Starting Out:

What to Read:

Read the tutorial and study the game’s table while those first buildings build (both of these links are up at the very top of the page). The table basically explains the tech tree and what you’ll need to build to unlock certain buildings and ships. Some parts of the tutorial will be over your head at the moment (all the equations for certain game actions for example) but you’ll be better off for knowing where to find them in the future.

Your Goal:
Your goal as a newbie is to build an outpost ship as fast as you can so you can colonize new planets. The buildings required for an outpost ship are 8 Shipyards and 8 Research Labs. The research required is 8 levels of energy, 4 levels of stellar drive, and 1 level of warp drive. Now get started.

What to Build:
First thing you should do is queue up 4 Metal Refineries. Then build a Research Lab. When you run out of energy, build whichever energy plant that gives you more energy for the least credits and when you run out of population build Urban Structures. Then continue with Metal Refineries and Robot Factories once you get them, building whichever gives the most benefit for the least amount of money. Now is time to build some other structures, especially Spaceports and Shipyards, which boost your economy, and also Research Labs, which cut your research time and are required to get the technology to build an outpost ship. Your economy is the most important thing in the beginning of the game, so Metal Refineries, Robot Factories, Spaceports and Shipyards are all very important.

Researches and constructions in progress do not get the benefit of new structures that are completed while they are underway.  Keep that in mind when planning on when to start something - it may go faster if you wait for a construction (like a lab) to finish.  It’s important to keep upgrading your construction ability in line with the increasing costs of buildings.

What to Research:
Below is the order you should research in order to get an outpost ship as fast as possible. Do not worry about researching 24/7, as you will run out of credits. It is better to always be building structures and researching only when you can afford it. This way you will make more credits which will mean less time waiting until you can start your next research.

1. Computer lvl 1 (2 credits; requires lvl 1 Research Labs)
2. Computer lvl 2, (3 credits)
3. Energy lvl 1 (2 credits)
4. Energy lvl 2 (3 credits)
5. Energy lvl 3 (5 credits)
6. Energy lvl 4 (7 credits)
7. Energy lvl 5 (11 credits)
8. Energy lvl 6 (16 credits)
9. Energy lvl 7 (23 credits)
10. Energy lvl 8 (35 credits)
11. Stellar Drive lvl 1 (16 credits; requires lvl 5 Research Labs)
12. Stellar Drive lvl 2 (24 credits)
13. Stellar Drive lvl 3 (36 credits)
14. Stellar Drive lvl 4 (54 credits)
15. Warp Drive lvl 1 (64 credits, requires lvl 8 Research Labs)

 Also remember to love that damn table.  That table is your bible after this guide.  The link is always up at the top of the game interface.

Scouting:
Once you get Warp Drive you may be tempted to build an outpost ship right away, that is fine. Now just where are you going to send that outpost ship? What, you don’t know? Thats where scouts come in. Scouts, with their superior speed, enable you to find a suitable planet to send your outpost ship to. The most effective way to scout is to move your scout to a corner of a neighboring region, just over the edge. You do this so that you have the shortest possible travel time between the four regions and you can hop from across the corner and see all 4 regions in short order. Check every system for good planets (see below for what defines a good planet), bookmarking and labeling the ones you find before moving on. You move a ship by first going to the destination region (from the Fleets screen by clicking on a region adjacent to yours), then picking the system and planet (It has to be an asteroid or a planet, no gas giants or asteroid belts),you want to land on (remember, a corner). Copy the address, then go back to your home planet and click on the fleet there. Select one scout by putting 1 in the box next to scouts. Put the copied address up top, then click move. Now you just have to wait.

Colonizing:
So now you have your scout on its way, or maybe you are doing it the slow way and having your outpost ship search for a suitable planet, but either way, you need to know what to look for.

General:
You will soon find that the biggest obstacle to development on a planet is population. For this reason, you want a planet with high fertility (makes Urban Structures more efficient). Planets in the “2nd or 3rd” position (see below) have a +1 fertility bonus, so only build your base in one of these positions.

One other important thing is that you don’t want your bases too close. It is a bad idea to have them in the same system, and according to many, even the same region. Having your bases distanced from one another gives you better eyes in the galaxy, and makes it harder for one large fleet to conquer you. So do not build your second planet in the same system, and unless you can only find a good planet in the same region you are currently in, do not build it in the same region. The only exception is  if you find a very desirable planet in your system/ region.

Planet System Example - the only exceptions to this graphic are crystalline planets and moons.

