On starknight start up
by Camber
Additional
Re: Tips for Newbies.
Production strategy
In Response To: Production strategy (Arwen Evenstar)
Here is how to beat the Alien as a newbie
Messages in This Thread
a few basic production tips
A Merchant's View - Long winded
MY addendum.... LOL ad infitum?

I wont give you all my tricks but this should realy help you (and others):

Things to do :

1- Sell your SRX-250 quickly. If another SK sells it b4 you, the price will go down.

2- Remove the lasers from your Moskitos (they go directly to the tradepost) and sell them. Export your Moskitos and sell
them too.

3- You don't have nav bonus, so buy an extra drive. Buy the Salvage pod too. If you have anough cash left (depends on your
trade bonus) buy the warp drive. You should have anough $$$ after killing your first pirate.

4- Here's my Shuttle config : 2 drives, shield, salvage and Laser. Yes, no solar power. You dont need it to kill one pirate
ship.

5- Take 65+ stuctures and find (do it with a probe so you dont waste moves) a planet to built and Electro plant outside your
home sector. Your shuttle will have : 2 drive, warp and Cargo bay. Built on a planet with at least "a lot" of aluminium oxides.
Also find a sector (dont immediatly go for the one outside your home sector) with a lot of star systems. You have 24 FLEETS
of pirates to kill. After that they will stop coming. So the bigger the sector, the more pirates fleets with more then one ship
will come increasing your gains of salvaging.

6- When you found the best planet and sector, built a stationary fleet to refit your ship and start killing again. When you have
anough ship structures salvaged, built a Dekko to kill pirates in 2 sectors, then 3, 4...

7- You dont have to buy an additional salvage pod (or drive, sheilds, laser), just go to refit your fleet and pass it to the other
one. You are safe until turn 200 anyway (carefull of the alien, LOL).

Follow this and you should be ahead in the game.

THIS IS NOT FOR NEWBIES. Newbies will need the solar panels to kill the pirates cause their attack bonus is not high
anough (same for Merchants).

This is how I start my games. I probably told you too much, LOL

Pedro knows what he's saying

In Response To: Re: I need alot of help!!!!! High lev SK's read. (Pedro)

I second almost everything Pedro said, with a few exceptions. Sometimes you want to hang onto your SRX-250, since it gives
you an edge you may need on T200 when the lasers start flying. I usually don't have the structures to spare to build a Faraday
by T200 since the first Shipyard upgrade and Propulsion lab (because I'm so limited on speed) are my first priority for
advanced buildings. Besides, what's the use of having a Blitz if its speed is only 2? (it takes a Starknight (of any level) 3
regular jet engines to get a Blitz's speed above 2, and even then, I think its 5--or you can use 2 jets and an overdrive). You
can fly the big ships with conventional components and win battles on T200 in all respects except speed. On the Galactic
shipyard, build 2 Marauders first (instead of Dekkos) for expansion and pirate kills, then a Blitz for your main attack ship,
then Destroyers. The Blitz can fit more components and therefore is better for your early economy where you need component
slots more than weight (same reason for Marauders instead of Dekkos). Without advanced gens and shields, Destroyers die
too easily in high level melee, so never make it your flag unless its an emergency--you won't be able to change your decision
until your Imperial shipyard is built and you can replace it with a higher ship.

On number 4 : You can even kill a fleet of 2 ships with this configuration. I wont give you the trick just a hint : Use your
speed

On number 5 : You have 25 fleets of pirates, not 24

Posted By: ColtNavy51 (we-24-165-183-32.we.mediaone.net)
Date: Monday, 28 August 2000, at 11:32 a.m.

In Response To: Tips for Newbies. (Corsair 7)

Pedro started another string on tips higher up, but I'm responding to some of this dialogue.

Diamonds are a necessity. So buying the resouce colony isn't a matter of cost effectiveness. You can't build twin lasers
without diamonds, so figure that one in, Mystik. You really ARE an idiot. I sell maybe 150 diamonds before stockpiling them
for weapons..... that's a NICE return on investment, when I sell twin lasers.

The resource colonies on water worlds? BAH!!! not worth it. I just put in the solar, starport, and anti-matter, but I don't
produce anti-matter as it takes energy from the mag cells. Like Redwing said, anti-matter is for people with juggs and
moons.....

ALWAYS check the resources before building a resouce colony. Bang for the buck is crucial, and there are too many planets
to waste structures.....

