There's a lot of uses for a design forum, with new features come new designs and strategies. Hey, I know, we could put what type of designs to avoid creating there! (Like the tiny man, going into enough detail for people to understand why they are so bad, while not enough to let them easily recreate it.)

This post is ALWAYS accurate, so Sir Emi, please ban all these people but #18, who has presented evidence that proves the account was used by a friend and she has blocked that person out, either permantantly or temporarily, though most probably deserve a permanant IP ban from the site, as all had been wanred multiple times and refused to listen. And if you could, please inform me of who you have banned by PM or post, so I can put it on this list and we can keep track of our banned to date count, thanks.
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This is for anyone who spams in the chat or forum, acts like a Noob, or any other amazingly stupid and shameful act that is breaking ToS.

Included on this list are the commander's name, number, and reason for being put on the list. Once on this list, you can never come off.

If you wish to add someone to this list, make a post below with their name, number, and reason for being shamed.

1. EAGLE»lord(#6515) Reason: For Spamming Chat room, spamming the old Hall of Shame (more proof of his Noobness) and acting like a Noob when told to stop.

2. ChaChi2(#6799) Reason: n00bish behaviour, chat spamming, inappropriate language, general disrespect for other players, sexual impropriety.

3. platttte(#7073) Reason: n00bish behaviour, chat spamming, inappropriate language, general disrepect for other players.

4. Lacey10(#7082) Reason: n00bish behaviour, chat spamming, disrespectful behaviour, encouraging other to chat spam.

5. little_tim(#6979) Reason: n00bish behaviour, chat spamming, inappropriate language, disrespectful behaviour, sexual impropriety.

6. bigjoke3(#6949) Reason: inappropriate language, sexual impropriety, attempting the use the chat as a dating service.

7. Xero(#7240) Reason: inappropriate language, sexual impropriety.

8. TwistedMan(#7247) Reason: inappropriate language (three times, once, then was notified after doing it a second time on 03/21.06, broke them again when cussing me out for informing him that he was breaking TOS), sexual impropriety, using chat as dating service twice after being told to stop.

9. meagan_22(#7467) Reason: chat spamming, inappropriate language, disrespectful treatment of other commanders.

10. Nicholas D. Wolfwood(#3202) Reason: n00bish behaviour, chat spamming, and inappropriate language.

11: chick(#7525) Reason: attempting to use the chat as a dating service, inappropriate language.

12: Brad Pitt(#7609) Reason: Inappropriate language and sexual impropriety.

13: sk8er kid(#7376) Reason: inappropriate language, chat spamming, making inappropriately sexual comments.

14: ViolentJ(#7406) Reason: inappropriate language, chat spamming, making inappropriately sexual comments.

15: wcislo12(#7257) Reason: inappropriate language.

16: andrew hughes(#5670) Reason: inappropriate language

17: kazmodan(#9108) Reason: inappropriate language, refused to stop after being warned.

18: (Removal From List Pending, Do Not Ban) luv_me(#9515) Reason: inappropriate language, refused to stop after being warned.

19: lonewolv100(#9684) Reason: inappropriate language, refused to stop after being warned, threatening other players to give them viruses, and harrasing a moderator through forum PMs.

20: TamTam(#8490) Reason: inappropriate language, refused to stop after being warned, talking trash, spamming the chat, n00bish behavior, disrespectful treatment of other commanders.

21: VaeVictus(#7063) Reason: inappropriate language, refused to stop after being warned, spamming the chat, n00bish behavior, and disrespectful treatment of other commanders.

22: wer5(#11122) Reason: inappropriate language, refused to stop after being warned, spamming the chat, n00bish behavior, and disrespectful treatment of other commanders.

23: General Sylvan(#7828) Reason: inappropriate language, refused to stop after being warned, spamming the chat, n00bish behavior, and disrespectful treatment of other commanders.
 
24: Commander Overman(#8525) Reason: inappropriate language, refused to stop after being warned, spamming the chat, n00bish behavior, and disrespectful treatment of other commanders.

25: leemster(#2986) Reason: inappropriate language, refused to stop after TWO warnings, both clearly stating the offense.

26. NB31(#10669) Reason: inappropriate language, refused to stop after being warned, n00bish behavior, continuing to use inappropriate language at a moderator and disrespectful treatment of a moderator.

