Where To Begin? Making Sense of the Prosperous Universe Start

Those first choices are tough. This will give you Information to make the start of game choices and get you going on your first few days. You'll also get some common pitfalls and tips to minimize cost and maximize revenue in proper capitalist fashion.

Why Am I Here?

Welcome!
So maybe you saw it is free to play, Maybe you like space MMO games. Maybe you like the idea of a real, player-driven economy and trading game. Regardless, here you are, at your first steps to being a space start-up company.

And that's what this game is about: There are resources to extract, products to manufacture, workers to feed, buildings to make, and even planetary projects to build - all driven by player economics. So what is your part in it? Will you be a small-time manufacturer, a shipper/trader, speculator, or be part of a larger, multi-company corporation with bigger goals? That's up to you!

As of this writing (Sept 2022), the introduction and very start of the game can be a little overwhelming. Rather than see other potential players give up in frustration, here are some insights from my own in-depth study of the choices that may help you enjoy this game through its learning curve.

How The Heck Do I Pick a "Starting Package"?

Great! You signed up, loaded up APEX on your browser, and are now presented with the "Starting Package" choices. But how do you choose between these SIX options?!?
https://handbook.apex.prosperousuniverse.com/wiki/packages-factions/#packages

Well, if there is one that appeals to you right off that bat (like, all your life you have wanted to refine space fuel) then by all means, pick it and make it work. There are no "dead ends" here. They are all viable, profitable choices with different paths to production and income that we'll review below.

But what if you are the type who likes to have a business plan and make some spreadsheets before diving into a whole new business? And if you are thinking of playing Prosperous Universe, that just might be you! In this case there is not a lot of information the game gives you to make that decision. Fortunately some player-made tools can help with that data before you dive into Apex and realize you made a few bad choices (like me). Another great option is to pick anything to get into APEX, spend the time in APEX looking for the data you need, then running the "COLIQ" command and starting all over again. Just make sure you don't do any trades and you can "COLIQ" a few times without consequence.

So if you are wanting to do a basic business plan to understand supply chains and start to work out potential profit and costs, a few of the tools in the Community Resouces page, (https://handbook.apex.prosperousuniverse.com/wiki/community-resources/) are particularly useful:

1. https://fio.fnar.net/ - this is data pulled by players from APEX into an offline database and the Material Viewer is useful for checking ask/bid prices across the exchanges.
2. PrUnner - this app helps you map out a base, and what your workforce's needs are. It can also show you projections on building productivity. All the production "recipes" are also listed in the app
3. http://prosperous.freecluster.eu/ - a much easier to read universe map than in the game to help you visualize where other planets and exchanges are.

These are just the top three, many of the other resources also have great info. But ultimately you will likely want to build your own spreadsheet based on the info here to work out what you want to produce, the best planet to produce it on (in terms of distance to an exchange and availability of resources), and what your operating costs and inputs will be vs projected sales revenue at the exchanges (CXs).

Now let's take a quick look at each choice so you can get playing!

Victualler (aka Neo-Nestlé)

There's a reason this is listed first - it is the most self-sufficient as you can make most of what your initial workforce needs in drinking water (DW) and rations (RAT). You only have to go to another source to get them overalls (OVE). So for those looking for a low-stress entry, this is a great choice.

Tips:

• All known fertile planets have H2O available to extract so a Rig (RIG) to extract that H2O and Farm (FRM) to grow agricultural products using H2O are all you need to start with lots of options to produce.
  
• Add that Food Processor (FP) to make the DW and RAT that will always be needed! You can then go on to make more specialty foods later on!

Carbon Farmer (aka Pyromaniac)

Closely related to the Victualler is the Carbon Farmer, who instead of selling food takes the option to convert (burn) the crops into Carbon (C) for use in many other industries. Don't discount this trade as you can easily switch your sales to agricultural products for some excellent, if lower volume, profit as well.

Tip: Carbon is heavy! Try to minimize shipping it if possible.

