Resource Gathering Hints

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• Keep a log of the systems you've visited. Note those with resource rich planets that are too hostile to land on. You may be able to come back to them later.
• Don't waste time and fuel on gathering common or corrosive metals. They don't give you very many RUs.
• Get really good at killing Ilwrath and Slylandro. Practice against them in Super Melee.
• The Ilwrath Avenger is a very risky fight, one slip and you face serious damage.
• You can gather resource units easily if you encounter a race which is a poor match for your ships. There is a near-infinite supply of enemy ships in a star system and you can gain a considerable amount of resource units by scavanging their debris.
• Early on in the game, technological advances may prove more useful than knowledge by improving your resource-gathering and combat capabilities. Try to find a race willing to trade technologies or items with you.
• Collect biological data even if you don't know what to do with it yet. It's pretty safe to say it's there for a reason.
• Invest in thrusters. They affect your flagship in all areas of the game, and can get you from system to system much faster. Turning jets are not as important early in the game, but you should not have below three. Although, turning jets are essential for fighting, so you may consider equipping all your turning jet slots if you can afford it.
• Outfit your ship for resource gathering so you don't have to keep coming back to Sol for fuel, crew, landers or because you're full. 3 or 4 cargo pods. Plenty of fuel. 2 landers. Maxed out thrusters. 2 crew pods.
• You lose no money selling modules. It's cost-effective to convert your ship between "fighting" and "gathering" configurations.
• Notice how the orbits of planets are different colors? Figure out what they mean and it can save you some time.
• You should also note that different star systems have different temperatures. Generally, the higher the temperature, the bigger the mineral batches will be. Go for hot - but not too hot as it may prove risky. Note that giants or SuperGiants may prove to be too hot to access.
• Talk to the starbase commander about resource gathering.
• Fuel is expensive. It's more efficient to completely clear a system than to go back twice. If you run out of room and there's still good stuff in the system, consider dumping some of your cheapest cargo.
• Always keep the landing cost in mind. It may shorten your trip and force you back to Sol. Also, make sure landing is worth the trade-off, especially for planets with high landing cost.