… or more importantly, where will it go.

Suppose you are about to go do something risky. Maybe its exploring with your enemy online, maybe its an invasion. Having an escape pod is not much good if you’re just going to immediately get killed in it, so it pays to know exactly where you pod will go before you get killed, and just as important to manipulate that to be somewhere handy.

The game goes very close to having two consistent rules for pod locations:

If you kill yourself, your pod goes to your “previous sector”.
If someone kills you, your pod flees along a “safe path”.

(I’ll get to what “previous sector” and “safe path” mean in a minute.)

I mean this very genericly- i.e. if someone else pressed the keys that caused the game to put you in a pod, then your pod will use the “safe path” algorithm. If _you_ pressed the keys then it’ll go to your “previous sector”

For example, Killing yourself includes among other things, blowing up on quasars, blowing up on military reaction, hitting navhaz, getting killed by offensive sector fighters, even attacking Captain Z. Being killed by someone else includes them hitting your ship with figs, blowing up the planet you were on, or blowing up the port you were on.

Just to be confusing, there’s one special case – bwarp fusion. God knows why. If you fuse bwarping your pod goes back in the sector you attempted to bwarp from, and ignores your previous sector. [twarp fusion does at least follow the rules- e.g. manual warp from 23 to 24, your last sector is now 23. Attempt to twarp from 24 -> 36 (but fail), pod goes to 23- your previous sector as we’ll see shortly.]

ok, so what do “safe path” and “previous sector” mean?

“previous sector”

The previous sector is a weird concept in twgs, although the weirdness does make for some interesting subtle differences between the various methods of moving about- and thereby some subtle invasion tactics. twgs maintains a “previous sector” field and puts your pod there whenever you blow yourself up. The previous sector set depends on how you move:

manual warp, or retreat (note- don’t confuse retreat and flee) from 1234 -> 2345; your previous sector is now 1234
transport from ship in 1234 -> ship in 2345; your previous sector is now 1234
transport from ship in 2345 -> ship in 2345; your previous sector is now 2345
pwarp from sector 1234 -> sector 2345; your previous sector gets set to sector 1 [in recent previous twgs versions it would instead remain unchanged].
your teammate pwarps from sector 1234 -> sector 2345 with you landed; your previous sector is now 2345 [again this changed recently from not changing your previous]
twarp from sector 1234 -> sector 2345; your previous sector is now 2345!
bwarp from sector 1234 -> sector 2345; your previous sector does not change.

It is left as an exercise to the reader to determine where your last sector is if you:
– fled from sector 1234 to sector 2345 whilst online
– ” ” whilst offline
– got towed from sector 1234 to 2345 whilst online
– ” ” whilst offline
– got podded, and then exchanged your ship in a citadel for a fresh one with a new pod all ready to go.

Clearly the main goal here is to avoid your pod staying in the sector you got yourself blown up in, as usually the same thing that blew up your ship will get your pod as well. If you follow the 3 golden rules, you should hardly ever get #SD# invading without significant “assistance” from an enemy:

_DO NOT EVER_ twarp to an enemy sector. Its worth the handful of turns to twarp next door, then manual warp to their sector.
_DO NOT EVER_ transport between two of your ships in your enemy sector. Instead first transport to a ship in a different sector and then transport to the ship you wanted to get into- its worth one turn for your pod to go somewhere your enemy can’t immediately kill.
_DO NOT EVER_ have a teammate pwarp you to your enemies base before invading.

Where you can arrange it, before landing on enemy planets, its best to transport to a ship in your home base, and then from there to a ship in your enemies sector- that way if you get podded, your pod is extra safe in your home base.

“safe path” – Well, first up, what is “safe” then? A sector is safe if either it contains fighters belonging to you, your corp, or is empty. [exercise for the reader- work out if mines have any effect.] Should you get killed by someone else, twgs uses the following approach to choose where your pod goes:

1. Pick a bunch of random locations 3-20 away. [I’m not sure on the exact max (20) and min (3) here, however the exact figures have little impact.]

2. Plot paths from your current location to those random locations.

3. Move as far along one of those paths as possible whilst only passing through safe sectors.

On many occasions this will leave your pod a long way from where you got podded. If your current sector is completely surrounded by enemy figthers though, your pod will not be able to move at all along these paths without encountering an “unsafe” sector- and hence will remain in the sector where you were blown up- and presumably your opponent will quickly kill your pod.

