Just a small, newbie question...

I only play at beginner level and only recently bought the game but anyway.

I try to grab star systems, colonise one planet per star then colonise any remaining suitable planets in that system at leisure. I set expenditures to 80:0:20 to churn out colonists to try to grab a dozen systems and build a few starfighters then switch to social to build a couple of basic improvements. Then back to military to fill up the systems and build more warships then back to social for more improvements. Always leaving science between 15% to 30%. This seems to work best for me on a medium galaxy. I never lease colony ships (not since the economic mess that caused in my first game).

BTW I am now experimenting with using a minor race to deny sectors to the other major civs. Colonise one planet, give it to the minor and it will colonise the rest of the sector. Still haven't figured when, if ever, this is worth blowing a colony ship. Umh, maybe I will see if I can sell the colony to the minor.

THis totally depends on the size of the map. On smaller maps there is only 1 colonisation stage. At the start of the game. On the largest map sizes some sectors of space can remain out of range for long parts of the game adn you can still be colonising well into the mid game. I tend to sit colony ships at the limit of my range towards sectors which I believe are currently uncolonised. I then send constructors to build starbases anmd expand that range.

As for population on a colony ship, it depends on your style of play. I tend to drop 100M people onto most planets but occasionally drop 500M onto high planet quality planets to act as sources for early game transports. I never reduce earth below 1000M in the early game though.

Paul.

~SDC~

I usually colonize till I achieve, ideally, an advantage over other players in terms of systems. The initial round targets only 15+ planets, but a second round may target 14 and stratigically located 12-13 planets. Yes, I do colonize in mid-end game as colonization could be a good strategic move, to establish a forward base for your military or cultural operations.

~SDC~

I just colonize until I run out of 15+ planet star systems that I can colonize.

~SDC~

How do you maintain focus on Huge/Gigantic maps - considering the rediculous number of colonies you can have? How many colonies actually require your attention? At some point their morale just goes down (for a variety of reasons) I'm interested in hearing how other players cope with the micromanagement.

For instance, is having a lot of colonies that are harder to control better than having a smaller amount that you can manage more effectively?

Peter, interesting strategy! However, part of me rebels at the notion of giving something so immense like a colony to who are, essentially, backwater aliens. They're rich backwater aliens, though...

Cheers,
Stofsk

Nice hijack, Stofsk.

I designed my methodology on gigantic maps, and have continued to use it on smaller ones quite happily. It goes like this:

Usually manage by viewing the planet list, sorted by morale. Just running your eyes down the list is enough to tell ya what to do. No cycling through the planets. Rarely I will use some propaganda on a planet - I usually only micromanage to this level in the early games and on small maps.

I tend to divide my planets into two groups based on PQ - using PQ18-19 as the cut off (different in different games I suppose).

I give a different governor to the 2 sets
- low guys don't build +starship benefits, build fewer morale etc things, and prioritse things that build quickly
- high guys build more, including +starship, and prioritise economy; production; morale; research/other

I build different vessels in the two sets
- low guys do transports if their pop is under 60, and constructors otherwise
- high guys do transports if their pop is under 100 and military vessels/freighters otherwise
You can see that I have different expectations of the different sets of planets... Note that 100 is intended to maximize the population growth on my largest planets.

HTH.

~SDC~

I have just tried a "two tier" initial land grab.

First I send out colony ships to secure star systems, one colonist per star system using the best planet. (Will settle two planets in the same system if both are very good). I then switch from 80% military to 80% social spending to build soil improvement, habital improvement and banks.

When all planets have finished soil and habital I switch back to military to fill all remaining planets in those systems and possibly secure another system or two. Build a few constructors to snaffle resources. I also build some warships to deter the AI.

I then switch back to 80% social to build soil, habitat and banks on the new planets. Meanwhile the older planets build spiffier social improvements. This suits me because I don't want to build everything on every planet. My better planets thus get more improvements with my second rate planets having less time set to "nothing". It also seems to help with managing the finance and morale.

