Stellaris

[Tuna]

Definitely do full force bombardment before landing the troops. You'll see the planet's fortification go to zero. Keep up the bombardment when you land the troops as well.

[Huw the Poo]

I'll get to your other points after work Jarhead, but Tuna is right; always, always reduce planetary defenses to zero before invading, otherwise the defenders get an absurd buff.

[Jarhead0331]

I'll get to your other points after work Jarhead, but Tuna is right; always, always reduce planetary defenses to zero before invading, otherwise the defenders get an absurd buff.

As they should, I suppose. I didn't bombard because I was trying to be nice about it. LoL. They are a friendly race and I felt guilty for attacking in the first place. Are there any negative effects of planetary bombardment? Any hit on relationships with other races?

[mikeck]

I've only played about an hour and colonized one planet...but it seems to me that this game is very very deep in ways that DW isn't. Hard to explain. I guess the best way- same engine- is trying to explain what makes Crusader Kings deep and engaging. It's not just the number of things going on. Hard to put my finger on it but yeah....I'm digging it

[Huw the Poo]

As they should, I suppose. I didn't bombard because I was trying to be nice about it. LoL. They are a friendly race and I felt guilty for attacking in the first place. Are there any negative effects of planetary bombardment? Any hit on relationships with other races?

Yeah, you get a reputation hit even from light bombardment (there are three levels of bombardment, limited by your empire policy).  The hit is greater with heavier bombing.

As for energy, for an empire that size you shouldn't usually be in the red.  There are all sorts of ways you can boost energy production.  Here are some I can think of off the top of my head:

Upgrade energy-producing buildings on all your worlds

Tell your sectors to focus on energy and tax them when they produce a surplus (sectors begin with 75% tax rate but if the planets are recently colonised you should turn that down initially to allow them to grow)

Depending on your government you might have an empire edict

Planetary edicts to boost energy production by 10% for ten years for a relatively modest influence cost

Are you building mining stations wherever possible?

Park your fleets when they're not in use - send them to a planet with a spaceport.  Their status icon in the outliner will switch to a green orbit icon when they're parked

Are you always colonising?  Colonising is expensive, and if you have two or three colonisation missions on the go the cost can stack up fast

Look for empire leaders with energy-boosting traits, support them in elections if necessary

Lots of techs can help.  Along with the power plants, you can also research a planet-unique power hub which boosts planet-wide energy generation by 10%

That's plenty for now, I'll have another think later.  What does the budget panel say, and is there anything glaringly obvious when you hover your mouse over the energy icon at the top of the screen?

[Jarhead0331]

Upgrade energy-producing buildings on all your worlds

But can this be done once the worlds are within a sector? I find I am unable to control surface construction once a planet has been added to a sector.

Tell your sectors to focus on energy and tax them when they produce a surplus (sectors begin with 75% tax rate but if the planets are recently colonised you should turn that down initially to allow them to grow)

I recently discovered this. Actually all of my sectors were contributing at 50%. I increased them all to 75% and that did initially have a good impact, but over time, with additional expansion, the energy surplus has continued to decline.

Depending on your government you might have an empire edict

Planetary edicts to boost energy production by 10% for ten years for a relatively modest influence cost

Edicts are something that I have not focused on. I will look into this. However, it still seems like a temporary solution to some underlying problem.

Are you building mining stations wherever possible?

Yes. There is not a single energy source in my empire that has not been mined.

Park your fleets when they're not in use - send them to a planet with a spaceport.  Their status icon in the outliner will switch to a green orbit icon when they're parked

I do keep my fleets stationary when not being used for combat. However, I don't always make sure they are in a system with a spaceport. Good to know.

Are you always colonising?  Colonising is expensive, and if you have two or three colonisation missions on the go the cost can stack up fast

I take a wise approach to colonizing. I am certainly aware of the energy hit the process of colonizing causes. I typically only colonize one or two worlds at a time.

Look for empire leaders with energy-boosting traits, support them in elections if necessary

This is also something I am aware of, but something I usually do not focus on, more due to laziness and the feeling that it won't make a significant difference. I've stopped supporting candidates in elections because of the hit on influence.

Lots of techs can help.  Along with the power plants, you can also research a planet-unique power hub which boosts planet-wide energy generation by 10%

I have these techs, but again, am confined by the sector limitations on surface construction.

That's plenty for now, I'll have another think later.  What does the budget panel say, and is there anything glaringly obvious when you hover your mouse over the energy icon at the top of the screen?

Nothing on the budget panel strikes me as out of the ordinary. The cost of stations, fleets, etc. just adds up.

[Kushan]

@Jarhead

To go along with everything hue suggested, assuming you have a good mineral income and research is up to par, build power plants, lots and lots of power plants. Don't just build them on tiles that produce energy, build them in every spare slot you can spare. My personal general rule has been that once I have enough food grow the planet to max pop I build mines/power plants.  I've never really had a mineral shortage but I've had credit issues similar to yours. Also remember that as you upgrade your farm tech you can repurpose some tiles away from food production to mineral/credit production in the mid/late game. Once a planet is at max pop having more then 1 food doesn't matter.

