First I cant thank everyone enough for answering all my questions. Being someone who hasnt played TW in 8+ years and is just getting back, I've forgotten a lot of things, or have fuzzy memories. This forum has been invaluable for me to get my game up to speed!

So, on to my next questions, regarding planets

1) Are planetary shields "worth it"? I know having over 200 is good against photons... but should I load up a planet with shields, or concentrate just on getting as many figs as possible. If shields are worth the cost...generally speaking, how much is a good amont (obviously the more the better, but if anyone could recommend a range they consider optimal, and why, that would be helpful).

2) Military reaction level.... anyone able to recommend what I should set this to? Should it always be left at 0 for maximum defensive protection, or is there a benefit to take the lower offensive odds and use some as an attack against an invader?

3) Interdictor Generators.... lets say I have 4 level 6 planets in a sector. A person warps in, takes quasar and other damages, and now tries to warp out or retreat. The IG's hold him in place. Does only 1 planet use up its fuel ore to hold the guy, or do all 4 planets (assuming all the IG's are active of course) simultaniously hold him, thus "wasting" ore on the planets?

1) Buying shields depends a lot on the price of them at the time. If shields cost a lot, I'll usually just use a minimal amount. Now if you have tons of cash, sure load up on shields. A lot depends on the type game you are playing.

2) Military reaction is a factor that can help or hurt you. Mainly you want to throw the invader off guard with different type settings on each planet. The really bad part about using a high MR level without much ore, is an invader can use a high defensive ship and drain the figs on the planet in no time with very little damage. however, if he's not expecting it, you could get a valuable pod out of it.

3) If all IG's are set, the 1st planet in the sector will hold the invader until it's out of ore, then it progresses to the next planet until it's out of ore, and so on. No, an attempt to leave by the invader won't use ore on all planets at the same time. The trick is to have the cannon blasts set to where the planets are firing just the right amount to pod the invader without wasting ore.

well this can go a number of different ways...
depends on what ur working with...
the main thing will be what ur doing when away from keys and worried about an attack...
options...
1 what are u runnin while afk??
is it a turn game?
set back a sector on a planet and adj foton on limp tag
If turns don't matter, there is Citkill.. although the better players will use that against u depending on ships in game...
also there is the corpie in defender ship above and someone reloading them...
What I like is a combo if possible...
Combining all 5 .. opps I mean 4 is... 5th would be a cannon resetter...
but that is mainly for unlimited games where fotons hadly matter...

2 Cash amount
depends on whats cheaper.. u want the shields at least 200...
also the planets fig production can matter too...

3 SHIPS...
high defense odds on a ship as mentioned b4 weakens your planet as far as mil reaction
this requires u looking at the ships... which hold photon and their defense odds, number of figs and shields ect...

4 amount of fuel...
set Q to pod... as mentioned b4...
IG if possible at least on one planet..

It all boils done to the game edit....
Have to learn the edit.. ship stats, planets... ect and know them...