Ascendancy FAQ by PantheR, panthernet@mail.ru Big thanx to Mike Fay BEFORE WE GET STARTED ===================== What about the red, green and blue squares? How do they work? Unlike what I thought (prior to analysis), they do not *multiply* the effects of the structure on them, they simply add one point if an appropriate structure is on them. So it makes no difference, for example, if you put an Industrial Megafacility, Metroplex, Factory, or Colony Base on a red square: As long as the structure produces industry, it will add the one point from the red square to your raw total Industry Points. As a result, it makes a lot of sense to put your Colony Base directly on a red or green square. This way, you get its benefit right off the bat. I recommend a green square, if you have a choice, because Prosperity is generally the more challenging aspect of colony growth. The exception would be planets with a lot of black spaces--a small or tiny planet with any black spaces, a medium with a fair number of black, or a larger planet with PILES of black spaces. Here, the more pressing problem is simply a lack of space, so grab a little right off the bat by putting your colony on a black square. You'll get to the colored square soon enough. Note: Red squares do not increase the *multiplicative* effect of a Hyperpower Plant. It might still add one point; I didn't test enough to tease this out. But I know it doesn't multiply. So, there is no particular advantage to putting a Hyperpower on a red, an Internet on a blue, etc. Note #2: In the following, I frequently use the terms "raw", "observed", and "actual" when referring to Research, Industry, and Population Points. To make sure there is no confusion: "observed" is always the same as "actual"; both mean what you actually see when you click to see your Industry IPs, for example. "Raw" is what you get when you total up how much your people and structures input. Read on... RESEARCH, easiest and therefore first ===================================== Research simply adds up the research points for your research structures (see below). As usual, one point is added for each research structure on a blue square. Internet adds 50% more points to your raw research. Example: # Type Points Adds 2 Labs on white 2x1 2 2 Labs on blue 2x2 4 2 Res. Camp. on white 2x3 6 1 Res. Camp. on blue 1x4 4 -- Total 16 x 1.5 for Internet 24 total RPs for this planet ** RESEARCH BUILDINGS RP=Research points, IP=Industry points, PP=Prosperity points: Cost $/RP Points Laboratory 50 50 1 RP Research Campus 160 53 3 RPs Metroplex 200 200 1 RP, 1 IP & 1 PP; +2 spaces Engineering Retreat 80 80 1 RP & 1 IP Logic Factory 80 80 1 RP & 1 PP Obviously, the Research Campus will let you pack the most RPs into a planet in the long term. Other buildings are shown just for completeness (everything that makes an RP); not necessarily because I recommend them. I never make Retreats or Logic Factories. INDUSTRY, a little tougher but not too bad ========================================== Industry starts off with your raw IPs (Industry Points), much as for research, but modifies them using an exponential function: Observed IPs = Round ( (Raw IPs)^0.85 ) This exponential leveling causes the amounts of IPs produced to drop off as the raw IPs increase. You get a 1-to-1 raw-to-observed only up to three IPs, then it starts slacking off. The curve drops off quickly then is less severe. For example, when going from 1 to 2 raw IPs, you only add 0.803 observed IPs (80%, but rounding obscures it); from 3 to 4 raw IPs adds only 70.3% observed (or actual) IPs (and observed stays at 3), from 9 to 10 raw IPs adds only 0.606 (observed goes from 6 to 7), by 30 raw IPs each raw IP adds only about 0.50 actual IPs (now in the 18 observed IPs range), by 140 raw IPs each new one adds only 0.40 (in the 67 observed IPs range), by 360 raw, each adds 0.35 (the 150 observed range). So your facilities always add something, but it is progressively less. IMFs already add only two actual IPs instead of their three raw IPs by the time raw is at about 5, and are down to 1.5 actual at around 30 raw/18 observed. It approaches 1 observed way out past 400 raw/163 observed. (Note, all the preceding are WITHOUT Hyperpower; see below--multiply observed by 1.4 for Hyperpower.) See Appendix A for a detailed tabulation of Raw vs. Observed IPs. As usual, red squares just add one Raw IP to your total, if an IP-producing structure is on them. It does NOT multiply what is on the square; there is no difference between putting a factory, IMF, or colony base on a red square. If you want to calculate your IPs, you have to examine your colony and add up all your Raw IPs, then run it through the above equation. (Or just use Appendix A as a look-up table!) I tested this function with dozens of datapoints from one of my games, and it seems very predictable. There were some very minor variations of +/- one point that seemed to be due to some rounding within Ascendancy's algorithm; they only happened when the decimal remainder was very close to one half (.47 to .53), and went in unpredictable directions. It only caused my sample to be off 3 times, so the correlation seems very good. ** INDUSTRY BUILDINGS RP=Research points, IP=Industry points, PP=Prosperity points: Cost $/RP Points Factory 30 30 1 IP Ind. Megafacility 110 37 3 IPs Metroplex 200 200 1 IP, 1 RP & 1 PP; +2 spaces Colony Base (120) 120 