How is it that blues make so much money? I always figured that their survival was based completely on colonization.

also, what's the purpose of building/upgrading ports? How is it beneficial?

Blues make their money by "Organics Farming". This stretegy consists of 1: Building up several Oceanic planets in bubbles with xBB Ports. 2. Upgrading the ports to max capacity. 3. Banking 25% of each day's profits until eventually you can live on the interest alone and port trading becomes unecessary. Blues, unlike Reds, don't have to spend time and turns waiting for busts to clear and refurbishing ships.
HOWEVER, in a "standard", unedited game, with equal numbers of equally skilled blue and red players, the Reds will usually win. This is due to the fact that, in the first 4 weeks of the game, they can make so much more by stealing/robbing, that a good Red corp can quickly overwhelm the Blue players who are waiting for their planets to develop. After a game has been running for a few months, the survivng Blues will have the edge, because they can Twarp directly to Stardock to buy ships and supplies, and Organics Farming on a large scale can then pull in more cash than red's can with steal/rob.

quote:
How is it that blues make so much money? I always figured that their survival was based completely on colonization.

also, what's the purpose of building/upgrading ports? How is it beneficial?




Ports are a great source of money-making potential for blues, which touches on why build up ports. The more the port is able to buy a product (preferably organics in a sector that contains an oceanic planet or two) the more money you can make off of it. Having a few maxed out ports inside a bubble makes for safer and more lucrative trading (presuming your defenses are up to snuff so a Grimey query won't get you invaded without serious preparations) and even better for planetary trade negotiations.