Economic Crash - No return?

[Robula]

So it's year 2310 and my economy toke a nose dive, literally to a point of no return.

First of all I ran out of Consumer Goods which I thought was okay as I'd soon be able to provide for Artisan jobs and I can make use of the Market to try and prop myself up... I was wrong.

I underestimated Stability, I thought that the 25% malus to Happiness wouldn't affect stability all that much but then I learned that this affected all my planets which in turn meant my approval rating hit 0% and stability fell to the 20s and lower.

This in turn increased crime and one by one turned each of my planets into Criminal Underworlds and spawned planetary modifiers for Governing Ethics shifts further displeasing my populace with unresolved issues (you just can't please everybody).

Soon I ran out of food and then minerals energy and finally alloys. It's now 2330 and things are getting exponentially worse, no amount of messing with Living Standards can get me out of this mess. My only hope is to start creating vassals out of 2/3 of my sectors and hope for the best.


I learned that looking after your population is everything, Food and Consumer Goods are absolutely vital and form the backbone to a healthy and stable economy.

 

[TheGrouch91]

You could try and sell your strategic resources and maybe stabilize by only focussing on basic production. Delete your fleet. Delete all those construction ships (why do you have so many? ) Downgrade bases if possible

I am not really sure how you could let it come to that. Do you always have very few to no stockpiles of resources to sell?

E: Also fire all your unnecessary leaders, maybe get commercial pacts if you didn't have them.

 

[dezuman]

The first rule of resource shortages: Do literally everything in your power to avoid them. The penalties are so ridiculously brutal that it's always worth buying off the market to avoid it.

After my first few 2.2 games I started keeping a healthy surplus of base resources for precisely this reason.

 

[Kipperian]

Deactivate buildings producing alloys and research. Try to solve first the consumer goods and food problem. You can build hydroponics in starbases if it is so bad. Sell slaves if u have this option to reduce population and gain energy. Reduce your fleet or dock it in starbases with upkeep modifiers .. Etc you need to revise carefully where everything is being spent

 

[Robula]

You could try and sell your strategic resources and maybe stabilize by only focussing on basic production. Delete your fleet. Delete all those construction ships (why do you have so many? ) Downgrade bases if possible

I'll disband my fleet, good idea. All those science/construction ships came from integrating another empire but I thought that they removed upkeep for Civilian Ships?

 

[Alastor]

Happened to me as well, the stab hit is devastating. I was able to recover by selling enough of my stockpiled motes to buy enough consumer goods and minerals to jumpstart the economy again. But it was very close, because the shortages were massive. Going around disabling all research buildings can help as well I guess. Generally shortages are way, waaaaaay too punishing.

 

[Derp]

first things first, get rid of your crystal shortage, -25% to all jobs is brutal

 

[dezuman]

first things first, get rid of your crystal shortage, -25% to all jobs is brutal

Yeah, this is easy to miss I think. Rare resource shortages are the quickest to fix (disable buildings using them) while also being the most punishing.

 

[Mikhail_Mengsk]

First of all I ran out of Consumer Goods which I thought was okay a

Never, ever, ran out of anything. Even a 100-unit purchase on the market will stall the problem long enough to make such collapse unlikely. With 11 planets and 100 years into the game, i struggle to understand how can you now swim in resources, or at the very least have some surplus you can quickly sell to make up for the occasional shortage. You must plan ahead, and not be afraid of selling some valuable resource on the market from time to time. Yes, even Alloys. It's no use to keep alloys in storage when your economy is in trouble.

 

[Robula]

Happened to me as well, the stab hit is devastating. I was able to recover by selling enough of my stockpiled motes to buy enough consumer goods and minerals to jumpstart the economy again. But it was very close, because the shortages were massive. Going around disabling all research buildings can help as well I guess. Generally shortages are way, waaaaaay too punishing.

Thanks, I had already gone through and disabled all unnecessary buildings that weren't core to Food/CG production, but what I didn't realise is that I had a small stockpile of motes that I could sell. Once I did this I was able to buy 500 Food and 100 CG which was just enough to jump start my economy again! Thank you

EDIT: Since I deleted my fleets, I had War declared on me and I'm in the process of losing my systems to invaders! AAAAGH!

 

[Secret Master]

First of all I ran out of Consumer Goods which I thought was okay as I'd soon be able to provide for Artisan jobs and I can make use of the Market to try and prop myself up... I was wrong.

Nope. That's not ever going to be okay for empires that have consumer goods. It's the kiss of death.

I have a few games where I spend a lot of time being short on consumer goods. I always buy more to keep me from going to zero, selling alloys or strategic resources if necessary.

 

[Robula]

Perhaps I shouldn't have disbanded my only fleet!

 

[Sigma 582]

Since I deleted my fleets, I had War declared on me

That was probably a bad idea to delete ALL fleets. Unless surrounded by pacifists, you should keep somewhat sizeable fleet around for rivals to see that you are not an easy target.