Simple so far. On most occasions where your current sector has at least one “safe” adjacent sector, your pod will at least move out- though the more sectors you own in that vincinity, the better odds you have of fleeing a long way. If you think this algorithm through however, you’ll see that there are other occasions where your pod does the disastourous thing of remaining in the sector with your foe. One common example is if you are killed in the gate of a dead end:

1234S – 2345 – 3456* – RestOfSpace
|
4567* – RestOfSpace

Suppose you are killed in sector 2345, sectors marked * are unsafe, sectors marked “S” are safe. When twgs picks its bunch of random locations 3-20 hops away, it _can’t possibly_ pick 1234, as its only 1 hop away. Further, _every_ path to somewhere 3-20 hops away goes through 3456 or 4567. Hence your pod cannot move safely along any of these paths, and it remains in 2345 to be cleaned up by your enemy.

Even outside a bubble type situation there are occasions where your pod will not flee.

Rest of Space – 1234S – 2345 – 3456* – RestOfSpace
|
4567* – RestOfSpace

Again suppose you get killed in 2345. But suppose that at 95% of the plots to other sectors go through 3456 and 4567, and only 5% through 1234. In this kind of case your pod may eject through 1234 if you are lucky, but there’s also a reasonable chance that all the plots twgs picks go via 3456 & 4567- and hence your pod does not eject. This can frequently happen at, or next to, stardock, as in most maps, “most of space” is in the direction of alpha or rylos from stardock, and not so much is in the direction of the other 4 exits.

As you can see, getting podded by an enemy can at times be quite dicey. Sometimes in online invasions, its worth making certain you kill yourself, so that your enemy does not get the opporunity to kill you (and potentially have your pod not eject)

i suppose the best way to go about this is to recount the evolution of my own thinking and practice when it comes to base building. keep in mind that when i say ‘evolution’ i mean it in the scientific sense. most people think that ‘evolution’ is the continuous improvement of something, e.g. a species or a theory or a society. however, ‘evolution’ merely indicates change. for example, species evolve, but it is natural selection that determines which of the new species will survive. in fact, the quality of the dominant species may be more brute and primitive than the previous. say for example if stronger but stupid apes evolved at the same time as weaker but smart apes – the situation may be such that the stupid apes could exterminate the smarter apes. evolution is no guarantee of improvement. natural selection tends to produce some improvement, but there is a certain amount of luck involved, and a great deal of opinion about what ‘better’ is. so i say all of this as a disclaimer to my article. the ‘evolution’ of my thinking and practice of base building may not be an improvement at all, so i leave it for you to test.

when i first started playing tradewars, i preferred to build bases in deadend bubble areas. just briefly, a ‘bubble’ is any group of sectors that can only be accessed by means of one entrance – naturally this means that there are usually deadend sectors inside a bubble. assuming stock planets, i took the good advice of better players and built type H, O, and L planets at the same time in any given sector, often in more than one location to improve the chances that one of the bases survives. the type H is a slow builder, but it is invaluable for defensive purposes later. the type O is a bad planet defensively, but it makes organics at 2:1, which is great for cash if you have an organic buying port in the same sector. the type L planet is a fast citadel and early defender, but i didn’t get much use out of it other than that. playing this way, i won very few games.

after a while i began to understand the use of warpable planets (level 4 citadel). i started writing scripts for planet-drop and planet-warp-photon – tactics that helped me start winning more games. the basic idea is to bring the awesome power of your planet to bear upon players hitting your fighters, and make them take quasar blasts if possible. it wasn’t until much later that players started getting good at beating planet-drop tactics (with good macros) and exploiting planet-warp-photon by making me use a lot of fuel ore and eventually by landing on my planet when i warped adjacent to photon them. i also learned that when games are MBBS mode, you can make a pretty penny doing megarobs and buydowns. basically the concept is to move your planet over a port, buy all the products off of it and rob all the credits back – voila, free products! look for more information on this in another article.

another trick that is very important is the citadel beamer. once you have a level 1 citadel, you can install a beamer. with a beamer it only costs you 1 turn and 10 fuel ore per hop to fly your ship anywhere in the game. that means if you are colonizing in your imperial starship, you can get to terra for only 1 turn instead of 4. this is a huge savings – take advantage of it early.

