OPENING GAMBIT: Everybody but our warbase bomb the enemy system. Don't attempt to bomb planets defended by the enemy warbase. If the enemy warbase abandons the homeworld, stoneage it. We might not get another chance to bomb it as well. Our warbase's job is to defend the homeworld. If there is another planet within spitting distance (1/4 tactical screen) it will be worthwhile to defend, but if defending a planet takes you away from the homeworld, you should not attempt to defend it. When all enemy planets but the SY are army flat, it's time to move to stage 2. STAGE 2 --- exploratory kidney punch: Everyone makes one suicide ogg on the WB. If this attack reveals the warbase is weak and unassisted, an ogg may be in order. If we can destroy the enemy warbase, we have a BIG advantage in that it is much easier to bomb their shipyard. If the warbase is found to be skilled then a cross-galaxy ogg attempt will likely be unsuccessful. STAGE 3 --- scouting: AGRI oggers will proceed to ogg the enemy AGRI. These players must be skilled at cloaked evasion. Their job is to repeatedly suicide bomb the enemy shipyard/agri until it is completely stoneaged. If the agri-ogger is wounded, he should choose to die by the base's hand rather than a normal enemy ship, because the ship could then carry armies. All other players should proceed to play netrek. If you have kills, carry armies. If you don't have kills, scout ahead for the carriers. Use a SC to scan planets in the middle of nowhere (quick, and scouts better). Cruisers should be used for planets in a contested area, they don't need to enter orbit, just fly through the planet. They can also escort or ogg an incoming carrier. The purpose of this stage is to gain a strategic overview of the galaxy. We are looking for a Metal&Arable planet in the center of the galaxy, or a Metal near an Arable. Carriers should proceed to take 2 neutral planets. This adds to the original 5 to give us 7. The WB can now refit to a BB and then to an SB. STAGE 4 --- playing netrek If you have kills, carry. If you don't, or have few kills relative to the rest of the team you can take on a number of roles. + scouting. Our intelligence gets out of date. I have created a new set of bitmaps for the galactic that display scouting info age. A solid planet needs to be scouted, a dithered one needs to be scouted in direct proportion to how solid it is. Clear planets need not be scouted. + ogg enemy carriers. Any enemy who has kills can carry. He needs to die. You can either rush in and do a screaming ogg or you can anticipate his targets. The best ship to ogg in is a DD. It has good speed, and fairly good fuel regen. Everything else sucks too much fuel or is too slow. Remember that tractor beams abort warp. The enemy can't escape if you are tractoring. Ogg calmly. Revenge is a dish best served cold. + escort. If one of our carriers is going someplace dangerous, he probably needs an escort. If you know his destination you can arrange to get there first and do space control to hassle enemy oggers or defenders. Get in FRONT of the planet so that they have to get through you. Your life is not worth as much as the carrier's so don't be afraid to mutual if you can't outright defeat your opponent. + bomb. The enemy will build shipyards and agris. This sometimes falls in with scouting except that a scout bombs poorly. Your job is to stoneage nearby shipyards (far away ones should be left alone) and destroy ALL agri planets. If the enemy has an ARABLE planet, you may want to go into orbit for 5 seconds and bomb. This delays the construction of an agri and pisses off you opponents. When flying around, avoid unnecessary dogfights with enemies who have no kills. You might give him a kill and make him a carrier. The job of the starbase, when it is alive, is to build facilities and collect armies. The starbase will be sitting on the homeworld (assuming it didn't get bombed) and will collect armies that pop above 35. When it is full the starbase should warp off for that ideal planet in the center of the galaxy and beam its armies down to help the starbase build the SY and/or AGRI. It is not important to defend backfield SY from bombing, but it is VITAL to protect them from being TAKEN. If the enemy gets a shipyard in a place where we are vulnerable it should be stoneaged. It is vitally important that your team control EVERY arable planet (except 3rd race). If the enemy has an arable, he can have an agri, and due to the pop rate of agris it is near impossible to make a steady advance when the enemy has an agri. It also doesn't hurt if your team has a million AGRI planets. Just make sure that the enemy doesn't take one away from you. Retake it, or if you can't, stoneage it. Build facilities that give you a strategic advantage over the enemy. Build and defend a forward shipyard (but not too forward, they might ogg). ARMY MANAGEMENT: If your team has only one AGRI, the starbase should be orbiting it and skimming armies. Get armies from the starbase. Do NOT beam the AGRI down below 35. The more armies on an agri, the faster it will pop. It's like eating your seed corn if you beam it below 30. If the team has several agris, pick up from whichever one exceeds 35. If you have a backfield agri, it might be advantageous to have a carrier ferry to a forward location. Don't carry more armies than you need to take one planet. An exception is for VERY safe areas or if you just have way too many armies. If you could encounter any sort of resistance, take just enough armies to leave the planet at 3 when you're done. If your team has no spare armies, you should switch to ogging or bombing. A kill should be easy to come by (your team probably has skilled dogfighters). OGG DEFENSE: Starbase should use missiles to detect enemy cloakers. Refrain from plasmas in a heated battle, you will wtemp. If your starbase is being ogged and needs help, refit at