Opening moves?

[i_am_memory]

Hi all.
I only play on the hardest level, which means I lose about 75% of the games I start. The opening moves above are fantastic, and most work for the hardest level too.
The big difference, however, is that shortly after the game starts the dominators will start conquering the few remaining systems. You will see the six or seven systems you started with are being destroyed. Unfortunatly everything is too weak to stand against them, so it is a matter of time until only one system or two remains.
But what you must, must, must do is protect the science station. So that means when there are only a few systems remaining, you must hang around in or near the one with the science station. You will need the money you get from selling to the science station to keep your war afloat.
Sometimes I upgrade the science station if I have the money. Droid is paramount.
Until the galaxy discovers rocket launchers, it is impossible to liberate a dominator system. On the hardest level, it takes a great deal of time for rocket launchers to be discovered.

[DRNewcomb]

Missile launchers are very good weapons early on. They are cheap and you can blast at dominators from a distance. I always keep at least one. If you see a dominator that's about to get killed you can target it with a salvo and get credit for the kill, even if it dies before the missiles are launched. They tend to be messy, blowing up valuable stuff you'd rather bring onboard. For this reason I prefer flow blasters in the middle game and disintegrators late in the game. Always upgrade your missile launchers to the top level. It costs the same to reload no matter the level.