A Brief Newbie Guide by Schwa

Game Objective

• The overall objective of the game is to build the strongest kingdom/alliance.
• For some this would be building the highest NW kingdom at round end.
• For others, this means building a battle kingdom that helps your alliance in wars.
• For a few, the objective is to create chaos.

Choosing a Planet Type and Race

• The game creators work hard to balance planet types (PT) and races. However, some combinations work better for certain play styles, and you should pick a race that supports your PT. Race can be changed later, but the first couple days of the game are the most important.
• For example, a player picking Mystical Lands could pick the Gistrami race to get even faster return times. A player picking Forest & Wilderness could pair that with Terran for even higher population.
• For newer players, the Volcanic Inferno and Multiple Terrain PTs are likely the easiest to learn. Experiment with many and find your best style.

Kingdom States

• During newbie mode, you should mostly be in research. You can switch to mobilization state early in newbie mode to make additional scientists quickly, and could switch the last 24 ticks to make military.
• After newbie mode, offensive is the obvious choice to gain more land and get higher robs. After that, you can choose any state supporting your strategy. Defensive should only be used if you are a kill target (see later).

Newbie mode

• Newbie mode will last for 96 ticks. Self tick till Max Ticks reached.
• Defense at or near 13,000 minimum (found on status page).
• Offense equivalent to 160 tanks minimum.
• As many probes as you can squeeze out, up to 6,000.
• As many scientists as you can squeeze out. Many get 700 to even 1,200. Research Fusion, Energy Core, and Warp Gate as soon as possible.

The difficulty of newbie mode is balancing these four objectives - you can’t have it all!
The game now will build either the first 72 ticks of newbie mode or the entire 96 ticks. See the prebuilds. The builds are strong but experienced players can beat them by doing the entire newbie mode themselves. Save your stats from a prebuild. Practice, and see if you can beat the prebuild.

First Days out of Newbie Mode

• Gain as much land as possible.
• T1 farms (sector 1:1) have 40 tanks with no research. Most players attack these 4x at the beginning.
• Explore in multiples of 24 land every chance you get until at least 1,500 and possibly up to 2,500 land.
• T2 and T3 farms have more land but much higher defense. Work to hit these as soon as possible.
• Use any excess probe attempts for robbing. T2 farms, which are found in sector 1:2, will yield up to 60,000 platinum per rob, hence the 6,000 probe recommendation earlier.
• T3 farms, found in sector 1:3, will yield 100,000 platinum per rob. You must send 15,000 probes to guarantee successful robs against these farms.
• Try to always shield your probe attempts early on. This reduces probe losses and helps them build up faster.
• Try to squeeze out as many scientists while also maintaining safe defense. This is very challenging as it depends on the current player meta. Work with your alliance mates to gauge safe defense.

Buildings

• Build enough barracks to house all your military. Build enough power plants that you can shield your probe attempts early. Build 10% training camps. Early on, residences and probe factories are the most important to get in mass. Later in the game, star mines become more important.
  

Standard Research Order

• Fusion
• Energy Core
• Probe Armor
• Laser Dragoons
• Dragoons
• Longevity
• High Guard Lancers

Keep your land bonus researches maximized as much as you can. Military and money bonus are generally the two most important.
You can fit in researching additional races if and when it suits your strategy. For example, one might pick Shadow race to get higher robs the first few days, but then might want to quickly switch to Mafielvin in the early-mid game to help with research.

Modules

• Pick modules that will compliment your strategy. Early on, the economic modules found at the top are the most obvious choice.

Transition to mid-game

Alliance

Finding a good alliance is perhaps the most fun part of the game. Make sure to introduce yourself on the main Discord and you will be welcomed. Most players will try to help new players learn the ropes and protect them.
Starkingdoms.net (discord.com)
If you are in an alliance, you will soon find your kingdom at war. Your alliance leader might post a kill target (KT). You will be instructed to attack, sabotage, arson, or missile this player.
There are a large number of details to learn in this game, far too many for this short guide. Experiment and ask questions of your alliance mates.
Good luck and have fun!