the nearest shipyard to give yourself a good resurrection position. Get BETWEEN the starbase and the enemy. In this position you can gain free kills by giving speeding tickets, if they don't take a speeding ticket they will have to drop out of warp and drive THROUGH you to get to the starbase. This buys him vital time. The further the battle is from the starbase the more he can repair. If the starbase is REALLY damaged, use AS ships to det enemy torpedoes. The AS causes less damage than a BB when exploding and this is important if you are near your own starbase. OGG OFFENSE: If you are going to attempt an ogg, make sure you have a nearby shipyard. Refit there to give yourself a good resurrection position. Use the buddy system when ogging a base. If you can head in cloaked at impulse with a friend, you can straddle the enemy base and decloak on opposite sides. This gives him extra targets to deal with and lets more damage through. If you are really good, you can do a syncronous screaming ogg (screaming ogg is when you warp in, dewarp at the right time to miss his torp stream and then ogg). Don't forget when ogging to use tractors and phasers. If you are REALLY close, you do a LOT of damage with phasers. Don't hesitate to det your own torpedos if they're all going to miss. This way you don't have to wait for them to die and you can use up your fuel shooting at him. An ogger RARELY runs out of fuel unless he cloaks too long. If you can det torpedos on the enemy base you have it SET! His teammates are not too smart if they shoot torps over him and by detting them you cause him damage at VERY low fuel cost to you. This works best when you are cloaked and alone. Not many opponents are this stupid though :( In the past it has been possible for two full-time ragged oggers to destroy a base, but it takes luck and a lack of support from the enemy team. It's not likely to happen in a league game. STAGE 5 --- against the wall: The enemy has you at a disadvantage. You have no agri or are low on armies. Your job is to CONSERVE armies. If you have an agri, let it pop up to 25 or so before you start skimming. This gives you a steady supply. Bomb him. Scout every nearby planet. Any that belong to the enemy should be stoneaged. ESPECIALLY the shipyard. Scout all arable planets. Any enemy agris should be flattened and stoneaged. If he's so busy attacking your planets he won't be defending his own. Once the enemy is strapped for armies you can begin your comeback. A few defenders can defeat a similar number of attackers. Don't have everybody orbiting the agri, it clutters the galactic. If you have a warbase you're pretty well off. He's got lots of fuel that he can give you. Don't worry about saving your kills. If they are REALLY trying to take your planets they will be dying in droves. It is better to die and get a new ship than to survive and be useless while you refuel. STAGE 6 --- End Game: When you have the enemy against the barrel, it is time to heat up the battle. Hopefully he has few armies because he has few planets. You should make a point to destroy all facilities the enemy has. If he has no shipyard he has to travel to a 3rd race planet to refit and his base (if he still has one) can not repair as quickly. Target his AGRI planets to be taken. It is VERY important for your team to get a nearby shipyard and it is even MORE important to make sure that the enemy doesn't get an AUXILIARY shipyard in your backfield. Ignore his Toxic and Tainted planets. You will LPS him there. It is probably not best for the starbase to stay forward. It could be ogged. If you have enough players, put a WB near the front line to guard an army stockpile. This stockpile will be used by EVERYONE who gets a kill. If you don't have a kill your job is to either get one, or even better, assist someone who does. Cloak in with them on a planet take and confuse the defenders. Clear the planet if it isn't heavily defended. If you DO have kills, carry. At this stage all you want to do is drop enough to take it. Don't worry about revolt. If you leave it at one, someone else might be able to reinforce it. The important thing is to deny it to your enemy. If all you can carry is 2, DO so. Every time you weaken it, you make it easier for the next carrier to take. You also reduce the number of armies they'll have if it pops. You might even make it revolt. THINGS TO REMEMBER: When you pick up armies, distress. This way your teammates know who's carrying and who to defend. If you are going to take a planet, call the target. Someone might be able to help with space control or clearing. If you are in trouble, distress. Someone might be able to help you. If your ship is worthless they will probably ignore you and it is your duty to mutual with the enemy, but they might rescue your flea-bitten hide which gives ONE of you a kill. Prevent revolts. Leave at least 3 armies when you take. Reinforce if the enemy has incited one by dropping on a weak planet. Be aware of where your teammates are. Ask yourself how you can help them with their job. Don't have too many carriers. If everybody is carrying then no one can escort. The exception to this rule is during a multi-target blitz. It's much harder for the enemy to kill 5 carriers at once, but it's fairly easy to kill them one at a time. If you have only 1 kill and several people on your team have 2, pick a non-carrying job. Don't ignore scouting. If the enemy has a repair base you can discover it by scouting. By subsequently bombing you can prevent an unwanted shipyard. If the enemy has an agri you don't know about, he's got a secure source of armies. These should be discovered and destroyed or taken. Refit at your favorite shipyard. The last shipyard you refit at is where you come in (unless it is no longer a shipyard). This enables you to defend it better and get better starting position during an ogg. (Editor: Author unknown)