I do like hydrogen, though. And I sell nano structures, and polymer, and explosives unless I know I will be building
propulsion plants or whatever...

Depends on how long the game will be....

My thoughts,

Colt

Posted By: Arwen Evenstar (dot.icn.state.ia.us)
Date: Wednesday, 30 August 2000, at 1:05 p.m.

Others may have already tried this out, but I just thought I'd share it anyway. I was taking over Juggernaut's sectors in one of
my games, and I found a way to use his turns of absense to my advantage. I took his Jungle planet first, adjusted his production
orders to fit the available resources, and waited a turn. I got tons of Aluminum, Germanium, Petrol, Coal, and Gold when the
turn kicked over, making up for the turns he hadn't logged in. Then I used my two cargo bays to take all the Gold (about 500),
Germanium (about 115), and whatever Petrol I could get over to his Sandlands planet, and offloaded them. I adjusted his
production orders again, and waited for the turn to flip. I got over 70 Advanced Chips and 45 Regular Chips, plus about 150
Carbon Fiber and Polymers each. If I had brought more Gold, I would have had even more out of it. Next I'm taking the
leftover Coal over to the Foundry, where I'll probably get over 200 steel out of it. Finally I'll invade his Homeworld with the
Carbon Fiber, Chips, Steel and Aluminum, taking several trips if necessary. Juggernaut's absense has been exploited to the
max, and I get almost the same benefits as if I had owned them the whole time he was gone. Now I just wish he had colonized
that Mountains planet.... Its going to be tricky to do this with the AntiMatter Lab of his, but I'm sure I can round up the
Hydrogen and Superconductors somehow.
SHHHHH!! (That's a secret)

In Response To: Production strategy (Arwen Evenstar)

LOL! I don't know if many people do know about that one, but if you plan ahead for that it really boosts your empire to much
greater heights. :)

One other thing you should try: Bring 1 of each resource or component that you are going to want to import. When you take
over that first planet, import as much of those resources as you can before taking over any more planets. If you've planned
ahead early enough, and have like 150 conducters ready, then that waterworld alone can boost your value by about 500 000
depending on how many turns you let pass.

Q

Posted By: Arwen Evenstar (dot.icn.state.ia.us)
Date: Thursday, 31 August 2000, at 4:55 p.m.

In Response To: I'd like to see an adjustment that helpsnewplayers (Corsair)

It seems to me that the Alien walks all over you until you build your Galactic Shipyard and start using level 2 and 3 ships
(Corvette, StarRover especially). Then she seems to be more cautious, since she never upgrades her shipyard, and she seems to
avoid combats she might lose. (I say *seems* because this, like many theories of the Alien posted on the BBS, is based on only
about 5 games of observation and speculation).

Here is how you put that Alien in check: Make levels 2 and 3 right away (you can do this as an unregistered player). Then learn
how to get the Shipyard upgrade early on in your games--save your structures and don't waste them on advanced components
plants and big planet defenses until you need them. I made level 3 in about 2 days by playing as many *Fastest* games as I
could, simultaneously. If there aren't any for newbies on the game board, create some, making sure you limit them to levels 0-1
or 0-2. Rack up experience points quickly by killing a lot of pirates, as many players as possible, and not killing the last player
until you have taken over all the colonies on the map (they're worth 3 xps each). You can limit your newbie games to Quattros if
you wish, which exclude the Alien player.

I agree that the Alien needs adjustment, and Skyven is probably already working on it. Many players have made suggestions,
such as an adjustible Alien difficulty level on the screen where you create games. The Alien already is adjusted for level--it
automatically has the highest level allowed for a game, and the max skills allowed for that level (again, "it seems"). In one of my
current games the max skill level is 6; I'm a fairly new level 6 so she only bested me by one defense point and speed point. I
took her out around turn 350 with a fleet of Marauders. So, when you join games, join them with a max level close to your own
if you want to have a better chance against the Alien.

Build a Skid early on, and kill as many pirate fleets as you can, collecting their basic components and building and arming ships
with them. Once you have your bigger, improved Shipyard, build advanced components plants to arm your bigger ships, maxing
out their weight capacities with fun things like SRX-250s and 500s, Nuclear and Fusion generators, Ion and Twin Laser
Cannon, Laser Batteries, and Turbojet engines. You may even put a Shockwave Bomb on a Falcon or Corvette, if you give it
17 or higher Power to match the enormous energy drain (check the StarKnights Encyclopedia of the game's Help files for listings
of each component's energy needs).

