PQ ability may be under-rated

from GalCiv2 Forums
I was experimenting with this to discover what's happened under 1.1. This is what I discovered:

1) The ability now works on worlds you colonize and not just your starting world.
2) The bonus does not apply to planets you conquer.
3) It doesn't QUITE work as advertised. You will get the 10% or 20% initial boost. However, things work a bit differently once you have researched up to terraforming. For Earth, for example:

Ability-Base tiles-tiles when fully terraformed
No PQ ability-10-13
Green Thumb (10%)-11-14
Magical (20%)-12-18

So it looks like the ability affects both the initial number of tiles AND the number available after planetary improvements. This would also explain why Green Thumb costs just 3 ability points whilst Magical costs a whopping 8 rather than the 6 you might expect...the benefits are potentially more than twice as good.

5 extra tiles on an average planet is definitely worth 8 points IMO If you're playing against a small number of opponents with some high quality planets around. It's not so impressive if you're playing a large number of opponents though since you'll not see the benefits on planets you take through conquest.
4,019 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I have not tried it on 1.1 but did before, magical (wopping 8 pts) is great once your in mid to end game. Those extra tiles allow you to really power ahead and win/end games more quickly. Its a very, very powerful benefit that u can enjoy later on. U r disdvantaged at the game start and need to get the knack of surviving early on to enjoy the great benefits later. U can get some wonderful planets, with huge research, money output, high population (got space to build the morale, to support it, now). If u play the Torians, highly, highly recomended. Get Aphrodisiac, c how high u can get there population, income, its breathtakingly obscene!
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'd guess you also need to colony rush as much as possible to make the most of it (since you won't get the bonus unless you get to the planet first)?

That could lead to a tough early game but as you say should make the end game relatively easy.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I have a PQ 34 planet, but only 22 usable tiles.. I thought a PQ34 planet was supposed to have 34 tiles.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'd guess you also need to colony rush as much as possible to make the most of it (since you won't get the bonus unless you get to the planet first)?


Yes, try to set planets to common in 1.1 i presume. Before 1.1, even conquered planets got the PQ increase.



I thought a PQ34 planet was supposed to have 34 tiles.


so did i, but never counted, anyone with more info?
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
In patch 1.1 then you get the extra tiles from the ability, but asrandom50 said, only with colonized worlds. I think invaded or culture flipped worlds show an increase numerically, but dont show extra tiles.

(before the patch then all worlds only showed the numerical increase)
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
(referring to Takari's post)

Thats strange, I wonder if its intentional that conquered planets show an increase but do not get extra tiles.