Many VGA Planets players say the Feds are for beginners — toss out some torps and attack. Sure, you could do that and maybe survive, but victories with the Solar Federation are, in fact, a complicated matter.

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Championship Analysis

In all honesty, the Solar Federation intimidated me, and I never felt confident playing them. I saw their potential, but I also recognised the complexitities top-level Fed players must overcome. I thought it was about time I bite the bullet and take a closer look.

Like my exploration through Robot starting moves, I began with the premise that the first twenty-five turns of a game would set you up for the rest. In the case of the Feds, I determined the player needed to produce a fleet of at least fifty to sixty starships prior to turn 25. This was higher than the forty-ship threshold many other races required. With less than fifty ships, a Fed commander would struggle to make an impact on the game.

The following table is the result of my analysis of the Zodiac and Faction championships. It highlights the results of twenty-five turns of gameplay, and it answers the following questions: How many pre-limit ships are typically constructed in a high level competition? On which ships do commanders focus? What are their first three builds? What Fed-specific strategies did they use? How was their overall performance?

First 25 Turns of each Championship Match

ERA	WAR	END STATUS	TURN 25 SHIPS	FLEET COMPOSITION	FIRST THREE BUILDS	STRATEGY
Zodiac
	Scorpius	surviving	53 ships	6 terraformer 10 diplomacy 8 kittyhawk 1 loki 8 missouri 3 nebula 5 nova 0 thor	Brynhild Brynhild L. Freighter	Brynhild Scout
	Taurus	surviving	28 ships	4 terraformer 1 diplomacy 3 kittyhawk 7 loki 3 missouri 2 nebula 0 nova 1 thor	Brynhild Nebula L. Freighter	Brynhild Scout
	Saggitarius	surviving	73 ships	9 terraformer 5 diplomacy 4 kittyhawk 8 loki 8 missouri 5 nebula 6 nova 1 thor	Nebula L. Freighter L. Freighter	mix freighters and defence
	Aries	enslaved	30 ships	3 terraformer 0 diplomacy 0 kittyhawk 10 loki 7 missouri 2 nebula 0 nova 0 thor	Nebula Nebula Nebula	Nebulous
	Capricorn	enslaved	18 ships	3 terraformer 2 diplomacy 0 kittyhawk 3 loki 0 missouri 2 nebula 3 nova 0 thor	L. Freighter L. Freighter Nebula	mix freighters and defence
	Leo	surviving	21 ships	3 terraformer 5 diplomacy 2 kittyhawk 2 loki 1 thor 2 arkham 4 brynhild	Nebula L. Freighter Brynhild	defence focus
	Gemini	dead	49 ships	10 terraformer 4 diplomacy 0 kittyhawk 11 loki 7 missouri 2 nebula 1 nova 2 thor	L. Freighter Nebula L. Freighter	mix freighters and defence
	Aquarius	dead	57 ships	17 terraformer 0 diplomacy 7 kittyhawk 8 loki 4 missouri 5 nebula 1 nova 0 thor	Nebula Nebula Nebula	Nebulous
	Cancer	surviving	37 ships	10 terraformer 2 diplomacy 4 kittyhawk 3 loki 1 missouri 1 nebula 8 br5	Brynhild L. Freighter L. Freighter	Brynhild Scout
	Pisces	surviving	35 ships	4 terraformer 1 diplomacy 3 kittyhawk 2 loki 0 missouri 1 nebula 1 nova 0 thor	Brynhild L. Freighter Bohemian	economy focus
	Libra	dead	48 ships	15 terraformer 1 diplomacy 1 kittyhawk 3 loki 5 missouri 6 nebula 7 nova 0 thor	L. Freighter Brynhild L. Freighter	Brynhild Scout
	Virgo	dead	46 ships	7 terraformer 3 gorbie 3 kittyhawk 4 loki 6 missouri 2 nebula 5 nova 2 cobol	L. Freighter L. Freighter L. Freighter	Triple Freighter
Faction*
	Cognitum	dead	84 ships	2 terraformer 22 automa 9 meteor 5 diplomacy 1 kittyhawk 5 loki 5 missouri 7 nebula 7 nova 1 thor	Nebula S. T. Freighter L. Freighter	mix freighters and defence
	Ingenii	crowned emperor	61 ships	7 terraformer 6 automa 7 firecloud 12 meteor 1 diplomacy 4 loki 5 missouri 2 nebula 4 nova	L. Freighter L. Freighter L. Freighter	Triple Freighter

Based on these championship matches, I think it is safe to say the Solar Federation has a significant chance of surviving to the end of a game. Not only are they able to quickly mount defences, their abilities make them so useful that everyone wants to keep them around or enslave them.

