Planning Your First Turn(s)
Three priorities for your first turns
Begin by making new fleets from your big fleet, so you can explore more.
![[Image: SN-New-Fleets.png]](https://i.ibb.co/Df9rmpZ/SN-New-Fleets.png)
Now move 1 ship into each new fleet
![[Image: SN-New-Fleets-2.png]](https://i.ibb.co/gPsMG78/SN-New-Fleets-2.png)
You can then send some through Warp Points with
MOVE Move to Warp Point 101 Galactica 50505
WARP Warp Movement 101
and others to survey nearby planets with
NM Naval Movement 108 G 2a
GEO Geological Survey 108 a
Use your own fleet/ Warp Point/ planet numbers, of course. And note that MOVE means move to a Warp Point while NM means Naval Movement to a planet! At each planet, you can follow with a CSV next turn, to see how well your colonists would do there, before moving to a new planet.
Also, set your Research Priority with the SRP order. I list all 25 research slots on a separate page of my planning spreadsheet; see How to Organize it All. You get diminishing returns with multiple orders for the same tech, so consider 25 different technologies. (The formula is the square root of the number of slots assigned, so you need to assign 4 to gain 2 points instead of 1). You can see your choices under Researchable Items. Prioritize anything with 1st or 2nd Generation, an Mk II Jump Survey Sensor, plus one spaceship armor and one spaceship weapon. See the SuperNova Wiki for details on your options.
If you have General Research Points left over from your setup, these will be applied to your first listed 1st or 2nd Generation tech. 1st Generation costs 3 GRP, 2nd costs 12 (and 3rd is 27, a possibility with bonus points Pete may grant on each SuperNova anniversary in September). You can then slot a new technology the next turn.
That may take most of your 40 orders. Don't worry: only this turn needs that fleet reorganization. And later on, you can automate many of your ship commands through Convoy Orders, so they act without costing you any orders each turn.
Now comes production information, in case you have spare orders or want to do an 80-order turn (I did, for my first two turns. Payment is for blocks of 40 orders).
In SuperNova, there are two kinds of production. First, you can build mines and refineries and the like to extract resources. On each planet, you can efficiently extract 5 x the yield of a resource. So if your planet yields 400 Iron, you can build 2000 efficient Iron Mines. Iron and Lumber are especially valuable, so build these to your max amount:
CON Construct Installation 2000 Iron Mines, pop group 5050
CON Construct Installation 2280 Lumber Mill, pop group 5050
These next resources are also useful, though you don't need to maximize them at start:
They''ll be used for electronics and other ship components. 200 of these may be good for the first few turns.
Building new installations takes Construction Materials and available workers (listed as 'Unemployed' in your Colony Report). You have plenty of both at game start. You may also have enough Excess Power, but consider building new power plants (hydro, if your homeworld has hydro potential, otherwise fission) for future growth:
CON Construct Installation 10 Hydroelectric Power Plant, pop group 5050
The other kind of production can be done wherever you have Industrial Complexes, like on your homeworld. Your Industrial Capacity is 25 x your number of Industrial Complexes (listed in the Colony Report). Each time you combine materials, it uses one point of Industrial Capacity per material. You can see at the SuperNova Wiki that Construction Materials take 1 Timber and 1 Steel each, so making them uses 2 points of capacity (and it consumes 1 Timber and 1 Steel).
But Timber takes 2 Lumber (in SN, 'timber' and 'lumber' are reversed from typical usage), and Steel takes 2 Iron. So making 1 Construction Material uses 6 capacity, 2 for each of the three steps. Making 100,000 takes 600,000 capacity.
You can also use your capacity to transform Raw Resources into basic materials, at a cost of 10 capacity per unit. So if you want 200,000 Lumber (to make 100,000 Timber for your Construction Materials), you can get it from Lumber Mills or you can make it by transforming Raw Resources, at a cost of 2,000,000 capacity. That's a lot, but unused capacity is wasted, so you'll likely want to do a bit of both.
Where should you use your extra capacity?
Before you start adding Build orders to your production line, consider clearing the handful of default orders already in place with
EB Edit Build CLEAR ALL your home pop group #
Now you're ready to build. Along with Construction Materials, your most valuable materials include those for ship-building: steel, refined crystals, processed radioactives, synthetic materials, electronics, and a bit of transaluminum. Here's an order to make 2 million Iron and Lumber from your Raw Resources, in addition to what you get from Iron Mines and Lumber Mills, plus 1,000,000 each of Timber and Steel, then 1,000,000 Construction Materials
BI Build Item 100 Iron, Tooled (meaning, 'Yes, I want it made each turn) 2000000
BI Build Item 110 Lumber, Y 2000000
BI Build Item 120 Steel, Y 1000000
BI Build Item 130 Timber, Y 1000000
BI Build Item 140 Construction Materials, Y 1000000
The first numbers, 100-140, mark where in the production queue these go. That matters, because you want the Iron & Lumber before you try to make Steel & Timber, and you want both of those to make Construction Materials.
If you made the other mines & refineries suggested above, you can also make 10,000 to 20,000 of the key ship components like this
BI Build Item 200 Refined Crystals 20000
BI Build Item 210 Processed Radioactives 20000
BI Build Item 220 Transaluminum 5000
BI Build Item 230 Synthetic Materials 15000
BI Build Item 240 Electronics 15000
Now you're ready to write your orders.