Armed thus to the teeth, you'll find the Alien's planet defenses laughable and her fleets will cower away from your menacing
advances. You will carve her up one fleet at a time, always looking for her flagship wearing that silly yellow crown. She will not
scream when you kill her, just scatter in the cosmos in a cloud of gas and shredded metal. And if you had the foresight and ship
slot space to bring your Salvage Arm along, you will get some lovely advanced components for your trouble. Your fellow
players will reverence you. They will cheer you for ridding the galaxy of a common enemy, and envy you for the loot you collect.
But they will also be hot on your tail, because her empire is rich in resources and xps, and ripe for the taking, and undefended.

So that's it in a nutshell: advance a level or two, build and arm big ships, gain in experience, skill, and tactical knowledge (the
Elder Council pages are a veritable cornicopia of tactical freebies) and you too will soon respect her as an equal in combat.

There is just one remaining problem, and its a big one that we all struggle with--how to keep alive until you build those ships.
She can strike quickly and unprovoked, and early in the game she builds fleets of ludicrous size, even 14 and more. She seems
to have unlimited Authority. I think if Skyven changed this one aspect of her, most complaints about the Alien would be satisfied.
The only remaining complaints I see are that the Alien is allowed the following cheats:

She colonizes with unlimited structures (which I see as a plus)
She moves with unlimited flight time (though she *seems* to never move super fast)
She ignores planet defenses
She can attack before turn 200
She has unlimited Leadership (not a big problem)
She can build Dekkos in games limited to level 1 players only

Most of these cheats are not insurmountable, only challenging. So Skyven, if you're listening, please make Her Highness abide
by the same Authority limits we have. Do that one thing, and I think even newbies will be able to challenge her and come off the
Victor on a regular basis.

I was trying to get my Jug in the allied game we won. Just the alien was left. I had 3 fleets of dekkos all of them were with 5 sep
for 1 that had 4 dekkos and a shuttle. I was looking for scrappes. When the alien came and attacked me. I knew I couldn't beat
here usual fleet( the 11 ship one) so I hit retreat. Then she came back right after the retreat. So I said o well lets just fight. It was
her flag, and it was my second fleet doing the fighting.

This was the config, 1 srx-250, 2 jet, a laser amd I think another srx-100. I went right after her main flag ship. Killed it and
retreated. They didn't even have half my sheilds down. She died and gave me a few xp to go with it. I wouldn't try this is your
def is low and att. hers was like 85 at and 5 or 600 def.

Now you higher levs with def or att can get her flag with just that. Oh, my shuttle was unarmed with only a warp, cargo, and a
salvage pod. So a fleet of 4 dekkos can very much work if she is on the verg of killing you.

Posted By: Arwen Evenstar (dot.icn.state.ia.us)
Date: Monday, 4 September 2000, at 3:30 p.m.

In my games when I'm taking over someone's empire sometimes I am a bit surprised at what I find. Today I found someone
who has set ALL their exports to 10. Here are a few basic production tips. I don't want any veterans posting "Yeah, I've been
doing that all along." This is for the players that don't use them, not those that already do.

1. Imports. Fairly early in the game, adjust your import orders to fit your production bonus. Normally you produce one of
each product per turn (if the materials are available). So with a Production bonus of 3, you can produce up to 4 per turn.
Consequently, you are going to want to have the materials required x4 (or more) on your planet every time that product comes
up on your production queue.

For example, when my production was 4, I usually simply *doubled* each import order. So on my Homeworld (which is
invariably named Imladris :), I could call for 18 (9x2) Aluminum, Advanced Chips, Carbon Fiber, and 6 (3x2) Steel and
Electronic Chips. However, since the Freighters can carry 25 of any item, I often set the orders for 25 and 10, respectively.

Now that my Production bonus is 5, I set my import orders for just over double, like 25 or 30, and 10 or 15 for Aluminum
(the lower numbers are for early in the game, the higher numbers I use later when I have more resources). When setting
orders, keep in mind your Freighters' capacity, 25. If you set an Aluminum order for 30, you are going to risk getting 50 every
time the quantity of aluminum on the planet falls below 30. That could be wasteful, so it may be wiser to under-export rather
than over-export, expecially if you are trying to supply Aluminum to 2 or more Factories.

