Distributed Farming vs Dedicated Income Worlds

from GalCiv2 Forums
I'm wondering if anyone has tried a more distributed approach when it comes to getting tax revenue. Usually I just made a few dedicated income planets, made up entirely of farms, economic centers, and entertainment. They pull in a lot, but the amount of tiles required just for entertainment to keep that many people happy is pretty significant. The inherent morale penalty on a very populated world is a lot to overcome.

On the other hand, if you just build one farm on each planet you can increase your total population by a significant amount without having to dedicate so many of your squares to entertainment. It would still make sense to have at least one dedicated tax world for your economic capital, but I'd like to hear if anyone else has had experience running their empire like this. The loss of one tile isn't too severe on a dedicated world, while it can double your taxable population on the planet.

I suppose part of it depends on how effective your entertainment and your economic centers are. If you're far along those tech trees, it makes sense to make some ultra-specialized worlds to maximize the bonuses without having to use most of your tiles for entertainment. Early on, it seems like you're better off with just a single farm on most of your planets except for a dedicated economic capital. Any thoughts?
12,315 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I do both.

Make economic worlds - usually High PQ worlds get specialised to either income or research, especially if they have bonuses to morale or even food. These get a mimimum of 1 farm, maybe more depending on their size and my other morale sources.

Every planet over PQ9 gets a farm and an entertainment centre. The reason is 2 fold. 1) Because I want more population and therefore more influence and tax. 2) Because it makes it harder for the AI to invade.

Sometimes this means that in the early game my overall morale drops quite a bit and I have to lower tax to fight it and possibly my spending by a little. In the mid game though it pays off - when the AI starts getting aggressive your planets are all fairly safe even if he slips an attacking force and transport past your defenses. I also tend to work down the morale line of techs and really agressively play for morale resources. In addition, I tend to use populist government which I personally find most powerful.

The most success I had with this was where I had more population than all the remaining AI (6 or 7 races) together yet only had a relatively equal number of planets.... yet my tax was on 60% throughout the latter part of the game and all but my biggest worlds were 100% content.
Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'd have to agree with Spearthrower up to a point. I "basically" have like 4 types of planets: econ, production, research + crap. The Production worlds get a couple farms + entertainments so 1) they cant be invaded 2) i get some money and 3) they can crank out transports
The research and crap worlds i dont bother with, if the AI conquers a research world i fast build a transport on a nearby production planet and steal it back.

How do you guys deal with initial approval and birth rate (they're related i think)? I've tried to keep approval > 70% cuz its green...
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Unless you can maintain 100% approval, it really doesn't matter as long as you keep it above 30%.

100% approval is double.
30% is halved.
>30% You start to lose population.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I think I read that in the next patch there will be a new intermediary number.... 75% will also add a multiplier. I better go and check that because I might be mistaken.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You are correct.
From the patch preview notes:

Approval Rating > 75% gives you a 5% boost to production. Approval rating < 40% has a -5% affect on production. Players won't be charged for this bonus production.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Oh yeah... cheers, I couldnt find it again! Anyway, I forgot it was a production modifier!
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
100% approval is double.
30% is halved.
>30% You start to lose population.

That is extremely useful information. The upcoming changes described in the patch preview look good also.

Higher quality planets get bonuses to economic output.

Would you happen to know how big the bonus is?