The critical resource issue for energy running in the negative early game does't seem particularly harmful. Especially when you are still using one planet and are in the exploration phase of the game.
The debuff is 75% Weapons, shield and army damage. This can be safely ignored until you need to go to war which might not be for 25-30 years.
The other debuff is mineral producing jobs produce 50% less minerals. Note this is only for jobs, not all minerals. At the start of the game you only have 4 miners so the overall impact to your economy isn't major. If you have enough external mining stations to cover your industry and alloy production you should be fine to shut those mines down. Keep those mines open though until you have adequate off world mining stations and have built the additional agriculture districts you will want.
Now why would you want to run in the negative? Basically it is to repurpose your very limited pool of workers early game and ignore energy balance entirely.
If you move your limited workers towards food production you can safely run nutritional plenitude and encourage planetary growth. You can also safely repurpose workers to additional alloy production as you now have 8 more workers to play with (all your miners and energy technicians). The excess food you will be making from the repurposed workers can be sold when necessary to buy scientists or campaigns/early enclave purchases and minerals if you have some change or need to set up your first few stations.
Running at negative energy also opens up some other options particularly as you can ignore maintenance costs of science ships and scientists. When you sell excess food you know the energy isn't going to stick around so buy a couple of scientists or even start searching for the right scientist to help you get the techs you want to beeline. Typically you wouldn't have 15 scientists exploring because of the energy maintenance but it doesn't matter if you are sitting on negative 50 energy. As this is the early game exploration should be a primary focus which happens line up to when wallowing in bankruptcy is pretty safe to do.
As you are ignoring energy balance you can also change your trade policy for consumer goods and your economic policy towards military for additional alloy. Trade and clerks are still helpful for the amenities and preventing consumer goods going into the negative.
You can also prioritise minerals and research over energy stations with your very limited mineral supply. Eventually you will want to build those stations but they aren't an immediate necessity as you will have other uses for the early minerals such as building agri-districts and alloy foundries.
Getting out of the energy rut when going to war will probably require you to fire excess scientists and their ships hopefully by the time you reached the natural barriers from other empires/chokepoints. You should have a decent stockpile of sellables to cover your excessive energy imbalance or sit on some decent energy anomalies like geothermal or familiar shrine. I would also recommend keeping your crew quarters and building up a navy so you don't get attacked early game while you are particularly vulnerable. At least the energy component of maintaining an idling navy isn't an issue though.
Another way to get out of the rut is to go all out warfare. Invest in a massive fleet to take a few planets or outright take another empire entirely then hit a nearby neighbour with a tribute demand as by that point most empires should be inferior to you at least temporarily. Also note if you do run out of energy you can strategically sell stuff when you are about to engage in combat to temporarily remove the debuff.
At the end of it all if you rebalance your economy all your debts are forgiven. So invest in your future by going bankrupt.
The debuff is 75% Weapons, shield and army damage. This can be safely ignored until you need to go to war which might not be for 25-30 years.
The other debuff is mineral producing jobs produce 50% less minerals. Note this is only for jobs, not all minerals. At the start of the game you only have 4 miners so the overall impact to your economy isn't major. If you have enough external mining stations to cover your industry and alloy production you should be fine to shut those mines down. Keep those mines open though until you have adequate off world mining stations and have built the additional agriculture districts you will want.
Now why would you want to run in the negative? Basically it is to repurpose your very limited pool of workers early game and ignore energy balance entirely.
If you move your limited workers towards food production you can safely run nutritional plenitude and encourage planetary growth. You can also safely repurpose workers to additional alloy production as you now have 8 more workers to play with (all your miners and energy technicians). The excess food you will be making from the repurposed workers can be sold when necessary to buy scientists or campaigns/early enclave purchases and minerals if you have some change or need to set up your first few stations.
Running at negative energy also opens up some other options particularly as you can ignore maintenance costs of science ships and scientists. When you sell excess food you know the energy isn't going to stick around so buy a couple of scientists or even start searching for the right scientist to help you get the techs you want to beeline. Typically you wouldn't have 15 scientists exploring because of the energy maintenance but it doesn't matter if you are sitting on negative 50 energy. As this is the early game exploration should be a primary focus which happens line up to when wallowing in bankruptcy is pretty safe to do.
As you are ignoring energy balance you can also change your trade policy for consumer goods and your economic policy towards military for additional alloy. Trade and clerks are still helpful for the amenities and preventing consumer goods going into the negative.
You can also prioritise minerals and research over energy stations with your very limited mineral supply. Eventually you will want to build those stations but they aren't an immediate necessity as you will have other uses for the early minerals such as building agri-districts and alloy foundries.
Getting out of the energy rut when going to war will probably require you to fire excess scientists and their ships hopefully by the time you reached the natural barriers from other empires/chokepoints. You should have a decent stockpile of sellables to cover your excessive energy imbalance or sit on some decent energy anomalies like geothermal or familiar shrine. I would also recommend keeping your crew quarters and building up a navy so you don't get attacked early game while you are particularly vulnerable. At least the energy component of maintaining an idling navy isn't an issue though.
Another way to get out of the rut is to go all out warfare. Invest in a massive fleet to take a few planets or outright take another empire entirely then hit a nearby neighbour with a tribute demand as by that point most empires should be inferior to you at least temporarily. Also note if you do run out of energy you can strategically sell stuff when you are about to engage in combat to temporarily remove the debuff.
At the end of it all if you rebalance your economy all your debts are forgiven. So invest in your future by going bankrupt.
