Economy troubles

As far as I understand the economic thing - you have an big misunderstanding how farms and markets work.

A Farm will improve the max. population of planet (by 5bil at level 1). You can't improve the population about the planet class limit, so small planest don't need any farms and you need more them three an big planet if you have a good farming tech level.

Markest improve the income generated on a planet - they don't sell the farming production !
Build markest on planets with big population. And you can stack multiple markets to get even more money - but may be you don't have the tiles to build something to spend the money for as fabrics or research centers.

Try something like this-

Buy/build entertainment type buildings to keep your homeworld approval at 100%. This gives you the population increase bonus which should mean your homeworld popuation increases even while pumping out colony ships. In the early game two entertainment buildings should allow you to keep homeworld approval at 100% and raise your tax rate.

Buy/build markets/trade centres on your homeworld to build up its economic output.

Colonies can then be specialised as reqd to make up for any deficit in research etc.

Worked well for me in my last Metaverse game on "tough".

i currently favor a 4-way split of buildings:

1 part factory, 1 part research, 1 part markets, 1 part everything else (farm, morale, influence). plus a starport.

so a 9 tile planet gets a starport, 2 each of factory, lab, market, one farm, one morale.

and a 13 tile planet gets a starport, three each of the basics, a farm, a morale, and an influence.

for 5 tile, i've been doing starport, 1 each of the basics, plus a far, but i'm thinking about changing that to be more specialized, but with empire-wide ratios staying the same.

and i have, in general, been deviating from this scheme to specialize a little lately, but i do try to keep the 4-way split when tiles are counted up for the whole empire.

and speaking of "empire", change your government type. the Imperial setting works well enough for the early game, but it won't get you all the way.

Speacialise your planets, 1 money, 1 research and 1 manufacturing etc, this maximises the particular output u want.

A money world for example 1 colony, 1 starport, 2 factorys, 1 morale, 1 farm and 3 markets (class 9).

Just vary based on planet class, bonus tiles etc.

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A money world for example 1 colony, 1 starport, 2 factorys, 1 morale, 1 farm and 3 markets (class 9). Just vary based on planet class, bonus tiles etc.

And after everything is built, decomission a factory for another market or similar item.

No, don't do that. It'll take the planet forever to upgrade the other buildings when you get new tech. Especially with the new 1.1 system with Social -> Military, so there's no wasteage.

bump

I never decommision a factory. If you need the improvement to add a farm or social then start building transports for a future war.

I also never buy the social at the beginning. At the start lower the tax rate and buy research or factories depending on if you want to start making ships or researching better speed before making the ships. Later the factories will make the social quickly on their own without you buying them.

You don't get the question - farms increase the population cap (regardless of PQ) and more citizens pay more money. Economic buildings cause each citizen to generate more money.

So thinking long term, if I was a planet to specialize in making money, should I build more farms or more economic buildings?
I guess it could be calculated, if I was bored enough...
Anyway that's a question I was wondering about myself.
And how much BC is generated by 1 million people anyway? (Yes, I know it changes when you change taxes! But how does it work?)

One entertainment building for each farm, is the rule of thumb. Only build the farms as needed, because they do nothing until that time. Fill the rest with a few factories and economy buildings. Stock market is a LOT better than banks, so if you get banks, keep going to stock markets.

The most effective ways to increase the money flow are to increase population, trade with freighters, get a better government (Republic on up), and raise morale via tech, buildings, and wonders so the tax rate can be increased. The first morale tech helps 10% and that is a big boost early.

At the start of the game (maybe 20 turns worth), set taxes very low so approval is 100%. This will create a much bigger tax base for mid-game. There is also an early tech that boosts economy by 10%. Don't even think about raising the tax rate until getting that tech. Even later in the game, it is sometimes a good strategic move to lower the production and tax rate slider for several turns so the population tax base can expand with the 75% and 100% approval bonuses for pop.

You don't get the question - farms increase the population cap (regardless of PQ) and more citizens pay more money. Economic buildings cause each citizen to generate more money.

Wrong, this only works if you ship people manually, and there is a system of diminishing returns anyway. It's more efficient for markets in short or mid term. Huge farm planets are rarely that good, since they take 7 zero g centers (With top morale techs and all wonders) to keep at 100%, and I can't even jack up taxes like I like to.

I guess it could be calculated, if I was bored enough...

So maybe someone else could have a go at it?
Well sit right down, pull up a bowl of pop-corn, and let Shirlock Holmes give it a try

Let's start a game with the tax slider to 100% and look at what the initial 5 billion population gives us:

1. With no economic buildings or racial modifier
   71 credits.
2. With purchasing a +10% economic building
   78 credits. +10% of [something] took us to 78 credits. 78 is 110% of 71.
3. With a racial pick of +30%
   91 credits. 91 is 130% of...70.
4. With a racial +30% and a +10% economic building (+40%)
   101 credits. 101 is 140% of 72.

So it looks like the initial 5 billion population is giving about 70 credits, or about 14 credits/population.

The question of Farms vs Economics: Moving the pop-cap up requires a second tile for morale upkeep. Is it worth it? Would those two tiles produce more income as economic bonuses rather than population increase and morale maintenance? The answer is situational, and requires further investigation...

Moving the pop-cap up requires a second tile for morale upkeep. Is it worth it? Would those two tiles produce more income as economic bonuses rather than population increase and morale maintenance? The answer is situational, and requires further investigation...

You'll only need the entertainment building(s) in the early game. Later on, there's enough trade goods, resources and, should you choose it, neutral bonus to mean you don't have to bother, especially as stock exchanges also give 10% morale bonus.

Income scales according to the square root of population. One farm is almost certain to be worth it on colonized worlds (ie not your capital)...it will boost the base income by roughly 40% even for the smallest farm and it will also give you more extra credits per econ building added. After that, it depends.

YOu need to factor in the size of the planet on smaller planets the farms are not important or very ineffective. On larger planets you need them to boost the population. You will need social buildings once the pop gets higher but you do not need as many as everyone is saying as if you are do the research and get the trading techs the ones you have will be effective.

My approach:
Big planets: farms and stock markets to get cash. I leave some tiles empty (starts planet to focus on military not social so I can make my constructors) to put farms and social on later

Mid and small planets:I may put a farm and a social but not many and no need for stock markets. Remember a few big planets can run your entire economy not every planet needs to make cash.