27. deathslay888(#7677) Reason:  inappropriate language, refused to stop after being warned, spamming the chat, n00bish behavior, and disrespectful treatment of other commanders.

28. Jacxx(#11040) Reason: inappropriate language, refused to stop after being warned, spamming the chat, n00bish behavior, and disrespectful treatment of other commanders.

Most of the older players have heard of them, a few of the newer ones have. The Forgotten Ancients was a legendary alliance from the beginning of space odyssey who dominated all, back when the game was (for lack of a better word) primitive and had none of these special features it does now. They are still around today, but they don't have thier former glory. If you look in the alliance rankings, after a while you see this:

Rank         Name     Members  Age        Power
(currently being updated)113  Forgotten Ancients 2 236 Day(s) 2.186.794

What happened to them you ask?

Well, for reasons I do not know (though others might) they were broken up, many of thier members joining other alliances. Two memebrs that I have seen are Alex (#0022) and Mr. Timber549 (#0298), both who are still active and powerful.

The Forgotten Ancients have, for the most part, been forgotten. They may be legendary, but they have been reduced to a mere shadow of thier former glory.Which leads me to my point (Hurray!) It's time for the "New" (relative term here) legendary alliances to be announced (that is, from my point of view, these aren't official, though it would be cool if we could somehow make them that way) Here they are, 10 of them, in the order I believe they should be in (I've taken in account age, power, and achievements and tried to create an equal balance, so please, don't flame me about it unless you have a valid reason):

1. Aeternal_Light (Main Reason: Though old, have managed to be in the top ten every round (to my knowledge)).
2. Teufel Hunden (Main Reason: Somewhat old, in round before the last one, had almost every member in a slot in the top ten, and has never had more then 8 members in their alliance at one time.)
3. G-Unit (Main Reason: Same age (give three days older) as the Teufel Hunden, managed to be near top ten, take complete control of top ten for a period of time longer than two days (last round) and managed to defeat the UEA, and had the highest amount of members ever until the limit came to be (I believe it was 66 members.))
4. UEA (Note: The UEA is know known as the UEA "Reborn")(Main Reason: This old/new alliance had successfully fought several alliances at once while still managing to climb the rankings, also (this did not affect the placement in any way, shape, or form) the only alliance to have it's leader abandon them (Note: War_Knight did not abandon G-unit, he planned to return. Why he did not do this is unknown, so he is MIA))
5. Dooms Day Defenders (Main Reason: Having the one of the highest power levels to ever be seen (though it was reset) and for swaying many prominant members of other alliances to join them.)
6. Space Balls Alliance(Main Reason: For having been one of the most stealthy alliances around, attacking with precise skill and timing, and coming back from counters like they were nothing.)
7. Flying Tigers (Main Reason: Having held a top ten position for a while, used counters to decimate their enemies)
8. Azezul (Main Reason: Besides being hell to deal with when they were at their peak, they were the first alliance to refuse to ally themselves with anyone, and who sought to fight with everyone.
9. The Friar's Missionaries (Main Reason: The most peaceful alliance to ever exist, they fought with very few people, though when they did, they were formidable.)
10. Silent World (Main Reason: Actually, the only reason is that they are incredably old and still have a high ranking.)

I don't know, that could get really confusing and end up using a LOT of bandwidth. Maybe we should justmake a list of Space Odyssey's Top Ten Most Aggressive Commanders That are Successful?

Thanks for the input ars, I've updated and added that under the mission part (I'll make this more organized as I go, so bear with me). You've also been given credit.

OMG, I've been stickied!

I'd like to thank all the little people who's name I've forgotten for helping me get here. Lol, jk.

I'll keep working on this, make it WAY better, add some other sections like FAQ, some ship designs for newbies, and others. Eventually I plan on this being a full fledged mini-guide, for those who just want a real quick coverage of what you can do.

If anyone wants to help, just post here, or pm. You'll get your credit for whatever work you do.