[mikeck]

 So jarhead, where are you ranking this one with master of Orion 4 and Polaris?
Just curious as we seem to have had similar opinions on Polaris and I agreed with yours on Moo4. Might give me some idea of what I'm looking at here.

[mikeck]

@Jarhead

To go along with everything hue suggested, assuming you have a good mineral income and research is up to par, build power plants, lots and lots of power plants. Don't just build them on tiles that produce energy, build them in every spare slot you can spare. My personal general rule has been that once I have enough food grow the planet to max pop I build mines/power plants.  I've never really had a mineral shortage but I've had credit issues similar to yours. Also remember that as you upgrade your farm tech you can repurpose some tiles away from food production to mineral/credit production in the mid/late game. Once a planet is at max pop having more then 1 food doesn't matter.

If you have max pop, do you tear down farms and build the power plants in their place?

[Jarhead0331]

So jarhead, where are you ranking this one with master of Orion 4 and Polaris?
Just curious as we seem to have had similar opinions on Polaris and I agreed with yours on Moo4. Might give me some idea of what I'm looking at here.

That's an interesting question. I prefer it to MOO4, which I liked, but felt was a little too beer & pretzels to satisfy my space 4x urges. In its current form, I feel that Stellaris possesses tremendous potential. Overall, I was initially a little disappointed with it because I did not feel that it was the CKII/EUIV in space that I had always been dreaming of. I felt the economy, diplomacy, empire management and combat systems were too streamlined, and did not possess the unique complexity and depth of prior paradox historical titles. However, the core of the game was extremely solid and my hope was that future DLC would continue to add layers and complexity upon a very strong foundation. Additionally, there were certain aspects that really impressed me right out of the gate, such as the unique race options available and the tremendous flexibility in creating custom species that can really shape the game play experience and permit the player to depart from usual norms and habitual play styles. For instance, until Stellaris, I almost universally played as humans in 4x games. In Stellaris, however, there is incentive to create different races and experiment with strategies that psychologically, I just wouldn't find satisfactory as a human player.

Comparing Stellaris with Polaris Sector is more challenging. Polaris Sector was a surprise sleeper hit for me.  I feel that PS gives the player a truly epic game play experience. It captures the true scale of intergalactic empire management, as well as providing a true appreciation for the vast distances of space and time, like no other 4x game that I can think of. Strategic decisions truly had consequences in PS that could alter the best laid plans, literally for centuries of game time to come. Additionally, I found the research options and technologies to be truly creative and unique in many ways, and when combined with the awesome ship design system, the large array of technologies could permit some truly useful ship designs that were really only limited by the player's imagination.  I can't think of any other game where the player can solve any number of strategic or tactical problems or accomplish objectives by designing a dedicated ship to address the need.

PS is really a great game, but i was put off by the whole AI fuel cheat issue. Although this really didn't seem to have much of an impact on my gaming experience, just knowing it exists really troubled me, and I haven't picked the game back up since news of this AI exploit was revealed. In addition, PS does not have the polish of Stellaris, which looks and sounds much better, in my opinion.  I think Stellaris will continue to mature, and eventually, will surpass PS in a number of additional ways.   

[Jarhead0331]

You guys keep talking about building power plants and power buildings on planet surfaces, but aren't you restricted from doing this once a planet is added to a sector?

[Huw the Poo]

You guys keep talking about building power plants and power buildings on planet surfaces, but aren't you restricted from doing this once a planet is added to a sector?

You're restricted from doing it yourself, but if you give the sector permission to redevelop, along with telling it to focus on energy, it should do just that.

[Huw the Poo]

Edicts are something that I have not focused on. I will look into this. However, it still seems like a temporary solution to some underlying problem.

True, they are, but will help you stay in the black while you work on more permanent solutions.

I do keep my fleets stationary when not being used for combat. However, I don't always make sure they are in a system with a spaceport. Good to know.

Just to be clear, they have to actually be docked at a spaceport, not just in the same system as one.  But yeah, this helps massively, because docking reduces ship maintenance by 25%.

This is also something I am aware of, but something I usually do not focus on, more due to laziness and the feeling that it won't make a significant difference. I've stopped supporting candidates in elections because of the hit on influence.

Some empire leader traits give 10% energy boost, which is huge.  Remember that's 10% of your total output, not 10% of your surplus.  It can take you from, say, 20 energy in the red to 20 in the black.

[OJsDad]

No, I don't think you are kept from building on planets that are part of a sector.  Also, there is an option to allow your sectors to redevelop a tile, so you may want to pick that option.  Finally, make sure you have solar panels on your space stations.  They will produce 3 energy each.

[Jarhead0331]

No, I don't think you are kept from building on planets that are part of a sector.  Also, there is an option to allow your sectors to redevelop a tile, so you may want to pick that option.  Finally, make sure you have solar panels on your space stations.  They will produce 3 energy each.

I'm pretty confident that you cannot directly develop tiles once a planet is on a sector. I think Huw is correct in that you can only influence development at that point.

Yes, adding solar panels onto stations is a priority.