Wavefarming

Waveraiding - sending 2 or more fleets (waves) against the same enemy planet, which will arrive during a short time period. This will increase the amount of resources that can be plundered from the target. In some cases the profit from using waveraiding can even reach 85%.

How does it work?
OGame rules say, that during a single attack no more than 50% of enemy's resources can be plundered. This refers only to stored resources - not to the resources going into a Debris Field after the battle. This means that if some player has 400k metal, 200k crystal and 100k deuterium, you can take up to 200k metal, 100k crystal and 50k deuterium during a single battle (of course assuming you have enough cargo space) - the same amount of resources will remain on the planet, giving him/her a chance to rebuild. However, if a few minutes later a new attack will be performed, you'll plunder 100k more metal, 50k crystal and 25k deuterium - giving you a total plunder of 300k metal, 150k crystal and 75k deuterium - it is 75% of targets initial resources, so 50% more than you could plunder during a simple attack.

Dividing the fleet into waves:
Experienced waveraiders first send a little more military units (fighters, cruisers etc.) in the first wave. This will help them crash the fleet and defense. After the attack, only the 70% of the defense will still exist, and the whole enemy's fleet will be gone. That's why you won't need as much military force in the second wave, as in the first one (also called frontline). Usually divide your military units in the ratio 7:5 - in means, for example: 70 Light Fighters + 14 Heavy Fighters in the first wave, 50 LF and 10 HF in the second.

And what about resources?

The example in the first paragraph shows that the second wave will take exactly 2 times less resources, than the first one. So for example, 50 Large Cargos in the frontline and 25 LC in the second wave - it should work.

How do you perform a highly profitable waveraid?
The first thing is the espionage report. If you want to get a lot of resources, your report must be complete - including research levels of your enemy.

Next step is dividing the fleet into 2 or more waves. Use advice from the previous section.

The third step is simulation. You should simulate both battles. Remember - after the first wave, the enemy's fleet must be destroyed, and in the second wave set enemy's defense to 70% of the initial value. Don't forget to enter weapon, shielding and armour technologies' levels into the simulator!

If you have some Recyclers, and both battles will create some reasonable Debris Field, you can think about harvesting the DF after both battles.

Finally, don't forget to send some Espionage Probes at your enemy a few seconds before the first attack - or you may fly into a trap.

How do you evade waveraiding?
If you see 2 fleets which will be attacking soon, with a small difference between arrival times, the attacker has probably obtained an espionage report and knows that he will win. What should you do?

You've got 2 things that you can protect: fleet and resources.

First start building the most expensive building, and initiate the most expensive research - you can cancel both after the attacks if you want.

Then take all your fleet, load as much resources as possible, and send it with an "Attack" mission towards the attacker - you'll save your fleet and lot of resources.

You'll want to recall the sent fleet at some point. You can time it to return between both waves - this way, you'll be able to fight only the weaker, second wave, you might win, lead to a draw, or at least hurt the enemy a little. You can also wait until both attacks pass to recall your fleets.

Finally, cancel the building and research - alternatively, you might keep the research or building in progress until just before it completes, to "hide" your resources from enemy espionage reports for as long as possible.