1. How quickly things are done really depends on the number of people working on it. By moving the sliders, you change the number of people/aliens working on each project. This number is represented by the numerical value above the slider. Therefore, the more workers at a colony, the quicker things will be done.
2. After you have a few bases, you should want them all to reach their maximum potential as quickly as possible. For this purpose, I put the sliders for mines, refinery and factory at the maximum (or close to it), and put everything else at nothing, or near zero. However, make sure to come back later when all of the factory work is done so you can have ships fuel, and other other stuff built.
3. Some people have said they put about 30 workers on a new colony, others say 50 or more is a better idea. I think that 30 should be an absolute minimum, and 50 is a good number to average on. With the previous tip on building, 30 people will be divided up into groups of 10, which will cause the improvement of the colony to be very slow.
4. At the start of the game, you start with people on your ship. I transferred them at the main earthling colony just to speed up production. Also, I found out that by keeping the number of humans on Helios 3 to above 200, I could come back there for research, fuel, and such, since it could be built more quickly. I kept it as my base of operations most of the game.
5. One of the biggest follies I've heard players doing is trying to get ships to build as fast as possible. DON'T DO THIS!! why not? frist of all, you won't need that many ships Regardless of what the instruction booklet hints at, you don't need to leave behind any forces to guard your colonies! So, I found I only needed a few ships for the entire game. My second reason for keeping ship production low is it will decrease the efficiency of the colony. When you build a ship, it is automatically crewed by the workers at the colony, thereby, decreasing the population. Not good. I did that for one colony at the beginning of the game, and the colony ended up to be amazingly slow. The more ships that are produced, the longer it will take to make the next one.
6. Fuel is the biggest factor in the game. Without it, you're stuck! and waiting for enough fuel to go somewhere, and make a return trip takes forever! until you near the end of the game, you'll never seem to have enough fuel. So, here's what I do, After following the second tip on colony production, I wait until factory production is done. As in, there's nothing else to build. After that, I dropped the refinery slider to zero, or a low number, and put fuel refinery to maximum priority.
7. Also, landing pods aren't that big deal. Sure, in the beginning of the game you need them big time, However, I found I only used about 30 max in the entire game. Some colonies where left with landing pod construction on a low level, so when I returned looking for fuel, by the end of the game I still had about 125 pods or so. What a waste! In case you haven't noticed, they don't get used up when you start a Precursor artifact dig. So when it comes to landing pods, at the start, build 'em, but once yu have enough, go fo fuel.
Alien Homeworlds :
League of Sentinent Races
Chmmr - Hypnus 2
Earthlings - Helios 3
Mycon - Janus 8
Pkunk - Arcadia 6
Spathi - Goshen 4
Syreen - Astarte 1
Ur-Quan - Velpunia 6
Utwig - Formahaut 5
Vux - Salacia 2
Zaniah 3
Other important locations
Vux Renegade - Erato 6
Rendevouz Point - Calliope 2
C.U.D. - Begregen 2
Vaportized System - Eltanin
...Picus (Warning! Make sure you have many ships when you investigate)
...Tycho
Q-Space Portal F - Xipe
Q Space Portal G - Azazel
Q-Space Portal M - Nyx
Star Control 3 : Info on Races
THIS INFORMATION IS SOMEWHAT REVEALING! DON'T READ UNLESS YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE GAME!
Races you can count on:
Humans (of course)
Syreen
Utwig (only halfway)
Pkunk
Races that will either leave or will be unable to help you:
Don't give them colonies
VUX
Mycon
Ur-quan
Chmmr (not so bad later on)
Orz
Spathi
Arilou
STAR CONTROL 3 (WALKTHROUGH)
Go to Helios 3 and talk with teh Earthlings base commander. Then proceed to Helios 4 and fight with the Daktaklakpak. Take the artifact here
Go to Goshen 4, and talk with Spathi
Go to Astarte 1, and talk with Syreen
Go to Salacia 2, and talk with Vux
Go to Janus 8, and talk with Mycon
Go to Arcadia 6, and talk with the Pkunk
Go to formalhaut 5, and talk with the Utwig. At this point, you may receive a distress call from Janus 8. You should go there and talk with the Mycon, then with theVux.
Go to Velpunia 6, and talk with the Urquan. Make sure to take some/all of the ships there.
Go to Hypnus 2, and talk with Chmmr
Go to Nyx 1, and enter the quasi-space portal. You'll meet the Orz. Then go to Muhlifain 7, the Orz homeworld
Exploring Space
Make sure to take the Ebon Hinge on Muhilifain 2
Wait until the Picus system disappears, and then go there
At Astarte 1, you can converse with the Syreen about the Orz
Go to Izanagi 5, and talk with the Vyro-Ingo. They won't join you, yet
Go to Typhon 3, and talk with Harika. They won't join you either
Go to Enkidu 7, and talk with the Claircontlar. At Enkidu 4C you can get a conc rock. You can give it to Claircontlar, and get more from Enkidu 4C, but they still won't help you, yet
Go to Argus 5, and talk with the K'tang
Go to Cerberus, and talk with the Doogs (note: there are several doog worlds, any of them will give the same results)
Go to Anshar 3. Be prepared to fight the Exquivans. Talk to them afterwards
At this point, the Eltanin system should collapse (you might have to wait a bit, maybe not) Be prepared to fight a long battle
Go to goshen 4. The Spathi will complain a bit
Go to Janus 8. Confront the Mycon about their deep children. This happens after the Earthlings find out about the Mycon
Go to Janus 1 to talk with the deep child. Then confront the Mycon again. They will leave the league, so, pull Mycon off the Deep Child ship to start a new colony
Go toFormalhaut 5. The Utwig have lost their Ultron
Go to Goshen 4. The cowardly Spathi will quit the league. Come back and they will tell you many secrets. Make sure to come back several times and say "got any hot tips?"
