Does 2.2 encourage Specialized Empires?

[Arcvalons]

Since there are few basic resource production buildings and districts, it might not be possible to have planets on your Empire specialize each in a particular resource, so an Empire that is a "jack of all trades, master of none" might not be ideal unless you're planning on conquering a bunch of planets. Does 2.2 encourage, instead, specialized empires? i.e. focus everything on producing one or two resources and trading for the rest?

 

[sillyrobot]

Not really. All empires will get all the tech and those bonuses outstrip any pop/civic bonuses. Assuming the devs fix the obvious market exploits, having your empire insulated from market swings will probably be incentive enough to always cover the basic needs of the populace.

 

[Promethian]

Yes and no. There is no way you can trade a single item to provide every other. Even alloys will depreciate in value too quickly for that purpose. I actually just tried this in a game and it didn't work.

Eventually you will be able to specialize a bit. You'll build up enough specific bonuses and such you'll be able to create specialized planets. Then you can start letting some resources lag and make up for them in trade. I recently did a game like this as well. After establishing mote production I switched to the alloy specialized economy policy and shifted some (NOT ALL) production from consumer goods to alloys. My other resources stayed positive but I went down to -20 consumer goods/month. It worked out just fine.