enough storage space, all by itself, that mining fleets no longer needs to be supplemented with AC721 - Heavy Logistics Destroyer.

**Special circumstances**

* Only the small and medium sized ships can pass through a Scattered Asteroid Belt
* Only the large sized ships can pass through a Space Radiation Belt
* Larger ships are slower than smaller ships

The exact makeup of a player's fleet may need to conform to their circumstances.

After switching to the large ships, it is common for players to have one or two of the medium ships, in the event that they need to construct an outpost or mining platform in a scattered asteroid belt. If the player is forced to build a mining platform in a scattered asteroid belt, they may have to resort to using medium size ships to do the mining.

On the other hand, if a player ends up mining in a radiation belt, it will be necessary for them to replace everything with the large ships.

## Use Tech points to enhance utility ships

* Main article: Enhancement

As quickly as possible, use the tech points gained from mining to enhance the utility ships.

As the utility ships mine, they gain experience and gradually level up. Unlike other ships, utility ships **only** gain experience from mining. On the Ship Blueprint page, a player can press the  Battle Experience Collector button (lower right corner) to see the amount of experienced earned as well as how much more is needed before the blueprint hits the next level. In the example, the player's Large Utility Ships need to mine an additional 11,783,685 units to achieve level 39. Where 1 metal = 1 unit, 1 crystal = 40 units, 1 deuterium = 100 units.

Looking at the Ship Blueprint page, it shows, by the small rectangular indicators, that only two of the ship's systems can be enhanced: the Engineering UAV System and the Propulsion System. All three utility ship models have three types of enhancements:

* Increase mining speed by 20%
* Increase the ship's storage space by 80%
* Increase warp speed by 15%

The best enhancement strategy will vary depending on the player's circumstances.

* If the majority of the player's utility ships are traveling large distances then the best result will probably be achieved by increasing: a) warp speed; b) storage space; c) mining speed
* If all or most of the player's utility ships are small or medium and their fleets are augmented with additional, large storage capacity storage warships, such as the AC721 - Heavy Logistics Destroyer, then upgrading the storage space will move to lowest priority
* If most of the player's utility ships are mining in an Advanced Mining Platform, then warp speed will be irrelevant, though it may not be immediately obvious whether increasing storage space, mining speed, or alternating between them will give the best net production

In addition to enhancing the utility ships, the storage space on the logistics destroyer can also be enhanced to improve net mining production.

## Mining Platforms

* Main article: Mining Platforms

Starting with Expansion zone 6, the player will be able to construct various base upgrades that will allow them to construct mining platforms. All mining platforms give player a free, over-sized operation, which can cover quite a few resource nodes. In addition, all mining platforms give ships mining inside its operation a small bonus performance improvement. The exact amount is not listed, but can be determined from the mining rate (which is only shown in one place). Note that the bonus for the platform is additive with the bonus from enhancement, so the maximum rate improvement is 90%.

The Basic Mining Platform (BMP) confers small performance improvement, calculated to be 4%.

The Intermediate Mining Platform (IMP) confers a larger performance improvement, calculated to be 10%. It also allows two mining fleets from the same player to work on a single resource node.

The real winner, though, is the Advanced Mining Platform (AMP). To start with, it gives a significant (30%) performance bonus and the ability for two mining fleets to mine the same node. In addition, ships mining in the platform's operation don't have to return to the player's base, they instead return mined material to the mining platform and this continues to work **no matter how far away the player's base is**.

## Pair utility ships with "freighters"

For "how to" see Adding ships to mining fleet.

The AC721 - Heavy Logistics Destroyer has a relatively large storage capacity (18,000), especially compared with a small utility ship (1,500 to 6,300). By creating fleets that pair the utility ship with a logistics destroyer, the increased storage space will allow the utility ship to spend more time mining and less time traveling, which is pure overhead. In addition, tech points can be used to increase the storage of the destroyer by an additional 7,200 to a total of 25,200.

The medium utility ship can have a storage space of between 8,000 and 33,600, depending on enhancements which may make the extra storage less useful, depending on how far the ships have to travel.

For large utility ships, with a storage space between 95,000 and 399,000, the extra space does not really contribute significantly unless they are paired with a larger number of logistics destroyers.