1 IP & 1 PP Engineering Retreat 80 80 1 IP & 1 RP Shipyard 240 240 1 IP Orbital Docks 170 170 1 IP Obviously, the IMF will let you pack the most IPs into a planet in the long term (see Discussion of Planet Packing). As usual, this is everything that makes an IP, not necessarily something recommended *for* making IPs. If you are trying to use or check my equation, don't forget to add in IPs from, e.g., your Shipyard, Colony Base, Orbital Docks, and Metroplexes, including adding a point for each one on a red square. EFFECT OF HYPERPOWER ==================== The equation seems to be: Observed IPs = Truncate ( (Raw IPs)^0.85 x 1.4 ) In other words, almost exactly Observed IPs plus 40%. It is important that the 1.4 is outside the ^0.85; you wind up with a bit more (because it's not "held down" by the 0.85), especially with a high number of IPs. I didn't do a whole lot of sampling on this one (about a dozen datapoints), because it seemed very straightforward. However, it definitely suffered worse from the rounding error (i.e., observed was randomly +/- 1 versus predicted). For one of the planets I sampled, my predicted was correct if values were *rounded* instead of truncated, but that threw most of the other samples off by one. "Shrug." SCIENTIST TAKEOVER ================== This appears to be a straightforward calculation: *ADD* to existing RPs: TRUNCATE (Raw IPs)/4 In other words, ST adds (not replaces) 25% of your Raw IPs to your Research IPs. If you have Hyperpower: ADD: TRUNCATE 1.5 x (Raw IPs)/4 In other words, Hyperpower adds 1.*5*, not 1.*4*, to ST, unlike how it usually affects IPs. We don't see the 0.85 that enters into the observed IPs equation here; just your raw IPs, which means your IPs are used better (linearly)--30 to 50% better, depending on how many IPs you have (see discussion of observed vs. raw IP drop-off, above). [If you don't want to add up your raw IPs, you can always use Appendix A as a sort of "look up table"--find your Observed IPs (with or without Hyperpower) and slide over to the left to get a raw IP estimate. (It's an estimate because more than one raw IP can have the same observed IP, after rounding.)] Also note, Internet does NOT help (i.e., increase) Scientist-Takeover RPs. The net effect is that ST is a very poor substitute for "real" (Research Campus) research. Each colonist devoted to an Industrial Megafacility (IMF) generates 3 raw IPs which converts to 0.75 RPs vs. 3 for a Research Campus. Best case: an IMF on a red square with Hyperpower generates 1.5 RPs ((3+1)x1.*5*/4), but a Research Campus on a blue square with Internet generates 6 RPs. So Scientist Takeover is definitely just something optional to do with otherwise wasted IPs; it is *not* somehow a better way to make RPs. Actually, I suppose it is marginally better if you have IMFs and/or Hyperpower before you get Research Campuses and Internet (so you're stuck with Labs), but at that point in the game I'm usually furiously building stuff, and otherwise just putting Labs on all blue squares. Note that I did not test whether having industry on blue squares helps you with Scientist Takeover. I would guess that it wouldn't, though. And--"what does it matter". :) PROSPERITY POINTS (pretty messy) ================================ First things first: it takes 50 Prosperity Points (PPs) to give birth to a new colonist. HOW PPs ARE CALCULATED ====================== Unlike Research and Industry, where I could just take off structures one by one and generate a long list of datapoints, most of my colonies only had a few to a dozen Prosperity points, no matter what their size, so there wasn't a whole lot I could take off. Neither was there much room to avoid rounding ambiguities, since all observed PPs were low (max 12 or so; most in 1-5 range). I wasn't able to make my predicted algorithm real pretty; there may be a number of roundings compounding within Ascendancy's calcs, or I may have my algorithm slightly off. That's the problem with black-box reverse engineering: There are a dozen ways to do anything mathematically. For example, their program might walk through each of the structures on a planet, compounding something as it goes--this could make an exponential-like function, while possibly also introducing subtle rounding differences, depending on their level of precision. While it makes a reverse engineer wince, they had no obligation to make their algorithms precise and predictable to the Nth decimal for reverse engineers; they just had to make the game playable. So, who knows. Anyway: The best I can figure the Prosperity Points equation is: PPs = Round( (Raw PPs)^0.85 - Round( (0.4 x Pop)^.85 ) ) + 1 (Pop = Total Population, used and unused) In other words, add up your raw PPs on one hand, but subtract a PP for every 2.5 people, too -- and muddle both with 0.85 exponentiation. If you compare your planets' populations and raw PPs, you will see that you only get observable PPs if you have more raw PPs than people/2.5. I had 63 datapoints (planet results from the game), and this equation got all but 9 correct; for 7 of these, my calculated value was one less than the observed value, the eighth value was one more, and the ninth, two more than the observed. (Yes, I triple-checked the latter planet to make sure I got its data right, sigh.) With this kind of equation, there are any number of ways to play around -- round or truncate before or after