Three priorities for your first turns
- Start exploring
- Increase production on your homeworld
- Build ship components
Begin by making new fleets from your big fleet, so you can explore more.
Now move 1 ship into each new fleet
You can then send some through Warp Points with
MOVE Move to Warp Point 101 Galactica 50505
WARP Warp Movement 101
and others to survey nearby planets with
NM Naval Movement 108 G 2a
GEO Geological Survey 108 a
Use your own fleet/ Warp Point/ planet numbers, of course. And note that MOVE means move to a Warp Point while NM means Naval Movement to a planet! At each planet, you can follow with a CSV next turn, to see how well your colonists would do there, before moving to a new planet.
Also, set your Research Priority with the SRP order. I list all 25 research slots on a separate page of my planning spreadsheet; see How to Organize it All. You get diminishing returns with multiple orders for the same tech, so consider 25 different technologies. (The formula is the square root of the number of slots assigned, so you need to assign 4 to gain 2 points instead of 1). You can see your choices under Researchable Items. Prioritize anything with 1st or 2nd Generation, an Mk II Jump Survey Sensor, plus one spaceship armor and one spaceship weapon. See the SuperNova Wiki for details on your options.
If you have General Research Points left over from your setup, these will be applied to your first listed 1st or 2nd Generation tech. 1st Generation costs 3 GRP, 2nd costs 12 (and 3rd is 27, a possibility with bonus points Pete may grant on each SuperNova anniversary in September). You can then slot a new technology the next turn.
That may take most of your 40 orders. Don't worry: only this turn needs that fleet reorganization. And later on, you can automate many of your ship commands through Convoy Orders, so they act without costing you any orders each turn.
Now comes production information, in case you have spare orders or want to do an 80-order turn (I did, for my first two turns. Payment is for blocks of 40 orders).
In SuperNova, there are two kinds of production. First, you can build mines and refineries and the like to extract resources. On each planet, you can efficiently extract 5 x the yield of a resource. So if your planet yields 400 Iron, you can build 2000 efficient Iron Mines. Iron and Lumber are especially valuable, so build these to your max amount:
CON Construct Installation 2000 Iron Mines, pop group 5050
CON Construct Installation 2280 Lumber Mill, pop group 5050
These next resources are also useful, though you don't need to maximize them at start:
- Crystal Refinery
- Radioactives Mine
- Gas Refinery
- Chemical Refinery
- Petrochemical Refinery
- Light Metals Mine
They''ll be used for electronics and other ship components. 200 of these may be good for the first few turns.
Building new installations takes Construction Materials and available workers (listed as 'Unemployed' in your Colony Report). You have plenty of both at game start. You may also have enough Excess Power, but consider building new power plants (hydro, if your homeworld has hydro potential, otherwise fission) for future growth:
CON Construct Installation 10 Hydroelectric Power Plant, pop group 5050
The other kind of production can be done wherever you have Industrial Complexes, like on your homeworld. Your Industrial Capacity is 25 x your number of Industrial Complexes (listed in the Colony Report). Each time you combine materials, it uses one point of Industrial Capacity per material. You can see at the SuperNova Wiki that Construction Materials take 1 Timber and 1 Steel each, so making them uses 2 points of capacity (and it consumes 1 Timber and 1 Steel).
But Timber takes 2 Lumber (in SN, 'timber' and 'lumber' are reversed from typical usage), and Steel takes 2 Iron. So making 1 Construction Material uses 6 capacity, 2 for each of the three steps. Making 100,000 takes 600,000 capacity.
You can also use your capacity to transform Raw Resources into basic materials, at a cost of 10 capacity per unit. So if you want 200,000 Lumber (to make 100,000 Timber for your Construction Materials), you can get it from Lumber Mills or you can make it by transforming Raw Resources, at a cost of 2,000,000 capacity. That's a lot, but unused capacity is wasted, so you'll likely want to do a bit of both.
Where should you use your extra capacity?
Before you start adding Build orders to your production line, consider clearing the handful of default orders already in place with
EB Edit Build CLEAR ALL your home pop group #
Now you're ready to build. Along with Construction Materials, your most valuable materials include those for ship-building: steel, refined crystals, processed radioactives, synthetic materials, electronics, and a bit of transaluminum. Here's an order to make 2 million Iron and Lumber from your Raw Resources, in addition to what you get from Iron Mines and Lumber Mills, plus 1,000,000 each of Timber and Steel, then 1,000,000 Construction Materials
BI Build Item 100 Iron, Tooled (meaning, 'Yes, I want it made each turn) 2000000
BI Build Item 110 Lumber, Y 2000000
BI Build Item 120 Steel, Y 1000000
BI Build Item 130 Timber, Y 1000000
BI Build Item 140 Construction Materials, Y 1000000
The first numbers, 100-140, mark where in the production queue these go. That matters, because you want the Iron & Lumber before you try to make Steel & Timber, and you want both of those to make Construction Materials.
If you made the other mines & refineries suggested above, you can also make 10,000 to 20,000 of the key ship components like this
BI Build Item 200 Refined Crystals 20000
BI Build Item 210 Processed Radioactives 20000
BI Build Item 220 Transaluminum 5000
BI Build Item 230 Synthetic Materials 15000
BI Build Item 240 Electronics 15000
Now you're ready to write your orders.