'fraid the only way out now is to become vassal of the strongest non-hostile empire. To do that, you have to finish this war first and try to minimize the losses. Fortifying your planets with either fortresses and/or landed assault armies would probably be the best deterrent against losing them. You also can build a few ships to run around and recapture your systems without engaging enemy fleet. Eventually, enemy's war attrition should reach 100 and you'll be able to sign a status quo peace.
Alternatively, if they haven't claimed any valuable systems (i.e. developed planets) or if you feel you can't get them back before agreeing for status quo it may be better idea to outright surrender and start rebuilding economy earlier.

After you become a vassal, you will get a chance to rebuild your economy without any military spending, go tall with megastructures/ecumenopoli, and when your economy blossoms and you hoard lots and lots of resources, you can build up your military and try to break free.

 

[$ilent_$trider]

Dude, the romans were right.
Si vis pacem, para bellum

Never completely defeat your fleet unless you want to see a game over screen.
Do what @Sigma 582 mentioned just above me or restart the game knowing you should always make sure your economy is running smoothly.
My first game with 2.2 I had ran out of energy, and took me a while to get back on my feet, but at no point I deleted my fleet to a point where one of my neighbors would be considered Superior or stronger with fleet power.

 

[Dëzaël]

Strategic resources > Alloys or Consumer's goods > Food > Energy > Minerals.

This is the order in which selling/deactivating buildings producing these will get you out of trouble with minimal losses and get you back to a state where you produce the most of the most critical resources your current building layout allow you to. Reorganize by building/replacing as soon as you can net some spare minerals. Any stockpile abundance sells first of course. Restore production in reverse order unless emergency (current war, possible war, possible rebellion...).

Sell minerals only if abundant to stopgap a shortage. It's the one getting you out. If possible don't wait for them to drop to 0 before building/replacing. Will be more expensive after. Sell other resources to buy anything else than energy only when already low on energy. You get double market fee for that.

Disbanding civilian ships comes first. Disbanding military ships comes last. Unless you are way overwhelming to your surroundings, which is unlikely at this stage. They're the reason you're still alive.

Not a guide to any and all economical failure situations, but a good rule of thumb I think.

My first game with 2.2 I had ran out of energy, and took me a while to get back on my feet, but at no point I deleted my fleet to a point where one of my neighbors would be considered Superior or stronger with fleet power.

Superior can be fine temporarily, depending on the foe's allies and ennemies, and your own, overwhelming is a near death sentence however unless you're quite ready to pump some ships. I'm always pushing science first, I get often there willingly if diplomatic situation allows. Not advised for OP though until he's more at ease.

 

[$ilent_$trider]

Superior can be fine temporarily, depending on the foe's allies and ennemies, and your own, overwhelming is a near death sentence however unless you're quite ready to pump some ships. I'm always pushing science first, I get often there willingly if diplomatic situation allows. Not advised for OP though until he's more at ease.

I was playing as a Devouring Swarm, so no, I couldn't afford to have a weaker fleet than my neighbors...

 

[VladMar]

Something similar happened to me last time I've played multi with a friend.

It all happened when I integrated AI Empire. My Economy, which was overwhelming compared to AI tanked really fast with cascading effects. AI economy was in ruins! Can't imagine how AI pops lived there, it must have been hell on ... well alien planets.

In the end, I have managed to recover and even win a war against my friend, which caused him to rage quit and we never played after that. (any good multiplayer EU group out there? playing on saturdays/sundays - if yes, hit me on pm)

tldr: Something similar happened to me, after integrating AI Empire, but managed to get back on track.

tldr: Eco crash = return = yes

 

[Alspego]

Short question: What kind of mod are you using for the outliner?

 

[Tyrax Lightning]

Something similar happened to me last time I've played multi with a friend.

It all happened when I integrated AI Empire. My Economy, which was overwhelming compared to AI tanked really fast with cascading effects. AI economy was in ruins! Can't imagine how AI pops lived there, it must have been hell on ... well alien planets.

In the end, I have managed to recover and even win a war against my friend, which caused him to rage quit and we never played after that. (any good multiplayer EU group out there? playing on saturdays/sundays - if yes, hit me on pm)

tldr: Something similar happened to me, after integrating AI Empire, but managed to get back on track.

tldr: Eco crash = return = yes

I've also found out the hard way that one should NEVER EVER accept a Migration Treaty, as allowing Migration between your Egal Fed Member & your Empire also has the 'hidden' side effect of Neutering your own Main Race's ability to reproduce... which is especially Devastating when your Main Race is Very Strong but your Federation Ally Race can't work for beans in Jobs by comparison... (I seriously hope this is a Bug...)

 

[Ridixo]

Since I deleted my fleets, I had War declared on me and I'm in the process of losing my systems to invaders! AAAAGH!

One of the best worst games i have seen in a while

Seriously now, how do you manege to ruin your economy so much. I get that now there are more resources and chains, but you need to make a deliberate effort to end like this, that or be a democratic government. For me, each resource shortage is a matter more important than war. In future games try to get some tributary, each one gives you 25% of their energy and minerals. Since 2.2 i have yet to be able to run my economy without external help, mineral and energy extracted at laser point. Even if a tributary gives you little, what they give you are free, in terms of pop, jobs and upkeep, resources. The mineral you get from a tributary can help you run your consumers good economy without risking your alloy production. Also check your policies, your economy policies can hinder a critical resource production, be either consumer goods or alloys. Good luck, you need it.