Version 1.0
Basic guide is up and running.
Version 1.1
Added suggestion by ars.
Version 1.2
Added suggestion by ars.
Version 1.3
Added more suggestions by ars.
Version 2.0
Added FAQ, edited tiny man description a little to have correct wording.
Version 3.0
Added commanders to message for help and basic desigining 101
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This guide has come a good way from what I originally wrote, so it's time for some props to be handed out. To Admin (whoever you maybe), for almost immediatly stickying it, that is an honor itself. To ars68, who has wrriten multiple tips, in fact, all the teal writing you see was contributed by ars. To Sir Emi, of course, for making such a kick ass game. And to all you commanders out there who are constantly testing the boundries of the game. This guide would not be possible without you, so keep on contributing, and this guide will continue to grow.

I've divided this into three parts, The Beginning, The Middle, and The End.

The Beginning

Right off the bat, before you do anything else, VOTE! You get credits, segments, and turns for voting, so do it as often as possible! Vote 5 allows you to vote every 12 hours, and Vote 8 allows you to vote once a week. The rest allow you to vote once a day. So DO IT!
Economy
First, use your turns to extend your mothership. Put the segments you get into Workshops so you can use more segments a turn later. Once you get a good amount in Workshops, choose a economy type below.

Biofarm Economy: Using Biofarms, you earn credits for the turns you use. It will provide a steady flow of income, but does not yeild incredibly high amounts of credits.

Trade Economy: using Warehouse Modules, you purchase items from the market, then attempt to sell them back at a profit. Can bring in large sums of credits, but not very steady.

Mix Economy: A mix of both Biofarm and Warehouse economies.

Military
Note: There are three distinctive ship types:

powership:
this ship will generally be fairly small, and use a lot of 1 space, 1% ACC weapon systems.  I mean, 50+ systems is probably less then norm.  these ships are generally used not for fighting, in which then the extremely high power given will make everything they face much harder then what they can really handle, but to gain power very quickly, and to go into neb's very quickly as well, while suffering the least real damage.  example: spend 100 mil credits on 1 fleet of these that, when attacked, will purposely get wiped out, and having so much power in this fleet, will generate a nebula instantly.  this ship can also be used to quickly make a 100% 1 bil mission into a 1% 1 bil mission fairly quickly.

*hull*ships:
definetely the most varied group of ships, but what sets these apart from powerships is that instead of generating most of their power from having many many 1% ACC weapon systems, these ships have most (actually roughly 1/3rd to 1/2) power from their hull (how much space it is)  these can vary from small 20 space "swarmers" to huge 3 trillion deathstars.  quite distinguishing is the fact though that these will almost always use much more then just 1% ACC, but in fact at least 10-20%.

mega-upgrade ships: (aka tinyman designs)
these ships are completely and totally opposite to powerships, in that instead of generating way to much attack to cost and stats, these will use the absolute minimum hull size and fairly good ACC % weapon to generate the least power.  Due to it's extremely low hull space, it then increases these already high stats to even higher due to an extremely high max swarm bonus, in which then each ship is somewhat 1000X stronger then what it's power would suggest.

each of these 3 ship types then have several different types, especially the "hull" ships, but in general, I believe you should use this in that order, powerships in beggining, "hull" ships in middle, mega-upgrade ships in end. Contributed by ars68

Swarmer: Using small space ships that rely on numbers and swarm bonus to get the job done. A popular choice among the new kids.

Mega-Upgrade ship (also refered to as the Tiny Man Designs): Using small space and incredibly powerful, but expensive upgrades, this ship is nearly undefeatable.

Secretbase
Your goal for now is to get to 1 billion workers.

The Middle

note: the middle refers to the point at which your base power reaches 100 million.

EconomyYou should begin moving towards a mix economy if you don't have one already.

MissionsYou should have started doing missions by now, giving you a new source of income, segment and worker gaining. I advise you use your turns on missions now and not on exploring for segments, which is probably a waste now.

Note: a little something to remember about missions:
difficulty % really means NOTHING, just how high it is compared to your active fleet.
example:
a 100% difficulty mission with reward of 1 billion, will have the same difficulty in enemy fleets (as randomly generated fleets will allow) as a 1% difficulty mission with reward of 1 billion. 

at the moment, the only exception I know of to this is where the price limit to limit swarmers goes higher based on mission %, so if you face a tinyman fleet, it may actually make the 100% mission harder then the 1%, even though it is same reward amount. Contributed by ars68

Military
For those using swarmers: Start building Hull ships (Hull ship: a ship with a large amount of space and powerful weapons. Costly, but hard to destroy). Continue using swarmers as well though, they make a great combo with the superships.

