Well i didnt want to post on this one but i felt may be a lil more of my experience and personal views might be a helpful content on this one.
Agreed sunyujie, it is important to setup your planets as per game play. I personally am a follower of hybrid way of game play. From seeing all the different playing style i can add this to the discussion that no matter which game play u follow after u break the level 30 mines any cluster is a big time profit target for raiders. no matter if you are turtle or miner.
Fleeters obviously needs a wide span of hunting zone and needs to have fast reach to the potent coordinates, thus the most common trend in game is to have at least 2 colonies per galaxy. the span of those two colonies can be evenly placed say 499/4 = 125 so u have break span at 125 and 375 system from where ur attack radius are fairly even of 125 systems on both sides of the colonies. Also it can depend on the most populated section of the galaxy that is where are the most potential targets are clustered at. choose wise if u are going for the second one as ppl do go inactive and deleted also they change coordinates (not common but not heard of).
Turtles, the basic idea of turtles is to have one big turtle to horde all the resources or have the fleet safely docked behind it. so the point of getting a cluster around the coordinate of that turtle shell is that u block all system around u from getting colonized. so that the turtle bashing cant be from same system and it increases the fuel cost of fleet that is needed to crash it. but mind it as i said after level 30 of mines especially if that is a deuterium synthesizer you dont wanna get raided in easy series from being caught in a cluster.
Miners, well they simple objective is to spend all your income from (fleeting/raiding/daily mine income) on mining. thus miners have the most effective production in game if it is done right. also they grow to become highly potent target for raiders. you should always have trading in mind if u are a miner it is important to have at least two bases for upper and lower galaxies. Ideally those two would be G3 and G7. and have ur planets either spread in 4-5 cluster of 3 colonies or span them as fleeters to keep the possibility of fleeting open. If you are a hybrid you can always go for fleeter setup.
now about roamer count, average fleeters have 3 roamers always ready for action that leaves you with 18 planets, hybrids or raiders have at least 1 roamer that leaves u with 20 planets.
use this information well
happy hunting (cause that is the most fun and not getting carried away is the key)
-SPY
I need an advice from experienced players on how I can locate my colonies. Should I locate my planets in isloated galaxies/systems where no one can usually identify them? Or should I locate my planets in heavily populated galaxies/systems? For instance Galaxy 1. I've asked this question regarding the points that no one can usually locate my planets an attack them and from the point that it will take much more time to attack players in far galaxies also regarding a jumpgate.