If you are new, you have no doubt been told; just make sure you aren’t profitable. Well, that sounds simple doesn’t it? The evolution and my understanding of Profitability, or more accurately how “profitable” one is, I believe has now finally come to an impasse. I will step you through my learning curve here, and hopefully it will assist someone, anyone else in decoding what other Zorg Empire players mean by profitable.
The Single Cell - Deuterium
The first incarnation of profitability, in its most basic form, is Resource Raiders. When you first start getting attacked, you assume it is only for the resources you have on your planet. Some players have even suggested to me that the only resource other players will attack you for is deuterium. But that is not accurate, fleeters raid for deuterium but since a fleeter is not the only type of player that means other types of players will raid for other resources! Some players have also advised that if you don’t have a lot of resources then you won’t be raided, this to is also completely false. If you have stuff, others want it no matter how little it will end up adding up to. So when an incoming attack is noticed, you spend your resources or move it off-world with cargo ships. So, job done, no resources means any reason for attack has been removed......right?
Mitosis – Resource Division
The next step in the evolution involves Fleet Hunters. It took me about a week to figure out that if I left my fleet parked in orbit, it wouldn’t be waiting for me when I came back. Never. Never ever. Naturally the same would apply to an abundant amount of solar satellites hanging around in orbit, if you are new you may think that sure, only 1 attack point but if I build thousands of them it will add up. No, it isn’t going to add up. Fleets and solar satellites are going to be hunted, destroyed and their left over debris will be recycled soon after by the enemy. So I did the usual noobishness things to try and get some tips on keeping my fleet safe. Naturally on the forms I came across the term fleet saving. We won’t get into fleet saving here; we’ll just assume you have a fleet, plenty of deuterium to move it, and two moons to do it safely. So, awesome then! I am now fleet saving my ships and my resources and I only build Solar Plants, there is no reason for me to be attacked......right?
The Mighty Mitochondria – The Missing Link
For the next while, things were relatively quiet however the universe is never quiet for long and the missing link was exposed. Random attacks were being launched against me, seemingly for no reason. Wars were being declared, and how does one measure the progression of a war effort? Total Damage Defence Bashers. It is clear from reading the Combat Reports from wars and ad-hoc attacks, the only thing that is used to pronounce a clearly defined “winner” is the Total Damage. In a war for example, you can launch 50 raids against a player and steal billions of resources, but that isn’t going to matter because when he scans your planets and finds your biggest stores of defences he will bash them and the total damage done will be recorded. Likewise for ad-hoc attacks, even with 0 resources, no fleet or satellites in orbit you will still be attacked for a good combat report to be posted on the forums, or just for fun. Ok, so, I have intentionally not built any defences on any planets, I am now fleet saving my ships and my resources and I only build Solar Plants, there is no reason for me to be attacked......right?
Opposable Thumbs – The Perfect Simian
Uberplayers, Pwners, 1337ers, unite. Even when you think there couldn’t possibly be anything left, you come across this group of special people! Frequently bipolar, always schizophrenic, anything you say or do in Zorg to these players can be used as a reason to bomb you back into the Stone Age; just because. If you send an espionage probe to one of their planets, expect an attack in response. If you post on a topic in the Forums and disagree with one of their thoughts, get ready to see some red incoming fleets. If they are bored, they will in fact lanx you and then ninja your 50 large cargo ships returning from a tiny raid.
Comparative Study
You can liken this to what I term the TST. Tunnel Stop Theory. I have devised by observation, the average driver travels at 5km under the speed limit. The average driver also travels approximately 15km slower when it is raining. The average driver then also travels around 10km slower inside of tunnels. On Sundays, yes for whatever reason it is true, you can shave another 10km off the average speed limit behind most cars. When approaching the speed camera you see the biggest speed hit with the average person driving 20km under the limit. So, on Sundays, driving in the rain into a tunnel with a speed camera, and the speed limit is 60km or less, traffic will theoretically stop!
Conclusion
This is the perfect storm situation that occurs when it comes to being attacked while playing Zorg, it just happens. You are going to be attacked, profitable or not, and you might as well tell yourself that it is not for any specific reason except for someone to post about your failure and follow it up with the biggest false positive advice I’ve seen here yet; GLOTR
Disclaimer - This is in no way a dig at the game, just some straight talk for all you newer and yet to join players out there!
Regards,
Av