exponentiation, add 1 inside the first exponent, subtract it inside the second, etc. etc. etc. I feel confident in my general approach toward Ascendancy under the hood, since the IP equation was such a good match. But this is the closest I could get to PPs before getting tired of trying yet one more variation (I tried dozens). See Appendix B for a table of PPs, but be warned, 10% of the time my result was one lower than I observed, and a couple of times it was off by more. FWIW, I did test for effects from Industry, number of buildings, and used vs. unemployed people. I could not see any real effect (try it; just take a saved game and whack off lots of stuff). Some things are quite difficult to test, though, such as the number of free spaces left in a planet. If you've got the time, let me/us know if you can pin it down better! In summary, Prosperity points are like a "tip of the iceberg" effect: Your raw PPs have to rise to the point where they are higher than people/2.5 (since both have the 0.85 factor). Then, raw PPs suffer from the same exponential reduction as IPs. Thus, if you have 9 raw PPs, a Hydroponifer only adds approx. 1.8 observed PPs (3 x 0.6 raw PPs). ** PROSPERITY BUILDINGS RP=Research points, IP=Industry points, PP=Prosperity points: Cost $/RP Points Agriplot 30 15 2 PPs Art. Hydroponifer 100 33 3 PPs Metroplex 200 200 1 PP, 1 RP & 1 IP; +2 spaces Habitat 160 80 2 PPs; +3 spaces Colony Base (120) 120 1 PP & 1 IP Logic Factory 80 80 1 PP & 1 RP As you can see, the Agriplot is a *much* better deal than the Hydroponifer. ***News Flash: I initially wrote the Prosperity section without having realized how easy Automation can make things, if you have it and want to spend the bucks. So, read this all with a grain of salt if you lean toward Automation. A discussion of Automation has been put at the end of the Prosperity section. FERTILIZATION PLANT =================== By this point, I was getting quite tired of sampling data from the game and playing with it, only to find something always off by one . Anyway, based on nine planets, the effect of the Fertilizer Plant (FP) appears to be that it increases the raw exponential PP half of the equation by 40%, much as Hyperpower does. Then, the Population factor is subtracted. If you *really* want to see the best (god-awful) function I could come up with, here it is: TRUNCATE ( ROUND( (Raw PPs)^0.85 ) * 1.4 - [Raw PP part] ROUND( ROUND( 0.4*Pop ) ^.085 ) + 1 ) [Pop part] With this equation, my predicated PPs were one less than observed PPs for two of the 9 samples; the rest were dead-on. Here, though, the frustration of tweaking can be seen clearly. There must be dozens of permutations to try, and however I flipped these around, a different set of datapoints would be off by one. So, the general observation is that the FP increases PPs by 40%, but exactly how it rounds, I can't say. Throughout this article, I make no claims to have totally figured out what the algorithm is doing. I just know in general what's going on, and may have actually hit a few of them pretty closely . The above shows why you can see something strange with the FP: It has little apparent effect on some planets, but lights a few planets up like Christmas trees. A big change means you had a large PP base (i.e., a large, developed planet) that was just barely at the Population/2.5 hurdle. When the FP was added, "the rest was gravy"--the 40% shot the large PP base way up over the Population factor. On small planets there is not enough PP base to have a big effect (or observed PP would have been large already, given the small Population), and it will have no observable effect on large planets that still don't have enough raw PPs to make it to the Population/2.5 cutoff. Although I haven't looked at it closely, I would imagine that the FP starts being a viable proposition just like the Hyperpower plant: When raw PPs are around 9, the FP is equivalent to adding another Hydroponifer, and above 9 raw PPs, the FP does better (for the one colony space utilized) than a Hydroponifer. But, since your Pop may be masking your PPs, you will have to look at your colony to estimate how many raw PPs you have. Appendix B can also be used to estimate it, *if* you have observable PPs. CLONING PLANT ============= What it says: It just increases your Pop by two, instead of one, when each new colonist is born. An alternative way to build your pop. It still requires enough raw PP base to get your observed PPs above the Pop/2.5 cutoff, so it is not a "magic bullet" for the problem of a highly developed planet with no PP base that needs to increase its Population. Its advantage is that it does not require ever more and more Prosperity buildings to double what little you might have on a large planet; it just needs the one clone plant, and all your Pop increases are doubled. It's a bargain in anyone's book; indeed, it may even be "too powerful" (wasting excess generated Pop) in some circumstances--but, who cares? A Cloning Plant is probably best used for situations where rapid growth is needed, such as very large planets with lots of space to fill. ENDLESS PARTY ============= If I thought Fertilizer Plants were bad, Endless Party (EP) was the worst. Like a drunk who couldn't remember what he did the night before (but was sure it must have been dumb), by this point I had swum through so many numbers I didn't want to see another one--and