You might ask, why don't you just put in orders for 50, or 100? Wouldn't you get more? I've actually seen players at my same
level do this. I think this is stupid. First, your Freighters are not going to ever be able to fill the order. They are only going to
be able to get about 50 to 75 Aluminum on your planet before Aluminum used on the production queue again, which lowers
you back down to 25 or so. Second, you are wasting resources. If you only need 25 Aluminum on your Factory planet at a
time, but you have more than that at the Tradepost, you should build a second Factory so you can put it to good use. Otherwise
you are placing your surplus in a stockpile that could be captured. Better yet, go capture someone else's Homeworld, and use
their Factory.

2. Exports. Your little Freighters can only carry 25 of any one item at a time. So if you have your Jungle or Wetlands planets'
exports set at 15 Germanium and 5 Aluminum, you are going to be overworking your little freighters fleets. You may want to
leave them at this low level at the beginning of the game, but chances are you may forget to adjust them later. Just make it a
habit: set all your exports to 25 unless its a super valuable item (like Antimatter and Superconductors). When invading other
peoples' empires, I almost always have to fix their Electrolysis and Electronics Plants' export orders. Do yourselves and me
a favor, and set them right.

3. Freighters. Way too often I see players flatline themselves on the player stats. This tells you they did not build enough
Freighters to match their resources. The flat line indicates how many turns of wasted time you've spent with resources backed
up on your planets because you didn't have enough fleets to move them. Build Freighters, build Freighters, build Freighters. It
will pay off. If you set your Galactic Shipyard to build a Blitzkreig and you come back 200 turns later and you don't have one,
chances are you didn't build enough Freighters.

As it has been said on this BBS, learn how to use your Freighter Reports. The second tab telly you how many active routes
you have. Scroll to the bottom and if there are any fleets on the right-hand column listed in red, its telling you that you need
more Freighters. How many do you need? Go back to the first screen of the Freighter reports, and at the top it tells you how
many of your fleets are moving, like 20 out of 22 (20/22). TIP: I try to keep a couple of Freighters more than the number
moving. Other players try to keep a couple of Freighters more than the number of active routes (on the second tab). I go for
the first option because your # of fleets moving is almost always higher than the # of active routes.

4. Repeat. When in a hurry, use your Repeat option on your Shipyard production queue. If your Production bonus is 2, you can
produce up to 3 Freighters at a time (same goes for any other ship, as long as you have enough Ship Structures on the planet).
Just remember to turn the Repeat off when you have what you want. If you build 600 Freighters, you CAN'T sell your surplus
at the Tradepost. By the way, the maximum number of Freighters you can have in your fleets is just over 500 (I've been
stopped at 502 and 503 before). If you build more than 503, the extras will just sit on your Shipyard planet, unusable. You
can export them, but the Tradepost won't let you sell them. Sorry.

5. Production Orders. Change your production orders on your plants and factories to fit your needs at the beginning of the
game. You are going to need *alot* more Carbon Fiber than you'll need Explosives. So put 2 or 3 Carbon Fiber on the
production queue of your Chemistry Plant. Same goes for Advanced Chips (you need 3x more of these than Electronics Chips
at the beginning of the game, though later you may want to make the ratio 2:1 or 1:1 when building advanced components).
You may even want to put 2 Structure orders on your Factory production queue at the beginning of the game, to quickly use all
that pirate loot you capture.

6. Extra Items. At the beginning of the game, it may seem like you have no need for the Superconductor Power Cell on your
production queues. But don't write them off too quickly. It takes several turns produce these items, and by leaving them on
your queues, you give your overworked freighters an opportunity to pile up some other resources there.

Let me give an example. At the beginning of each game, you do not yet have a Mountains planet, so you have no Titanium. It
may be sitting on an uncolonized star, and you may want to wait for a Pirate fleet to come there for you to kill, before
colonizing the Mountains planet (since Pirates can only come to uncolonized stars, and the components you can salvage off
them are more valuable than 100 turns worth of Titanium and Uranium). So, do you just delete the Superconductor from the
production queue of your Foundry? Certainly not, if you have a Production bonus of 2 or more. The reason is that the 5 turns it
takes to produce the Superconductor (even if you aren't making one) are turns when your Freighters can be filling your order
for Coal, which normally stays too low on Foundry planets. If you make your Steel to Superconductor ratio 5:1 or higher,
you'll be producing the same amount of Steel, because your Coal will then get stockpiled on the planet enough to actually take
advantage of your Production bonus. Once you have that Mountains planet, reset the order to 3:1 or 4:1, and that will give
your freighters enough time to deliver the huge amounts of Titanium you'll need to make a Superconductor. Or you can leave it
at 5:1, and maybe make multiple Superconductors at a time. Its all about allowing your Freighters to catch up to your import
orders.

