Production Queue
Planets.nu has two ways of handling the 500-ship limit, the Classic Queue or the Production Queue. (Production Queue is usually simply referred to as "Standard" at Planets.nu).
The Production Queue (PQ) is an evolution from the "Classic 500-ship limit". Instead of a hard limit at 500 ships, there is now a "soft limit" at 500 ships. Players can spend Priority Points to build ships after the 500-ship limit. There is still a hard 999 ship limit.
Notable Differences
There are a number of noticeable differences between the two build systems, nearly radically altering the flow of the games that use this system.
Priority builds
First and foremost, because priority builds allow a game to go over the 500-ship limit, all priority builds take place before normal builds. Furthermore, priority builds are now "manual", allowing a player to spend them at any time (even if under 21 priority points). Consequently, this step occurs once in a PQ host order, and that all priority builds cost 1 PP more than they would under the Classic build system.
Normal builds
The starbase list is shuffled at the start of each turn. Leftover ship slots after priority builds (if any) will be filled by as many normal builds as possible. Any starbases selected to build which do not build any ships that turn gain +2 PP for their owners instead.
If the ship list fills up on the first pass, then the queue pauses until after combat occurs and resumes afterward.
PP stealing
Players that successfully destroy starbases will steal 2 PP for each starbase they destroy, assuming the owner(s) of these bases have enough PPs to lose. This assumption is likely, as all planetary combat occurs after ships have been destroyed.
Host Order for Ship Builds
Here's a clip of the PQ host order containing notable steps, keeping in mind that the normal build steps are linked together
- Priority builds
- Normal builds
- Cloning
- (Combat)
- Normal builds
How PQ Affects Strategy and Gameplay
With the Classic Queue, players would "farm" priority points by building SDSFs at their idle starbases. This would serve two functions: earning a player PPs by recycling the ships (for +1 PP) and filling up the 500-ship limit faster (to block opponents' builds). Now with PQ, players profit more from leaving their starbases idle (thus gaining +2 PP each turn). This reduces the incentive for players to fill up ship slots with "junk" ships. Since building many starbases is profitable for generating PP, the ability to steal opponents' PP exists as a countermeasure. The risk of losing PPs from a destroyed starbases makes building too many starbases a risk, which puts a limit on how many a player will want to build.
PQ was introduced because people generally did not like the Classic build queue and its hard 500-ship limit. In particular, new players found it difficult to understand the ship limit system, and experienced players would usually know how to control the build queue much better. PQ is much simpler, allowing you to do priority builds at any starbase, instead of relying on planets with low ID# to build ships. By allowing PPs to be used at any time and anywhere, the game is more fun. Players won't find the is game "locked" at 500 ships, but instead allows them to continue to build ships if they want.
Custom Settings
For custom games, players can alter how many PPs you get for having an idle starbase, as well as the amount stolen for destroying a starbase. The base amount of PPs required to build a ship (in addition to the cost of 1 PP / 50 kt) can also be changed.
Differences between NuHost and Host 3.22
This element is available only to NuHost.
Additional Information
- Classic Queue - The original build queue of VGA Planets
- Annoucement of the PQ, plus more
