Guardian's Training Lessons Text

From TradeWars Museum

Guardian's Training Lessons

A tutorial by James Fultz (Guardian)

Good Tips

• Trade with No Haggle : When you haggle ..... your exp goes up .... If you are playing good in the beginning of the game experience is not your friend
• Mapping  : Should be done as soon as possible ..... this will provide information for future bases and locations of possible places your enemy might be making a sst/sdt bubble or base
• Base Location : Do not do in 1 deep sectors ( To easy to stumble across by walking around ) ....2-3 Deep Sectors is a better choice ..... anything more then 3 is usually the first place ethered or checked out by your competition . Also make sure that it has a port that buys organics or is empty so you can create one ...... since the money from the Ocean planets helps a lot .
• Get Commission as Soon as Possible : ISS and warping into fed space are the only good things about being good ..... so try your best to get your commission soon , since it leads to both .
• Making Planets in a Base : Just make 3 planets ..... 1 Mountain ( L ) , 1 Volcanic ( H ) and Ocean ( O ) . Reason is the O is for money and figs ..... H is for Defense of sector after it gets to level 3 and the L is fast on cits and can be your Future Battle Planet . Do Not do more then the 3 .... especially in games that have large amounts of people
• Make Many Bases  : Usually 1 or 2 bases gets lost at the beginning due to someone coming in before you have proper defenses up .... I usually have the blues start 2 bases and then expand a new base every 2-3 days ...... Keep Minimum colos at each base till they get to level 2 ( If all bases are upgraded then you can put more in one of them , but try to keep it even between bases )
• Transporters On Planets  : This Enables you to colonize with less turns ( drawback is you eat more fuel ) ..... If you have plenty of fuel use transporters ..... more turns to colonize other bases or hunt .
• Always Know where the Backdoor is SD and Terra : These sectors will be evils life lines .... You can block the other sectors but good evils will just go through the back door to SD ..... So know where the backdoor is and have it covered .
• Hunting : Usually wait for evil to start making money ( mule or colt ... also their al goes down ) .... Run to the Grim Trader and do it 10-15 times .... write down the sectors and go explore ... be ready at all times ... and you might want to have a ptorp . If you are lucky you could pod or kill him and get his/her money .
• Carbo or No Carbo : Usually you won't need much carbo for a blue iss driver , but if you are out guned a little carbo could even the odds if you get nailed
• Ptorps : Are your friend .... You can block sd with them ..... nail an evil while he/she is sst'ing , invade with them or uncloak cloaked players .... Never carry them around all the time .... one run-in with offensive figs , nav haz and such will take all your turns and that sucks ... Trust me on that ..... So if you are caring them makes sure you are cautious and have a purpose for them.

Evil Tips

• Get in and Get the Hell Out : Longer you stay in the game the greater chance of you getting nailed . Remember you are evil to make money and you can't make money DEAD
• Never go Evil until you have 1k exp : You will not make hardly any money or get your exp up that fast ... it's better to trade the steal at that low of experience.
• Leave Toll Figs around your SST Position : This will give you an early warning if anyone is getting close
• Never SSM unless you are desperate .... Always SST or SDT : SSM eats the turns and should be used as a last resort
• NEVER make money if you feel someone can find you and kill you : Basically if you fear someone ( example : Hellcat ) then don't SST while they are on .... Especially if you don't have backup .... Taking chances is part of the game , but know your limits
• Try to SST around Alpha Cent or Rylos at the beginning of the Game : Reason is you will probably need to do referbs .... Just remember to be cautious and run the turns as fast as you can
• Store SST ships in a 2-3 Deep sector with only figs in the dead end : Remember to not port in the sector and if you can try to get a sector with no port .... Also try not to port anywhere close to the storing area
• Always Know where the Backdoor is SD and Terra : These sectors will be your life lines .... SD backdoor will allow you to get to sd to buy what you need and cloak out .... While Terra BD gives you a quick place to cloak out
• Don't Hold or build up your Money on you : Let's face it .... what really gets us evils steamed is getting killed with 4-7 mill on us . If you are on the same corp. as your blues ... have them take 1 mill off of you every time you reach that mark ...... If on separate corps ... have your blue throw down as many toll figs as he/she can ... then you enter the sector and enter and exit till money is given out .... usually wait till I have 2 mill before I do this ( don't do it if you don't have a lot of figs ) ... last thing you can do is warp to class o and just buy figs with the money ... main thing is don't hold it , unless you are in a safe place.
• Buy Carbo : Always save at least 100k for 100 carbo for your ship .... after a few days it will add up and eventually you will have 1500 of it .... carbo is an evils best friend and once you get know for using carbo ... makes some killers or attackers hesitate.
• Turns = Money : The great evils use all their turns to bring home the cash ... they do nothing else but to log on and make money and leave ..... they don't hunt , kill or anything else that would jeopardize bringing in max cash ...... so use your turns wisely.
• Bust Planets Fast : Try to bust planets at SD fast .... Set macros or type fast ...... If you are to slow ... some yahoo will land and blow it up on you .... If you don't think you are faster then someone on SD .. Then don't bust planets at SD or wait till that person is gone.