Planet Build Strategies

[Stuie]

I'm only in my second game. The first I wrote off because I didn't know what I was doing AT ALL. Then I watched the tutorials, and now I'm doing ok... except...

Planet build strategies. I don't think I'm doing too well with building stuff. What are some basic strategies? Should I specialize all my planets, generalize all, or generalize the homeworld and specialize after that? Anybody have a handle on what works well?

I should mention that I'm playing on "Large" setting with common habitable worlds. I think I have about eight colonies in my present game, plus one that really should have been mine if I'd been paying close enough attention.

[Kinjiru]

First, I would recommend that you play on tiny or small maps for a bit. Getting a number of games under your belt will give you a much better feel for the game, and the smaller maps go much more quickly.

Second, I think that some degree of specialization is absolutely required. Take a look at what the AI does for instance. (Find an AI planet that seems to be working very well and then concentrate all your efforts at taking it over without damaging it. Then simply look at the builds the AI made.)

That said, most planets should get at least 2 factories, regardless of how you intend to use the planet. Otherwise your build times for anything are just too long.

Third, make use of the rush build available to you. Even if you just end up shaving a few turns off every couple of builds, over the course of the game, you are gaining many hundreds of 'free' turns, or as Velocyrix calls it, Turn Advantage. This is especially true when you rush things that increase your production (factories and such) - you have effectively given yourself a Turn Advantage Multiplier.

[Darsnan]

Re: Planet Build Strategies

Originally posted by Stuie
I'm only in my second game. The first I wrote off because I didn't know what I was doing AT ALL.

Yeah, my first game I ended up going way into debt, so I wrote that game off.

Second game I started by building a factory first on each planet I colonized. Then I went for farms and then for whatever made the most sense next (usually related to tile bonuses). This seems to be working so far, as my economy is thriving and the people are happy.

Now to show those Alterians what real humans can do!


D

[Stuie]

Originally posted by Kinjiru
First, I would recommend that you play on tiny or small maps for a bit.

I need breathing room.

I tried a medium map and it was WAY too cramped. Large feels just right.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[bovine cannibal]

Yeah. Small can work with three civilizations and abundant habitable planets. But with five civilizations and only common planet quality, I can easily find myself with only my home planet, as the Torians colonize even Mars early in the game.

Medium feels about right for me. I'd recommend as a practice map, medium, abundant PQ, common stars/planets, uncommon anomalies (they only distract from strategy building), and Torians, Altarians, Drengins, with you as Humans.

[tetley]

I usually build first a factory, then a starport, then a Multimedia center. But sometimes I'll go starport first if I'm about to go heavy Military spending and don't want to waste the shields.

Farms go up only when I'm about to hit the food limit.

I'd rather build a second factory than upgrade a Basic Factory if I can help it--the upgrade seems to cost 40bc, and you only get 2bc out of it. Build a new one & it takes twice as long, but you get 10bc production. Other upgrades are more attractive (such as Xeno Lab->Research Center, Ent. Center->Multimedia, Embassy->Cultural Ctr).

Extra slots I tend to favor factories, but you have to be careful--if your planet gets too productive, you'll want to put Galactic Achievements on them. Those need tiles, too. Research Centers go down instead if I don't think I can benefit from factories anymore.

I'll focus-spend on Military or Research if I'm rapidly running out of tiles. And I try to keep research at a pace that I'm never wasting Social Spending on a planet that has nothing left to develop.

Embassies & Cultural centers go up if I share the sector with another major civ--you're almost guaranteed to get into an influence battle with them.

And of course bonus tiles I try to use. There are some exceptions, like if you've got two food tiles on a low-PQ planet, or a 300% and a 100% approval tile, or an influence tile in the campaign.

[Stuie]

That reminds me of another question:

Is a planet based influence effect felt throughout my empire, or just within a certain radius of the planet? I know influence space stations have an area of effect that shows up on the map.

