What do you do with surplus resources?

[NickAragua]

I very rarely max out resources. However, when I do, I do thing similar to what the others in this thread have said:

- Zenith Trader projects
- Spirecraft
- Extra turrets/mines
- Capital Ships
- Mercs

Mercs are always the default fallback, because they will eat through any resource surplus with no problem, and the ship caps are so ludicrously high that you'll never reach them before you have to shut down the merc dock and build something else.

[Catma]

So story-wise, does that mean mercs have pilots? Is that why they're so expensive? And why are they so strong?

[Kittens]

I tend to fill out my caps of starships first, and then go for merc parasites. Reclaiming high mark stuff is not so bad!

[PokerChen]

I find radar jammers IIs to be too expensive, as are Ion-2s.

Heh, odd.  I find Radar IIs to be the most powerful thing they sell.  All my mid-range turrets never die to Missile Frigates anymore.

I'll need a game in which I haves the time/resources to *finish* building them... 7/7 is too low of a difficulty for that, and I never wait around for zenith things to finish.
Perhaps I should try building these in place of both armour devices - cost about the same.

[Toranth]

About the Zenith Traders... one should always start building 1*players ZPGs before they capture one.

Most useful amongst others is counterspy if you encounter cloaked unlocks. Blackhole machines next on a fortressed world, followed by armour remover and tripler. Orbital Mass Drivers are so-so, and only significant if you lack serious firepower against lead ships (you won't technically need one, say, if you already have a spire city.)

I find radar jammers IIs to be too expensive, as are Ion-2s.

The Counterspy should be useful in theory, but I've found that the most annoying of the cloakers, the Eyebot, is immune to instakill.  Therefore, the Counterspy, it does nothing.  The armor remover is great for defending against Hybrids and Riots and their ilk, but I almost never bother with the Armor Buff.

Anyone a fan of the armor buff that's willing to convince me otherwise?

[PokerChen]

About the Zenith Traders... one should always start building 1*players ZPGs before they capture one.

Most useful amongst others is counterspy if you encounter cloaked unlocks. Blackhole machines next on a fortressed world, followed by armour remover and tripler. Orbital Mass Drivers are so-so, and only significant if you lack serious firepower against lead ships (you won't technically need one, say, if you already have a spire city.)

I find radar jammers IIs to be too expensive, as are Ion-2s.

The Counterspy should be useful in theory, but I've found that the most annoying of the cloakers, the Eyebot, is immune to instakill.  Therefore, the Counterspy, it does nothing.  The armor remover is great for defending against Hybrids and Riots and their ilk, but I almost never bother with the Armor Buff.

Anyone a fan of the armor buff that's willing to convince me otherwise?

Oh? Well, that's something I learned today.

Re: armour buff. At the moment it's not that useful given the recent armour discussion, hopefully the next iteration of armour mechanics will go some ways into fixing that. I instinctively combine this with fortresses and fortified shields, but I'm not at all certain exactly how much it boosts survivability.

[Commiesalami]

About the Zenith Traders... one should always start building 1*players ZPGs before they capture one.

Most useful amongst others is counterspy if you encounter cloaked unlocks. Blackhole machines next on a fortressed world, followed by armour remover and tripler. Orbital Mass Drivers are so-so, and only significant if you lack serious firepower against lead ships (you won't technically need one, say, if you already have a spire city.)

I find radar jammers IIs to be too expensive, as are Ion-2s.

The Counterspy should be useful in theory, but I've found that the most annoying of the cloakers, the Eyebot, is immune to instakill.  Therefore, the Counterspy, it does nothing.  The armor remover is great for defending against Hybrids and Riots and their ilk, but I almost never bother with the Armor Buff.

Stealth Battleships are also immune to insta-kill as well, which are the only other stealth ships that I fear.

[Hearteater]

Some recent buffs may change how fearsome some of the cloaked units are, and it adds a new one: Vampire Claw.