Barren Planet Building Guide - By: Xin

Here is my build for a Large, Extra large, or XXL Barren world without any enhancements, just the basic structure and Defense bases (ex: no shipyard, no shields, no depots. just the bare necessities open to all factions). You can modify it to work for other types of planet of this size but I'm going to show it as I've practiced on Barren planets. And here it goes. :)

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Intro
First off, this procedure is a little time-consuming but in the end, it gets the job done. I like to place every building that I'm going to need in the end first so that I don't have to worry about seeing those annoying "Worker Shortage" problems or worse…a economic crash. This especially includes Domes. Everyone's used to building only 2 domes. WELL, get over it. You'll need more than that.

Whether you're building a Barren planet that doesn't have metal on it or not, a good thing to do is buy (or mine, if you HAVE to) 4000 metal from another planet. Bare in mind that other people could be building too and it's rude to take from a planet still in-progress :P. If you don't have metal as a resource, you will have to build a StarPort quite early.

Stage 1 - Beginning and the Simmering Period

For starters, the Colony Hub is essential. Second, domes. Start off with the normal 2, we'll cover the others later. Then 2 Hydro Farms. At this point, you've exhausted half of your already given metal so the next obvious part are mines. Build 4 of those. The next part has to be determined by what kind of threat you're in. If you're likely to fall under the mercy of a transport with 10 Heavies, build 4 Barracks next and set them to Infantry (default). If you're in no rush (MV after a reset :P), build 8 (yes, eight) Research bases. The collective amount will give you exactly 90 Research points that will accumulate over an extended period. This period is called the Simmering Period, where you let your planet's research cook for a little bit before continuing. This can take a very long time so it's good to build more than one planet at once so you're never just sitting around (or go mine DarkMatter :) ). If you're again not in any hurry and haven't built your Barracks yet, do so now and set them to build Heavy Infantry.

Stage 2 - Upgrading

After you've let your planet's research reach 90, you'll have the ability to build Defense and Fighter III Bases, "Lvl. III Power" (Variance Generators), "Lvl. III Farms" (Biosphere Condensers) Interdictors, Sensor/Anti-sensor bases (depends on faction). At this point, you'll want to change all of your supplying buildings to the highest level for maximum performance. Rule of thumb; remember NOT to scrap crucial buildings like Research and Power before placing your upgraded ones first. Doing so with Research bases may cause you to lose all that time you spent waiting for the research points to go up. And, doing so with Power may cause an economic crash (hard to fix and not covered in this tutorial :P). First, add two Biosphere Condensers and scrap the two Hydro Farms. Also add 4 more Domes (6 total) to continue generating the food from the Biospheres. Next, add 5 Variance Generators and scrap Fusion Generators accordingly. Then, add 4 Cortex Nexuses and scrap accordingly. (If you're running out of room, you can scrap 2 Research Bases every 1 Cortex Nexus. They amount to the same in Research points. And, at this point, your simmering and StarPort should compensate for the use of Mines so you may scrap them now. I don't bother with Deep Cores and Mantle Mines).

Stage 3 - Defense and Support buildings

Finally, you are able to build the highest level of defense without worrying about needing more power or workers (although, you may still be waiting for population/workers to rack up. You can disband infantry IF you really must). Lvl. III Defense spread out sparingly across the planet surface can easily rival the 18+ Defense bases of old (v1.480B) It's all about where you place them. I usually like to place three bases around the area of my Hub, Power, and Research buildings (since I build them close to each other but not clumped up). This ensures that your important buildings will be protected from enemy bombing. But, you still don't want to ignore the rest of the planet. Placing defense all around will keep enemy infantry pods from simply landing on an unprotected surface and attacking from there. Limiting yourself to 8-9 Defense III Bases, try to spread them out wisely. If you've made 8 Defense IIIs and have followed my instructions up until this point exactly, you should have 29 total buildings and enough power and workers to add some semi-essential support buildings; An Interdictor Base and a Sensor or Anti-sensor base. These can easily be replaced by Depots or Shield Generators (for ICC Builds). Just keep in mind that Shield generators take up 20 total power and you may only be able to fit 1 with nothing else. Also, don't be afraid to sacrifice 1 Defense base to add another support. Feel free to mix it up.

And that concludes my basic building structure for a medium to Extra Large Barren planet. I hope this will help those of you who are confused with the new building structure.

-Xin

(Special Thanks and Reference)

TBone
JackSwift