The purpose of placing some extra items on your production queues may be only to sell them. Explosives, Nano Structures,
and sometimes Polymers are left on as cash crops. Polymer should always be left on, even if you only need Carbon Fiber at
the moment. A 2:1 Carbon Fiber to Polymer production ratio will give your Freighters enough time to fill the Coal order on
your Chemistry Plant planet, and the Polymers can always be sold (or better yet, turned into Nano Structures or Power Cells,
for which you can get a better price).

7. Order of Items. Have you ever noticed that your XMatter Plants never have enough electricity to produce multiple
Magnetic Cells or Antimatter in a turn? Sometimes you even lack the power to produce *one* item, because the power
requirement is so high. This is where your Nano Structures come in handy. Try putting 2 Nano Structures on your production
queue, in this order: Antimatter, Nano Structure, Magnetic Cell, Nano Structure. You will get less reports on your Turn
Reports that the high-energy items couldn't be produced, and you will get more Nano Structures at the Tradepost to sell.

Whever you order 2 or more of an item on a production queue, space the orders with other items if possible, giving your
Freighters a chance to deliver the raw materials to the planet. So on a Factory you may have Structure, Component Structure,
Structure, Ship Structure (with the two items requiring Carbon Fiber spaced so that the Carbon Fiber can be delivered).

8. Electrolysis Plants. These are one area where spacing and ordering are particularly important. If the ratio of Germanium
Oxide to Aluminum Oxide is uneven, make your production order reflect the inequality. Don't worry about producing too
much Germanium; its a good cash crop if you have more than your Electronics plant needs. But when making a production
queue for, say, 3 Aluminum to 2 Germanium, stagger the orders so you always have enough Aluminum to fill the order. For
example, you may want to order them thus: Aluminum, Germanium, Aluminum, Germanium, Aluminum.

Keep in mind that your Extraction bonus only works on one resource per turn, so sometimes you'll have an imbalance of
Aluminum Oxide to Germanium Oxide develop over time *even* if you faithfully set your production queue ratio to fit the
resource ratio on the planet. When the ratio is 3:1 on the planet resources, I always get something elese over time, such as to
5:2 or 10:3. If fine-tuning the production queue appeals to you, you can experiment with different ratios till you get to that
satisfying point where the Germanium Oxide to Aluminum Oxide ratio on the planet is consistently even. That's the point
where you are using your Electrolysis Plant to maximum efficiency. :)

Well, that's all I feel like sharing for now. When we cross swords, I expect to see intelligent settings on your planets, not the
defaults.

Posted By: ColtNavy51 (we-24-165-183-32.we.mediaone.net)
Date: Monday, 28 August 2000, at 11:13 a.m.

In Response To: Re: I need alot of help!!!!! High lev SK's read. (Pedro)

Pedro gave some GREAT advice.... no wonder I'm chasing his tail, and glad he is in my alliance.

I'm a merchant. 0 attack bonus. I need a generator even at the beginning, but my nav bonus helps, so I don't need the extra
drive. But I buy it, and the warp first.

I load my shuttle with 2 drives, the warp, and the cargo bay, and leave my home system for the next one. Unless I have planets
on stars I already have a planet on that I want to colonize. I DO NOT colonize stars in my home sector until I have killed a
pirate there, or if there was already a planet colonized by the game for me (KEA II starts with certain planets, and we don't
have any choice). Pirates do not invade systems with a colonized planet. Until the new "improved" alien came along,
anyway.... but she is another story....

As I go into new sectors, I only colonize one star system, although at times I will colonize 2 planets on the same star if they
are worth it. I usually go for a mountain with JUST a resource colony and starport. You already have an electronic plant, and
chemical plant, and just keeping them supplied is hard for awhile....

I like to get 3 jungles going as quickly as possible. They have the most resources, and coal is continually a problem. Carbon
fiber is invaluable, and many players say they cut the factory from producing comp structures, but those are too valuable to
cut, in my view. By the time I build my first big plant, it is the weapons, and I usually get 7 twin lasers from my first crop. I
can sell them for more than you guys can, but they are always a valuable trade item.