back to base building – like i was saying, i didn’t win a lot of games. what was the problem? well here’s a few for starters: 1) i put a lot of colonists on the planets. why is this bad? well it isn’t bad in and of itself, in fact it’s good, just not good for you! if you load up a planet with a lot of colonists, but you cannot defend it from invasion, then you are in effect, colonizing for someone else – the player who takes your planet! trust me, 5000 sectors is not a very big universe – you will be found sooner or later. 2) i spent a lot of effort working the type O planets for organics. type O planets have almost no defensive ability because of low fuel ore production and long citadel times. in addition, you can make almost as much money – if not just as much – selling fuel ore off of the type H planets you are building, with the added benefit that the fuel ore has a defensive quality in level 3+ planets if you decide not to sell it. 3) i was building in large bubbles. the problem with building in large bubbles is that your opponent no longer has to search 5000 sectors to find you, he only has to search 100 or so. your base is a needle in a very small haystack. chances are your opponent will find you quickly!

so i started building in 1 or 2-deep bubbles, i.e. bubbles that are very small. i also stopped building type O planets altogether, and i started winning more. why? well first of all, it’s easier to defend two planets than three – no more H-O-L – just H-L. second of all, the list of 1 and 2-deep bubbles is a lot longer than the list of larger bubbles, making my base a needle in a larger haystack. third, i only brought in enough colonists to start the citadels. often, i wouldn’t even bother bringing in enough colonists for both the H and L – i would bring them in for the citadel on the L, then move the colonists to the H and start the citadel there too. why spend lots of turns and fuel ore running to terra for them, when you have enough on another planet in the same sector?

what did this do for me? well now i can build bases with minimal effort, saving me turns to go hunting or cashing or better yet – support my red corp-mates in their efforts to cash. with the planets harder to find, they would survive long enough to be defendable, and due to my extra turns cashing, i had fighters to defend them with. if they did get invaded, then at least i didn’t lose too many colonists. once my planets got to level 2, i immediately put fighters on them! it will cost your enemy about twice the fighters to take your planets once they are level 2 – so even if you lose your planet, it will cost your enemy more fighters than it did you. you might even have enough fighters elsewhere to go take the planet back.

but wait! that’s not all. as i began to play against better players i started to figure out ways to find them – and ways that they found me. first of all comes the ‘blocked port’ trick. picture this: you went out exploring the first week of the game and you know that there is a port in a certain deadend bubble. later you look in your port cim data and discover that the port is not listed anymore – aha! someone has put a fighter over that port, maybe they have a base there! this is one of the most common ways to get found. that is why i started building bases in deadends without ports – a major stealth improvement.

then, against even better players, i discovered that it’s pretty much impossible to hide in any deadends for long enough to have level 4 planets. so you can either 1) defend them – which i did most often – or 2) find better hiding places. so i thought about it and i came up with this: since most players expect you to hide in deadends, you could probably do better by hiding somewhere else – but where? i started building in sectors with only 2 warps out – sectors that were nowhere near any bubbles. chains of 2-warp sectors are what a lot of players call ‘tunnels’ and they are very good choices for early bases, just be careful that you don’t choose a spot near high traffic areas like the major space lanes, stardock, and class 0 ports.

since most great corps have at least two red players to bring in the cash, it is also a good idea to make your base location one of your sdt ports. the benefits are threefold: 1) you can have your red players steal the products you need for planet upgrades; 2) you get increased defenses for your reds as they work; and 3) the beamer on your planet will save you a lot of turns furbing.

finally, my latest and greatest lesson of all i learned in BOTE 2002 this year. normally i would build three or four bases and hope that the planets might make it to level 4 so that i can move them if they are found. the problem is that it is very hard to defend four locations. say that you have 200k fighters – if you want to defend all four of your bases equally, thats eight planets – you can only put 25k fighters on each planet. what does this mean? it means that all of your planets are easy to capture! what is the cure? you have to accept the solemn task of destroying your own planets! do you see? you started four bases in hopes that at least one of them survives to be defensible, right? what if three of them survive? you have to destroy at least one more of them – so you can divide your 200k fighters among four planets instead of eight. or – what if you think your opponents have way more fighters than you? you should decide which one of your planets has the best chance of getting to level 4 and kill the rest – it is better to have one planet with 200k fighters and keep it, than to have four planets with 50k fighters and keep only one – or lose them all to multiple opponents! why let your opponents take easy planets? trust me – you can make a lot more money megarobbing in MBBS mode or planet trading in TWGS mode with that one single planet under you than without it, and why should your opponent get to start megarobbing with your planets? spend all your effort filling that one planet up with fighters and shields – then you will have a fighting chance to take other peoples’ planets. make them colonize for you!

