Need Feedback on my First Game

[Robotkiller]

I could use feedback on my first game, which is attached to this post. I am having problems with my economy where I get spikes in mainly energy production, but also minerals. I've gotten to a point in my game where I can't seem to solve the problem of a severe mineral shortage (-240 or more per month). A couple years earlier, I had +500 minerals per month. I think the problem is that I'm mismanaging my sectors, which are in turn mismanaging my planets. I recently outlawed AI, due to low synth happiness and to boost the happiness of my species. But I think that was after the sudden drop in mineral production happened. I haven't found up-to-date guides on how to manage sectors (most are pre 1.4), but at least I've done my due diligence reading most of the wiki.

I'd also like to know if I should have better stats, like research, fleet size, economy, etc by the year that I'm currently at in-game. It is on normal difficulty.

I couldn't find my actual save (which is apparently only in the cloud), so I attached the most recent autosave. Any feedback is much appreciated.

 

[henzington]

I would guess much of mineral production was done by robots. It's better to make them cuz items rather then outlaw them.

Also, just one sector on balanced should be fine. Just build mineral production where you have the bonus and build energy or rearch buildings on the bonus andblank tiles.

The amount of energy depends on how much you went your fleet is moving a small negative is fine about 5 years of reserve should carry you through most wars.

 

[Robotkiller]

I would guess much of mineral production was done by robots. It's better to make them cuz items rather then outlaw them.

Also, just one sector on balanced should be fine. Just build mineral production where you have the bonus and build energy or rearch buildings on the bonus andblank tiles.

The amount of energy depends on how much you went your fleet is moving a small negative is fine about 5 years of reserve should carry you through most wars.

You mean put my entire empire into one sector? Would it include just planets and necessary systems to connect them, or include every system from my empire?

Also, I know that moving fleets consume energy, but I've seen my energy drop over 300 points in a matter of years and all of my fleets have been in orbit during that timeframe. I can only conclude it is something with my sectors.

 

[henzington]

Yeah except for your core worlds. Also, make sure you have a enginnering and crew quarters at the space port you usually dock at. One massive fleet is usually best with an admiral with fleet logistic trait if you can.

 

[Robotkiller]

I do make use of those spaceport upgrades wherever I plan to keep my fleets, but I'll see about merging my fleets into one and using the logistic admiral. I try to get that type of admiral whenever they become available.

 

[GamerSteve]

There is no need to merge all your fleets into one. It can be just as effective to have several (2-4) small fleets that go together when you need a big stick and split up when you need multiple attack points. As long as you keep them together, and they get into the fight at almost exactly the same time, you will have the same total # of ships in the battle and, at least in my experience, it works just fine.

 

[henzington]

There is no need to merge all your fleets into one. It can be just as effective to have several (2-4) small fleets that go together when you need a big stick and split up when you need multiple attack points. As long as you keep them together, and they get into the fight at almost exactly the same time, you will have the same total # of ships in the battle and, at least in my experience, it works just fine.

Except unless you have multiple leaders they will perform worse. The only time to split your fleet is if you have destroyed of the enemy fleets and you are just mopping up.

 

[henzington]

I do make use of those spaceport upgrades wherever I plan to keep my fleets, but I'll see about merging my fleets into one and using the logistic admiral. I try to get that type of admiral whenever they become available.

It seems to be a very likely ability to pick up especially the larger your fleet gets. I have gotten it quickly all the time. I generally prefer the extended lifespan trait as i will have a highly skilled admiral longer and unlike all the other traits it can't be acquired.

 

[GamerSteve]

I usually have enough leader slots for several admirals, so it is really not an issue that you need more than one admiral to control multiple fleets. And because the UI for moving ships in and out of fleets is horribly bad, I'd rather have several discrete fleets with a makeup I want, rather than one big giant doomball, and then when I have to split it up, either I have to sit there on pause for half an hour reconstituting the fleet into properly balanced smaller ones, or I have to eat the inefficiency of the smaller fleets being unbalanced and awkwardly composed.

 

[Pchang]

Unhappy sector planets will go on strike and really kill your production. Keep track of factions and spend the influence when you have to. Think about building some happiness buildings before you out the system into a sector.

 

[Robotkiller]

Unhappy sector planets will go on strike and really kill your production. Keep track of factions and spend the influence when you have to. Think about building some happiness buildings before you out the system into a sector.

I know about this too, and I have been keeping track of factions since the first instance that factions appeared in my game. I have had enough influence to suppress every faction and never have had a strike.

I suspect the happiness drop from my endless xeno purges is a bigger factor than I anticipated. But, I have also been building mind-control lasers to stymie ethos divergence.

 

[henzington]

I usually have enough leader slots for several admirals, so it is really not an issue that you need more than one admiral to control multiple fleets. And because the UI for moving ships in and out of fleets is horribly bad, I'd rather have several discrete fleets with a makeup I want, rather than one big giant doomball, and then when I have to split it up, either I have to sit there on pause for half an hour reconstituting the fleet into properly balanced smaller ones, or I have to eat the inefficiency of the smaller fleets being unbalanced and awkwardly composed.

Until late game I usually put all my leaders on my core planets 5 or 6 depending on luck and 1 sector plus 3 on research types and 2 for science ships.

So 10 or 11 leaders plus 1 for an admiral so I am not sure how you have extra leaders to spare

 

[Ravbek]

Other possiblities are a change in leadership, some leaders give +10% to energy I think there is a mineral one to. So a new election could reduce production by 10%. That won't account for the loss you are experiencing but it could be a factor.

 

[Robotkiller]

Other possiblities are a change in leadership, some leaders give +10% to energy I think there is a mineral one to. So a new election could reduce production by 10%. That won't account for the loss you are experiencing but it could be a factor.

I have a Marshal Empire, so no elections or recent change of ruler.