i'm currently a lvl 67 vygoid builder who's been medium to slow-ranking. given my race and profession, i'm comfortable with my research and mining production for the moment, and i still have a few options for further planets in those areas before i'm forced to do a scan run.

my weak area is artis - i've acquired all of the arti planets that i've scanned that i'm interested in (including capturing one from an inactive player) and decided to get the cc out to complete the Terra Project mission to get the exotic for more artis.

from my research so far, i know that the Hyper-Terraformer device will deliver me an invincible massive 13x mega rich, that i can quickly upgrade to VM and 15x with a QSE and a couple more Terraformers. if i spend even more GP for a Reality Transfuser, i can get a random additional size / production bonus. i know that i can eventually complete the mission to get and use the Trellith Resequencers to boost any of those stats up to 20x.

however, i'm wondering:

(1) is it a good idea to get the Mission Exotic now or is there a better use for GP at my level ?
(2) is there any restriction on the Taltherian / Mylaraian / Kronyn racial abilities to boost those resource stats even further ?

The Mission Exotic is a worthwhile investment, if you can afford it. You can NP for the TF's for it, but that can take months, especially at your rank.

What you should do, is save up Green Badges. Invade a planet, put an Assimilation Locus on it so the Mining is doubled. Hyper-terraform it, then use all your fancy artifacts on it.

Mission planets are the best expenditure I've found for GP. I got my exotic as soon as I turned level 25. Got my dyson as soon as I turned level 50. Didn't regret it for one second.

As for racial abilities being able to boost, I don't believe they can boost anything beyond 15x, so relatively useless for mission planets. Especially as you want your Exotic to be a 15x all around which you couldn't do if you made the mistake of applying a racial ability to a planet or a planet data optimizer.

Blue, I've begun to reconsider using an invaded planet for a mission planet. If you do, you definitely get to put an assim locus on it. But then you don't get to use the latest discovery in the CT Lab (Galactic Concord Station) to full effect for 9 months. Although the defense bonus is redundant... Having a 1 space, 2 arti/2mining isn't.

I don't think a rank 67 would have the greatest opportunity to get a Galactic Concord Station.

Wiki

Make sure you invade an icy or a volcanic that has a permafrost or heat seeker on it.

And I think that mission planets are the best money spent in the game. Besides being something that can't be taken from you, it gives you a good place to get put all of the special mission arties you don't want to lose. Not having to defend or cloak it will mean you will get at least double production vs a decently defended planet.

I wouldn't bother upgrading anything other than arties to 20x.

9 months is a long time in this game. I've only been playing for 6 months and I'm level 300+ and ready to make TWO Galactic Concord Stations. Fortunately I decided not to listen about conquering planets when making exotics/dysons and they're pristine (never been attacked). They'll go on my planets and be automatically uber producers.

thanks to everyone for the tips. searching for 'exotic' on the wiki didn't quite bring this kind of info to the top, and there didn't seem to be an easy way to navigate to it from the main planets section.

for me, the point is to be able to use this as my lvl 68 planet, so instead of going the invasion route which would require 2 more planet invasions (and either paying GP to abandon, or waiting to level) ...

i'm thinking that i'll just swing thru the stryll mission to get my own convoy heat seeker and build it on an open volcanic before hitting it with the hyper-transformer.

since i'm intending to focus the exotic on artis, would it be a good idea to add an arti storage building or two ?

Nonnono. Make sure you have 2 green badges, then invade a volcanic... Add an assimilation locus too.

DO NOT waste space on your mission planets with storage towers.. all they do is add to your total holding capacity, and do NOTHING for your planet.
I seen one mission exotic that had 5 storage towers on it AND defence... what a waste.
Put storage towers on a crap planet, and put nothing else but defense on it and population. go for a massive something.. (not gas)

A few things wrong with what you said.

First off, Very massive gas planets make the best for storage structures. They are the largest natural planets, therefore, easiest to cloak and defend.

Second, there is the Taltherian Archive, which if he is lucky enough to steal one, adds 1000 artifact storage and provides 1 artifact production for one space.

A few things wrong with what you said.

First, the Taltherian Archive, adds 1000 research storage

Second, it provides 1 research production.

really???? whens the last time you threw some population on a gas planet??????
get back in touch with me when i steal your gas planet because its only got 120-200 population... anyone can down that with enough energy.
where as if you've got a planet with 4K population AND 30K defence... GOOD LUCK

Ah...
Guess my memory fails me x.x Haven't looked at my dyson in a while....

Well then, maybe he'll be lucky enough to steal a scruuge storage vault.


@icarium

When you can't find my planet, you can't take it =)

Best thing you could possibly do at your rank, if you're gonna let Visa be truly everywhere you wanna be, is to take that Mission Exotic, and complete the Dyson too. if you are deep pockets, you can take another planet up to 15x arti and rift it, or wait till later when you'll eventually have one. Essentially, the faster you get your arti production up to insane amounts, the faster you'll become a real threat in the game

Geez Icarium.. You Plasma it

OR

Add a Astrobiology Ward.

VM Gases are undoubtedly the best planet for storage, Then you plasma it and get better space

again, thanks to everyone for the advice and suggestions. i did like the idea of going for the dyson right away since i'm over the minimum lvl 50, but i don't have a metallic planet on my scans and giving dan dough every 6 months or so would seem to be enough encouragement from me for new content (*cough* trading market *cough*)

however, when one of the posters mentioned the possibility of stealing a Scruuge Hoarding Vault, i realized that i had picked up a couple of those over the holidays and had installed them on an average-sized icy. given that i'd be unlikely to be able to defend said planet against just about any higher level scanner, i decided that this would be the best candidate for the hyper-transformer, since the Mylarai Extractor NPC has yet to make an appearance on my BT.

so, i've got my exotic now and my arti production per hour has more than doubled ! my application of the reality transfuser resulted in large moons after the planet was analyzed. i'm *so* glad that i didn't forget to use the Quasi-Spacial Expander before the transfuser - size 83 instead of 76.



next up for the Exotic will be the hunt for T.O. Troop Carriers for a couple more terraformers to take the planet to 15x mega rich resources across the board, and the Station Adrift mission for a couple adaptive spires.

then, on to the scan run where i'll hopefully pick up a metallic planet and begin plotting the Colossal project ...

Congratulations on the Large Moons. @Icarium, you take a VM Gas, plasmerize it, then load ip on attack, defense and population structures.

It will take you a while to get the two last Terraformers, Troop Carriers are very rare.

ah ok thanks blue.. I dont have any plasmas in my lists.. i didnt know that you could put population on them...
without having that ability to make them... I've chosen one very good planet.. its just VL and not attractive. whilst the other would be alright for a very low level player for a gas planet, but its got about 30K def. and a little extra pop.

also blue, the troop carrier is VERY random... i found two yesterday.. and that was in my normal npc run with one tri matrix.. (got an energy pool of about 4K for that).

I've got ~2800 energy and did 4 refills after that and didnt find any more

thanks. and yes, i know about those stealthy troop carriers - i've only had one so far in my first 6 months of playing