i've done so much ppt'in that i've married 20 port keeper's daughters.

Don't see them much anymore (thank god), as i am beam trading whenever the edit allows.

Singularity and I explored this about 3 months ago... this is a refresher for you newer players.

The edit:
- lv1 citadel immediately
- no 1 tpw trading ships

The action:
- ppt for some cash and keep an eye open for a sweet "out of the way" trading pair. (SBS - SSB).
- put a lv1 planet over each of the ports, and create a Tpad to reach the partner planet.
- port at SBS and buy sufficient fuel to operate the Tpad and fill the rest of the holds with equip.
- land, drop fuel, enter citadel, beam to SSB, land and dump equip, port for fuel and org., land, dump fuel, enter citadel and beam back to SBS, land and dump org... repeat until all product bought down to planets... planet negotiate all product in one sale.
- upgrade ports as you go... the holdup of course is the buyer upgrade/regen... ya need patience.
- get back to ppt to help speed the pace of upgrades to your ports.

The benefit is a huge savings in turns, and if one of the planets you created is a nice one... get to coling and developing. Location, is a bit misunderstood in Tw, by newer players. The truth is most sectors have the potential to securely house your early base. Consider the probability of discovery. Each sector has that "probability of discovery" and in 20k to 30k sector game, many sectors have a probability factor that is close to equal. Some sectors exceed dead ends. Those would be tunnels on the edge of the map or false dead ends created by one way warps out... So, what i am getting at is... you can be discovered anywhere, so don't be too overly picky on your "Beam Trading" pair location and that of your early base location.
I read this in "The Mensa Guide to Gambling"... in referece to (lol) Bingo. I used to accompany my grandmother for bingo and was always amazed at how many cards my neighbour played... like 40 to my measley 8 (and she would watch and correct my cards).
Turns out that the probablility of her winning the next game or i winning the next game was almost the same. There were so many possible winning combo's that her 5 fold increase in cards was almost unmeasuable compared to the total number of winning possibilities.
So, ya don't have to look for the best ideal location... good security is pretty Darn good... the ports are the important factor and some seclusion.
And, in closing, if any of the port keeper ask you if ya like their daughter... lol... smile and get back to work.

cc bee... out

port choice:
- if your going red, find the equip. seller that is expensive... that will allow mega rob after buydown.
- if your going blue, find the equip. seller that is selling cheap... better for your profit line
- !!always!! use a equip. buyer port with high mcic values (60 to 65)

controling your alignment from 0/0:
- if you are setting up the beam trader and want to play blue... upgrade fuel 30 units to go plus one blue, then gtorp and bust away.
- if you are setting up the beam trader and want to play red..... gtorp and bust away. (no port upgrade)

If you want to play red, or, hold blue exp. low... remember any port upgrades will eat into your red alignment or adds to your blue experience (both bad results usually), so use a script that upgrades the ports without gathering experience. I use a zoc script written by The Reverend. It is totally useful. There are others out there... they all operate on the same principle... small upgrades repeated that are below the experience/alignment gain/loss threshold... (fuel i think is 9 units and equip is 3 units per upgrade)

All the power to you new and returning players... "Information is Power"

cc bee... out

Singularity made this point:

when coling and fueling from a port... fill remaining empty holds with equip or org and dump to planet, NO TURN charged for the equip., as you paid the turn to buy col'ing fuel, already.
This is good advice, increasing cash and decreasing turns... got to like that

cc bee... out

Also consider your distance from terra. If you're close,
you may be able to cut out a round of fuel. If you get
fuel once per 2 loops, you can save turns. But that only
works if you're close to terra.

Port upgrades aren't a problem for most reds. We're
talking about relatively small amounts of alignment.
The experience issue can get you in trouble tho. If
you're a mixed corp, have the red do the upgrade. It
won't dramatically affect their alignment but can give
you a little bit of experience for use later, ie: you can
rob (even if you can't megarob) some of the spent
credits back. In MBBS games, I usually build over SxS
ports for this reason (upgrade, colo down, megarob
credits back, free experience for reds).

You can up a port for zero change in exp or align. I always do. 3 units at a time for eqp, 4 for org and 5 for ore. then up 1 at a time twice for eqp, 3 times for org and 4 times for ore to take care or any remainder. I posted a zoc script a few days ago to do it, left out the remainder part.

Yeh, you can. But it's slow as heck, and if you have
a red you might as well get the experience.