For those using Mega Upgrade ships (Tiny Man Desgins): Keep buying them.

Secretbaseyou should be aiming towards 1 trillion workers now.

The End

Note: The End refers to the point in time when D-day is about to activate

Military
Have a reserve fleet at the ready, and make sure you have enough credits in your mothership to activate them at all times.

MissionsDo these as often as possible, and resupply any losses immedtiately.

EconomyGet workers, lots and lots of workers.

D-Day
Go all out, hold nothing back. Play for as long as you can as often as you can. Resupply and buy ships like mad, raid anyone with 0 ships. If you do this well enough, the top ten is yours.

For those in the D-Day countdown, I can give you no better advice than this:
when you are going to try to start DDay, there are some things to remember, even though people have un-limited attacks on you, they cannot touch your reserve ships, or what credits you have on hand.  also, the credits you have on hand DOES add to your power, so by having so many credits on hand, it is IMPOSSIBLE to go below 35 million power.  good luck everyone.Contributed by ars68....again

Basic Designing 101Note: This is a step by step guide to building your first basic ship. Use it only in the beginning.
First things first, go to the design page by clicking design on the menu. Then click design ship. Name your ship whatever you want and enter the value 100 for the space. Hit view design, your cost should be 16.500. If not, you did something wrong, or you have a glitch and need to report it. If it is, click confirm design. The click design again.

Now, lets make a powercore. Go to the pull down menu and click it and select powercore, then click design system. Name it whatever you want, then set the wieght value to 30 and the energy gen value to 7000. Click view design, make sure it costs 700, then click confirm design. Once again click the design button.

Now lets make armour. The drop down menu is automatically set to this, so just click design system. Name it, then set the wieght value to 20, and the hitpoint value to 482. Click view design, make sure the cost is 130, then click confirm design. Once again click design.

Now let's make a special. Click the pull down menu, select special, and click design system. Name it and set the wieght to 25, the energy req to 2000, the def bonus to 1, the defense to 11, and the hitpoints to 300. Click view design, it should cost 500. If so, click confirm design, then click the design button again.

alright, one more system to make, then we piece it all together. Click the pull down menu, select weapon, and click design system. Name it, and set the wieght to 25, the energy req to 5000, the attack to 44600, and the acc to 1. Click view design, it should cost 500.If it does, click confirm design.

Now, over on the left you will see a tab called buy fleet, click it. Click the pull down menu and look for the ship you just created. Select it and click buy ship. Now, scroll down the powercores till you find yours, click the check box, make sure the number of ships you are buying is zero, then click buy ship(s). Now click the upgrade button.

First add the armour. Click the first drop down menu and select the ship you made, then click the second and select armour. Select custom upgrades, the hit view. If you have a lot of designs, search for your by entering the name into the search box and pressing search, otherwise scroll down or move pages until you see it, mark the check box, and click buy upgrade. Now click back, and then back once more. Repeat the process for special and weapon.

Now, click the resupply fleet button, find the fleet you just made and buy some, how many is up to you. Congratulations, you just created your first normal ship!

FAQ
Q. Why does it say I have alliance messages but my mailbox is empty/I'm not in an alliance?
A. There is a glitch that will tell you about new posting in the alliance board even though you have not been accepted into the alliance yet. It does this because you've requested to join. Once you get accepted into an alliance,you can view the messages by clicking the alliance button.

Q. What is the difference between the attacks?
A. Regular=Attacks using only your ships, has normal power.
Board= Attacks using your weapons, then boards remain ship with marines in an attempt to capture them. Your attack power is 20% less then normal when using this type of attack.
Scout Base= Uses ships to look for secret base.
Raid Base= (Note: You must have used Scout Base and found the persons secret base or this attack will do nothing.) Uses ships to steal some credits and workers from enemies base.

Q. I found a bug, now what?
A. Either post the details about it in the Bugs forum or send e (#0001) a message with the details.