Metallurgist (aka Space Steeler)

Things start to get interesting at Metallurgist as you are more dependent on others in this economy at the start, but others depend on you too. Your smelter (SME) can make a dozen different metals and materials, but your first base and planet you'll be limited in what you can extract from the ground to refine - choose carefully! Everything else you will have to buy and bring in from elsewhere to process into profit. The flip side is your metals tend to be heavy and take up a lot of weight on those ships.

Tips:

• Try to pick a planet with ores, but also Oxygen (O) as many of your SME processes need O, though you'll have to save up for the Collector (COL) to get it.
  
• You'll also need C, so finding a good source of C until you can make your own is also handy.

The Manufacturer (aka Space Generalist)

Like the metallurgist, your Basic Materials Plant (BMP) can make a LOT of different things that other companies always want like OVE and other types of equipment for their workforce, as well as Polyethylene (PE) and Mineral Construction Granulate (MCG) which is required to expand bases. To be successful you'll need many different types of input materials.

Tip:

• Unless you have bigger corporate friends, put your first base a short travel time from a CX to bring those materials back and forth!

Constructor (aka Minecrafter)

Sort of at the top of the pile here. Everyone wants what you make (parts so they can expand their bases and operations), but you rely on virtually everyone else in order to survive. You are the key to growing our footprint in this universe!

Your operations will centre around the Prefab Plant MK1 (PP1), as well as a BMP to make the PE and maybe MCG that is needed.

Tips:

• Consider extracting Limestone (LST) or having Iron Ore (FEO) nearby for future expansion into making your own Iron (FE) which most basic prefabs recipes (sometimes called BFabs: BSE, BBH, BTA, BDE) need.

Fuel Engineer (aka TotalPetroBPExxAramco)

So you've always wanted to become Big Oil in Space? Super! Everyone needs to move their ships around so there will always be a need for fuel. No battery-powered ships here!

But there's a reason this is listed last here and on the wiki - It won't be easy. There is not a planet in the 'verse with everything to make STL fuel (SF) or FTL fuel (FF) so you will be forced to buy some input materials at first. But if you succeed and go on to make a second base where you can collect the rest of the materials yourself then you are on your way to cheap flights!

Tip: The Settlers working your Refinery need slightly better consumables than your Pioneers!

None of the above!

Yeah. This game is a sandbox! So if you decide not to build that base and instead liquidate what you started with, you could put that cash to other uses: speculating on the markets, using your ships to move goods for other players, or trading between the CXs.

SeaPear says it really well:
https://youtu.be/X3FGxS5DeQM

Initially, this is a quick way to build up capital so that when you do build that first base it moves along a little faster. Or just continue building up capital with little to no overhead. It's your choice!

The Pace and Final Words

One last thing before we close. The pace of the game is important to mention. This is not an action game! It is a game where processes take many hours or days to run on their own. Ships take a day or two to transit between distant systems. So expect to take actions in Apex a few minutes a day, maybe spending much more time than that planning and building spreadsheets. It is definitely a game for the Analyst in you!

Also remember - this game is still Early Access and continually being developed. If you see things that aren't quite right or could be improved, the devs do review feedback: https://com.prosperousuniverse.com/t/bugs-and-improvements/151/938

If building a base with the starting materials, you may be dissuaded by the very slow profits at the beginning, but keep persisting, consider switching to shipping, or seek out other players to help and inspire you! This is a game that gets better with more companies working the universe, so other players do have a vested interest in seeing you be successful and stay with the game!




Author's Note: This was written in my first month of the game as I did legwork to plan out profitability and complexity of various possible career paths. Any comments appreciated below.

[Ade]

Video is 100% applicable, one of the links was replaced by... a service with the same name. Very helpful either way, thanks!

[Minecrafter]

ok so im a constructer i guess

[Ramfire]

Some of this is great but a lot of these links and videos are out of date and the discords and API set ups are a no go.