Habitat skill et al.

from Stardock Forums
There are a lot of skills that we can pick at the begining of the game that I have no idea of their value. For example, a 5% habitat increase is 3 points but a 7% is 8%. Is tis good? Is this bad? I don't know because I don't really understand what this does. Can someone explain this skill in detail and determine if it is worth either the 3 picks or 8 points? Also, some analysis on the other skills would be very useful
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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
The 3 points is worth more...just on a cost/benefit analysis...

It's just adding a percentage to your PQ...it's not noticable until you actually put PQ improvements on it, but it does come into affect...

I'm not fanatical enough to know the calculations, but it's basically stacking in another PQ bonus on top of your PQ enhancing structures...

~SDC~
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Any planet you colonize gets PQ percentage increase based on that skill. Either 5 or 7%. To get an understanding on how good or bad this is, a chart will do. The first column is base PQ. The second adds +10% PQ from soil enrichment technology available at the beginning of the game. The third throws in habitats which yield +10% more PQ and is available real early (go up the medical tech tree two levels). The fourth column is the +5% pick added in to both of those. The last column is the +7% added in to both soil enrichment and habitats. There is no rounding PQ. Any decimal is dropped.

Ba So Ha +5 +7
12 13 14 15 15
13 14 15 16 16
14 15 16 17 17
15 16 18 18 19
16 17 19 20 20
17 18 20 21 21
18 19 21 22 22
19 20 22 23 24
20 22 24 25 25
21 23 25 26 26
22 24 26 27 27
23 25 27 28 29
24 26 28 30 30
25 27 30 31 31
26 28 31 32 33

As can be seen, the +5% pick gives a clear advantage in every range except base PQ 15. The +7% is only worth more at base PQ 15, 19, 23, and 26. So a lot of players think that a +5% that is almost always useful and costs relatively little is worth more than a higher level advantage that only works better in four spots on the chart and costs much more.

Edit: Chart formatting!
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Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Damn. When I had done the mental arithmetic for a few example planets I thought the 7% pick looked better than that. I was including terraforming in my calculations, but now that I've actually thrown the number into a spreadsheet it doesnt look as good as I thought. With terraforming in there as well 7% provides 1 PQ more than 5% at base 13, 15, 22, 24 and 26. Wish I'dve done that math before taking it (wanted to give it a try as it *does* give an immediate 1 PQ bonus as soon as you colonize any planet with base 15 or better whereas the 5% only gives 1 PQ immediately on base 20 or better). I took it with the reasoning that the extra 1 PQ is functionally equivalent to bonuses in economics, military and social production, research, population growth, and morale. But looks like the 5% is a better choice....
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Nice work Gerrakken. One table is worth a thousand words!
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Nice work Gerrakken. One table is worth a thousand words!
End of quote


Yea ... it pretty much summed it up for me too! :)
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
i think picking the planet quality bonus is a very wise choice. with it, you can colonize the level 12, 13, and 14 quality planets, and bring it up to atleast level 15. the AI's ignore anything under 15, so with this bonus, you can always find planets to colonize deep in the AI's territory. i only wished i picked this bonus in the first few games i played.