What are some of the Big Bang and Post Bang settings that can make reds feel welcome on my server?

Just to clarify, I'm obviously going to activate MBBS. I was talking about some other (possibly overlooked) settings that will really allow a red to prop their feet up, get fanned, and have grapes gently popped in their mouths!

So far, I've just increased Port Regen, although that benefits everyone.

Unlocking the ISS works, too! Lol! However, I was looking for something closer to "stock."

Yay! I've modified some settings that are hopefully "red friendly."

My biggest challenge was creating a "red economy." This basically means increasing the Port Value with or without the players' help. So I ended up with a very unusual edit that does exactly that!

First, figure out how many traders you need. In a 30K universe, I figured 15 traders would be plenty to keep the economy moving! So I created 14 Gold Alien Merchants and ONE Ferrengi. The Ferrengi was assigned to always spawn in a Scorpion. But I wanted the Alien Merchants to be left alone by the players.

Hmm... I know! I'll change the type of ship they're assigned to to "Specific" and then choose ONLY the Imperial Starship! Lol!

Why the ISS? A few reasons.

1) It's the best stock ship in the game for trading and self-defense
2) Red players can't use it

Then I turned up movement for all Gold aliens to "1 in 2" and turned up exploration to 85%. This means they're nearly ALWAYS on the move and usually NOT on the same path! I turned up trading to max values and turned OFF rob/steal.

On the port side, I had already increased the number of ports available in the game to the max value, and set the port regen percentage to 200% per day.

Three days later, the ports went from "zero" to hundreds of millions in value!

Ta-dah!

Reds almost always have the early advantage. Here are a few settings.

Good cashing ships.
Cheap furb ships.
Good xport ranges.
Max Planetary trade.

just to name a few, maybe someone will elaborate.

Heh... Let me see if I understand your suggestions!

Good cashing ships: high holds/low turn cost?
Cheap furb ships: high holds/low turn cost? (to hold fuel and tow reds)
Good xport ranges: Ship xport?
Max Planetary Trade: is this "Planetary Trade Offers" on page H of tedit? MBBS locks it, but it can be set to 100% without MBBS. I see what you mean: this allows a planetary trade to get the same profit as selling one shipload at a time and can be quite a turn-saver!

I've figured out how to control the trading of the Gold Alien Traders so that the ports experience a slower, more steady growth.

Simply set the movement rate to be equal to the Classic Aliens: 1 in 20. No matter what the trading/stealing settings are, slowing them down prevents them from trading all the ports down to nothing in a short period of time. And since no one cares about Aliens, slowing them down won't (necessarily) make them targets.

I also modify their ships so that they only spawn in default ships with good holds (except the ISS, which I only do in "red" games.) This further reduces their value as targets.

What are some good turn limits for intermediate-to-advanced red games?

1000 sectors?
5000 sectors?
10000 sectors?
20000 sectors?
30000 sectors?