Guide to Effective Development of Trade Protection

[Stardance]

A few weeks ago I had posted the results of a run trying out commercial zones instead of holotheaters to deal with amenities with a merchant guild empire. It held a lot of promise, but the piracy cut me down in a big way. One of the responses I received was to use overlapping trade protection from starbases, but that person also said it wasn't enough.

So I decided to try and solve the math problem, then tested it out in a game. So far, it is working quite well, and I would like to share the results. Since the Custodian team is looking at starbase placement, this might be of use to them as well.

Here is an image of the current status of my game:

I'm the United Starfarers Republic in the top left corner of a large map. I've got about 32 planets and a decent chunk of the map. In my last game, a map this size would have resulted in out of control piracy. My piracy is under control with plenty of room to expand.

Here is the math problem.

You have your Capital, which everything flows to.

If you fully upgrade the capital, it has a maximum collection range of 8 (6 modules + 1 range boost from mercantile tradition + 1 from hyperlane registrar building) .

In practicality, you can't plan on maximum range right away, in good part because if you place a starbase 5 away from your capital (like at a border) and it is within collection range of a planet there, the border starbase becomes the point of collection for that planet - and piracy develops between the border station and the capital.

So what do you do?

Here's a map of the right side of my empire - my main growth side, as that's where I expanded to control borders. It was also the direction of most of the planets I could colonize. I started at Sol in the top left corner.

There's a straight path of stars to Escandia ( I call it the 'trunk' ) and then there's two main branches, one going south to Sugeylia and beyond, and one going east to Gunther. Those two branches split again : Gunther is visible, it splits to Yannock's Maw and to Romanox.

Now the first bit of advice: Fill the trunk with starbases. There is no way you will be able to build enough trade protection for it to protect 16 planets worth of trade. Numerically it isn't possible and if it is possible with patrol fleets, not cost effective. Generally the trunk isn't too long before you get to your main branching. In this case it was two additional starbases. The most I've seen so far to control the trunk is three additional starbases. You also get the freedom to put almost anything you want on those starbases. So this map has star bases on Sirius, Solera, and Escandia.

The second part is where the math gets tricky.

I have two branches that again splits into two more branches.

Now, on a smaller map, Escandia could theoretically have that max collection range of 8, there would be no piracy, but there would also be no protection at your borders. Someone advised to make those border planets into fortress worlds, which is a great idea, but there's a lot of advantages to having a starbase near the border - good place to repair ships, launch an invasion, and serve as a choke point. Also I think the intent of the game design was for starbases at choke points to work. I wanted to find a solution.

Escandia to Romonox has 7 stars on the path of the branch that need protection. It splits at Gunther so my initial thought was to put a base at Gunther. I did not end up doing that.

The reason is the two main branches generate a lot of trade that require protection. How can you maximize this protection?

A fully upgraded starbase can have 6 modules. The only thing that extends a starbase protection range is weapon modules. So your maximum protection range is 6 (ideally 6 hangar bays) which will provide 60 protection from the hangar bays, plus 24 protection as a star fortress, plus 2 protection for every platform built. Piracy is a quarter of the trade - a 200 trade planet will generate 50 piracy.

Four planets at that rate will generate 200 piracy, outstripping the effectiveness of one starbase designed for max protection. Overlapping, two starbases designed for protection could manage it, barely, but the main branches are collecting their own trade in addition to the 'frontier' branches, easily more than four planets. Two starbases are not enough.

But three? Three could work. That's somewhat over 300 trade protection and 1,200 trade flowing safely without patrols.

How do you get three to overlap? Lets look at the map again, keeping in mind a max range of 6 protection. We want to be as efficient as possible with maximized protection reach.

So Gunther is the next overlap point. Uskion, from the south branch, can build a 6 protection range to that point. Escandia can build a 6 protection range to that point. And Hadeus is two from that point.

But we also need to protect the south branch to Escandia (Beynus, Boggar, and Landa). Hadeus can reach that with a trade protection range of 5 (Gunther is at 6). I picked Hadeus because I also wanted a collection range of 2 from Hadeus for a planet available for terraforming. Hadeus also provided a natural 5 protection range to its collectors and the lower protection range gave me more flexibility in what my starbases were using for modules (like adding a shipyard).

The main lesson is, if you build your 'branch' starbases close enough for a three way overlap of trade protection, that will protect your core. In some cases you have to pull them in to a range of 4 or 5 so you can add a trade module for more collection range, but it works.

Now for the final piece.