I still had EP to do. I took 15 data points for EP. The equation is something like: ROUND ( (raw PPs)^0.85 + (Observed IPs)/3 - ROUND( (0.4xPop)^0.85) ) + 1 ) If you look closely, it's simpler than it seems: It's pretty much the regular PP equation, but adds in PPs equal to observed IPs divided by three. (After all, the description of EP basically says it converts IPs to PPs.) You still subtract out the Pop/2.5, so you can still have masking. This equation was correct for 10 of the 15 datapoints, and was off by +/- 1 to 3 for the other five. (This was for observed PPs, with EP, ranging from 0 to 23. That both the highest value and many of the lowest ones were precisely correct tells me I'm on the right track.) So it's close, but not totally there. You are welcome to tweak the equation all you want. Just make sure you get all the input data right! You will remember that Scientist Takeover is based on Raw IPs, as opposed to EP, which uses Observed IPs. It's consistent, though, with how RPs are generated linearly, but PPs attenuate by ^.85. Sorry, but I did not test for the effects of the Fertilizer Plant or Hyperpower on Endless Party. I know informally that Hyperpower increases it; I can only imagine, by the 40% it increases observed IPs. I don't know if the FP increases it, since Internet did not increase the effect of Scientist Takeover (there was just a straight conversion of IPs to RPs). PARTY OR PRODUCE, the perennial question (for me, anyway): Should you build more Prosperity structures or just say "screw it" and start Partying, if your colony has gotten fairly advanced and you're short of PPs? * * BIG MATH WARNING * * -- Skip all the way down to the "Conclusion" paragraph at the end of this section to avoid a lot of numbers! It takes 100 observed IPs to make a Hydroponifer, which provides 3 raw PPs on a continuous basis. These 3 raw PPs will be decreased by exponentiation to approx. 50 or 60%, depending on the size of your raw PP base. In other words, the Hydroponifer will actually contribute approx. 1.6 observed PPs on a continuous basis. (I'm discussing Hydroponifers instead of Agriplots because, using Agriplots, your colony is probably well advanced before you start running into Population problems. At that point, you will probably have plenty of Industry but little space. So the question will probably be whether to make more Hydroponifers, not Agriplots. Increase the 1.6 PPs to 3.3 PPs per 100 IPs, if you are considering whether to make more Agriplots to increase population.) By comparison, with Endless Party, 100 observed IPs would contribute 33 actual PPs (before subtracting Pop) on a one-time basis. Obviously, Partying is a *very* cost-effective way to increase PPs in the short term. It would take approx. 21 turns (33/1.6) before the Hydroponifer has "broken even" with Partying, and generated more than 33 actual PPs. Ten turns if you're talking Agriplots. To understand the difference, let's look at a colony in progress. Colony Murgleblast is an enormous planet (73 spaces) with about 30 colonists, and about 40 left to go. The player has all relevant research (IMFs, Hyperpower, Hydroponifers, etc.) done and has developed a strong industrial nucleus. How to strategize the rest of the planet's population development? Let's say this is a highly industrialized planet (best case scenario), and the player has 80% of his Pop in IMFs at any given time. If he used Endless Party exclusively, it would take 6,000 IPs (40 colonists x 50 PPs/colonist x 3 IPs/PP) at face value, *but* this would be reduced by the growing population. Here we go; skip to the next paragraph to avoid this math: At 30 pop, subtract 8 observed IPs ( (0.4*30)^0.85 ); with 80% in IMFs, he's making 53 IPs (30x.8=24; (24x3)^0.85 x 1.4 for Hyperpower). So he puts 45 IPs (53-9) into EP, generating 15 PPs/turn, and gets a new colonist in 3.3 turns. When he's up to 50 colonists, he's generating 82 IPs, subtracting 13 for Pop, leaving 69 for EP, or 23 PPs a turn: a new colonist every 2 turns. When he tops out around 70 colonists, it's 109 IPs minus 17 equals 92; divided by three is 30.7 PPs/turn, or a colonist every 1.6 turns. Doing a weighted average of the three snapshots (In case you haven't gathered, by this point, I'm just writing stuff on paper; this is not solid modeling off of a spreadsheet. I told you I'm getting tired of these numbers!): The player devoted 10x3.3 turns of production to go from 30 to 40, 20x2 for 41 to 60, and 10x2 for 61 to 70 (but it doesn't let you carry forward PPs *when generating a new colonist*, so anything below two turns is wasted unless you have enough IPs to do it in one turn (thought that would be 150 observed IPs, equal to 250 raw IPs with Hyperpower, or 83 IMFs--more than an enormous planet can hold). However, all through this time, the player will also have been planting Metroplexes or Habitats, which add some PPs already. Let's say that these reduce the needed turns from 90 to 80 (that two-turn minimum cutoff is a bitch!). In total, you will have used very roughly 80 turns of production to take a planet from 30 to 70 colonists using Endless Party alone (with a minimum of PPs thrown in from structures). Now let's look at using Hydroponifers. Skip to the next "In total" paragraph to avoid the math. :) First, the player wants enough PPs to be able to keep building constantly. 