What to do with poor planets?

I stick 1 factory on em and the rest goes to research.

It doesn't need a farm, because the PQ limits the pop growth anyway. I do a factory, a starport, and an ent. ctr.. That way it'll contribute research or constructors, depending on my needs. And, it contributes approval. They tend to have very high morale. They can also be troop farms--I feel much better loading troops from planets that have maxed out, anyway.

I have tried a couple of approaches based on whether or not there are any bonus squares or upgradable terrain (more often than not there are none). My first approach was to build a couple of factories and then build the ROE. I got some satisfaction out of Mars having a dining out spot. Then I realized that ROE boosts planetary influence so it was wasted on a dinky planet like Mars.

Recently I tried building 3 reasarch labs but without a factory the upgrades take forever.

I never build a starport (Earth can take care of Mars) and of course no farm. If there are no bonuses or upgradable squares Mars is basically just a waste of rock so I suppose the best route might be to build a couple of factories and save a space for a rush project in the late game. One factory and 2 embassies might be a possibility to boost the sector influence

I don't even bother with a factory on planets like that. I just set the focus to Research - because hey you get points right off the bat from the colony - and I plop a lab down in every square.

Then (and this is the important part) I completely forget about it.

Build 1 factory, starport for defense if near front lines (don't waist time/money building anything just park 1 ship here to prevent invasions), the rest research. When finished upgrade factory to research. When done switch social emphasis button to research.

What is this PQ limit? I noticed Mars with Class 4 has a limit of pop at 2.553B
Where can I find these limits?

in the GalCiv2 wiki
https://www.galciv.wikicities.com/wiki/Population
great site

I usually build 2 factories and a shipyard then shift the focus to military. Then have churning out my scouts and small ships until the late game, when manufacturing centers come into play, then I have it give me a constant supply of constructors and what not. Its really a wasted planet, and I can't be bothered with waiting 10000000 turns for it to upgrade each lab or whatever else I put there. Probably not the best strategy, but I like to leave research to the bigger better planets. Actually works pretty good as Industrialists (which I usually am).

Oh, once I had Mars start off with a 300% manufacturing bonus on one square, and a 100% bonus on another. Was quite nice really!

I usually don't colonize them at all. Then later on they will culture flip to me. By then my empire is pretty set so I end up not messing much with whatever is already there unless there is a bonus tile.

They are starports for me, and will churn out either constructors or small fighters indefinatly. One starport and the rest factories on a planet with no bonuses that's lower than around PQ 6

Good question. I have been asking myself the same thing.

I think, for the most part, the research focuss makes the most sense and I usually try to specialize in technology anyway.

One factory then the rest research labs. After the intial building is done, flip it to specialise in research and just forget about it. Even if the upgrading process takes a while it doesn't really matter as your not needing it to be that quick as all that needs upgrading is a factory every now and then and then the labs. Your not waiting to build anything new.

Well, someone on IRC is experimenting it with Mass Drivers. Turns out some editting makes those Poor Planets become very useful. I would like to know the details though.

I usually tend to go for a minimum of 2 factories and a star port for planets, so this means mars is always an industrial planet for me, slowly cranking out constructors. One gripe I have is that if any planet should have terraforming potential, it is Mars! Read a science fiction novel, for heaven's sake

Anyway, yeah, I find it really isn't practical to make low quality planets research focused as this means fewer factories and 50 turns for those very costly research upgrades. Unless they have some seriously excellent bonuses. In my game now I have a c8 planet with a 100% and a 300% research tile, and it is taking it forever, even with social focus, to upgrade those research centres!

Low class planets are usually primarily industrial for me, and military focused when all the upgrades are finished, in conclusion.

Last game I made my "mars" a research planet. The upgrades were nasty for sure. I would rush buy it when about half done and save 15 turns. I also missed it's potential for constructors. So now on, it's going to be a cranker planet. Not to mention, the homeworld is going to be the trade route spawn and financial star bases get factory improvements. That alone makes it an obvious choice.

I have been building Mars into a research colony in all of my games. I never tried any other route.

1 morale building (i usually run taxes high), maybe 1 research, and atleast 2 markets on anything below PQ7. On 7-10 I add a factory to help with upgrades, 1 farm, another morale (depeding on if I have a morale resource), and the rest markets.

Here is an idea I got after doing the DL campaigns. Mass driver / Core detonation attack low quality planets and pick up tech. Then give them back. Rinse and repeat. Once you defeat that opponent give them to the next. Nothing like a class 2 planet to screw an opponent up with. You can do this quickly with a planet like mars. Build transport then trade it away. Then invade and lower quality. Finally give it back when next transport is built and ready to retake it. AI never gets time to defend it.

IMHO all planets should have the potential to be upgraded to some degree.

I think it depends on the size of the galaxy.

on smaller ones, they can be useful for research or for making small ships. But on larger ones, I think they are best mostly ignored, save for providing some extra cash (just markets), since you will probably have better research/production planets, and the real limit to how much you produce is limited by your cash.

I usually don't bother colonizing the low PQ planet next to my starting planet unless the initial landrush is over and I still have a conoly ship wandering around with nowhere to land. Usually by this time one of the AI's has colonized it for me and it culture flips to me later. If it's some tiny little faction that only managed to get a few planets then I will usually sell/tech trade it back to them several times over the course of the game or simply give it back to them. Usually I play on huge/gigantic galaxies so one PQ6 planet is pretty meaningless to me generally.

the low PQ planets that I do colonize will usually get turned into slums that are covered in bread and circus tiles, or get turned into either rush buy research labs or rush buy galactic wonders. Sometimes I'll stick a starport and a couple factories instead and use that to churn out constructors or something simple.

I also take the build queue full of labs and forget approach.

I have never bothered with them...in my one game.

Do they not drag down your overall morale if you just load them with research ?

Anything less than an 8 gets to become a giant Univesity planet. Start with a factory and fill the rest of the squares with research, highest PQ research planet get the Tech Capital.

However if near/in other sphere of influence then I replace the research buildings with embassies and become a source of influence instead.

Yeah i normally go the research/influence route, but i may make them construction bases in teh future. That sounds like a good idea to me.