Although outside of the scope of this discussion, I found it interesting that no player from the Zodiac wars tried to capitalise on the Feds’ cloning ability. Cloning is easy as pie for Fed commanders, and this was evidenced in the Faction war performances. In both the Cognitum and Ingenii championships, the Federation player was lucky enough to have the opportunity to clone Meteor Class Blockade Runners and Automa Class Baseships. The latter was crowned Emperor and the former should have been.

Note the bold-faced strategies: the Brynhild Scout, Triple Freighter, and Nebulous. I tested the effectiveness of these three strategies and two more of my own design: the Brynhild Scout Plus and Gunboat Diplomacy. In the following section, I will discuss these options and show my results.

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Brynhild Scout

In my first test, I wanted to emulate the Robot Pawn Gambit. In the Brynhild Scout strategy, the bioscanner completes planetary scans at only a twenty-percent success rate, so the crew usually needs several turns to gather useful information. As it takes time to benefit from the bioscans, it is not worth recycling the ship. It is better to send it out as a scout. For me, my Brynhild brandished x-ray lasers and managed to scout quite a few planets before falling to a lightly defended enemy colony. — It is best to keep these little guys away from enemies.

Perhaps my biggest mistake was my choice to produce supplies prior to mines. I focused on producing maximum factories followed by one or two hundred mining facilities. For Federation commanders, this is a major mistake.

One of the downfalls of this strategy, also making it a gambit, is that you are never certain if your first scan provides the most beneficial information. In this case, I manually discovered a Ghipsoldal planet, and the bioscan did not detect anything more useful. Assuming a base with tech-10 engines was the best I was going to get, I sent my starbase-in-a-box to the world with a Ghipsoldal Participatory government. Sadly, it took many turns before my scout uncovered two nearby Humanoid planets, so I was kicking myself for building my second base elsewhere.

Results:

• 20 planets
• 52 starships
• 4 starbases
• 26 priority points
• 30 quantum torpedoes (to defend against early attackers)
• turn 19 merlin
• 1 arkham
• 5 bohemian
• 4 diplomacy
• 4 eros
• 7 kittyhawk
• 3 L. freighter
• 3 loki
• 4 M. freigther
• 1 merlin
• 8 missouri
• 4 nebula
• 2 refinery
• 2 nocturne
• 3 nova
• 1 thor

When I looked back at my turn-25 fleet, I realised I made some mistakes. While I managed over fifty ships, this was no fleet to be feared by anyone. Three dreadnoughts is not going to cut it. My army lacked vigour. This lack of strength was due to my choice to construct a bunch of ships which should not be built before the ship limit.

Regardless of the ups and downs in this match, I still managed a decent fleet. This proved the Bynhild Scout strategy was a sufficient option; after all, the first scan could have picked up an amazing planet. Luck aside, I am not convinced this option is the best for Fed players. It was attempted several times in the championship matches, and as the data say this strategy never put the Federation fleet commander in a winning position. Players need to be aware of how limiting the information can be.

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Gunboat Diplomacy

For this strategy, I armed a Diplomacy Class Cruiser with plasma bolts and mark 4 torpedoes. By turn 9, the brave captain attacked its first colony of the neighbouring Cyborg empire. The gunboat struck down a large freighter, a small minelayer, a medium freighter, and three planets before I made the mistake of attacking a well-populated development. — The key with these kind of early strikes is to retreat before you get too greedy. — The Diplomacy carried enough clans to populate the enemy planets and maintain enough defence posts to fend off freighters and force a combat vessel to retake the positions.

While the early strikes were a success, my economic progress was slow. It took me a while to find decent natives, and I was unable to construct a Humanoid starbase until turn 21. There was also a general lack of molybdenum near my homeworld, and I was unable to capitalise on a Bovinoid planet without a merlin. This was also another match where I took a factory-first approach, and it did not work out well.

Results:

• 22 planets
• 43 starships
• 3 starbases
• 21 priority points
• 40 mark 4 torpedoes (on initial Diplomacy)
• turn 17 merlin
• 2 b200
• 1 bohemian
• 2 diplomacy
• 2 eros
• 7 kittyhawk
• 2 L. freighter
• 3 loki
• 10 M. freighter
• 1 merlin
• 3 missouri
• 4 nebula
• 1 refinery
• 5 nova

While Gunboat Diplomacy went well, I did not feel my ship production was a success. My forty-three ships were enough to stay in the game with an ally or two, but I was not confident it would put me in a top-three competitive position. Five dreadnoughts, three battleships, and a variety of destroyers and minelayers was not enough.