50 points are needed for each colonist, and let's say he wants a new colonist every three turns. (If he's already at 53 observed IPs, he can soon make a new IMF in two turns, but will also be sprinkling in Metroplexes, which take 3 or 4 turns (2 turns at the very end of development), Hydroponifers, Internet, etc. So, he needs 13 *observed* PPs to make a colonist every four turns (50/4). Since we're looking at the sum total, by the time he reaches 70 colonists, he will need to overcome (0.4*70)^0.85 = 17 base PPs, and still generate 13 observed PPs. Based on the Prosperity equation, this will be about 52 raw PPs ( 52^0.85 - 17 + 1 = 13). That's about 17 Hydroponifers (we're pressed for space). Let's give the chap a break (and also account for longer projects that let Pop grow by itself) and say we have a Fertilization Plant. This adds 40% to the 52^0.85 part; to make 13 observed PPs, we then need about 36 raw PPs, or 12 Hydroponifers. (This is for *70* colonists; they will have been constructed evenly over time to keep up with Pop growth.) By the time he reaches 70 colonists, he will have used 1,400 IPs (12x100+200 for FP) to make his 12 Hydroponifers and FP. Using the same 53/82/109 IPs/turn weighted average from the previous discussion, the player will have wound up devoting about 22 turns to Prosperity structure development. Finally, there will have been quite a bit of Habitat and Metroplex development that will have added Prosperity, so let's drop that number to say 15 or 18 turns. Conclusion: It is *much* better to develop and rely on your Prosperity infrastructure *for long term population growth*, and much better in the short term to use Partying to your full advantage. Sounds like a good recipe for life to me! (ooh, bad) =========== GROWTH BOMB =========== As far as I can tell, the Growth Bomb adds ten more population slots to your planet, period. In very informal observations, it does not seem to have any effect on PPs/fertility or how many black squares you have (IOW, I didn't actually check this very much, but can't remember it happening). Growth Bombs can only be used once, as far as I can tell. One serious drawback to these babies: You CAN'T TELL WHO YOU'VE USED IT ON. Ascendancy is stupid enough to let you use it again without warning. Your two options would appear to be (1) keep an exhaustive list of Bombed planets (holy shit, thanks very much LF!), or (2) build some cheapo thing on the planet that you wouldn't normally build, that is a "flag" that This Planet Has Been Bombed. I make one cheap orbital shield in the lower left space slot of all planets RIGHT after they have been bombed. This means you have to pay attention and not fly through your "this planet made." notices real fast. I consider it pretty important to always make the shield immediately, so that I don't forget (I make myself a little note in cases where it can't be avoided. with SO much micromanagement, it's triple easy to forget). Making something in space means it doesn't take up important ground/IMF space. Making it super-cheap means it's easy to crank out, and easy to Automate. Finally, it never hurts to have shields around, especially with the Antagonizer. ================================= MY PLANET'S MAXXED OUT, NOW WHAT? ================================= If your planet is maxxed out with useful structures and you have a lot of Prosperity infrastructure hanging around, you will ask yourself, do I really need all those Hydroponifers any more? If it's a tiny colony, probably not; scrap'em once you've used up all the space you can. Let's look at the situation for larger colonies a little more closely. An enormous colony has 73 spaces for people, and you will likely have a couple of spare bodies hanging around, for a total of 75. (I keep a couple in my closet, how about you?) I usually have approx. 25 Metroplexes (23-28; maybe 17 Habitats) on such a large planet. So you already have 25 to 35 base PPs, while the amount subtracted for the Population is 18 ( (0.4x75)^0.85 ). This means just about exactly even ( 30^0.85 = 18 + 1; see equation). So you're basically already set for instant pop-up of the Population with either Endless Party or, for a more chronic situation (like a Ship production planet), a Fertilization Plant. Smaller planet sizes will work on a similar basis. The smaller the planet is, the less Prosperity you will have built into Metroplexes (MPs) or Habitats, but you will also have fewer Population. A large planet has 45 spaces + 2 = 47, and I generally have about 16 MPs on full Larges. This works out to about 12-12+1=1 observed PP, for a similar situation. So, scrap all your Agriplots and Hydroponifers when your larger planets are maxxed. This will be a little tighter if you use the Growth Bomb because it doesn't require you to build more structures that provide prosperity. (It might be severe if you are the Mebes; I don't know how much their special ability increases the max colony size). PROSPERITY WRAP-UP AND ETC. =========================== As your Pop goes up, you must continually build your Prosperity base. Agriplots are *much* better deals for the buck *early on*, so use them liberally until available planet space is maxxed. I watch my observed PPs and if my next Factory (or whatever) will be ready before my next person, bam: another Agriplot. (A.k.a., "farm in advance" so it's working for you while you construct something else.) Once the initial planet space is