Hadeus has a protection range of 5. That means, I can place 'collector' star bases up six away at the frontier end of the empire. These are placed at Yannock's maw and Romonox. You can maximize the collection range of these collector bases as needed, or place them strategically at choke points. There will be no piracy past them, and you can collect far away from those points. These tend to be frontier planets that will not generate a lot of trade at first, usually enough for your maximized trade protection base to manage. If it is not enough, you can place a starbase along the protection path for more overlapping protection - effectively doubling the number of frontier planets supported.

Romonox was an interesting choice because I had a planet at Bazcarat, but a hostile system next to Bazcarat would have been the shortest trade path if I had placed the starbase there. Because Romonox is a Collector, and the trade path starts at Romonox, the hostile system and confusing trade pathing is completely bypassed and negated while I still collect trade. Nice.

The other advantage of this starbase placement system is it allows some dynamic growth of your technology and trade. You don't start with star fortresses and six module slots. Designing for a three way overlap means that when trade values are still low, you can build protection out to 2 or 4 to where they 'meet' in the middle, and then when you get star fortress you fill the last slots for full overlap. Same goes for a two way overlap. out to collectors. They can meet in the middle then overlap.

It works surprisingly well.

What about collection on the south branch?

Fuawei is my collector with a collection range of 5. That is enough to reach a lot of planets on a long stretch. Algol is a border base that doesn't collect anything. Everything further is part of an ongoing war. Hanabi serves as a mid-way collection and protection hybrid. So Uskion has protection range of 5 and collection range of 1 (five reaches Hanabi). Hanabi has a collection range of 2 and protection range of 5 (protection reaches Uskion and Fuawei), and Fuawei can build a protection range of 2 for overlap if needed - hasn't been needed yet.

Do you see the overlapping pattern? The entire route from Fuawei to Uskion has two starbases providing protection. It is a long route, so there is a third base in the middle acting as a halfway point for overlapping protection and collection, and as a choke point if that southern fallen empire proves hostile in end game.

Finally, what did I do on the left side of my empire? I literally maxed out my starbase limit on the right side. I didn't have starbases left to duplicate the overlapping network.

I set my capital Sol to max trade collection. I realized if Sol had 8 trade collection range, Sol could reach every planet on the west side. With the exception of one border star base on a Curator system, I built no bases. I patrol the two planets tied to that base with the option to just dismantle that base if piracy gets too high, at which point Sol becomes the trade collector and no piracy. Also, I just don't settle planets on the left side until I get the star fortress technology and hyperlane registrar building from interstellar economics.

In review:

Trunk: All Star bases

First Branching: Three overlapping starbases for trade protection. Make sure they can cover each other's routes.

Second (Frontier) Branching: One protection starbase, or two overlapping starbases for protection up to the Collector star base.

Capital: Max collection for 'the other side'.

If you are slow at getting tech, use protection to 'meet in the middle', then 'overlap', and if you still have tech issues, build some small patrol fleets to serve as your transition until you get to star fortresses and hangar bays.

Once the system is in place, you will generate crazy amounts of trade you can sell the excess of (I capped out on alloys repeatedly!) and resource silos become your friend. And, if piracy grows to overload this system, by then you should have gateways researched. Gateways, if built on the capital and where you want to collect, will bypass the trade nework and go straight to your capital, allowing end-game expansion over the whole map.

If you get in a trade federation, you will need very few energy districts, no factory worlds, and no unity buildings. It can be all mineral, alloy, research, and enough food to get by.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[MarkDey]

This looks great! Thanks very much for writing this up. I do have a question.

If you fully upgrade the capital, it has a maximum collection range of 11 (6 modules + 1 civic range boost + 4 buildings) .

How are you getting a range boost from buildings? I don't have any DLCs, so that might be what I'm missing, but I thought that the max range of a starbase was 7 ; 6 from modules and 1 from Hyperlane Registrar. Unless you can build more than one Hyperlane Registrar?

 

[Stardance]

You are right, it only allows one hyperlane registrar. I'll update the post. Still works for a max range of 8. 6 from modules, 1 from registrar, and 1 from the mercantile tradition. I'm not sure if that is tied to DLC.

 

[MarkDey]

You are right, it only allows one hyperlane registrar. I'll update the post. Still works for a max range of 8. 6 from modules, 1 from registrar, and 1 from the mercantile tradition. I'm not sure if that is tied to DLC.

Ah, okay - if it's from the Mercantile tradition, then I don't think that's DLC limited. I just haven't played with the Lem update yet.

 

[MarkDey]

So, what do you typically do with your trade protection network once gateways are researched? Refit the starbases into anchorages?

 

[fusei]

I usually place a starbase in every system that has planets and put hangars on them starting with the ones that cover the most routes. Sometimes I have 5 interlocking citadels and it isn't enough to protect the final few systems before my capital, especially when all my expansion went into one direction. If it's just one or two systems that are hard to cover I just place starbases there, too, to cancel piracy growth in these systems. Another option is to try and manually balance trade routes through multiple approaches to avoid high piracy in any one system.