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TRIPLE FREIGHTER

In this scenario, three Large Deep Space Freighters drained a lot of duranium, which was difficult to recover. My second base did not happen until turn 10, and my merlin build took much longer. I even discovered a decent duranium planet, but the minerals would not surface fast enough.

Unlike the first two tests, I decided to focus on mining facilities over factories. I constructed either one or two hundred mines on most planets, but this was still not enough to keep up with mineral demands.

This match was a good example of the Federation’s ability to fend off any early-game attackers. Aggressive Birdies and Colonies invaded my northern and southern borders, respectively. The Colonies of Man even managed to carry off a medium freighter. Equipping a Missouri Class Battleship and a Nova Class Super-dreadnought led to the capture of three Colonial ships and the destruction of many light warships.

Results:

• 28 planets
• 48 starships
• 3 starbases
• 20 priority points
• 131 mark 4 torpedoes + 14 gamma bombs (about another 40+ used in combat)
• turn 19 merlin
• 2 bohemian
• 1 cobol
• 2 cygnus
• 5 diplomacy
• 2 eros
• 6 kittyhawk
• 3 L. freighter
• 1 loki
• 5 M. freighter
• 1 merlin
• 10 missouri
• 5 nebula
• 5 nova

The Triple Freighter strategy is commonly used for many races, but I am not convinced it is the best option for Feds. Their struggle to recover the duranium is too great. Regardless of those hurdles, my five dreadnoughts, ten battleships, six medium carriers, five medium destroyers, five minelayers, and an assortment of light skirmishers were enough to compete. Winning would be an uphill battle, but this strategy offered a solid chance.

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Nebulous

The Nebula Class Cruiser’s hold carries a whopping three hundred fifty kilotons of cargo. It is one of the toughest armoured freighters in the game, and it also doubles as one of the most dominant minelayers. These are must-haves in the Federation fleet, so it makes sense to build them as soon as possible, especially since low ID mining vessels have an advantage for scooping minefields. With three mark 4 minelayers, the Nebulous strategy is highly defensive, but there is also a temptation to attack. That urge should be ignored because the Nebulas need to focus on economic development.

The lack of large freighters in the first few turns did not make a huge difference. The issue was that I could not find good planets at all. Aside from a bit of money, the closest four planets gave nothing, and the following batch of expansions uncovered low mining rates and extreme temperatures. Regardless, I managed to push out a starbase-in-a-box for a turn-7 base and marched onward.

Results:

• 20 planets
• 50 starships
• 4 starbases
• 12 priority points
• 0 torpedoes
• turn 19 merlin
• 4 bohemian
• 1 brynhild
• 8 diplomacy
• 1 eros
• 8 kittyhawk
• 2 L. freighter
• 3 loki
• 5 M. freighter
• 2 merlin
• 1 missouri
• 4 nebula
• 1 refinery
• 7 nova
• 3 swift

The Nebulous strategy produced seven dreadnoughts, one battleship, eight medium carriers, eight medium destroyers, four minelayers, and a few scouts. That type of fleet reflected several championship performances, like Libra, Virgo, Saggitarius, and Scorpius. In all cases, however, the Fed player struggled to be a major factor, ending in either complete or near death.

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Brynhild Scout PLUS

After the other four test runs, I felt my attempts of less than sixty ships were not sufficient enough to earn a competitive top-three spot, certainly not a winning position. I was determined to change this, so I designed my own opening. In Brynhild Scout Plus, my main goal was to quickly produce an early base and merlin. I needed to start alchemy production much sooner than I had in all my other matches. To get to where I wanted to be, there were three stages.

In the primary stage, I loaded my first freighter with two hundred clans and followed it with a starbase-in-a-box. — This is a common opening move which produces a turn-4 starbase. — On the appropriate turn, I had another base and was lucky enough the planet harboured Ghipsoldal natives with a Unity government. The second part of this strategy was to build a Bynhild Class Escort which was sent to scout the large cluster to my east. I was hoping this cluster would provide Humanoid natives for tech-10 warships. In the final stage, I focused on producing only Medium Deep Space Freighters until I had my first merlin. — This too is a common strategy for carrier races.