maxxed, you probably have a fairly powerful Industrial base (25 observed IPs, possibly much more) that can crank out the more expensive Hydroponifers and other Prosperity structures much better, when the squeeze is on space. And, as each old Agriplot is abandoned, a new person is freed up for another Prosperity structure (or whatever). As shown, 12 observed PPs is a great clip to keep your Population rolling along--possibly a bit too good. Just look at what you're building with a planet; how long it takes to build the Campuses or IMFs you're concentrating on (with Metroplexes, Hydroponifers, and/or Habitats thrown in), and have enough observable PPs that you will be generating 50 PPs every x number of turns it takes you to make whatever you're making, on the average. As your planet maxxes out and you want to cut out most of your Prosperity structures, you might find the Fertilization Plant a better choice than the Cloning Plant. If your observed PPs (without an FP) are hovering right around 0 or 1, as shown above, a Cloning Plant could mean a long time is taken to make another person, although it will be two when it is made. A Fertilization Plant on top of PPs hovering around 0 or 1, though, means about 6 or 7 observed PPs, for Pop growth every 8 turns or so. Buttressed by a planet-wide Party and it will likely just be 2 or 4 days. (WHAT are they DOING when they PARTY?) For maxxed-out Ship-producing planets, try to leave *two* unused colonists around (via Metroplexes, etc.). Then, when each Ship leaves and takes a colonist for crew, you will immediately have another available--no waiting for the PPs to add to 50--and you will meanwhile be producing the replacement colonist while working on the ship, assuming you have a modicum of PPs. Much smoother than the other way around. (Why don't they roll the 50 forward and let somebody appear as soon as one leaves, if a planet is maxxed??) Another recommendation is to put your Colony Base on a green square, whenever possible. This gets your Population building faster right off the bat (*while* you work on other things), and continues to contribute for the rest of time. Unlike IPs, PPs can be masked and carry over from previous turns. Thus, a brand new colony always says it will take 50 turns to make a new colonist (25 if the Base is on Green). But, later in the game, you might drop to zero PPs, then later come back up. You might then see something like "3 PPs per turn; population will grow in 2 turns". In this situation, previously- generated PPs are being carried forward. The thing that struck me after this work is how strongly Prosperity is likely to take a hit if you don't develop it smoothly. Remember, Prosperity works *against* what it is *for*--every 2.5 colonists eat another PP. Any time you stop building Prosperity, growth will eventually halt. Indeed, in my first game (before this analysis) my highly developed planets were often waiting on Pop (Partying their fool heads off) so they could increase. By using Agriplots liberally at first, then keeping a better eye on it, it's not nearly so much of a problem this time around. ========== AUTOMATION ========== In a nutshell, automation is a simple way to stop worrying about making space for more people (so you can put structures down on all the squares of a planet). With Automation, you can simply automate another structure when your population maxxes out. There is no reason to have as many "population holes" as there are squares on a planet. Automating a structure costs the same amount as the structure does (e.g., an IMF costs 110 IPs to automate). Therefore, it makes beaucoup sense to automate your cheaper structures first. For the successful emperor, this usually means IMFs. And, while you might automate very cheap structures that you are going to remove later (such as agriplots), you wouldn't want to automate expensive structures that you'll remove later (assuming there are any cheaper structures around!). In general, though, there will probably be plenty of permanent structures. Let's look at the economics. The preferred population structure is the Metroplex (MP). If you were to build a planet to full capacity using MPs, you could fit in two IMFs for each MP. That's 200 plus 2x110 = 420 observed IPs per three squares, plus some IPs sunk into population growth, one way or another. Final cost, approx. 450 observed IPs. This configuration produces seven raw IPs and approximately four actual IPs (six with HPP) for every three squares in a largish colony. In contrast, you can use automation to get three IMFs on those three squares. That's 3x110 plus 3x110 for automation = 660 observed IPs. These IMFs will make nine raw IPs or something over five observed IPs (approx. eight with HPP) in a large colony. In summary, the MP route costs 450 IPs and makes six, while automation costs 660 and makes eight. So, the automation route has about 200 observed IPs to amortize. Since it makes a surplus of two IPs, it will take about a hundred turns to break even. Given the nauseating length of this game, probably automation is the better buy in the long run. :) Just be sure to automate your cheap, permanent structures first. ======== OUTPOSTS ======== Outposts give you another population slot (period), but they take up a surface square and cost money. Usually at this point in the game, you are hard up for all your bucks; meanwhile, there is always