To become unprofitable, you need just the right amount of base defenses in combination with fleet. So, how does one become unprofitable? And if you are planning on attacking someone, how do you know it is profitable? If you would be profitable, you obviously are a valid target. So, you may ask, how am I supposed to do that? And what does unprofitable mean? You are unprofitable when your attacker needs to crush so much fleet on you that it is worthless to do so. What do you do? Well, the answer is simple. You just started on a server, and you are about to hit level 10. When you are a little bit further in the game, you can use a carrying unit, like a frigate, to bring fighters to your new base from the get-go. You just have to make sure to follow the first 6 steps when building a new base.

Step 7 can be done whenever you want it, but preferably as quickly as possible to increase your economy. Step 7: Build spaceports to start trading. Step 6: Get some shipyards running, and build 3 fighters, at least. This will prevent you from becoming very profitable. Step 5: BEFORE building anything else, build 1 level of missile turrets. Step 4: Build 5 metal refineries, adding both urban structures and plants when needed. Step 3: Build the base, give it a name, and go to the structures tab. Step 2: Make sure you send a corvette with it. Since we're all around level 10 right now, the best way to do this is as following. So, you just started off on Nova, and now you are setting up your next base.

Astro empires base building guide