Outposts

Overview
From the game itself: 

"Any nation with aspirations of greatness will have to reach out into the universe to gather the important raw materials that can only be gathered in sufficient quantities on the dead worlds. In order to maintain this operation, an outpost is needed. This outpost is in essence an orbital station that functions as a hub for the delivery of raw materials from the planet, and transportation out to the homeworld. Outposts come in various forms and sizes depending on their how much raw materials they are supposed to be able to store and process. Initially, the outpost is constructed in orbit around the homeworld, and then towed through the jump gate into position around its designated dead world. A mining station is then established on the surface.  ''

'' Transportation of resources is the most hazardous part of the gathering process, as there is no jump gate back to the homeworld. This means that transport ships rely on their jump-drives to take them safely back home. This does take time, and along the way, they are easy targets for other nations, as they pass through their systems on the way home. Escort fleets often accompany these transports, to ensure their safe arrival.

The outpost itself is vulnerable to attacks, and can even be taken over by other nations and their allies, if they are able to overcome the defenses of the outpost. It is important for any nation to assign defensive fleets to the protection of their outposts, and if possible, utilize alliance fleets in the protection of the operation. If lost, the outpost itself is not entirely lost, and can be taken over and used by the conquerors, although in a reduced capacity, until they themselves choose to upgrade it back to its original form."''

Outposts are independent mining stations deployed on a planet to harvest resources for the homeworld. They produce varying amounts of each resource, depending on the outpost's level and the resource concentration on the planet. They send resources to your home planet every 15 minutes and must be defended.

Specialization
Each outpost planet has a specialization, giving more of one or two resources over the others. This is shows with the element symbols. For example, a planet with the hassium  symbol specializes in hassium but gives small amounts of the other 3. A planet with 2 element symbols gives off greater amounts of those elements than the others. Finally, an equal sign indicates that the planet will give off equal amounts of resources. To claim, you must either attack a controlled outpost and win or if a planet is unclaimed then you may 'claim planet' by selecting the outpost you wish to set up over that planet. One must open up the Starmap to access these planets, which is part of the side panel and looks like this:

Potential
The potential of a planet goes from 2/10 up to 10/10, 10/10 being an outpost with the highest amount of possible resources gained in the galaxy. This determines the max resources to be gained from that outpost. Here are the maximum resources for all levels:

10/10 Outputting 200 K res per hour at level 10, Max defense 250 K, Rank 10 commander

9/10 Outputting 175 K res per hour at level 10, Max defense 125 K, Rank 9 commander

8/10 Outputting 150 K res per hour at level 10, Max defense 75 K, Rank 8 commander

7/10 Outputting 125 K res per hour at level 10, Max defense 50 K, Rank 7 commander

6/10 Outputting 100 K res per hour at level 10, Max defense 40 K, Rank 6 commander

5/10 Outputting 90 K res per hour at level 10, Max defense 30 K, Rank 5 commander

4/10 Outputting 85 K res per hour at level 10, Max defense 20 K, Rank 5 commander

3/10 Outputting 80 K res per hour at level 10, Max defense 10 K, Rank 5 commander

2/10 Outputting 75 K res per hour at level 10, Max defense 5 K, Rank 5 commander

Outpost levels
These are the three stages of outposts. The top is the lvl 1 basic outpost, under that is the lvl 4 advanced outpost, and under that is the lvl 7 superior outpost. Since the outpost system is level based, you don't have to replace an outpost with a new 'advanced' or 'superior' outpost; upgrading the ones you have does the same thing. Your outposts will will change appearance once they have been upgraded to lvl 4 and lvl 7. The level of the outpost determines the percent level of resources gained, or Operating Capacity. Upgrading them increases the operating capacity and thus the amount of resources.

Importance of Defense
The outposts will be the main points of contention in AD2460, where the dead worlds with the best potential for extraction of raw materials become golden eggs for any alliance that is able to hold it. Once you reach level 5, others can attempt to steal your outposts. You can defend them by moving ships to the fleets assigned to each outpost (each outpost is automatically given a fleet, and its own commander--you do not need to make a fleet or anything like that). Based on the outposts potential, you must decide whether or not it is worth defending, and how much defense it needs/warrants. If you defend with less than the recommended defense strength (if the fleet appears in red), others can attack with the recommended defense strength. If you defend with more than the recommended defense strength, others can attack with up to the defense strength. There is a maximum amount with which any outpost can be defended, which is the number shown on the outpost page.

Here is how much strength is needed for defense:
 * Potential 10 outposts can always be attacked by 5.000 strength x Outpost-level.
 * Potential 9 outposts can always be attacked by 2.500 strength x Outpost-level.
 * Potential 8 outposts can always be attacked by 1.500 strength x Outpost-level.
 * Potential 7 outposts can always be attacked by 1.000 strength x Outpost-level.
 * Potential 6 outposts can always be attacked by 800 strength x Outpost-level. (But always 1000)
 * Potential 5 outposts can always be attacked by 600 strength x Outpost-level. (But always 1000)
 * Potential 4 outposts can always be attacked by 400 strength x Outpost-level. (But always 1000)
 * Potential 3 outposts can always be attacked by 200 strength x Outpost-level. (But always 1000)
 * Potential 2 outposts can always be attacked by 100 strength x Outpost-level. (But always 1000)
 * Potential 1 outposts can always be attacked by 100 strength x Outpost-level. (But always 1000)

Attacking
One of the main parts of the game is taking over outposts. On the right we see an outpost owned by Bevty and it has 8300 strength at its disposal. The only way to take the outpost is to launch by hitting the red button, selecting a fleet, and invading. You must destroy all defenses to take it over. When doing so the outpost will lose one lvl as it has been 'damaged.'