Repeated mid game economic collapse

[mlee70]

I am on PS4 - not PC - every single game - no matter the empire chosen - unless I go to war with my neighbors - the economy collapses late midgame.

This occurs when there is no major empire growth, no conflict, no major changes of any sort - incremental growth is taking place - building out the 1 or 2 colonies currently under dev - other than that nothing new

I have major stock piles of all products and energy - everything is in the green. Most all my planets are mature - pop growth has stabilized - I have high unity and stability across the empire - only some random pirates - I have civ products in the green along with everything else and I even took a slow growth route building enough admin centers to avoid the sprawl penalties - nothing helps.

My naval fleet is small - only to handle pirates

I do not run the game at tops speed and I do not leave it AFK where things can happen without my noticing.

Then food goes red - no matter how much I bolster my food production - stays -100+ -

then civ prods goes red - civ prod output didnt change - my pops did not suddenly jump - but demand doubles versus supply

then mineral demand goes 3x - output goes from 200+ to -100

then energy demand goes 4x - output goes from +300 to -100

My pops did not suddenly grow - my planets - except for the few colonies - are not growing quickly.

I have posted this question on multiple stellaris boards because I have seen many others on console having the same issue.

Going to war or being in an extended military conflict stops the collapse from occuring - I have tested this repeatedly. This is highly suspicious

Spending 4 - 6 hours building an empire for the game to decide to end it all for no justifiable reason makes this game unplayable and frankly it feels like it was intentional by the game engine to just call it quits.

 

[ASGeek2012]

First take a look at your strategic resources (motes, gasses, crystals). Make sure you're a net positive on those. Since this starts to happen mid-game, it suggests that you have started to construct tier 2 and tier 3 buildings that start consuming these resources. If you run out, the buildings will not function at full capacity.

And if you have built a lot of buildings, you may be simply overbuilding and outstripping your ability to supply them with the upkeep they require in minerals and/or energy.

Also check for planet specializations (I think that's in the console version of the game). Make sure YOU choose the planet's specialization and don't let the game decide for you, which is the default. The game tries to adjust this dynamically. You could have a planet designated as an energy world which boosts energy output only to have the game switch it over to something else because of a district or building you put there and suddenly your energy production plummets . If you pick the specialization yourself, the game will no longer change it.

Next check the stability of your planets. Stability > 50 gives bonuses, stability < 50 gives penalties. Look to see if any planets took a hit to stability. If you're not producing enough amenities or have high crime, this can lower stability. Low faction approval can also lower stability, but I generally see this cause an issue only in conquered population.

Another thing that can abruptly lower production rates is having a high-level sector leader die. As leaders gain in level, they boost output of the worlds in that sector. When they die, production can tank unexpectedly. Unfortunately there's no real workaround for that (other than never assigning leaders and thus never relying on their boosted output).

 

[Bl4ckSh33p]

I noticed something similar several times. In our mp game yesterday we had +50 energy and then suddenly - 40. But barely built anything, stability was 50-55 on all planets. I could not find out what causes this, yet. Fleets moving were quite small.

Need to take a closer look on all planets again but it's strange to have such big jumps in production / consumption.

 

[Andy197905]

Did you start any new edits as this can cost you a lot of energy credits ie researcher great. Also did you start building any mega structures as they cost a lot to up keep. As for your stability have you checked your factions and amineties tc

 

[MordridBlack]

I noticed something similar several times. In our mp game yesterday we had +50 energy and then suddenly - 40. But barely built anything, stability was 50-55 on all planets. I could not find out what causes this, yet. Fleets moving were quite small.

Need to take a closer look on all planets again but it's strange to have such big jumps in production / consumption.

some of that is due to the pop work mechanic they brought in with the 2.8.3 pc patch when Federations hit

pops will move around jobs somewhat randomly

so if you are producing a bunch of one resource, way more than what you need, pops may choose to move to another job to start getting that resource up
this can often, unfortunately, result in the previous resource going from a positive to a negative [this is on top of the already exist job mechanic of pops wanting better jobs]

 

[RhysTheT00n]

some of that is due to the pop work mechanic they brought in with the 2.8.3 pc patch when Federations hit

pops will move around jobs somewhat randomly

so if you are producing a bunch of one resource, way more than what you need, pops may choose to move to another job to start getting that resource up
this can often, unfortunately, result in the previous resource going from a positive to a negative [this is on top of the already exist job mechanic of pops wanting better jobs]

Unless it's different for Non-GCs, pops only jump jobs if it's going from a menial job like mining to a specialist job like research. Otherwise they tend to flock to amenities until there are no more amenity jobs left, then they move to menial resource jobs. When I play as Machines and I'm trying to get my first burst of energy growth, I have to specifically prioritise (or forbid more amenities jobs than are required for my pops) energy jobs in order for the drones to take them. Also, sidenote but for some reason the amount of energy I get from a district when built is like +5 when I'm specialising my homeworld Machine planet, as opposed to the more realistic +10 or +12 that I should be getting, give or take a little for job upkeep and building upkeep, I shouldn't be losing 7 energy from a district.