Read your messages

• The tax report has value in that it tells you if your colonists and natives are gaining in happiness. If not then you should probably do something about it unless it is a strategy of yours to lower their happiness. The happiness adjustment does not include structures that affect happiness such as Government Centers or Public Space Ports.
• The resource report will tell you whether or not you can continue to build items and lay minefields. Have at least 1,000,000 colonists on every planet to make sure that you have your fair share of resource points

You can also send messages, remember this game you can have diplomacy with others for non aggrasive boarders or teaming up against a greater enemy.

Read all log files, they are the details of what occurred with all of your equipment. If anything special happened, this is where you would find it. Combat happens in the VCR, but you will see a log entry of “Red Alert! Combat Alert! Shields Up!” when your ship was in combat (and lived). This is also a good time to select bases using the Hammer then turning on new structures (see base actions below). Optional: Keep notes (with your homeworld as the Hammer) of anything special.

Watch your VCR recordings. There will not be a recording of combat where a ship or base is not damaged. You will get an entry in the messages , but no VCR.

This is probably the step that will adjust the entire rest of the turn.

• Try to locate enemy ships and their movments.
• Use the "Display Contracts" button to attempt to see the movement of enemy ships.
• Optional: Keep notes
• Optional: Detonate minefields with enemy ships within them.
• This is also a good time to use Advance methods of gathering information.

• Transport cargo onto/off of ships.
• Set waypoint(s).
• Adjust ship speed in the Nav screen
• Adjust ship devices.
• Lay or sweep minefields.
• Optional: Adjust command codes.
• Optional: Keep notes
• Optional: Fleet commands
• Do once/Optional: Set attack modes.
• Do once/Optional: Set missions.
• Do once: Set damage repair. Tipicaly you want everything but armor top auto-repair. Less resource inteinsive to use repair from ground base for armor.
• Do once: Set ship name.

• Set waypoint(s) or dock commands.
• Do once: Set attack modes
• Do once: Set missions
• Do once: Set wing name

• Build new ships
• Buy parts
• Build structures.
• Adjust structure switches.
• Play the Contraband market
• Launch Pods

• Upgrade tech levels
• Buy exotic technologies
• Optional: Adjust your tax rate
• Set spy options, Adjust funding and at turn 11 you can start the attacks.
• Do once: Change your ID
• Optional: Use Ministers

You can gather a lot of helpful information using Data Grid.

• Check for farmable planets
• Check for planets with high Hyper-Dimensional Stress (600-900). Prevent explosions with ship devices (when available) or move colonists off.
• Check for bases with 1000+ excess metal, food, fuel or ordnance and pod it to an appropriate planet.
• Check for bases that need resources.

You only need to set the options once, however you can also use the option button and Make CSV File to create a set of CSV files that you can load into a database or spreadsheet program to view your game data in different ways.