something more to be done with your IPs, while waiting for better population-control technology. You'd undoubtedly want to rip up your Outposts later. To me, it smacks of IPs and time poorly spent, at a critical growth time. Therefore, I concentrate on other stuff and don't make them. =========== AUTOMANAGER =========== The "automangler" does exactly that: Mangles what your colony will build. I never use it. What a shame this is not better; not even in the Antagonizer, I hear. as usual, LF won't tell the full poop on what they did in the Antagonizer's planet AI, although folks say it will use colored squares better now. The AI would probably be much more of a challenge if only it could build worth squat. I have heard some folks say that they will set their smaller, unimportant planets to Automanage, and concentrate their attention on better ones. Sounds good to me. ============================================================= END OF MATH & FINDINGS, BEGINNING OF GENERAL STRATEGY SECTION ============================================================= PLANET DEVELOPMENT ================== Build up Industry as soon as possible, but *keep laying down Agriplots to keep pace*. Usually, an Agriplot is the first structure I put down, even if the Base is on a green square. (I'm not totally sure this is the best route, though.) For an all-white planet, I build something like: Agriplot, Factory, Agriplot, Agriplot, Factory, Agriplot, etc., gradually edging over toward industry, but making sure I always have enough of the cheapo Agriplot Prosperity. Switch over to IMFs (Industrial Megafacilities) as soon as you get to 3 or 4 IPs. (From here on out, I mean Observed Points--what you see on the screen--unless otherwise indicated.) Once you get to about 9 or 10 (observed) IPs, make a Hyperpower. When you make your first IMFs, there will be a long lull where your population gets a chance to grow. I usually find myself plopping down one more Agriplot to get PPs up to 3+ before plunging into IMFs, so the little population dudes will make plenty of babies during construction. (Reminds me of the Pepsi commercial with the office girls watching the construction worker.) ALWAYS be laying down your structures so as to build toward special (colored) squares, even if you don't currently need them--be there for them when you do. ("I was there for ya, man! Where WERE you??") During lulls in production (waiting for Pop to increase), plop down a Lab or Research Campus if blue squares are available. Both take longer to build and so will let your Pop grow in the meantime. Once you have Research Campus technology, only put *them* down, *once* your planet has decent IPs (at LEAST 10, preferably 20+). Prior to Research Campus technology, make Labs for blue squares at the slightest hint of a wait for Population. (You need all the research help you can get if you don't have Campuses yet! Use those blues!) ================== How Industry Works ================== Sci. T.OE. Party ** adds to adds to PP IPs: x 1.4 HPP HPP Raw Obs D w/HP D No Yes No Yes 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0.33 0.33 2 2 1 2 1 0 0 0.67 0.67 3 3 1 3 1 0 1 1.00 1.00 4 3 * 4 1 1 1 1.00 1.33 5 4 1 5 1 1 1 1.33 1.67 6 5 1 6 1 1 2 1.67 2.00 7 5 * 7 1 1 2 1.67 2.33 8 6 1 8 1 2 3 2.00 2.67 9 6 - 9 1 2 3 2.00 3.00 10 7 1 9 - 2 3 2.33 3.00 11 8 1 10 1 2 4 2.67 3.33 12 8 - 11 1 3 4 2.67 3.67 13 9 1 12 1 3 4 3.00 4.00 14 9 - 13 1 3 5 3.00 4.33 15 10 1 13 - 3 5 3.33 4.33 16 11 1 14 1 4 6 3.67 4.67 17 11 - 15 1 4 6 3.67 5.00 18 12 1 16 1 4 6 4.00 5.33 19 12 - 17 1 4 7 4.00 5.67 20 13 1 17 - 5 7 4.33 5.67 21 13 - 18 1 5 7 4.33 6.00 22 14 1 19 1 5 8 4.67 6.33 23 14 - 20 1 5 8 4.67 6.67 24 15 1 20 - 6 9 5.00 6.67 25 15 - 21 1 6 9 5.00 7.00 26 16 1 22 1 6 9 5.33 7.33 27 16 - 23 1 6 10 5.33 7.67 28 17 1 23 - 7 10 5.67 7.67 29 18 1 24 1 7 10 6.00 8.00 30 18 - 25 1 7 11 6.00 8.33 31 19 1 25 - 7 11 6.33 8.33 32 19 - 26 1 8 12 6.33 8.67 33 20 1 27 1 8 12 6.67 9.00 34 20 - 28 1 8 12 6.67 9.33 35 21 1 28 - 8 13 7.00 9.33 36 21 - 29 1 9 13 7.00 9.67 37 22 1 30 1 9 13 7.33 10.00 38 22 - 30 - 9 14 7.33 10.00 39 23 1 31 1 9 14 7.67 10.33 40 23 - 32 1 10 15 7.67 10.67 41 23 - 32 - 10 15 7.67 10.67 42 24 1 33 1 10 15 8.00 11.00 43 24 - 34 1 10 16 8.00 11.33 44 25 1 34 - 11 16 8.33 11.33 45 25 - 35 1 11 16 8.33 11.67 46 26 1 36 1 11 17 8.67 12.00 47 26 - 36 - 11 17 8.67 12.00 48 27 1 37 1 12 18 9.00 12.33 49 27 - 38 1 12 18 9.00 12.67 50 28 1 38 - 12 18 9.33 12.67 51 28 - 39 1 12 19 9.33 13.00 52 29 1 40 1 13 19 9.67 13.33 53 29 - 40 - 13 19 9.67 13.33 54 30 1 41 1 13 20 10.00 13.67 55 30 - 42 1 13 20 10.00 14.00 56 31 1 42 - 14 21 10.33 14.00 57 31 - 43 1 14 21 10.33 14.33 58 32 1 44 1 14 21 10.67 14.67 59 32 - 44 - 14 22 10.67 14.67 60 32 - 45 1 15 22 10.67 15.00 61 33 1 46 1 15 22 11.00 15.33 62 33 - 46 - 15 23 11.00 15.33 63 34 1 47 1 15 23 11.33 15.67 64 34 - 48 1 16 24 11.33 16.00 65 35 1 48 - 16 24 11.67 16.00 66 35 - 49 1 16 24 11.67 16.33 67 36 1 49 - 16 25 12.00 16.33 68 36 - 50 1 17 25 12.00 16.67 69 37 1 51 1 17 25 12.33 17.00 70 37 - 51 - 17 26 12.33 17.00 71 37 - 52 1 17 26 12.33 17.33 72 38 1 53 1 18 27 12.67 17.67 73 38 - 53 - 18 27 12.67 17.67 74 39 1 54 1 18 27 13.00 18.00 75 39 - 54 - 18 28 13.00 18.00 76 40 1 55 1 19 28 13.33 18.33 77 40 - 56 1 19 28 13.33 18.67 78 41 1 56 - 19 29 13.67 18.67 79 41 - 57 1 19 29 13.67 19.00 80 41 - 58 1 20 30 13.67 19.33 81 42 1 58 - 20 30 14.00 19.33 82 