Import settings on home planet. These are very important. I set my ship structures at 150 immediately, even if this isn't needed
for a long time. BUT the others are important. I set Carbon fiber at 75, Aluminum at 75, steel at 50, advanced and electronic
at 35. Aluminum is critical to so many things you need to produce!!! If you only have 9, your production bonus (if you have
one) is unable to help. You have to have stuff with which to work, and that's what the colonizing is all about. Do it smart.
Wait to colonize a gas giant until you can kill a pirate there, and then add the gas station. Just 5 structures and not 10 that
way...

Also, if I know I will be killing several pirates in a turn (as often happens when you save up movement and have over 3
sectors colonized), I carry my aluminum and steel from one captured planet to the next, and then off load it and export it when
it is near 20, to save freighters. NEVER let your freighters get too far behind. They are too valuable, and I make lots of them.
They pay so NICELY!!!! Nothing like have 3 ship structures captured, and no fleet can get there for MONTHS !!!!! Pay close
attention.... learn to use your reports, and see what is going on. The freight report is where I spend LOTS of time. The first
tab, for fleets, is what tells you what is actually loaded or about to be. The in / out is tricky, and not much use to know what
will move quickly. Unless you have many more freighters than active routes. Pay attention to the active routes on this screen.
If you are 1 or up to 3 freighters behind, that is okay as many things you move aren't very often. NEVER get more than 5
active routes behind. The stuff on planets that sits there is useless, and you can build ship structures with those materials if
you have the freighters working.....

I check EVERY planet before building a resource colony. Jungles are ALMOST always safe, but mountains are very much
different. I don't colonize a mountain unless the titinium is average at least. Iron is of no consequence at this point. I have
usually built a resource colong and starport on a volcanic other than what I get. I NEED DIAMONDS!!! They are rarely more
than little, but I have extraction and production, and they are nice to sell also. Then, you need them for weaponry.

The probe is an invaluable tool. I rarely use all my flight time before a game starts, as it takes so much movement to scout
things around with you main fleet.
Movement is PRECIOUS!!!! Hoard it for when you can use it. I build the probe (JUST ONE!!) immediately. If I have a big
home sector, I use the probe to chart the whole system, and check all the good planets for resources. Then, I take the probe
back to the shipyard, and remove it. Then, I add it back, and presto changeo, I have my 300 moves back..... This works!!!! I
may redo the one probe 2 or 3 times before getting it so far away that it can't get home....
Nice use of a probe, EH? I don't send it out far and fast early to find out where others are. I don't care. I have good oracle, but
using the probe to save you movement is too good to ignore.

These are just some of the things I do, and much of what I do I don't even realize. Ask Pedro, or myself, especially if you are
in a game with us. We both want more good, clean competition. The game is buggy enough without players adding to it, or
creating glitches they know will interfere....

Have fun, and hope to see you all in a game you allow me in...... or one of my aliases, but I like to be Colt.....

" Grumpy Ol' "
Colt

Posted By: ColtNavy51 (we-24-165-183-32.we.mediaone.net)
Date: Monday, 28 August 2000, at 1:59 p.m.

In Response To: A Merchant's View - Long winded (ColtNavy51)

Thought of some MORE things....

PLEASE don't waste your structures defending every planet you have with cannons.... If you MUST defend, then do it at
stargates where you can spend enough to make a difference. Shields are nice with a shockwave, but I PERSONALLY hate
players who just hide level 50 shields and wait to kill the pieces left. It takes me some big ships to get past those, and if you
are that far behind, you shouldn't get the kill by sneak. Learn to use your structures and get value for them...

After I build the probe, I start my Stinger B's.... at 5 structures, they are relatively cheap, and quick. I put my cargo bay and
salvage arm on the first one, as it is quick to tab to. Be careful of planet cannons, they eat unshielded Stingers in a HURRY!!!!
Sometimes you can hide them behind a shielded ship, but sometimes a shockwave gets around that ship, or gets them before
you have a chance to get set. That can be EXPENSIVE!!!!
Nice thing about Stingers..... you can add them without losing movement. The screen will ask if you want to lose time in the
docks, but it doesn't apply to fighters...... (The Wasp is another story....)

With no Kills till T200, I don't worry about bigger ships for awhile. I will have 3 or 4 stingers with my shuttle before making
my first dekko. Then, the dekko is a 2nd fleet, and away I go.....

Have fun out there, and say hi in a game soon!!!!

Colt