Q. Who is Sir Emi?
A. The creator of Space Odyssey

Q. How do I use my counter?
A. Just attack the person who attacked you with any type of attack (Don't acout unless you have more then one counter and can find the base in the first time, you'll just waste a counter.) Counters also go through nebulas and truces.

Q. What's the little hand sign next to this person?
A. It's a truce sign, it means to attack them you have to pay a certain amount of money to break the truce. The amount is determined by how long the truce has left. These guys are your friends, so it usually isn't a good idea to attack them.

Q. Who are you to be giving advice?
A. Someone who has the time, and experience needed. Now, stop asking stupid questions like this.

Q. What should I contact Sir Emi about?
A. You should only contact Sir Emi when there is a bug you want to report, to report someone who might be cheating (Just because they kicked your butt doesn't mean they are cheating. You're ships probably just suck), and to request a name change. If you have a suggestion to make, put it in the suggestion forum (Which you are in, so just go out of this thread, click new topic, and post. Easy.). Feel free to contact me if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer them for you, or bounce you to someone who can answer them.

Q. Why is this game so lame?
A. Two things, first, it's not, odds are you just either suck at it or haven't read the guide (Click the word Guide in the upper right hand corner of the game screen, not the forum screen. That explains in detail what does what and stuff. This is just a strategy guide to HELP those who already know the basics.), and second, that isn't really a question, more of a rhetorical statement. So just don't ask it.

Q. How long does a round last?
A. Anywhere from 3-6 months on average, but it could last a couple days to years if we want. To end the round, the thing called D-Day must be activated (This takes 24 hours to do when 20 commanders of or over the power of 35 million join. click the tab D-day to see who is on D-Day and to join it. After it activates, there are 24 more hours, then the round ends and a new one starts withen ten minutes.)

Q. Can we have more then one account?
A. Yes, but, you must play it the same way you would if you only had one account. You can't use one account to give the other credits or to attack a certain person more. Doing so violates the rules and gets your ip address banned, as well as your account deleted.

Q. So and so has ten trillion ships but they are only rank whatever. What's going on?
A. It's a glitch in the rankings, it happens sometimes. It'll go away after a bit.

Q. You're stupid and gay
A. That's your opinion, and not a question. But we do not use sexual remarks here at Space Odyssey (Ok, we're not SUPPOSE to. Some of you veterans would do to remember that as well.), nor do we insult people's intelligence (to there faces.) To make a sexual remark about someone, unless it is in good humor, is against the rules and is can be treated the same as miss using your alteranate account(s), depending on the how severe the insult was.

Q. How do I win the game?
A. The only way to "win" per say is to be in the top ten when D-Day ends. There is no actual winning this game, just owning everyone else.

Q. Can you donate for me?
A. No, and if you find someone who will, I'll be amazed. Don't go begging for credits or someone to donate for you, it's wrong and frowned apon. People will hate you for it.

Q. Which is better, using the ships the game gives you or designing your own?
A. Designing your own. Even someone who sucks at designing, such as myself, can make a better ship then the ones the game supplies. Those are just there for reference and for people who don't want to bother to design a ship.

Q. Is there an easy and quick way to get credits without donating or doing any work?
A. Yes, actually, there is, it's called CHEATING! No one knows how to do it yet, but Sir Emi and everyone else will know if you suddenly go flying up in power and haven't donated (We'll notice the rapid climb in power, notify Sir Emi, and he'll check if you donated, if you didn't then it's obvious you are taking advantage of a bug or cheating in some way. No one can go from rank 100 to rank 2 in 5 minutes any other way, unless everyones power is within a couple thousand of each other, which never happens, ever.). You WILL have your ip address banned from the game, as well as your account and your email account, to prevent you from rejoining and doing it again.

Commanders to message for help: (Note: Only message these commanders if you have already read the official Guide (the one you access from in game, says guide, upper right hand corner.))
Gunfighter_Frank
Lunanova
mrtimbr549
ars68
Monkey D. Luffy
Lightseeker_Eu

All will be happy to help you as long as you are polite about it.

If you guys think of any other questions that should be up here, just post them and I'll add them.

I'll update this with more detailed advice, new strategies, and what not as time goes on. Feel free to post ideas below and if they are good (meaning I like them) i'll edit them in here and give you credit for them.