How do you develop your planets?

The tactic I use depends on how many planets I obtain at the start. If it's a small, low planet density galaxy specialisation is not the best way to go. If you grab a lot of planets you should definately have a few planets, preferably ones with special tiles, dedicated to factories so you can churn out huge ships quickly or a constructor every few turns.

When you do this the first time you'll notice your bank balance suffers badly. This means you need more cash and therefore some specialised economic planets. Higher PQ means higher population potential means more tax. The thing is, I like a high population on all my planets to help defeat any invaders that sneak through the fog of war. It makes no sense to waste all that potential tax so I normally build a few economic buildings to take advantage. This means I need 1 economic planet (with economic capital) and 2-3-4 industrially focused planets depending on map size. The same goes for research, 1 dedicated planet with research capital and disperse the rest evenly.

I have yet to make a detailed strategy for my planetary developments, but I have the following rules
to start with:
- Farms are useless on small planets, so they gets only built on planets of PQ 6 or larger.
- Morale building aren't needed on planets without farms.
- Only one factory on planets without starports, at least two on planets with one.
- I don't build more than one planerary defence and embassy building on each planet, unless circumstances force me to do otherwise.
- A small planet usually gets one factory and the rest becomes research labs.
- Larger planets gets a basic build of two factories, starport, 1 farm, 1 entertainment and 1 economy.

I agree mostly with C.N. Small planets research only. Use any bonus squares for their enhancements. Make sure you save room for tech/research/econ Capitals. Since people = tax revenue you have to build some farms. Don't be afraid to destroy some improvements to make way for others if your strategy changes.

- If a planet has sufficient tiles: 4 factories, 1 starport, 1 farm, 2 entertainment, xxx market centers, xxx research
- > lvl 12 planets, 4 factories, 1 starport, 2 farms, 4 entertainment, xxx market centers, xxx research
- small planets 1 farm, 2 entertainment, 1 marketcenter (basicly economic plantes)
- bonus tiles: specialized planets based on bonus tiles

Speaking of bonus tiles, that teardrop bonus for Approval...is that what you should be putting happiness things on?

- If a planet has sufficient tiles: 4 factories, 1 starport, 1 farm, 2 entertainment, xxx market centers, xxx research - > lvl 12 planets, 4 factories, 1 starport, 2 farms, 4 entertainment, xxx market centers, xxx research - small planets 1 farm, 2 entertainment, 1 marketcenter (basicly economic plantes) - bonus tiles: specialized planets based on bonus tiles

I've found that unless your population is getting really out of hand you only need 2 entertainment centers on planets that range from 12 to 16 in size and why 2 entertainment centers on small? (what do you consider small?)

if you are going to specialize a planet for, lets say, production and other planets for economy etc. if you want to have your production planets just pumping out ships, then this equals wasted production for all of the other planets. the ships would take so long to create, there is no point.

if you are going to specialize a planet for, lets say, production and other planets for economy etc. if you want to have your production planets just pumping out ships, then this equals wasted production for all of the other planets. the ships would take so long to create, there is no point.

For now..according to other posts in the beta all unused production gets put into military and if your planet is not building ships then that money in turn gets dumped into the economy, voila, no more wasted production.  Also, I never allocate money to military in the budget screen, I just use military focus on the production planets.

I've found that unless your population is getting really out of hand you only need 2 entertainment centers on planets that range from 12 to 16 in size and why 2 entertainment centers on small? (what do you consider small?)

Small lvl4~lvl8

And the second entertainment center is needed for highest xeno farm tech in combination with harsh taxing.

i usually build at least two factories on all colonized planets.
i will sometimes destroy one to add a more useful improvement.
i watch my approval and growth very close. i will build entertainment early to maximize taxes. i try to stay at 100% approval early in the game. i am finding that population is the number one biggest indicator of a strong economy.
the farm comes when i am nearing the food limit.
remember to look at each individual planet for approval. you may globally be at 95% and have a few planets with much lower. if you have some planets at 99% drop your taxes a few clicks to get that number to 100% to take advantage of the growth bonus.
i specialize large planets, one of each (economic, industry, research).
i build more labs than markets.
that's all i can think of off the top of my head.

My smaller planets are usually either research or constructor builders. I use starbases pretty heavily so I'm always in need of constructors and they are relatively easy to build. Plus (I think still) military production doesn't carry over once a ship is finished, so using one of my heavy production planets for these can mean wasted production.

So one small planet in each "region" of my empire will be for these and the rest research.

Everything gets a minimum of 2 factories, although I will canibalize them later in the game when money is flowing easily and I can afford to buy more improvements.