Weblog
Oct 23, 2008 - 6:38 pm(qualifier, this is a saved message from 2-3 weeks ago)
A new player asked a couple of smart questions (IMHO) and I thought I'd share the answers to help other new players. These are not the only answers, just mine.
> Would it be a better strategy to build fewer but stronger planets? As I said, I don't know what goes into score.
The million dollar question is the strategy. The score is simple, it is based on your net value. The more $$ you have/invested the higher your score. But there are two schools of thought on the # of planets. Personally I don't like having all my eggs in one basket. For example if 5 of my planets were taken today I'd lose only 20% of my holdings but if Big lost 5 planets it would set him back 70%. (not counting his ship). Another animal is Anarchy he tends to invest heavily in his war ship and captures/loses a lot of planets.
Of course building up the # of planets takes time and as you're finding out there are a limited number of turns to support your planets. In the beginning, I tend to "trade" between ports to collect $$ to invest in planets. Something like 70% of my turns are used in trading until I get enough $$ to purchase a new ship. The Pioneer is limited to a level 150 hull and that is too small for efficient colonization. BUT You need a planet with a base to "visit the shipyard" and purchase your new ship. It looks like you already have several bases so that isn't going to be a problem for you. Once I have about $300M credits and a level 150 Pioneer, I trade in my Pioneer for a Columbus. I keep building up the hull and engines on the Columbus and pretty much leave the other levels at 100. This allows me to continue trading in Federal space (level average < 160). While the profits aren't as great, there is no risk of being attacked or running into a terrorist mine field.
Enough of that you were asking about planets. Please forgive the diatribe. Once I get the hull above level 200 I start focusing a little more on building planets.
> One thing I have been struggling with is getting population growth. Some of my planets have exploded to several million plus in population but others have languished behind. Recently I have been trying to bring in as many colonists as possible but that is slow going.
Yes it is slow going, especially with small hulls, that is why I stress trading at the beginning to build up my hull levels. A couple of other ideas on colonizing. First, invest in dignitaries. They cost about $1M each and you can only put 5 on one planet but they have have some rather useful functions. I keep dismissing/firing dignitaries unless they come in as birth increasers/credit increasers. Production increase is useful too but in the beginning I want the population to expand since it takes people to make money. Second, try to trade with the colonist port in your sector. For example, if the colonist port buys ore, I trade ore from the planet to the port so I don't waste turns. I can at least make a little $$ while populating the planets. When I run out of ore, I wait a little while and come back when there is more ore on the planet.
This brings up another point, production levels. The most important production level on your planet is the organics level. Keep an eye on organics. If you run out of food the population starves. There are about 4 different types of planets with varying abilities to create organics. The worse planet is the dark blue and the best looks a little like earth. It is going to take between 12-20% of your population just to create food. When I start out on a new dark blue I set organics at 18% and a new earth 15%. Then I can dial down the percentage making sure I have a positive rate of organic production.
Well that's a start, if you want I'll share more ideas tomorrow.
Entry Edited 1 time - Edited on Oct 23, 2008 - 6:49 pm
|