Economy Bases:
Your economy is very important, and likewise your 2nd base should probably be an asteroid as they are very cheap to get up to a nice economy. Only take asteroids in the 2nd or 3rd position, or if you have to, one in the 1st position. Without having a scout in a region the game still reveals where asteroids are (albeit you can’t see whether they’re taken or not until you have a ship in the region). So go out and find a good asteroid and build a base there, and concentrate on building economy boosting structures. Your 3rd and sometimes 4th base should be asteroids, so keep those scouts looking.

Production Bases:
Your 4th or 5th base should probably be a production base. The best production bases are rocky moons, followed by metallic moons and then craters, of course they should be in the 2nd or 3rd position.  All three of these have three metal plus good fertility. You want to take moons over planets due to the discounted cost of P-Rings, the best defense in the game. This means that moons are much easier to defend than planets. Production planets are easy to build a nice economy on, as the buildings required for production (Shipyards, Metal Refineries, Robot Factories) all increase econ too.

Research Bases:
After a production planet your next base should be a research base. The best for this are the same as for production bases, rocky, metallic and then craters. If you cannot find any of those in the 2nd or 3rd position, then you can go for Gaia moons, followed by Earthly and Arid, once again only in the 2nd or 3rd position. These have exceptionally high areas and fertility, allowing you plenty of space for 22 labs plus enough other structures to give them a decent economy. The trade-off is they have lower metal meaning they take longer to develop, but still have the same potential for good econ down the road. Once again, take moons over planets for the ease of defending them.

Order of Colonizing:
Everyone has a different style with building an empire, but a good guideline is:
Economy, Economy, Production, Economy, Research, Production, Economy, Production, Research

or

Economy, Economy, Economy, Production, Research, Production, Production, Research, Production, Economy

Don’t settle for junk shitty planets just because you’re sick of scouting. It’s a waste of time and you’ll only shortchange yourself and earn some disrespect.

Defense:
Don’t worry about building any defense or any fleet before your 6th day. You should however start researching the technologies you will need for some good turrets. A good newbie defense to come out of day 7 with would be 5 plasma and 5 ion, or 10 ion (no plasma), with about 50-200 fighters over every planet - and then very soon get that number up to at least 1000 fighters. Any turret types below that are pretty worthless - and plasmas aren’t that great either and you’ll eventually disband them as well. Ultimately you’ll then move up to photons, then disruptors and deflection shields and so on and so forth (look at the table).  There are now minimum build orders so also consult those.  (Don’t halt construction or anything just to pay for a few more fighters.. if you come out day 7 a little low (50fig) just make sure you get the number up fast, don’t ruin your day 6 completely).
In building fighters, you want to set a target for yourself to achieve on every planet, first 1000 fighters, then 2000, etc. The more fighters per planet the harder and more costlier it is for someone to attack you. Also, having lots of fighters on every planet makes it easier to restock your offensive fleet when you run out of fighters.

Photon turrets are the next step past Ion, but they only last a week or two before Disruptors are really needed. 2 or 3 sets of Disruptor turrets along with one set of Deflection or Planetary Shields will work great until you research P-Rings. P-Rings are the most powerful defense in the game and will scare off almost any enemy fleet. One or 2 sets of P-Rings coupled with a set of P-Shields will cost an attacker around 100k fleet to take your base. That is a large chunk of fleet to just to occupy your base, and most players will choose to attack a different target instead.

Trading:
Once you build your first spaceport you can open your first trade route.  Trade routes generate profit based on the distance between the two planets and how many players you are trading with in your entire trade network.  As a newbie you should be looking to set up a trade route with someone in your region or your galaxy.  This way the startup cost is cheap and you will get a return on your investment very quickly.  Ask on the guild board for a trade by posting your location and specifying you want a close trade, and list your planets economy.  Eventually you will probably get rid of your startup trades and transition to long distance trading (1000-3500 distance) and one trade per player, however this is weeks away for you.  You can open more trade routes at certain levels of spaceports, these are 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20.  You most likely won’t even choose to go to 20 in the long run except for at your highest econ planets. 

You open a trade by going to your planets screen, clicking trade, then start new trade route.

Short Distance Trading:

Your First Trade Route:
Your first spaceport should be built soon after you build your four metal factories, it doesn’t need to be right away, but the sooner the better. Now for finding a trade partner. If you have lots of guild mates nearby, trade with them, either through the board or by messaging the ones you see in your region. If you cannot find a guidemate nearby, then message a player in your region, who has a similar econ to you from a guild that we are not openly hostile to, and ask him if he would like to trade. The cheaper the starting trade, the better, no need to spend 20 credits when 1 credit gets you almost the exact same return right now.

