AIs taking PQ 7 planets - is this normal?

PQ is different now. Before PQ below 15 was not good, below 10 was terrible.

Now, 10 is homeworld class planets. There are better but they are rare. You can also build useful, though small colonies, on class 4 planets. I don't think there is a penalty associated with lower planet quality. The only difference is you are restricted in the number of build tiles for those small colony worlds.

I don't hesitate to colonize PQ6-7 after I have rushed for the higher quality worlds.

The low quality planets surprise you sometimes with many bonus squares and potential growth through terraforming.

In one game I had a PQ7 planet as my Mfg Capital. It had a 300% and a !00% bonus square.

Keep the population low and make up for it on the High PQ planets.

If you can colonize it, it will probably be at least slightly useful.

Yes.. PQ 7 are desirable as opposed to not owning it. The AI will make use of it if you don't. Anything less like 3s or 4s I turn into research outposts. Extra research is always good. plus you really can't make more than fighters really if you do stick all factorys on those small planets.

Thanks for the info!


I re-read the manual and visited the #Galciv channel after seeing your comments. Good thing I have the saved games - time to start a second round of colony rush!

Hey, I'm not an AI, and I will not hesitate to take PQ 4 planets in a pinch. Slap three research facilities on it, and you've got a nice research boost.

One thing I have noticed is that the AI will even take uncolonized planets deep within your sphere of influence. In several games I have seen the Altarians colonize Mars (because there are too many better planets for me to coolonize) only to run into immediate loyalty problems because Mars is in the middle of my territory. Perhaps the AI should be adjusted so that it realizes colonizing planets that deep into enemy territory is a bad idea.

In my games, if an AI has a planet within my sphere of influence, influence bases start popping up. This can be a real pain if the empire is one of my trading partners because I can't just charge in there and blow the sucker up.

The way I see it, is that anything habitable is worth the cost of a colony ship and a few people. Worst case scenario you stick a farm and some economy on there are you get a smallish but happy colony that puts your approval rating up, while giving you a small income.

If they were available, I'd even go for a PQ1 planet, even if only to serve as another target for them to hit, and a refuleing depot.

The way I see it, is that anything habitable is worth the cost of a colony ship and a few people. Worst case scenario you stick a farm and some economy on there are you get a smallish but happy colony that puts your approval rating up, while giving you a small income.

Putting a farm on a PQ 5 or worse planet is utterly pointless... planets have an absolute popluation cap based on size, and if a planet is PQ 5 or lower, that cap is lower than the 5 billion they can grow to without a farm anyway. So farms are wasted on tiny planets.

Whats the ratio of size-to-population cap?

It's not a ratio... the formula is:

Absolute maximum population = 20 million * ( ( PQ + 1 ) ^ 3 )

So for a PQ 5 planet:

20 million * ( ( 5 + 1 ) ^ 3 ) = 20 million * ( 6 ^ 3 ) = 20 million * 216 = 4,32 billion

PQ 6 is where you might want to first start consider farming, and PQ 7 is where it really starts getting worthwhile.

You know you can just transport excess people to low class planets right? Even though it's above the PQ cap, the population will not drop.

transport excess people to low class planets right?

I often did that in GC1 but I have yet to see much effect from shipping out colonist. You can only send .50 and your growth makes up for that almost instantly. Have you actually had any success controlling moral with that startegy?

Link

For example, how many farms should I put on this planet?

I try to have a colony in every 2nd system just for influence and ship range. Besides, you never know which planets have great tile bonuses or random events which increase the PQ.

For example, how many farms should I put on this planet?

Good heavens, that's one awesome planet.

Okay, a Class 26 planet has a maximum potential population of about 394 billion. That means no matter how many farms you build, the planet will never reach its max. potential population. (Even if you researched the best farm technology, you'd need 33 farms on it to max out its potential population).

However, the REAL question is, how many people can you keep happy? Your approval rating drops off sharply with too many people on a planet. Unless your civilization is REALLY happy, I can't suggest more than 2 or 3 farms, for any planet. There's a very real danger of economic collapse due to unhappiness, otherwise.

I've had this happen... my approval rating plummeted, and I was faced with the unappetizing choice of letting it dip well below 50% (in which case my party will lose the elections, and population growth will slow and then stop in any case), or massively lowering my taxes, in which case I simply won't have the resources to upkeep a decent-sized fleet.