In the Colony Management screen for each planet you can set the focus to maximize a particular area of production.

At the top of the screen you will see boxes for Military, Social and Research production. Next to the number in () you will see a little target button. Click that to set the focus, click again to release the focus.

Setting the focus to Military would divert most of the Social and Research points into the Military budget, for example.

So yes, you can control each planet individually, as well as using the sliders for your overall civ.

Hi!

Not most, only 1/4 of basic output. That helps somewhat to maintain production on manufacturing capital, but until I can set spending sliders for each planet separately is specialization for production and research quite a waste of buildings' capabilities on those planets.

Over-specialization isn't good. I can prove that: on your manufacturing planet build instead if 8 factories only 6, the remainig two tiles fill with research buildings. Now compare the output of that planet with focus on military production with output from previous layout and with different sliders settings...

Surprised?

The reason is if a planet has no research buildings then it's reseach output with 1%/49&/50% sliders is 6 points. From focus on "military" a planet gains 1/4 of 6 points, or 1. Add there 1/4 of 1% military (that's also low), and 1/4 from big social, and we're almost there. Add here the inability to transfer with focus the bonus production/research from other buildings (power plants, capitals...) on that planet and the end result is quite obvious - don't over-specialize.

The only specialization I see valid is the economic one, but even with this a planet needs decent production first in order to build those econ buildings in a reasonable time, and that means some factories anyway.

BR, Iztok

I agree 100% with tetleytea. I think near 100% specialization should only occur where you have a "capital". Over specializing on other planets doesn't make as much sense.

Thank You everyone, especially Iztok. But here is my main delema. If I do have 1 research planet I can NEVER maximize it. If I am in peace/growth mode I need to build colonies and buildings for other planets and can not make 100% research in my research planet. During war I am pumping out ships in my Military planets and want my research planet to keep with research so I don't fall too behind. I have to pick one or the other, and during war military is king. I don't understand how this game, which is the best turn based strategy space conquest game since Master of Orion II, could not include individual planet production options. Please tell me I'm wrong. I can't stand the monotany of making every planet look the same.

When your science spending is at 33%, that means that every lab you have is working at 33% capacity. It doesn't matter at all whether it's on a specialized planet or not. You're not losing anything by making a specialized planet.

It is unrealistic that you cannot run factories at 100% and labs at 100% at the same time, but this is to force you to make a strategy decision between production or research. Otherwise, you would just run both at 100% all the time, and the game would be missing a major decision.

Specialization is very useful for taking advantage of multiplier bonuses. The tech capital gives a 100% bonus to research, so a lab on your tech capital planet produces as much as two labs on a normal planet. So put as many labs as possible on the tech capital, and put the other buildings on normal planets. Also, taxes come from population multiplied with the planet's economy bonus, so put high population and lots of markets on the same planet. On the other hand, if a planet has few markets, building farms is a waste of planetary tiles, and if a planet has low population, then markets are weak. Other multiplier bonuses are colonization events, moons, rings, research coordination centers, and power plants. Specialize based on those things to get maximum value from your planetary tiles.

Once built you can't move your capital buildings, so that is not a strategy option. The technology capital is the only one that gives a bonus that can't be recreated by another building, so don't be shy about building the other two capitals early.

Specialized worlds will rarley be operating at 100%, but neither will non-specialized worlds. Just for examples sake, say you set everything to 33%. If you mix labs and factories on a world, you still are only getting 33% of the value of each lab. If you make lab specialized worlds, it is the same as having many worlds with just a few labs. What sets specialized worlds apart are the bonuses. Only one world can get a +175% research bonus (tech capital, research coor, and omega research). While all of those labs are only operating at 33%, think about the number of tiles you are saving... or that those labs represent. Each lab built on a world with a huge research bonus is equal to about 2-3 labs built on other worlds.

The same with factories. True, if you put 100% into one of the sliders, then you are going to get worlds that are producing very little (never nothing, the basic colony gives some points of everything)... but that is a trade off you have made. Essentially, you are just taking average factories from several worlds and boosting them by concentrating them on a world with a large manufacturing bonus.

It is possible to play the game with 0% research and just get all of your tech through invasions. This is the only way I know of to have every building you build always operate at full capacity. This is a pretty restricting game style, however. As it stands, you have a basic choice to make about what percentages to put into each area.

In short, specialized worlds without large bonuses from somewhere are no better or worse than many worlds with no bonuses and an even mix of buildings. However, you will get more out of fewer tiles if you specialize the few worlds you find with large natural manufacturing or research bonuses.

Hope that helps.