Your Second Trade Route:
Your second trade route takes a little longer, as you need 5 spaceports. Once your production gets more expensive, take a break and queue up 4 spaceports and then look for a trade route. By now you have a little more cash, so a trade around 50 distance (25 credits) should be fine. Once again, look for your guildmates to trade with. Levels 2 through 5 of spaceports will pay for themselves in less than a day, so there is no reason not to get them as soon as possible.

Your Third Trade Route:
Your third trade route will be your last short distance trade route, and it should be built early on your econ and production planets. Once again, when you start to feel the pinch of metal refineries and robot factories, switch to queueing up Spaceports. Levels 6 through 10 of spaceports will pay for themselves in a day. Now look for a trade with a guildmate or whoever on a planet with similar type and economy within your own galaxy (or if you have some money, adjacent galaxies).

Long Distance Trading:

Your Fourth (and Fifth) Trade Route:
After you have some credits and some developed planets, look to build lvl 15 spaceports. They are more expensive but extremely worth it. By now you should have lots of money, so it is time to do long distance trades, which includes redoing the previous three trade routes above. There are 3 important things in lost distance trading. The first is of course distance, you want the trade to be at least 1000 distance, preferably more. Second is econ and planet type, if you have a eco roid you do not want to trade with a research planet because soon your economies will be uneven (trade income is based on the lowest planets economy). The third thing is unique trade partners, that means you do not want to have two routes with the same person. This is because you get a large bonus for trading with lots of players, and when you get far along in the game, trading with all unique partners can earn you double  what trading with yourself would earn you. Below is a table explaining how distance and unique trades benefit you. Note this table is for bases with at least 110 economy.

The equation for a trade’s value is

Income = Sqrt(Lowest Base Economy) * (1 + Sqrt(Distance)/75 + Sqrt(Players)/10)

Trades cost as much as the distance, to be split between the two players.

WAR:
I will try to lay out the basics of attacking in this game:

Fleet Building:
Fleets in AE should revolve around Fighters, Cruisers and Heavy Cruisers. Support units are also required, for example, Recyclers, Carriers, Fleet Carriers, Scout Ships. Secondary attacking units are optional and include Corvettes, Destroyers and any ships larger than Heavy Cruisers.
Once you have some spare credits, work on building up cruisers and fighters and storing them at a base or JG. You should add in about 1 Carrier for every 4 Cruisers (or 1 Fleet Carrier for every 25 or so Cruisers).

FAQ:
Q.) What the hell is “access(m)” on the guild page?

A.) It’s time in minutes since that player last logged in.  People over 10000 access are eligible to be kicked and farmed.

Q.) There’s a scout over my planet should I kill it :tinfoil:

A.) No, don’t kill it.  It’s just a puny scout.  If you want to :tinfoil: ask him politely to move it and give a reasonable time frame for him to see it and do it.  Don’t forget to include the location the scout is at; getting messages with demands and no locations is very annoying.

Q.) Oh god this guy has a fleet over my planet / near me / is he going to kill me I’m freaking out man..

A.) No. He’s not going to attack you.  You are protected for the first 7-8 days you are in the game, and players 10 levels or higher than you can’t attack you after the 7 day period unless you’re over level 16. You’re fine. We’re at peace with everyone too, so if anyone touched you they would get a hell of a beat down.

Q.) What does NAP, ToA, and MDP mean in guild profiles?

A.) Non-Aggression Pact, Terms of Amity, and Mutual Defense Pact.  Terms of Amity is a bit stronger than an NAP, yet weaker than an MDP.  It just means you won’t attack each other and you won’t do anything that would indirectly harm them.

Q.) How often can you pillage?

A.) Every 24 hours.  If you’re pillaging a non-active player you should pillage closer to every 100 hours.  For UCs time doesn’t affect how much you’ll get one way or the other.

Q.) How do I recycle?

A.) You put your recycler(s) in orbit in a location with debris (you can see this on the system map as they have an asterisk next to them), and on every hour tick your ships pick up 10cr per.  Do not recycle debris over other peoples planets or occupations.  If its open space and theres a fleet there, its probably theirs too.  Ask nicely before you try it. 

Q.) What should I be building on my planet!?

A.) Always start out with construction buildings - metal refineries and robots.  Build about 6 MRs, and whenever the RF becomes more cost effective than the MR build one of them.  Then build up your econ buildings; spaceports, crystal mines, shipyards, econ centers.  Then more construction. Then more economy.  If this is a research world you would be sprinkling in labs after the first build of MRs and RFs.  For production worlds build more shipyards than normal.  Econ asteroids will probably be fine with 3-5 shipyards.  Don’t build crystal mines on planets with only 1 crystal unless its your starting moon.  Then it’s alright to build 4 or 5.

Q.) Can my fleet get attacked while it’s in flight?

A.) Nope.