So, how do you build your worlds?

[Leon12]

So we've all had a bit of time playing around with 2.2 and I'm curious as to how everyone prefers to build their worlds.

For me, I split my worlds into two types: resource worlds and urban worlds. The first type gets as many resource districts as I can cram on - if there's a huge bonus to one type then I'll only build those + some housing to get the specialisation bonus, if there's a fairly even split I'll just make the place into a rural world with mixed resource districts. Buildings for these worlds usually consist of resource boosters, strongholds, and the luxury residence buildings so I can get amenities/housing without losing valuable resource extraction jobs - basically anything that requires one or no jobs to actually run.

Urban worlds have exclusively housing districts and only one type of building to get that +5% bonus (obviously alongside support buildings like holo-theatres) - that means alloy factories, civilian factories, research labs, refineries, etc. Apart from the "primary" building type I try to focus on support buildings that add as many jobs as possible, like the one that generates clerks for trade value and amenities, since housing districts only generate the one job.

At the start of the game my homeworld is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades world but as I expand I redevelop it into an urban world, but since it can't get the specialisation bonus I just give it an even mix of factories and maybe research labs.

Generally this approach has given me solid results so far as long as I make sure I don't have more urban worlds than my resource worlds can support, and as long as I don't overspecialise worlds too early. Both are great ways to cripple your economy.

So - how do you build your planets?

 

[sillyrobot]

I fill every mineral district and add the occasional food or energy district -- just enough to keep the empire in the black. Every colony that isn't a special type (resort world, ecumenopolis, et al) is aimed to get 80 population.

The first few worlds are generalist making a bit of alloy, research, and consumer goods. Later worlds specialize into research, alloy + goods, or refinery. I build a few commerce buildings, enough to provide any excess population's jobs, but my goal is run no more than one per world -- that one so I have a few pop I can move around in an emergency that won't affect much.

 

[Highlordelliot]

I build my worlds in an RP style for a bit of fun and challenge.
What’s available at colonization and later on after planet clearing as well as demand within the empire guide how a planet develops.

 

[Rhym3z]

I always start with building as many alloy forges at the start on the home planet, then the 2nd always as flat out research only.
I only ever build districts when required by my resources needed at the time.

 

[Bouchart]

Early on I don't bother specializing because I need to cover resource deficits however possible.

By mid game, I'll generally build only one kind of resource district on a planet. If a planet has something like 7/4/4 resource district slots, I'll build all 7 energy district, an energy grid, and then focus on commercial zones or forges or some other building. Sometimes I'll mix energy and mineral districts on the same districts. I always have dedicated farming worlds, or use livestock slavery, or try to fill up a ringworld with farms.

Habitats typically go with 3 habitation districts and either 5 science districts or 5 trade districts. Or if I'm running livestock slavery I'll fill it up with livestock slaves and use the building slots for refineries.

 

[trojan1234]

Buildings for these worlds usually consist of resource boosters, strongholds, and the luxury residence buildings so I can get amenities/housing without losing valuable resource extraction jobs - basically anything that requires one or no jobs to actually run.

I've looked at what determined world type and world bonus. It is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Stellaris\common\colony_types\00_colony_types.txt . (Default directory if you are using steam version).

So basically, 1) any basic resource district give you weight 1 toward that type, tier1 booster buildings give another 1 and tier2 buildings give another 1 towards specialization towards that type. So you have 7 mining districts and tier1 booster in a planet then the world has 8 weights towards mining world. 2) Any basic district have 0.75 weight toward rural world. And Important : rural world gives you 2.5% actually (it described as 2% in planet type but pop sceen actually having 2.5% 3) most buildings related bonus(tech, cg, alloy, refinery) are 2-2.5 weight per building(up to tier).

Regarding this in mind, I tried to build my basic resource worlds as following : Say a planet is good mining features so having 10 mining districts at most. Building 10 mining districts and tier 2 booster give it 12 weight towards mining world. So I can build 5 more gen or agri district and 4 buildings of the same type without loosing mining world. What if the planet have 9 farming districts available? I just build 9 more to fully utilize my own planets' potential. 5% on 10 mining or 2.5% on 10 mining and 9 farming districts are equivalent imo. After basic resources, I build booster, refinery and fortress on the planets. I always needed tier2 resources to support my urban worlds and more naval caps. I also place few tier2 commerce building to unlock next building slot if I am really short on gas/mote/crystal/naval caps.

 

[Zardnaar]

Homeworld is usually energy farm then growth and research. 2nd world alloys and growth 3rd world civilian goods after.

In all cases heavy focus on basic resources. New world's world's normally get robot factory/clone tanks then Gene clinic or unity building. If I'm not hard pressed I'll transfer pops onto new world's so they get to size 10 asap.

 

[MeowBeep]

I find this discussion interesting as it highlights how small the proportion of planterary management decisions we make that are actually strategically meaningful. The majority of decisions are just the burdensome micromanagement required to implement those few interesting decisions.

 

[Leon12]

I've looked at what determined world type and world bonus. It is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Stellaris\common\colony_types\00_colony_types.txt . (Default directory if you are using steam version).

Excellent analysis of the weights in how planets manage specialisation, thank you! I knew there was a weighting system but it didn't occur to me to consciously "play" it to build some extra districts without sacrificing the specialisation.

I find this discussion interesting as it highlights how small the proportion of planterary management decisions we make that are actually strategically meaningful. The majority of decisions are just the burdensome micromanagement required to implement those few interesting decisions.

I couldn't disagree more. Pre-2.2 planetary development was a tedious "construct buildings on all the pre-set deposits and then click little up arrows on the buildings until the world is completed". Post 2.2 I have a lot more choice in how to structure my economy, I feel, given the presence of the galactic market and the ability to build planets in different ways - almost everyone in this thread seems to have a different planetary management "style", for instance, and you can see that people have different approaches even when it comes to something as basic as obtaining basic resources. And that's before we delve into the whole "production chain" part of the economy.

 

[CrabHelmet]

I don't think it matters much, honestly. The specialization rewards are so small that it isn't worth the micro-management once you're past planet no. 15-20 or so. After that point, I just build what I need when I need it on whichever planet has jobs and housing spare.

By about 2300, I will have +100% production bonuses on most worlds. The +5% from specialisation is additive, so it is actually worth +2.5% in real terms. This is cool and all and if I was playing completely and absolutely super-optimally I'd put some time into it, but the sheer quantity of micromanagement that would entail just doesn't justify it to me - and I play on Grand Admiral with Glavius AI.

 

[MeowBeep]

I couldn' disagree more. Pre-2.2 planetary development was a tedious "construct buildings on all the pre-set deposits and then click little up arrows on the buildings until the world is completed". Post 2.2 I have a lot more choice in how to structure my economy, I feel, given the presence of the galactic market and the ability to build planets in different ways - almost everyone in this thread seems to have a different planetary management "style", for instance, and you can see that people have different approaches even when it comes to something as basic as obtaining basic resources. And that's before we delve into the whole "production chain" part of the economy.

I agree that 2.2 is an improvement on the tile system, I just think there is room for further refinement.

I think I can sum all the styles up pretty easily. Build max of something, supplement with necessities. Build a balance of things.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think I preferred the old tile system. Late game minerals are to hard to get unless you blob or pick galactic wonders and build the black hole thing.