Energy is less useful than you might think

[Xenotitan]

Some of this may have changed in the patch. Health is worth more now. External trade routes really got nerfed so energy and science are somewhat harder to come by.

Of course these numbers are only rough estimates anyway. Most of the yields have diminishing returns. Virtues and population increase in cost with each one. The lower tier buildings tend to be more efficient production/energy wise, so as your production and energy increase you end up spending it less efficiently. There comes a point where extra health does nothing. Energy becomes worth a lot more when you have so little your units are in danger of disbanding. Science seems to be the only yield without diminishing returns, at least until you've unlocked whatever victory condition.

 

[player1 fanatic]

Energy is the kind of resource that is more worth the less you have it.

If you barely have it enough to cover maintenance costs it is very valuable. Also, only energy can be used to grab specific tiles faster. Extra food or production can not do that.

At that point in game 2 energy is better investment then one production or food.

On the other hand if you are swimming in energy reserves then it is barely worth it, since only thing you can spend it at that point is highly ineffective unit and building rushing.

At that point of game 8 points of energy are converted to single production point, so if you have high surplus, it is really not worth much. Maybe you could say 4 energy equals 1 food or production, since energy is global unlike production or food, as long as build rushing is not done in the same colony.

 

[Xenotitan]

At that point of game 8 points of energy are converted to single production point, so if you have high surplus, it is really not worth much.

Where are you getting this number from?

 

[Zenstrive]

To me, Energy is useful, I think much more so here in CivBE than in CiV, probably because without needing to upgrade units, there are more energy available to purchase essential buildings and surrounding tiles in a newborn city (recycler, clinic, ultrasonic fence, vivarium comes to mind). You can also easily purchase airplanes to guard your cities.

 

[player1 fanatic]

Where are you getting this number from?

Just comparing rush buy prices with production cost. Note that it is possible that I may be wrong, and that I miscalculated.

 

[Xenotitan]

It's closer to 3. The ratio of production to energy varies a little bit between all the things you can buy for some reason though.

 

[Roxlimn]

The main virtue of Energy-for-production vs hammers-for-production is that Energy can be stored, whereas hammers cannot. Therefore, you use each resource for different things.

 

[omniclast]

The main virtue of Energy-for-production vs hammers-for-production is that Energy can be stored, whereas hammers cannot. Therefore, you use each resource for different things.

Stored, and used globally. You can't rush-buy recyclers with hammers.

Speaking of storage... 1% interest on stored energy is really bad, right? I'm not misunderstanding that somehow?

 

[Kaigen]

Speaking of stoage... 1% interest on stored energy is really bad, right? I'm not misunderstanding that somehow?

It's better than some of the other +energy virtues, but it's not great. That said, it might be a little better now that you aren't as likely to be spending energy as fast as you make it on Colonists, Trade Depots, Autofactories, and trade units.

 

[omniclast]

It's better than some of the other +energy virtues, but it's not great. That said, it might be a little better now that you aren't as likely to be spending energy as fast as you make it on Colonists, Trade Depots, Autofactories, and trade units.

But I mean, assuming you've got 500 unspent in the bank for some reason, that's an extra 5ept. Roughly equal to Central Planning, and likely worse than Commoditization by the time you get to T2. I feel like maybe at 4-5% it would be worth its weight.

 

[Xenotitan]

4-5% would be way too much. That's 40 to 50 energy per turn at 1000 energy, a rather easy value to hit. Hold off on buying things for awhile and hit 10000 energy (which would be a lot easier with this virtue at 4-5%) and you'd be getting 400 to 500 energy per turn. That's too much.

 

[Gamewizard]

If one were to complete the industry tree and sacrifice their early game by hoarding energy until they hit 10000 energy, you get 200 energy per turn. It won't break speed records doing this, but the late game would be alot easier to manage.