42 - 59 1 20 30 14.00 19.67 83 43 1 59 - 20 31 14.33 19.67 84 43 - 60 1 21 31 14.33 20.00 85 44 1 61 1 21 31 14.67 20.33 86 44 - 61 - 21 32 14.67 20.33 87 45 1 62 1 21 32 15.00 20.67 88 45 - 62 - 22 33 15.00 20.67 89 45 - 63 1 22 33 15.00 21.00 90 46 1 64 1 22 33 15.33 21.33 91 46 - 64 - 22 34 15.33 21.33 92 47 1 65 1 23 34 15.67 21.67 93 47 - 65 - 23 34 15.67 21.67 94 48 1 66 1 23 35 16.00 22.00 95 48 - 67 1 23 35 16.00 22.33 96 48 - 67 - 24 36 16.00 22.33 97 49 1 68 1 24 36 16.33 22.67 98 49 - 68 - 24 36 16.33 22.67 99 50 1 69 1 24 37 16.67 23.00 100 50 - 70 1 25 37 16.67 23.33 101 51 1 70 - 25 37 17.00 23.33 102 51 - 71 1 25 38 17.00 23.67 103 51 - 71 - 25 38 17.00 23.67 104 52 1 72 1 26 39 17.33 24.00 105 52 - 73 1 26 39 17.33 24.33 106 53 1 73 - 26 39 17.67 24.33 107 53 - 74 1 26 40 17.67 24.67 108 54 1 74 - 27 40 18.00 24.67 109 54 - 75 1 27 40 18.00 25.00 110 54 - 76 1 27 41 18.00 25.33 111 55 1 76 - 27 41 18.33 25.33 112 55 - 77 1 28 42 18.33 25.67 113 56 1 77 - 28 42 18.67 25.67 114 56 - 78 1 28 42 18.67 26.00 115 56 - 79 1 28 43 18.67 26.33 116 57 1 79 - 29 43 19.00 26.33 117 57 - 80 1 29 43 19.00 26.67 118 58 1 80 - 29 44 19.33 26.67 119 58 - 81 1 29 44 19.33 27.00 120 59 1 81 - 30 45 19.67 27.00 121 59 - 82 1 30 45 19.67 27.33 122 59 - 83 1 30 45 19.67 27.67 123 60 1 83 - 30 46 20.00 27.67 124 60 - 84 1 31 46 20.00 28.00 125 61 1 84 - 31 46 20.33 28.00 126 61 - 85 1 31 47 20.33 28.33 127 61 - 85 - 31 47 20.33 28.33 128 62 1 86 1 32 48 20.67 28.67 129 62 - 87 1 32 48 20.67 29.00 130 63 1 87 - 32 48 21.00 29.00 131 63 - 88 1 32 49 21.00 29.33 132 63 - 88 - 33 49 21.00 29.33 133 64 1 89 1 33 49 21.33 29.67 134 64 - 89 - 33 50 21.33 29.67 135 65 1 90 1 33 50 21.67 30.00 136 65 - 91 1 34 51 21.67 30.33 137 65 - 91 - 34 51 21.67 30.33 138 66 1 92 1 34 51 22.00 30.67 139 66 - 92 - 34 52 22.00 30.67 140 67 1 93 1 35 52 22.33 31.00 141 67 - 93 - 35 52 22.33 31.00 142 68 1 94 1 35 53 22.67 31.33 143 68 - 95 1 35 53 22.67 31.67 144 68 - 95 - 36 54 22.67 31.67 145 69 1 96 1 36 54 23.00 32.00 146 69 - 96 - 36 54 23.00 32.00 147 70 1 97 1 36 55 23.33 32.33 148 70 - 97 - 37 55 23.33 32.33 149 70 - 98 1 37 55 23.33 32.67 150 71 1 99 1 37 56 23.67 33.00 151 71 - 99 - 37 56 23.67 33.00 152 72 1 100 1 38 57 24.00 33.33 153 72 - 100 - 38 57 24.00 33.33 154 72 - 101 1 38 57 24.00 33.67 155 73 1 101 - 38 58 24.33 33.67 156 73 - 102 1 39 58 24.33 34.00 157 74 1 102 - 39 58 24.67 34.00 158 74 - 103 1 39 59 24.67 34.33 159 74 - 104 1 39 59 24.67 34.67 160 75 1 104 - 40 60 25.00 34.67 161 75 - 105 1 40 60 25.00 35.00 162 76 1 105 - 40 60 25.33 35.00 163 76 - 106 1 40 61 25.33 35.33 164 76 - 106 - 41 61 25.33 35.33 165 77 1 107 1 41 61 25.67 35.67 166 77 - 107 - 41 62 25.67 35.67 167 78 1 108 1 41 62 26.00 36.00 168 78 - 109 1 42 63 26.00 36.33 169 78 - 109 - 42 63 26.00 36.33 170 79 1 110 1 42 63 26.33 36.67 171 79 - 110 - 42 64 26.33 36.67 172 79 - 111 1 43 64 26.33 37.00 173 80 1 111 - 43 64 26.67 37.00 174 80 - 112 1 43 65 26.67 37.33 175 81 1 112 - 43 65 27.00 37.33 176 81 - 113 1 44 66 27.00 37.67 177 81 - 114 1 44 66 27.00 38.00 178 82 1 114 - 44 66 27.33 38.00 179 82 - 115 1 44 67 27.33 38.33 180 83 1 115 - 45 67 27.67 38.33 181 83 - 116 1 45 67 27.67 38.67 182 83 - 116 - 45 68 27.67 38.67 183 84 1 117 1 45 68 28.00 39.00 184 84 - 117 - 46 69 28.00 39.00 185 85 1 118 1 46 69 28.33 39.33 186 85 - 118 - 46 69 28.33 39.33 187 85 - 119 1 46 70 28.33 39.67 188 86 1 119 - 47 70 28.67 39.67 189 86 - 120 1 47 70 28.67 40.00 190 86 - 121 1 47 71 28.67 40.33 191 87 1 121 - 47 71 29.00 40.33 192 87 - 122 1 48 72 29.00 40.67 193 88 1 122 - 48 72 29.33 40.67 194 88 - 123 1 48 72 29.33 41.00 195 88 - 123 - 48 73 29.33 41.00 196 89 1 124 1 49 73 29.67 41.33 197 89 - 124 - 49 73 29.67 41.33 198 90 1 125 1 49 74 30.00 41.67 199 90 - 125 - 49 74 30.00 41.67 200 90 - 126 1 50 75 30.00 42.00 201 91 1 127 1 50 75 30.33 42.33 202 91 - 127 - 50 75 30.33 42.33 203 91 - 128 1 50 76 30.33 42.67 204 92 1 128 - 51 76 30.67 42.67 205 92 - 129 1 51 76 30.67 43.00 206 93 1 129 - 51 77 31.00 43.00 207 93 - 130 1 51 77 31.00 43.33 208 93 - 130 - 52 78 31.00 43.33 209 94 1 131 1 52 78 31.33 43.67 210 94 - 131 - 52 78 31.33 43.67 211 95 1 132 1 52 79 31.67 44.00 212 95 - 132 - 53 79 31.67 44.00 213 95 - 133 1 53 79 31.67 44.33 214 96 1 133 - 53 80 32.00 44.33 215 96 - 134 1 53 80 32.00 44.67 216 96 - 135 1 54 81 32.00 45.00 217 97 1 135 - 54 81 32.33 45.00 218 97 - 136 1 54 81 32.33 45.33 219 98 1 136 - 54 82 32.67 45.33 220 98 - 137 1 55 82 32.67 45.67 221 98 - 137 - 55 82 32.67 45.67 222 99 1 138 1 55 83 33.00 46.00 223 99 - 138 - 55 83 33.00 46.00 224 99 - 139 1 56 84 33.00 46.33 225 100 1 139 - 56 84 33.33 46.33 226 100 - 140 1 56 84 33.33 46.67 227 101 1 140 - 56 85 33.67 46.67 228 101 - 141 1 57 85 33.67 47.00 229 101 - 141 - 57 85 33.67 47.00 230 102 1 142 1 57 86 34.00 47.33 231 102 - 142 - 57 86 34.00 47.33 232 102 - 143 1 58 87 34.00 47.67 233 103 1 144 1 58 87 34.33 48.00 234 103 - 144 - 58 87 34.33 48.00 The largest planet has 78 squares; x 3 = 234 raw IPs as the maximum possible. Unless you count orbital IPs, too. "Good luck" with that being a problem :) * Raw IPs equal to 3 or 6 are "natural" breaks for switching from Factories to IMFs. your next factory will make no change in Observed IPs, so you may as well go for the gold. ** Endless Party: This value is added into the PP equation, then rounded. Also, equation is approximate -- expect ñ 1 deviations.