I recently watched a couple of Stellaris videos and the youtuber - I think it was Stefan Anon - repeatedly expressed how bad Gene Clinics are, which was strange since I build them nearly every time on every planet, because more pops = good, right?
So I got curious and whipped up a google spreadsheet.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ElSU-anLR-Hg_jTlTX9c7zOgiP2evq_McbbFNqJr9Bk/edit?usp=sharing
Long story short:
A gene clinic takes 2 jobs to operate at 10% growth rate, a cyto-revitalization-clinic 5 jobs.
Those jobs could produce something else instead, so I wanted to find out when free workers, work/month and accumulated work break even.
Result:
With just a Gene Clinic it takes 56 years to break even on available workers, 44 years to break even on work/month and 112 years to break even on accumulated work.
With the Cyto-Center it also takes 56 years to break even on available workers, 50 years to break even on work/month and 112 years to break even on accumulated work.
So, in the looooong run, Clinics are worth it.
But if you decide against them, you'll have 112 years before you regret it.
Also, clinic jobs produce amenities at half the rate of an entertainer, which might make it more worthwhile than the numbers suggest.
But given that there are several other sources for pop growth that don't require jobs - and that you probably want to manually remove the clinics once the colony is full, adding micromanagement - I have to agree with Stefan that clinics are not worth it.
Chart notes: The areas relate to the right axis (Work/Year). The curves relate to the left axis (Cumulative Work)
To elaborate and to help the discussion a bit:
After about 56 years, both Gene Clinic and Cyto Centers have generated enough extra growth to offset the worker deficit caused by GC and CC. I.e. GC produced 2 extra pops, CC produced 5.
That means, after 56 years the planet can produce other resources on the same level as a planet on year 1 if you never bothered to build those buildings.
After that, however, production due to extra pops over time will outperform the non-clinic planets.
The whole accumulated work the clinic planets didn't do in other areas will take another 56 years - 112 years in total - before you get your investment back.
Population growth
Each worker produces 12 units of work per year, every year. This results in
Accumulated Work after X Years
As you can clearly see, the big difference lies in the accumulated work in the early years.
The work deficit noticably declines over the years and by year 56 GC has ~90% and CC has ~80% of the accumulated work of the base planet.
I'd say it is a very situational decision if you invest in gene clinics.
In the early game you need resources way more than anything else, so don't build a GC.
If you need rare resources, then you can colonize any planet and instantly pop a Synthetic Crystal Plant for 12 Crystals per year.
By the time, GC and CC planets can afford another building slot (if you just consider natural growth), 12-13 years have passed, during which you didn't produce 144-156 crystals plus all the food/enery/minerals.
However, if things have settled down and you expect decades of peaceful expansion, then by all means, plop a Clinic. You'll probably easily manage to stomach the temporary loss in productivity.
So I got curious and whipped up a google spreadsheet.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ElSU-anLR-Hg_jTlTX9c7zOgiP2evq_McbbFNqJr9Bk/edit?usp=sharing
Long story short:
A gene clinic takes 2 jobs to operate at 10% growth rate, a cyto-revitalization-clinic 5 jobs.
Those jobs could produce something else instead, so I wanted to find out when free workers, work/month and accumulated work break even.
Result:
With just a Gene Clinic it takes 56 years to break even on available workers, 44 years to break even on work/month and 112 years to break even on accumulated work.
With the Cyto-Center it also takes 56 years to break even on available workers, 50 years to break even on work/month and 112 years to break even on accumulated work.
So, in the looooong run, Clinics are worth it.
But if you decide against them, you'll have 112 years before you regret it.
Also, clinic jobs produce amenities at half the rate of an entertainer, which might make it more worthwhile than the numbers suggest.
But given that there are several other sources for pop growth that don't require jobs - and that you probably want to manually remove the clinics once the colony is full, adding micromanagement - I have to agree with Stefan that clinics are not worth it.
Chart notes: The areas relate to the right axis (Work/Year). The curves relate to the left axis (Cumulative Work)
To elaborate and to help the discussion a bit:
After about 56 years, both Gene Clinic and Cyto Centers have generated enough extra growth to offset the worker deficit caused by GC and CC. I.e. GC produced 2 extra pops, CC produced 5.
That means, after 56 years the planet can produce other resources on the same level as a planet on year 1 if you never bothered to build those buildings.
After that, however, production due to extra pops over time will outperform the non-clinic planets.
The whole accumulated work the clinic planets didn't do in other areas will take another 56 years - 112 years in total - before you get your investment back.
Population growth
Year | Base Planet Pops | Gene Clinic Planet Pops | Cyto Center Planet Pops |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
10 | 8.60 | 8.96 | 9.50 |
30 | 15.80 | 16.88 | 18.50 |
56 | 25.16 | 27.18 | 30.20 |
112 | 45.32 | 49.35 | 55.40 |
200 | 77.00 | 84.20 | 95.00 |
Each worker produces 12 units of work per year, every year. This results in
Accumulated Work after X Years
Year | Base Planet Accumulated Work | Gene Clinic Planet Accumulated Work | Cyto Center Planet Accumulated Work |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 60 | 36 | 0 |
10 | 762 | 540 | 215 |
30 | 3,572 | 3,045 | 2,258 |
56 | 9,811 | 9,144 | 8,146 |
112 | 33,171 | 33,190 | 33,229 |
200 | 97,246 | 101,083 | 106,849 |
As you can clearly see, the big difference lies in the accumulated work in the early years.
The work deficit noticably declines over the years and by year 56 GC has ~90% and CC has ~80% of the accumulated work of the base planet.
I'd say it is a very situational decision if you invest in gene clinics.
In the early game you need resources way more than anything else, so don't build a GC.
If you need rare resources, then you can colonize any planet and instantly pop a Synthetic Crystal Plant for 12 Crystals per year.
By the time, GC and CC planets can afford another building slot (if you just consider natural growth), 12-13 years have passed, during which you didn't produce 144-156 crystals plus all the food/enery/minerals.
However, if things have settled down and you expect decades of peaceful expansion, then by all means, plop a Clinic. You'll probably easily manage to stomach the temporary loss in productivity.
Last edited:
- 9
- 4
- 2