the result, my friends, is that now i spend my base building efforts early in the game to get one level 4 type L planet and cross my fingers that one of my type H planets gets to level 4 also. what do i do with the rest of my turns? load up my type L with fighters and shields! hunt for other players’ planets! if you can kill their planets before they get to level 4 – or to level 2 for that matter – then you are putting yourself in a better position to win.

like i said before – this is just the ‘evolution’ of my thinking and practice when it comes to base building. it might not work for you. experiment yourself with different approaches. if you are losing a lot of games, think about what you are doing. if you are winning alot of games, stick with what you have been doing, but try to find better players to test it against.

one final tip – a freebie that i learned from dr. bad. it’s more of a philosophical question really: “what’s in a base?” think about it. is your base sector 1234? what makes sector 1234 your base? if you are out trading in your planet and you finish up all that you have to do, why should you move your planet back to sector 1234? what is special about it? it is just 1 in 5000 sectors, right? to paraphrase the old adage, “home is where the heart is,” “base is where your planet is.” why waste the fuel ore to move your planet back to sector 1234 without a good reason? if the reason is just that you like that sector, then you need to think again. you may have good reasons to move your planet back to sector 1234, e.g. your planet is part of a defensive setup protecting other assets. i’m not saying it’s stupid to have sector 1234 as your base – i’m just saying that you should think before moving your planet back there and make sure you have a good reason to spend that 15 hops times 400 fuel ore per hop – which will cost you 15*400/250=24 turns in a colonial transport to replace. (just remember, moving a planet may take 0 turns, but it’s costing you 400 fuel ore to move 1 sector, which is at least 1.6 turns in a colonial transport to replace – don’t be deceived by the 0 turn cost.)

Planetary Collisions

You can overload any sector (except sector one) by just shooting off gtorps. It forces players to put up sector defenses instead of relying on planetary defenses alone. Photons disable sector defenses allowing players to shoot off gtorps without defeating the sector defenses This is an excellent tactic to use to destroy an enemy’s high level planet without much expense

Photons

A side from the consideration mentioned above, when a photon is launched into a sector where a player is staying in a citadel they lose their turns (turns drop to 0, and regen at the top of the hour) Also when you fire a Photon into a sector that a trader is cloaked in it will de-cloak them making them vulnerable to attack.

Planetary Transporters

You can install a Planetary transporter on any planet with a citadel. It costs 50,000 credits to install the transporter and 25,000 credits per sector to upgrade the transporter. These credits are taken from the funds on your ship not from the citadel. The planetary transporter transports both you and your ship. The rules are the same as for TWARP. If you transport to a sector with 1 or more of your personal/corp fighters, to an empty sector, or to fedspace if commissioned, you’ll be safe. It uses fuel ore to power itself, using 10 of ore units per sector and takes the fuel ore from the planet. Transporting requires one turn and you must have a turn or you can’t do it.

TWARP

The TWARP Drive is bought at the Hardware Emporium On Stardock it costs 50,000 creds (although with TWpro there is a TWARP 2 which costs 40,000 after you have bought TWARP 1 or 80,000 if you buy both at one time and allows for TWARP Towing, 2.01a makes the price of these Sysop configurable) You can Transwarp your ship to any sector in the universe (within the ships twarp range). TWARP is completely safe as long as you jump to a sector with at least 1 of your own corp or personal fighters or the sector is COMPLETELY empty, if there is ANYTHING in the sector (unless you have a fighter down) you will lose your ship to Atomic Fusion (referred in the game as “Fusing” a ship) and end up in a pod (and you will still be in the sector you were trying to jump from) Blind jumps are jumps made to sector NOT containing at least 1 of your fighters. Blind Warps are hazardous because of Limpet mines which don’t show up on holoscans or EPROBE, also there is a chance that an alien, Ferrengi or another player could warp into the sector before you can complete your warp. So don’t Blind warp if you have ANY doubts, you may yourself in a pod and fusing a ship can be quite embarrassing.

