Lytha.com - Planetarion

In Planetarion, everything centers around your Planet. That's what you command and own, where you build things and fleets, and where you return all the loot to.
A Planet is part of a Galaxy. Which is random; you are in there with 24 neighbors, and it pays to get along and unite - nobody can defend (or attack) your planet as fast as those inside your galaxy. There are additional reasons why an united galaxy benefits its members, but more about that later.
Galaxies are part of a Cluster, and all Clusters together make the Planetarion Universe - all of it. The Planet coordinates in Planetarion tell you this: (A : B: C) means cluster A, galaxy B, planet C - where C is your number (or the other planet's number). The coordinates are used for sending messages and fleets, and important in general.

Now, from the macro to micro: on your planet, you mine resources. 250 of each type IIRC are there from the start. You need those resources to build things; the whole game is about becoming stronger, which is a direct result of having more resources.

Metal is the most important resource. Almost everything costs metal, and sometimes quite a lot. It is good to have lots of metal.
Crystal is the second most important. Many things cost crystal, although early in the game, you won't need it much. Later on though, it becomes quite necessary.
Eonium is needed least, and many have too much eonium piled in their stocks. It is used as fuel for your fleets, and for some things.

To get more resources, there are two ways: planet mining and asteroid mining. Planet mining is a bit limited; you can increase that twice, and that's it. I recommend doing that, still, because it is cheap for the big effect it has in the long run.
Asteroid mining is the most important. You start with a single asteroid orbiting your planet. In the "resource" menu, you can "initialize" the planet to an type - meaning, there is an mining facility built on it which gives your 250 per hour of that resource type you selected. The initialization costs increase with every asteroid of that type you have.
A single asteroid ain't much. To get more asteroids, there are two ways: scanning and capturing. Scanning is the way to go if you are starting. You need to research/construct "Energy patterns" and "Scope amplifier"; if both are finished, you can build "astro scans" in the waves menu. These astro scans can be fired then, scanning the area around your planet for hitherto undiscovered asteroids, which you own then. Scans are not always successful, but at first, it works pretty good. (More about that later, too).

The other method of getting asteorids is capturing from other players. This is an agressive act (since nobody wants to lose his asteroids), and most of the time, you need a fleet big enough to last the battle and a lot of astro pods... I suggest we get onto that topic later.

So for now, scan and initialize asteroids, and get more resources from that, so you can do more of the same. Thats where I want us to help you a bit, making the start easier for you. I asked the senior players to donate crystal so we can hand it out to the starters. After they can build astroscans, with this "bit" of help, they can build a lot of them, making the launch/scan more effective.

Lytha.com Planetarion - Newbies Corner - Introduction - Part 1