Post beginner tips here!

[woodelf]

So far the best things I've learned off of the various forums are:

1 - buy your first factory.
2 - Don't, and I repeat DON'T, make too many farms.
3 - buy your first 2-3 colony ships.
4 - set spending to 100%, set taxes to a level where your approval is near 60%, and get military spending near 60%.
5 - Anyone else have something to help the new players?

 

[warpstorm]

Scout rapidly. The expansion phase is fairly short and you need to get your colonizers and constructors out early to stake your claims. YOu can't claim what you don't know about.

Starbases are one of the key elements of the game. You need to think about which type and where you place them (they are all important when used correctly). All starbases should be able to fight back.

 

[BlizzardGR]

On planets that are below class 6, don't bother building anything else than research labs. The planet may have poor manufacturing abilities but the extra research will give you a great boost in tech.

 

[woodelf]

I'll admit that I'm still confused about food.....you get 5 food for your main building, correct? So on class 5 or below you're done, no farms needed? Or is it a higher class yet that you don't need farms?

 

[Blazer6]

During the scenario, the Dread Lords are so strong that avoiding combat most of the time is required and sometimes fighting them is not even necessary to finish the mission.
Be prepared to retreat often when they invade your planets and start killing off your allies like an unstoppable juggernaut. Their ten troop landings can kill billions on your planets.


People will get angry because they are living on a barely livable planet. You might need just one lowly farm since more will just lead to anger problems.

 

[matthewv]

I only build a max of one farm on a planet.(I have never settled a planet beyond class 12 yet) and I only build farms on planets were I build lots of commerce buildings. This seems to work out fairly well.

People will get angry because they are living on a barely livable planet. You might need just one lowly farm since more will just lead to anger problems.

farms don't provide happiness, multimedia centers, etc. do. A good rule of thum is one of these per planet (some planets may not need 1 though) and two or more one planets where you have a farm.

 

[Killstar]

farms don't provide happiness, multimedia centers, etc. do. A good rule of thum is one of these per planet (some planets may not need 1 though) and two or more one planets where you have a farm.

I think what Blazer was getting at was that farms increase the population cap. On a crappy planet, more population=more unhappy people.

 

[matthewv]

I think what Blazer was getting at was that farms increase the population cap. On a crappy planet, more population=more unhappy people.

Yes, now that I reread what he said I relize I read it wrong.

 

[MobBoss]

Do farms increase the pop cap of a planet? I was unaware of this. How about a farm on a plot that has like 300% agri bonus?

 

[Masquerouge]

Could someone explain me how farms and planet size work regarding pop ? Because it says in the manual that a farm can feed 5 million people, yet I have planets with 2 billions people on it and no problems O_o

 

[woodelf]

@ Masquerouge - That's exactly what's gnawing at me as well. I simply don't get the food part yet!

 

[Till]

Apparently, your natural growth rate is +0.2Million/turn until you hit 3 million citizens. This is, as long your popularity stays below 100% and above 30%.
At 100% growth is doubled and bellow 30% growth will stop and eventually turn negative. From what i gathered from the manual, there doesn't seem to be a linear decrease in growth.
With that in mind, it seems best to increase the tax rate until you hover just above 30% approval rate.

 

[matthewv]

From my experience you planet pop cap is 5 billion without a farm and 15 billion with 1 farm IIRC. I think the more farms you have the faster the planet grow but I have not confimed this yet.

increase the tax rate until you hover just above 30% approval rate.

I would try to maintain a better approvel rate then that as other things are affected by your approval rate.(don't ask me what is all affected by approval rate as I don't really know)

 

[magnetbox]

As far as I can tell, 1mt food = 1b people. So a farm that gives 5mt of food, adds 5b people to the planet's population cap. More people = more influence, more money, more unhappiness. Population growth is fixed at .2b/turn. Really high population is actually bad since they are more unhappy and more likely to culture flip, and in an invasion, join the other side. The only reason for high population is to get alot of income.

 

[warpstorm]

Could someone explain me how farms and planet size work regarding pop ? Because it says in the manual that a farm can feed 5 million people, yet I have planets with 2 billions people on it and no problems O_o

The manual is wrong. A farm feeds 5 billion.

 

[woodelf]

So more pop = income which is
Too much pop = unhappy, ungrateful, culture flipping citizens which is

Thanks

 

[Supreme Shogun]

Also will add plan your tiles and use them effectively. Such as put labs on the research bonus tiles. Put your factory on the manufacturing bonus tiles. Entertainment on the approval bonus. However, not all the time will there be bonus tiles or theres a bonus you don't particularly want on that planet.

Once you get a better government type, don't let your approval slide down. You'll lose your political party bonus if you do. You'll also need good approval ratings to goto war due to senate vote.

Rush buy some constructors and get those resources first.

 

[Till]

Has anyone played around with the economic starbases yet? I found they made little difference, but maybe i am missing something.

 

[woodelf]

I pumped quite a few Constructors into an Economic Starbase, but have no idea what it did for me. I really need to see tangible changes, not %s. Maybe I'm missing a screen or menu somewhere....

 

[magnetbox]

The manual actually covers the effects of starbases. Economic starbases increase the value of trade routes that pass through its area of effect. So a trade route that gives 10bc + 10% bonus would give 11bc instead. It makes more sense to build an economy starbase with upgrades next to a planet that has most of your trade routes going out of it.

These are just my opinion.
Military starbase - if you want to just let your ships reach farther into space.
Influence starbase - to lay claim to territory.
Economy starbase - right along trade routes.
Resource starbase - (try get these first always) for civilization wide bonuses.

Select the starbase and you will see the faint area of effect. (It is relatively small)