I generally don't like them either for the same reasons. However, they are interesting because they are usually very structured and thus easy. But as you said it's not really a real problem, I'll probably start building and see where it ends, but it'd be nice to hear what others would do with it.

Oh and the smileys on this forum are creepy...

First of all Krastar, I've made a post during the summer called "All Economy Strategy". It's hell of alot longer than your tiny little post here. I'd also like to shamelessly advertise it here to you, asking you to go and read it. Even though I still play DA, the basic principle applies for bothe DL and TA. If you don't already know DL=Dread Lords, DA=Dark Avatar, and TA=Twilight of the Arnor. I'd love it if you comment on my post.

Second, I once was able to get a PQ 52 planet in DA. Which in that game is "impossible" without cheating or modding. Or so people say. Eitherway I don't have to prove myself to anyone. If I was in your shoes, I'd take that monster planet of yours and save the game a few times at that point. First save, to try out an all economy strategy (with a max population of 16-20 billion, a fertility clinic, a couple of entertainment buildings, and the rest stock markets). Second save, to try out an all labs aproach. Third save, to try an all factories approch. Fourth save, to try out a mixed approach (cultural buildings, factories, labs, markets, farms, etc. All mixed up on that planet). Fifth save, to try out your somewhat idiotic I must say Culture Bombing strategy. Yes we call it culture bombing too.

If you're going for the all economy approch. Put your Economical and Political Capitals on it. If your evil, put a Mind Control Center on it as well. First of all it gives you a 100% economic bonus, and second, it's good for your culture bombing strategy, because it causes all planets that are about to defect to your side, to defect almost imediately (1-3 turns is how long it takes I believe).

Case and point, having monster planets, is awsome.

If you cheat however and use the "PQ Booster" cheat on a planet before colonizing it (like a PQ 1-4), it is possible that it will have a hell of alot of Terraforming tiles on it. So when you use the PQ booster cheat (max PQ with cheat is class 36), along with that Biosphere Thingy, and your begining of the game ability of 10-20% PQ bonus, and the Good Ethics Paradise Tech. I'd bet that PQ 1-4 sucker can turn into an approximate PQ 60 powerhouse.

So ponder what I wrote here for awhile. For me the game has nothing to do with point scoring (even though I'm a member of an empire). I just play for fun.

So keep what I wrote here in mind the next time you decide to play (with or without cheats).

Till next time....................

LET'S RAGE!!!!!!!!!!

(P.S.- In the smileys drop-down window, there is a "NEXT" option. It will take you to the classical smileys            . Which are (I agree) less bizarre.)

Thanks for the tip. If only we could set a user pref to make this a default.

If you cheat however and use the "PQ Booster" cheat on a planet before colonizing it

what's that?

Interesting, I had a class 42 from the Dread Lords once.  Unfortunately I wasn't playing as a race with any of those Biosphere Modulator/Weather Control techs, so 42 was as good as it got.

I forget what I did with it though...

hooo poor you, I can feel your broken heart through the internet !

want a free hug ?   

Is that still true, though?   I tried evil on ToA 1.96, and I got no econ bonus from MCC anymore.   I've been playing Neutral ever since.

EF, chill.

tetleytea, the MCC was finally fixed in TA (it also actually helps planets flip now, rather than preventing them from doing so), and the general consensus of understanding is that this is intended to be backported to DA for 2.0.

And just for the record, don't waste a tile on a class 45 planet on the MCC.  The MCC, in the versions that it has an economic bonus, is a civ-wide bonus.  Its other effects are civ-wide as well, but that's beside the point.  Drop it on a class 8 somewhere, or the smallest thing you can build it on.

Additionally, given that the neutral morale bonus is morale rather than approval, and therefore depreciates with population as normal, what benefit does Neutral give you in your games?  Is it the 25% purchase now reduction?  Is it not having to pay to go evil?  Is it being more easily able to forge alliances with other civs?  Is it perhaps the insta-terraforming?  While I like the 25% purchase now reduction that Neutral gives, and more to the point the fact that it can reach 50% with a Thalan or Korx tech tree, this has not yet been enough motivation to sway me, personally, from using Evil-primarily for the artificial slave center and no mercy invasion center.

But then again, in DA and DL, the InterestRates ability simply doesn't work-never has-so perhaps I just need more time to adjust to that.

No offense meant, I'm simply curious.

Since I've never cared to used Good, I tested it.

It's only the initial colony's maintenance that is nullified; the other improvements are still charged at full maintenance.

As an aside to that, doing that with the Thalans could give rise to some issues, as you can't really make it on 5 planets (and as the Thalans don't get farm techs, all but two of your planets will be equal-your homeworld and whichever planet you drop the Hyperion Matrix on).  But perhaps more to the point, it means you miss out on the 25% purchase now bonus tech they get for going Neutral (in addition to the bonus Neutral itself provides, going Neutral allows them to research a tech that grants an additional 25%).

Actually, the no mercy invasion center costs 20,076bc to rush buy.    So, yes, on anything under a medium, it's not a wise investment.

You're free to laugh in No Mercy's face as much as you want-so long as you keep your people happy.  While the AI doesn't tend to prefer it, and I've run planets below 40% approval without having them use Information Warfare on me, it is a possibility that bears considering, particularly as the only damage it incurs (financial) is negated by No Mercy.  My guess as to why it doesn't prefer it is that it is by far the most expensive of the invasion options, and that I normally get No Mercy, hence making it a very unattractive choice.

52?  Kids stuff. 

Now this is a man's planet.

In Twilight, I often go good when playing as the Iconians (and obviously as the Altarians).  For the Iconians, they have some powerful early research and production buildings, but tend to have early economic trouble.  I always want Harmony Crystals built early so I can get my tax rate up while maintaining 100% morale, which means I want to research Xeno Ethics as fast as I can.  Since the Iconians start good, they've got to pay 2,500 to go Neutral.  If you're already having economic trouble, that can zero out your treasury and add 10 bc/turn in lease payments for the rest.  That can leave you without enough money to build Harmony Crystals, even with the morale bonus for Neutral.  On the other hand, if you research Xeno Ethics quite early, the 60/bc turn difference (including the 10 you'd be paying on lease for switching to Neutral) can be terribly helpful, as can the earlier Harmony Crystals.  It can nearly double your income in some instances if you've lowered your tax rate to maintain the doubled pop growth.  I tend to think that early advantages can have a multiplicative effect through the rest of the game.  In this instance, it usually lets me conquer my closest neighbor much quicker, since I can stabilize my economy much sooner.

On the topic:  Do the Altarians get Shrine of the Mithrilar?  If they do, that planet is a no-brainer to get it.  I'd also consider dropping your Political Capital on the influence bonus tile.  If you put one of the farms that produces 2 food/turn on the food bonus tile (be sure not to let it auto-upgrade), you'd have room for 24 million on the planet.  With the civ capital morale bonus, the 50% morale from the political capital and the 75% (not sure on that) morale bonus from the Shrine of the Mithrilar, you should be able to keep that many happy.  Before building any of that, I'd build up enough factories to build your infrastructure at a decent rate.  If you haven't built your social harmony matrix yet that should go there as well.  Anyway, get that built, then build a bunch of fertility centers to get your pop up, then build the rest of the planet out with Stock Exchanges.  Oh, and your political capital if you haven't already.  I'd have kept a few of the industrial sectors myself .  Anyway, that's what I'd do with it.  Sounds like a fun problem to have .

This "Shrine of Mithrilar" sounds like something fom Lord of the Rings.

Secondly, what exactly does it do.