[tetley]

That's one of those mysterious things (mostly so Stardock can patch it at any time), but I think it's both. If you hover your mouse over the Influence field in Planet Details, you see that part of your planet's influence comes from your entire civ's influence. I'd love to know how it works, too, but I think it works like this: you have both local influence and global influence. A planet has its own base influence, which affects its radius, but also that base influence goes into a big pool. If you hover your mouse over the "Influence" field in the Planet Details screen, you see part of a planet's influence comes from the civilization's influence. I think you take the planet's base influence, plus some percentage of the pool (of influence), and then the two are added together to determine how much of the galaxy that planet causes you to control. So if you build an influence starbase in a big star sector of yours, you help your entire civilization because you're growing the pool. That makes all your planets a little more influential.

This raises the question of which is better: raw total influence, or well-placed influence? I don't know. Depends, I guess. Also, I don't think your civ's influence will ever go down as you get more planets, even if they are crappy, small ones. It's not a divide-by-the-#-of-planets thing.

[Gufnork]

In my only finished game I found my influence to expand quite rapidly as I conquered worlds. Even though I've had planets on the other side of the galaxy for a long time (a civ surrendered to me to spite it's conqueror), it wasn't until I conquered tons of planets that their influence started growing like crazy. None of the planets I conquered were even near that end of the empire. So I can verify that's it's not exclusively based on the planet atleast.

[shanky]

i have now moved to challenging difficulty....and the strategy of colonizing first and doing everything later works great for me....buy a couplr of pods...spend 100% on military.....i uaually play on mid or large maps....so this goes on for a year....by this time i am abt 10-15 techs behind the AI...so i turn research upto 40%..others at 30 each....start building starbases of all sorts. I search as many of the diplomacy techs as i possibly can..this gives me an upper hand in the neotiations....an as i am not the most powerful civ around, the other races(specially the minor ones) readily give me their military techs....and i am on my way to global domination..................

[DaviddesJ]

Originally posted by Kinjiru

Third, make use of the rush build available to you. Even if you just end up shaving a few turns off every couple of builds, over the course of the game, you are gaining many hundreds of 'free' turns, or as Velocyrix calls it, Turn Advantage. This is especially true when you rush things that increase your production (factories and such) - you have effectively given yourself a Turn Advantage Multiplier.

Can you (or someone) explain how rushing actually works? If I rush buy a ship, what happens to my planet's military production for that turn? Is it just wasted? Do I want to ameliorate that by adjusting the sliders? I find it very hard to figure out what's actually going on.

[Kinjiru]

If your current production will require 10 additional turns to finish completing a ship, the game is telling you that in 10 more turns (or eleven if you count the current turn), your ship will be ready.

If you decide to rush that ship, your build will be ready on the next turn. Your military production for the current turn is applied in exactly the same way that it is used during normal production. In other words, your production is not wasted.

[DaviddesJ]

Originally posted by Kinjiru

If you decide to rush that ship, your build will be ready on the next turn. Your military production for the current turn is applied in exactly the same way that it is used during normal production. In other words, your production is not wasted.

If the rush cost takes into account my military production for that turn, what happens when I rush-buy a ship, paying the specified cost, and then modify (decrease) my military production? Now, shouldn't the ship cost more?

[tetley]

Um, I think it's wasted. Are you saying you get a head start on the NEXT ship, after the purchased ship cranks out? I haven't seen that. I recommend rarely rush-buying ships anyway. Rush-buy the factories.

Exception: occasionally rush-buy a starport and then a colony ship if you know you're in a race with another colony ship for a decent planet & can't win any other way. Those are hard to detect on time unless you're getting help scouting from your flagship. Another possible exception is when you have a colony that's way out there (e.g. 100 parsecs away), closer to a rival race than to you, and there's another habitable planet close by. But even then, I try & buy 2 factories instead for cheaper, unless I think I'll lose the colony if I take the additional 3 turns.

[DaviddesJ]

Originally posted by tetley

I recommend rarely rush-buying ships anyway. Rush-buy the factories.

At this point, I don't want to follow someone else's recommendations on how to play. I just want to know what the rules of the game are, so that I can make my own decisions.

It's a bit surprising to me that I get contradictory answers on such a basic question.