Which is better?

[GePap]

So which startin situation is better?

Having many good planets in your home system (mineral abundant or rich, or organically usefull) but only a few systems with good planets immidtaerly nearby.

Having no othert planets to colonize in your home system (either they don't exist, or you have Gas and asteroids) but a fine selection of good planets in a few nearby systems?

Or is it the same? And doe the tech level you start at make a difference?

[vmxa1]

IMO it would be a bad thing to have no planets in my home system. This is because you can colonize them with colony bases. They are cheaper to make and you can get started faster. You can pop farm if have a good race for it or you can isolate which ever you like. If you are creative you may not wish to get out and about early as that means getting found sooner.
I am not so sure about the tech level. I guess non prewarp would have an impact. This is due to your likely having the tech to explore and even some ships if advanced tech.

[nato]

I'd rather have the good planets in one system:

1. Colony bases are so much cheaper than colony ships

2. I can put my one best colony leader there and get his bonus for all the planets, which for a great leader can be huge

3. Earlier on, with slower ships, no star or jump gates, and no warp interdictors, one system is much easier to defend; I can just put one big fleet there

4. I can shift population between planets in a single turn, and its easier on my freighter fleet

5. Very very minor efficiency thing, but later on I will only need one warp interdictor and one artemis system net (I just happen to like minor efficiency things)

[Urban Ranger]

Agreed. Having all five planets in your home system to be huge Gaia ultra-rich with alien artifects which Xentex sitting there probably wins you the game.

[GePap]

I would agree, though I do think tech levels matter: aftre all, if you strat regular, you already have a colony ship ready to go.

I asked because in one of my latest games I started with a 5 planet system, with all of them minus one being abundant and all Normal G. Since I started pre-warp (as I usually do), I quickly had 5 colonies, which was key to eventual victory.

[Mongoose]

A drawback to concentrating your early settlements in one system is that if you get hit with the space/time anomaly event you're toast...the whole empire shuts down. Please, don't ask how I know.

[vmxa1]

YOu mean the space flux? I have had that help me and hurt. It does not impact freighter.

[bakalov]

I think he means having only one system and Space time anomaly occurs in it ..... Real disaster :-)

[ravagon]

Originally posted by Mongoose
A drawback to concentrating your early settlements in one system is that if you get hit with the space/time anomaly event you're toast...the whole empire shuts down. Please, don't ask how I know.

Been there. Done that.
I mean

That event, however can be incredibly useful if you've just counterattacked, taken a few worlds and need time to build up defenses - or when somebody has just declared war and you aren't ready for it. This has saved my bacon on more than one occasion for which I'm very thankful.

Overall I'd prefer planets in other systems. This encourages the player to spend the time/resources early to expand outwards - an important step.
AI's won't quickly rush for your home system if it doesn't have good worlds and you can always build these up later, in the lull before the storm so to speak, from your homeworld more quickly when you get the rad shield or terraforming and when your industry is better developed.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by bakalov
I think he means having only one system and Space time anomaly occurs in it ..... Real disaster :-)

Not necessarily, I don't see what difference does it make - it shuts down the whole galaxy after all.

[GePap]

UR:
He isn't talking about a Hyperspace Flux, but an event in which a single system becomes 'stuck in time", which means that for several turns you arte unable to do anyting with it, or get anything out of it. It can be very annoying. Though the worst event for em ever has been the damn space Amoeba turning my vital bread-basket homeworld toxic early in the game.

[Urban Ranger]

Oh, that one. I almost forgot about it.

You can turn off random events. That will fix it. Space monsters and Antarans ususally attack the biggest player. Unless you play on a high level, then they seem to always attack you no matter what.