LIMPET MINES

Limpet mines sometimes (if the player doesn’t already have a limpit on their ship *HINT*) attach to the ships which enter the sector where they are deployed. SD will offer to remove Limpets for a fee of 5000 credits but can’t tell who they belong to. Attached limpets will reduce the trade in value of a ship. If limpet mines you leave do not get removed then you can tell where they are, and thus where the ship they attached to are by doing a mine scan (K). Mine disrupters will not get rid of deployed limpets. You can get rid of limpets by repeatedly entering and leaving a sector and having them cleared from your ship. If someone else’s limpets are in a sector you will not be able to leave limpet or armid mines of your own. As with armid mines, limpet mines cannot be deployed in fedspace and will be removed from Major Space Lanes.

Cloaking Devices

Cloaking failure is Sysop configurable. If the cloak fail rate is set above 0% then the can fail at 2 times; 1) the fail at extern (BBS cleanup) and 2) when you engage them (make sure you see the “cloaking device engaged” message when you exit. The cloaking failure rate is Sysop configurable and can be set to 0% in which case cloaking failure will not happen. Unfortunately, this setting is not displayed on the V screen. You cannot attack a player who is cloaked but they will show up on a density scan as an anomaly and you can then Photon the sector and they will decloak. Limpet mines also show up as an anomaly but if you attempt to put a mine in the sector and the game lets you then there are no limpets there (limpits also have a density, cloaked ships do not), and there must be a cloaked player.

Major Space Lanes (MSL’s)

The space lanes are from sol (sector one) to Stardock and back. From SD to RYLOS and back. From SD to Alpha Centauri and back. And From Rylos To AC and back. Also Rylos and Alpha Centauri are themselves MSLs. The following diagram illustrates:

Sector 1
SOL (Fedspace)
|
|
Stardock (Fedspace)
/
/
/
/
Rylos Alpha Centauri
(MSL) (MSL)

*NOTE* remember that because of one way warps the path from one sector to another and the the return path are not necessarily the same.

ABBREVIATIONS:

AL = Alignment
ORE = Fuel Ore
EQ = Equipment
ORG = Organics
PT = Planetary Trading
SSM = Sell/Steal/Move
SST = Sell/Steal/Transport
MJ = Mega-Jettison
MSL = Major Space Lanes
MBBS = The Major BBS
PIG = Planetary Interdictor Generator
Colt = Colonial Transport
CTran = Cargo Tran
ISS = Imperial Starship
Merc = Merchant Cruiser
MF = Merchant Freighter
IC = Interdictor Cruiser
IG = Interdictor Generator
Sent = Tholian Sentinel
Figs = Fighters

TERMINOLOGY

Alignment from 0 to 99 and you’re considered “neutral” (you still have fedspace protection, and can enter the underground), above 99 and you are considered “good” and below 0 and you’re considered “evil”.

Mega-Jettison

Using a macro at an SSS type port to haggle for and purchase small amounts of each product (14 fo, 8 org, 2 eq) whereby generating an average 4-6 experience points using only 1 turn. Then jettisoning the product (or depositing on a planet in the same sector) and repeating. With this method its not un heard of to gain 5,000 exp in a single day

Planet Farming

Loading a planet with colonists to gain Fuel Ore, Organics, Equipment, and/or Fighters. Done mostly with class O planets for organics.

Planetary Trading

Warping your planet into a sector containing a port. Taking product from your planet to sell to the port, then porting and selling that product, buying another type product, then depositing the product on your planet. Repeat the process until the port is sold out, then move the operation to the opposite type port and start all over again. Used in conjunction with an evil trader to rob ports this is a VERY lucrative means of making credits!

Sell/Steal/Move (SSM) Evil tactic for gaining $$$. (See Playing “Evil”)

Sell/Steal/Transport (SST) Evil tactic for gaining $$$ (See Playing “EVIL”)

Steal/Dump/Transport (SDT) or Sell/Steal/Dump/Transport (SSDT) Evil tactic for gaining $$$ (See Playing “EVIL”)

Twarp Tow Towing a ship via the TWpro available in 2.01a and later versions

0 Turn Colonizing

The method of moving colonists from one planet in a sector to another planet in the same sector without costing the player any turns Density Readings:

Reading/Meaning

0 = Empty Sector or Ferrengi Dreadanought
1 = Marker Beacon
2 = Limpet Type 2 Tracking Mine
5 = Fighter (per Fighter)
10 = Armid Type 1 Mine
21 = Navigation Hazard (Per 1 Percent)
21 = Destroyed Ship (Due to 1 Percent Nav-Haz)
38 = Unmanned Ship
40 = Manned Ship, Alien or Ferrengi Assault Trader
50 = Destroyed Starport (After 25 Percent Nav-Haz Clears)
100 = Starport or Ferrengi Battle Cruiser
210 = Destroyed Planet (Due to 10 Percent Nav-Haz)
462 = Federation Starship under Admiral Nelson
489 = Federation Starship under Captain Zyrain
500 = Planet
512 = Federation Starship under Admiral Clausewitz
575 = Destroyed Port (Before 25% Nav-Haz Clears)

