thanks the advice is great i must admit at present even on very slow i have o chance of kepping my raws and refined coming in better then the droid can i usually build up a construction planet in each sector first thing i can. give it 4-5 constuction yards until i get the better ones. the chars and what to do with them still has me buggered at times i know that ones with research bits are good and have figured how to use them and how to recruit but beyond that i got no idea yet but it's all learning. and i have to agree just cause a planet has sheils if ya got enough ship ya can blow the crap outa it or combine a few blockading ships and hit em one at a time then spread back out i found works