BTW I am playing at beginner and this works extremely well. Dunno how it would go at higher difficulties.

Well, as you crank up the difficulty the AI gets much quicker at snapping up planets. Even with +speed, 100% spending, and the VERY occasional colony-ship buy, once in a while an AI at Intelligent will end up with more/better worlds than me. So, at least as far as that "snapping up a few extra systems" goes -- there won't be any unless they're insulated from everybody else's range by your territory.

-EtherMage


~SDC~

I've been playing small and tiny maps, since i've only had this game for a week, and on those maps i usually only get 3 or 4 star systems during the colonization phase. If i'm lucky i can colonize more than one planet in each system... but since i usually go for cultural victory I wind up with everyone elses planets anyway as the game goes on.

~SDC~

#1 Stofsk,

There is a series of excellent posts on the economic "break-points" for tax revenue per population in GalCiv. To access them, google the forum and look for "population" & "taxes".

Basically, the best quantities of colonists to land on each world are:

PQ15-17 1

PQ18-19 111

PQ20+ 223+

These figures were valid as of 1.03. They might have changed under 1.04 & 1.05.

~SDC~

#1 Stofsk:

Another thing I have discovered...

It is better in the early game to have fewer, better quality planets than a greater number of lesser ones. Because of the way morale, spending and tax rates inter-relate, lower-PQ planets tend to "drag down" the production of better ones and act as a "speed-brake" on your development.

To avoid this, one trick I use is to let my starting position dictate my initial colonization efforts. I only colonize those worlds equal to or greater than Earth's PQ. Anything else, I park a colony ship by and wait to back-fill. I usually colonize all lesser worlds in waves, starting with the highest-PQ levels (generally PQ17-18) and working down (PQ16's, then PQ15's, lastly PQ14's if I have the +3 bonus pick, and finally PQ12-13's if I spent for +7). I only break this "rule" when there is a strategic system the AI is about to beat me to.


#6

Ralegh - I didn't know Stofsk could hijack his own thread!

~SDC~

"Ralegh - I didn't know Stofsk could hijack his own thread!"

Yeah, neither did I.

Thanks, everyone, for the views/ideas.

Def Zep: Is it worth colonising anything under PQ15? You'd already have morale problems with PQ15+, it just seems to me to be a waste. Unless, you needed a forward base towards a rival sector... but even here, wouldn't starbases be a better alternative? (for the ship repair/attack/defence/trade/culture etc...)

Or did you mean, as I think you did, that anything under PQ15 still gets grabbed, just at the end. How do you deal with the morale problems?

Cheers,
Stofsk

You can get lower PQ planets initially then terraform them to PQ15 or more. Personally i don't they are worth it as far as expense/profit goes. If it's a strategic location, that is different.

#12 Stofsk:

The latter, i.e., PQ14's (and even 13's) are worth colonizing towards the end, because you can usually immediately buy Soil Enhancements & Habitat Improvements to raise their PQ to PQ15+. They are only ca. 600bc each, and usually trade, tribute, etc. yields this amount in 1-2 turns mid- to late-game.

PQ15 is the "break even" point. Below this level, 1.05 imposes a penalty for colonizing these worlds: you have to pay increasing amounts of "maintenance" to support them.

If you choose the PQ+3 or +7 bonuses, this calculus is improved by one level for each choice, i.e., PQ+3 makes PQ14's cost-effective, and PQ+7 makes PQ13's so.

It is just that, due to the "speed-brake" effect on morale/tax rates, you want to delay settling these worlds until the Earth-equivalent (or better) PQ planets are first colonized and their basic infrastructures built up [Soil Enhance/Hab Improv/Banks/Fusion PP's/Mfg Ctrs/Research Labs/Stock Markets/Improved form(s) of Government/Trade Routes]. Once your main "core worlds" are up and running, you can then start the "second wave" of colonies (PQ15-17) and so on (PQ 13-14).

Hope this helps.



~SDC~