 

[MarkDey]

Another option is to try and manually balance trade routes through multiple approaches to avoid high piracy in any one system.

Maybe, but I like the OP's approach better since a single starbase will prevent an infinite amount of piracy in that system, so it makes sense to funnel things into a single path.

 

[fusei]

Maybe, but I like the OP's approach better since a single starbase will prevent an infinite amount of piracy in that system, so it makes sense to funnel things into a single path.

Well, it is highly situational, but I like to keep my eyes open for the option if it presents itself.

 

[Stardance]

Each map will be a little different.

I modeled a few scenarios when trying to decide initial placement of starbases. One of them was even more funneled than this one. You may notice that the end branch that goes east to Yannock's Maw, I *could* have routed that to go to the southern branch instead and not placed a starbase there - the collection range for Fuawei was long enough to grab another four planets.

But when I modeled it, there was just too much trade flowing through that southern branch to protect efficiently, so I built that extra starbase (also it is on an L-gate) and routed that the other direction, where I didn't have as many planets. That helped balance the two main branches.

I also did a model where I tried not placing starbases in that center trunk and did a more equal distribution of starbases going left and right. The problem there is I ran out of starbases. Or, if I didn't run out of starbases, then every base was stacked with protection and there wasn't enough collection range happening. Or room for anything else.

If you are lucky to get a more circular - planets - in - every - direction setup, with four branches (up, left, down, right), then yes, splitting them equally could work. I just hardly see that happen. I usually push one direction to secure a border, then push another direction, and if I'm lucky, push a third.

One of the things I looked at was how much I was investing in protection and collection - I wanted a system where I could build other things on the bases if I wanted to. The one I posted ended up using the least resources and had some flexibility how far away I could place starbases, which meant in another game if you have to shorten or lengthen a route a little bit to grab something, it can handle it. The center can be filled with anchorages or shipyards. And it could handle a lone starbase that didn't fit the pattern, as long as it wasn't collecting too much where you placed it.

It became really important that one side was open (a side with allies or not under threat), because it created a built in flexibilty of what you could do with the other directions.

 

[MrParadux]

You can also cancel singular trade routes completely, if you don't want to deal with that 1 trade value from that border fortress at the other side of the galaxy.

Interesting strategy, I'll try it out next time. I always liked trade value, but hate piracy, so this is good stuff to try out. Thanks for that

 

[bunkerman]

nice writeup, but i guess you just build less trade per system than i do usually, from my experience anything short of absolute trade protection (starbase built) is not enough to protect the system from the amount of piracy the trade value would cause, like not even 6-7 overlapping supression bases, so i just simply build the "trunk" and if i dont have enough starbases for my empire i just take grasp of the void for 5 more, its a good ascension perk as it also gives tons of naval cap and for trade empires its kinda vital if they want to be big, and now there is also the unyielding tradition so one should never be lacking starbases longterm

 

[Willy Waggler]

TL;DR Trade suck.
Still playing only gestalts until rework.

 

[sillyrobot]

By far the best approach is to avoid the mini-game.

Avoid placing stations over colonies.

Build a single trade station at or connected to your home world with systems containing stations. If you are lucky, you can build the station at the site of the abandoned gateway. Place all colonies within trading distance to that station -- starting at 2 hops and slowly goring to 8. Prioritise station upgrades, hyperlane registrar, and the Mercantile tradition to gain extra depth.

Get the gateway techs ASAP. Build gateways no further than 16 leaps apart after building/activating one at the trade station. No protection is ever necessary!

 

[Seelensturm]

TL;DR Trade suck.
Still playing only gestalts until rework.

Try a no piracy mod. Made the game much more enjoyable.

 

[Franton]

By far the best approach is to avoid the mini-game.

Avoid placing stations over colonies.

Build a single trade station at or connected to your home world with systems containing stations. If you are lucky, you can build the station at the site of the abandoned gateway. Place all colonies within trading distance to that station -- starting at 2 hops and slowly goring to 8. Prioritise station upgrades, hyperlane registrar, and the Mercantile tradition to gain extra depth.

Get the gateway techs ASAP. Build gateways no further than 16 leaps apart after building/activating one at the trade station. No protection is ever necessary!

That's what I do, too: if you beeline for Gateway tech, you can get your first one before trade gets to high levels. However, you need to watch for range as a jump through the star gate at the home system does count as 1 point of range; moreover, if you have branches left and right, placing the next gateway at maximum range from the home system may lead to some branches not being covered in full. Besides, it's a good idea to use a few more gateways than the absolute minimum to prevent some planets from being cut off during times of war.