Go to Salacia 2. confront the Vux, about the Ultron
Go to Argus 5, and talk with the K'tang to learn some new things
Go to Zosma 6, and talk with the Xchaggers
Go to Arcadia 6, and ask the Pkunk about it
Go to Erato 6, and recover the Ultron from the Vux by force
Go to Salacia 2, and confront the Vux again
Go to all the Doog worlds, and buy their colonies with RU's. You'll need about 10,000 RU's per colony. Afterwards, talk with the Doogs, and get the anti-matter containment Grid
Go to Zosma 6, ang get the Xchagger ships to hold the dynasies of Xchaggers
Go to Typhon 6 and Gienah 1, and cure the Harika plague
After the Chmmr have been bifircated, go to Hypnus 2
Go to Astarte 1, and have the Syreen revive the Chenjesu
Go to Arcadia 6, and ask the Pkunk about the missing Ultron pieces
Go to Nebusta 1 get an Ultron piece. The other piece is on Caduceus 4, use it to fix the Ultron
Takt it to the Utwig, but you'll find it's still broken
Go to Mnemosyne 1, after the Harika plague has been cured. Get the Anti-matter scoop
Go to Anshar 3, and reason with the Exquivans
At this point, the Tyche system should collapse. Go there to check it out
Go to Astarte 1, and learn about the Exquivan situation
Go to Anshar 3, and confront the Exquivans
Go to Arcadia 6, and check out how the Pkunk are doing
Go to Astarte 1, and have the Syreen mind-wipe a tech team to explore Anshar 3
Go to Anshar 3, and use the tech team to explore the planet
Go to Astarte 1, and check out the Pkunk again
Go to Anshar 3 and learn some stuff on the Exquivans
After the Vux have been revealed as Traitors, go to Salacia 2 and kick 'em out of the league
When the new Q-Space portal is discovered, go to Azazel and use portal to to travel to Haven. Be prepared to fight the Lk
Go to Antaeus 1, and get the Red Spiral Rail. Then go back to Q-Space G and give it to the LK
Get a conc rock from Enkidu 4C, if yu don't have one, and show it to the Lk
Go to enkidu 7 and threaten the Claircontlar. Lure them to Enkidu 4C, then, return to gain information from them
When a beacon is discovered, go to Callipe 2. Wait until Plexor arrives, then talk with him
After the Arilou tell you to, go to Izanagi 5, and ally with the Vyro-Ingo. After you get the Vyro-Ingo DNA model, take it to the Lk at the Azazel. They will tell you some stuff on it
Go back to Izanagi 5, and talk to the Vyro-Ingo about the DNA. Wait until the Vux DNA is discovered.
Go back to the Lk, and ask them how to join the two. Join the DNA, and show it to the Vyro-Ingo. Take some of their ships, and go to Salacia. Select a Vyro-Ingo ship and send it ti Salacia 2. The two races will join together
Go to Salacia 2 and talk with the new Vux. They will give you the missing peice to the Ultron. Take it to the Formahaut 5 (note:the Ultron does not need to be repaired to win the game)
Go to Goshen 4, and talk to the Spathi. Be prepared to fight them
Go to Mnemosyne 1, and you should be able to get an Anti-matter Explorer from the Owa
Go to all 9 of the rainbow worlds, and use the Anti-matter Scoop to collect anti-matter into the Anti-matter Containment Grid. Collect any artifacts you come across. You will find the mother Ark
Go to Zosma 6, and have the Xchagger fix the Mother Ark
Go to Hypnus 2 and revive the Chmmr. You will need the Mother Ark and the sun device from the Lk (note: you don't have to revive the Chmmr to win the game)
Find a Daktaklakpak ship and talk with tehm. let them come to you. After one game day, if they're not moving, they won't come. If you go to them, they will attack. some systems where they come to you are: Penates, Themis, Scylla and Lachesis. Trade with them for the variance key
Go to Begregren 2. Wait until you get a message about the Ortogs from the Earthlings
Go to Zozma 6, and ask the Xchagger for an Ortog
Go to Begregren 2, and use the Variance key. You should get the Deflector and the Sentience Notation Device. You give the Deflector to the Lk (nothing happened here)
Go to Anshar 3, you can get the Exquivans to join you
Go to Janus 8, and revive the Mycon
Find the Daktaklakpak, and trade them for info on the K'tang. Trade them for the missle
Go to Argus 5, and use the missle. The K'tang will join you
Go to Pauguk 4, and get the Ploxis ships
Go to Xipe, and the Ploxis rebels and the Sentience Collator. Revive the Ploxis (note: you could go to Pauguk 4 to take more ships)
Go to Highpoint 1, and the jettison the Anti-matter containment Grid. Be prepared to fight Plexor's Precursor vessel. Wait for the the Orz to show up and leave the league. Be prepared to fight them Wait for the Arilou to show up and talk to you. Wait until the Heralds show up and be prepared to fight them. There are plenty of them and are hard to beat. You'll get the Sentience Threasher
Combine the Threasher, the Collator, Notation Device, and Ebon Hinge. Travel to 13 different homeworlds. Come back to Highpoint 1, and use the Sentience Device.
THAT'S IT! GAME'S OVER! YOU'VE WON!