Information on this site
How to play specific races; useful look-up charts; combat tips; hosting tips...
Vital stuff
- How to play VGAP4: Doc Devious' strategy guide - (updated April 2005): the major document on this site. This assumes you've got some familiarity with the game, and want to know more about the deeper aspects like managing your economy, spying, happiness, crime, and other ways of doing unto others before they do unto you...
- Race guides - specific how-to-play guides for each race.
- Host Order of Events
- Minefields
- How to run Planets on a Mac. (It also works on Linux.)
Useful stuff for advanced players
- VGAP4 V.P. (Victory Point) scoring system and strategies
- Combat tips - lots of secrets
- Hyperdrive quick reference guide. What hyperdrive engine to fit to what hull. (This is embedded within the EE guide.)
- Rick Glover's Turn Checklist - what do do each turn.
- Ground combat - How It Works. A straightforward explanation by David Bandy. Note: this is a Word (".doc") file, not HTML. If you prefer, Wallace Hill has converted this to a PDF file.
- Sidewinder's Notes on the Ground Combat algorithms used in Host. Written in February 2001, they are wrong in some details now, but still give you an idea of how the code works. This can give you an insight into how best to structure your assaults. Ground combat is the only way to capture enemy bases.
- A quick look-up table from Lord Lancelot. How big will that 2500 ord minefield be? How many mines or factories can a 400 colonist base operate?
- Hyperspace devices- the basics of hyperspace, wormholes, jumpgates, grav well generators etc.
- How to win, advice from an experienced player, Mark Cowper
- A short (1 page) monograph on general strategy, by Harry Fuller
- Which tax setting to choose, a table by Michael Richardson (PDF)
- Special structures, organised by race, a table by Michael Richardson (PDF)
- Devices listed by race, collated by Michael Richardson. This (PDF) file is useful as a quick look-up to what your co-players have access to, which races to watch out for etc.
- Misc Q's and A's from Tim and others.
- Miscellaneous tips for playing the game- Spying, Contraband etc.
- How Resource Points are calculated in VGAP4 (newsgroup posting by Tim, December 2002)
- Repair Limits - a table showing how fast each race can repair hull, engines etc drawn up by Martin Lorenz.
- Notes on Point Defense weapons
Hosting tips
- How to Host a game - game options; how to maximise fun; what not to do. Read these tips before you set up a game!
- Experiments with adding interesting features to maps
- Map scripting gimmicks by Drew Sullivan - tricks with wormholes and jumpgates: one way, semirandom ones, traps etc.
How to create races and utilities
- Designing Third Party Races: advice from Martin Lorenz, designer of the Arborians
- Designing your own new race, an old page of mine.
- Programming tips: How to write utilities for VGAP4
- How to import base.csv into Excel, by Drew Sullivan. (Base.csv is a file you can export from Planets to help you assess your empire.)
- Related link: how to create a race pack on Pete Chambers' website