Anomaly Readings:

Reading/Meaning

Yes/density = Limpet Mine (Shows 2 density per mine)
Yes/ no density = Cloaking Distortion
No = Nothing

Gaining Exp. Rapidly

Go to a Class 7 Port and buy 14 Ore, 8 Org and 2 Equ Trade for 2 points each time. Jettison the stuff and repeat. In theory you can earn 6 points of Exp per turn (it works out closer to 5 points) so in a 1000 turn game you can earn 5000 points of Exp in one day! Exp and Align can be bought with credits!

Formula For 1 Attack Ship Captures

Enemy Fighters x Enemy Ships Combat Odds = Real Fighter Strength Real Fighter Strength / Your Ships Combat Odds = # of Fighters to Use.

If you have combat computers on your ship you need to know the following:

Max Shields for Enemy Ship x Percentage Reported = Shields on Enemy Ship

Gaining Exp. Rapidly

Go to a Class 7 Port and buy 14 Ore, 8 Org and 2 Equ Trade for 2 points each time. Jettison the stuff and repeat. In theory you can earn 6 points of Exp per turn (it works out closer to 5 points) so in a 1000 turn game you can earn 5000 points of Exp in one day! Exp and Align can be bought with credits!

Formula For 1 Attack Ship Captures

Enemy Fighters x Enemy Ships Combat Odds = Real Fighter Strength Real Fighter Strength / Your Ships Combat Odds = # of Fighters to Use.

If you have combat computers on your ship you need to know the following:

You will be traveling in a universe, whose size was determined by your Sysop. Sectors may have planets, ports, other players, empty ships, aliens, Ferrengi, Federation Starships, mines, message beacons, fighters (belonging to you, other players, rogue mercenaries, or the Ferrengi) or the sectors may contain nothing at all. If in your travels you come across something undesirable, your initial ship comes equipped with 30 fighters with which you can defend yourself.

Many players find it useful to have a home sector or group of sectors. Players, especially those just joining a game, need an out-of-the- way place to stay so they can build up their assets. You can explore the universe and look for dead end sectors to use as a hiding place. Corporate bases built in traffic lanes do not fare too well and those in the major thoroughfares (in the paths between the class 0 and class 9 ports) just do not stand much of a chance.

Planets play a key part in your success as a trader. Terra, the first planet you encounter as you enter the game, is where the people can be found to colonize all other planets. Remember, the environment on some planet types may be hazardous to humans. The other planets in the game will, if inhabited, produce Fuel Ore, Organics, Equipment and Fighters. The amounts of these commodities produced will be affected by the type of planet. For example, a Mountainous planet will provide more Fuel Ore than an Oceanic planet. You and the other traders decide where the planets will be. You can purchase a Genesis Torpedo and use it in almost any sector in the galaxy. If the planet has enough of the required commodities and enough people to supply the labor to build it, you can begin construction of a Citadel. The Citadel can provide you and the other members of your corporation with a secure place to dock your ships and deposit the credits you’ve earned. As you progress in the game, your Citadel can be upgraded to provide additional protection to you and your corporation. If you decide to build a planet in your home sector, be sure you can defend it. A planet is very vulnerable until it has a Combat Control Computer (level 2 Citadel) to safeguard it.

There are ten different types of ports scattered about the universe. The ports are classified by the products they buy and/or sell. Port classes 1 through 8 trade the three basic commodities: Fuel Ore, Organics and Equipment. The universe also contains specialty ports for the other items you will need to advance in the game. There are three Class 0 ports where you can purchase holds (beneficial for moving colonists to your planets as well as transporting goods for trade), fighters (to help protect your territory), or shields (to protect your ship from the traps laid by your enemies). There is one Class 9 port that contains not only a Trading Port, but also a Stardock. The Stardock houses the Stellar Hardware Emporium, the Federation Shipyards, the Lost Trader’s Tavern, the 2nd National Galactic Bank, the Videon Cineplex and the Interstellar Space Police Headquarters. There are other places of interest located in the Stardock.