To support my three stage plan, I colonised planets with sixty factories and sixty mining facilities. Instead of focusing on only supplies or only minerals, I utilitised the Fed cash flow to construct both. After the initial sixty-sixty, I set both to automatically build to the maximum (999). This was done on every single planet to force as many minerals to the surface as possible. It was a pleasant surprise when both minerals and mega credits sufficiently flowed. After seeing this success, I wished I had purchased a Super Transport Freighter to increase my populations above two hundred clans and mining facilities even higher. — This method was similarly applied in the Cognitum war.

These choices led to good things. By turn 10, I was well on my way to building my third and fourth Humanoid starbases. The first merlin was out on turn 14, and three more alchemy ships were active by turn 18. This was by far the strongest economic start of all tests. Warships were coming so easily that I actually forgot to produce some Nebula minelayers.

Results:

• 25 planets
• 65 starships
• 5 starbases
• 12 priority points
• 31 mark 4 torpedoes
• turn 14 merlin
• 3 bohemian
• 1 brynhild
• 6 diplomacy
• 1 eros
• 8 kittyhawk
• 1 L. freighter
• 4 loki
• 19 M. freighter
• 3 merlin
• 8 missouri
• 1 refinery
• 10 nova

I had two regrets with this strategy: the small number of priority points and no minelayers. Regardless of those faults, the Brynhild Scout Plus proved itself as a legitimate option. A fleet with ten dreadnoughts, eight battleships, eight medium carriers, six medium destroyers, and a few light scouts is something any Fed commander can work with. With this turn-25 output, I would feel able to compete and work toward a possible win.

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Jelly-filled Do Nots

After fiddling with different production strategies, several necessities for success stood out to me. To be in a top-three position, there are things the Fed leader must not do.

• Do not build specialty ships prior to the ship limit. Thors, Arkhams, Nocturnes, Vendettas, and Banshees all benefit from the new PP Bonus, respectively costing 4, 3, 2, 2, and 3 points. These ships should only be built when needed and with priority points after the ship limit. The Loki, which costs 4 PPs, could also be included in this list, but it is often needed as a cloaker deterrent or trade bait.
• Do not build terraformers prior to the ship limit. The Eros and Bohemian seem like they will help you economically, but the extra 2 priority points for a non-build is far more valuable. Not once in all five tests did I ever want for money. I did a bit of terraforming, but it was never necessary. In retrospect, I would have completely avoided terraformers. In Classic matches, Eros and Bohemians were an excellent way to fill up ship slots and boost economy, but this path is not as useful in Nu’s Standard matches. I think many commanders in the championship matches fell into the trap of wasting minerals on a horde of terraformers.
• Do not build ships without beams. With Super Refit, the Fed can produce stacks of “hulls” to upgrade later, but it is important to remember that a ship without beam weapons appears on the scoreboard as a freighter. If an enemy sees a ton of freighters and no warships, it will signal that the Fed might be an easy target. The safer option is to construct ships with at least one x-ray laser so they are scored as warships.
• Do not settle for lesser combat ships. Build many warrior ships like Kittyhawks, Diplomacies, Missouris, and Novas. The ideal is to focus on Novas, but the other warships are still solid builds. Although I did not test this, it might be worth focusing production on nothing but dreadnoughts. If you managed fifteen to twenty tech-10 warships and fifty to a hundred priority points, you could easily pump out a sufficient post-limit fleet of Nebulas, Kittyhawks, and Diplomacies, each costing only five PPs.
• Do not worry about money. Put your energy into bringing minerals to the surface as fast as possible and collecting stashes of supplies for alchemy. To do this, you need to build a combination of mining and supply facilities. The Federation always overflows with credits, even without terraforming, so maximising mines and factories is how you capitalise on this advantage.
• Do not focus on any native population except Humanoids. Other guides suggest saving money by building ship components at bases boosted by specific natives, e.g., Amphibians for beams and Ghipsoldals for engines, but this strategy is not necessary. Fed tax boosts provide more than enough credits to upgrade vessels. Lack of minerals might push you to do this, but there are ways around wasting time dragging your hulls from base to base. Ultimately, no race benefits as much as Feds do with bases on Humanoid planets.

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Three thousands words later, I feel like I barely scratched the surface with the Solar Federation. Other articles could go into great lengths on trading and diplomacy with the Feds, or on wielding their finicky war machine. This is by no means a comprehensive guide to the Federation. It is instead more an inquiry into their first turns and an inquisition into common practices.

The above list of do nots are suggestions for players aiming to maximise their first twenty-five turns and put themselves in position to jockey for a top finish. In the end, only practice will help you find your way with the Feds. They are tricky to play and require plenty of failure to master. Engage!

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Thanks for reading. – TS

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