Colony Management

[Litcube]

Has anyone else had the following problem:

Have colonized 50 or so planets, all maxed out in facility capacity. I then research the Central Computer complex. Of course, I want to maximize my research capabilities. I jump into my excel spreadsheet, and do some math. I find out that any planet with over 6 Research Facilities would benefit from the Central Computer complex. Anything equal to or less than 6 wouldn't benefit.

So, besides performing 3 clicks on every one of my godamned colonies, and then counting the research facilities on the planet, is there ANY other method of doing this quickly? It's a pain in the ***. Especially since there are so many one per planet facilities that provide a % bonus to certain resouces (i.e. Robotics Factory).

[QuarianRex]

Hit the colony button (near the planets button on the upper left) and then click on facilities. Scroll down lookin at the facility totals till you find the planets you want.

[BadAxe]

Click the Colony Button (F5), and choose the View Facilities. It is just slightly less painful than your current method.

[geoschmo]

Go to the colonies window, click the production button on the right and then click the column header for research. This will sort your colonies in decending oder of amount of research production. Doesn't really tell you exactly how many facs each has, but it will show you the ones that will benefit the most.

You can also hit the faciliiies button and it will tell you how many of each facilitiy are on each planet. But I always find that view a little hard to read and not of much use.

Geoschmo

[Litcube]

Thanks, that does help, but it's still pretty sloppy. There should be a right click menu that allows you to scrap / add add to const. queues. Upgrading manualy is an integral part of the game.

[Ward]

Have colonized 50 or so planets, all maxed out in facility capacity. I then research the Central Computer complex. Of course, I want to maximize my research capabilities. I jump into my excel spreadsheet, and do some math. I find out that any planet with over 6 Research Facilities would benefit from the Central Computer complex. Anything equal to or less than 6 wouldn't benefit. <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Just a note to your counting. Computer complex(CC) I (10% for planet) becomes effective after approximately 11 facilities, CC II (20%) 6 facilities, CC III (30%) 4 facilities. I presume that the game adds base production and then adds all %. This means that after you have System wide CC (I don't remember the name) it is more beneficial to have more research labs before you start building CCs. Did you know this? Was just curious.

So, besides performing 3 clicks on every one of my godamned colonies, and then counting the research facilities on the planet, is there ANY other method of doing this quickly? It's a pain in the ***. Especially since there are so many one per planet facilities that provide a % bonus to certain resouces (i.e. Robotics Factory). <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> When I want to do this I usually use the following combination: F5, Sort by research, Click the planet, Ctrl-K, select the facility and press OK, Q, add the facility. This may seem as a slow method but I can assure you it is quite fast.

[Litcube]

Actually, that's pretty much what I was looking for. Unfortunate hole for the interface, but the keys do the job.

[Litcube]

Alright. I've given it a try. And I'm completely unsatisfied with the interface in this respect. It shouldn't be that hard to get the best out of colonies. It should be easier than that. Almost everything else about the game is pretty flushed out, and I'm happy about that. But why the interface issues? I'm sure someone else has ran into it.

The problem is presented due to the fact that numerous facilities of the same type can be added to a planet. There must be a mod out there somewhere.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

if your fighting the ai, you don't need to be that precise. just drop one on each planet with at least 10 facilities / each system and don't have multi-purpose planets. by sorting by name you can also see if you have any minerals/researh in the system.

[Taera]

i might be crazy but usually by the time i get industry techs i know exactly what are my important research/production planets.
Of course going to the colonies list and looking at Research/Intel/Other production helps too.

Dont do the math for the facs, do the math for numbers. Numbers are easier to see and use.

[Stone Mill]

I actually use the construction window for this. Select "facilities" button. When I see a planet is full, I manually find it and build the facility.
This doesn't bug me too much because I implement them when I reach the tech... and I bang most of them out in the same time period, on my larger worlds first.

[Litcube]

Alright. I've taken in what most people have been saying, and what I gather, is that some people think that this is perhaps a necessary evil when it comes to 4x games of grand scale. I think it could be simplified, though.

Numerous facilities of the same type on a planet, I find, creates more of a micromanagement burden than it does a "fun" strategic element.

My idea, is to change all facilities so that there's only one allowed per planet. Up the resource cost on each. At least I could rest easy on the fact that I don't have to sit on a calc app for an hour, clicking, literally hundreds of times, scrapping, building new facilities, just to squeeze out, what I'm confident, is 100% efficiency.

100% efficiency should be attainable through in game cost; not how much time you want to spend with a mind numbing click fest. It deters the player from taking on epic granduer campaigns spanning many star systems.

So, up the cost on facilities such as extractors, research centers, intelligence centers, make all facilities 1 per planet, associate a maintenance cost for each. I've never modded SE before, but I think the game is probably worth the effort.

So much solid game dynamics, yet such a glaring and rediculous hole.

EDIT: In addition to proposed changes, perhaps even have no limit to the number of facilities. To compensate for the obvious devaluement of planet size at this point, I could place more of an beneficiary emphasis on a large planet population.

[ March 27, 2003, 17:46: Message edited by: Litcube ]

[Fyron]

That is a lot of unnecessary work. Just research level 3 computers and add robotoids to all planets that have 4 or more of the relevant facility types. Say that each facility makes 100. 4 of them make 400. A fith makes 100 more. A robotoid makes .3 * 400 = 133 more. There is no need to do any more math than this. It does not matter what the planet makes. A level 3 robotoid is always more productive than a 5th (or greater) basic facility.

[ March 27, 2003, 18:51: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[Litcube]

I hear, ya Fyron, but the more I think about the simplicity approach to managing colonies, the more I like it. You'd still have to research level III computers. What to do in the mean time? There's still going to be that glaring point of time where one has this gut feeling that their colonies are not performing to their max due to the fact that they don't want to be an accountant.

Take Civilization III or MOO2, for example. They basically have the same type of "build everything you can in everyone of your colonies" approach. I enjoyed the sense of sitting back, and knowing the route that each of my colonies were going to take; eventually, every one of my colonies were going to have every type of facility.

So, you think this would be too much work? Again, I've never really modded SE4, so I wouldn't know.

[Fyron]

Well... don't stress about a few percentage of lost production. It probably won't kill you. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

For all large and huge breatheable planets, go ahead and add lower level Robotoids, if the planets are specialized (eg: they have lots of research labs, or lots of resource buildings, whatever). 10 or more guarantees that any Robotoid will be effective (well, you need an 11th basic facility before the Robotoid I will actually have an effect, but it is equal to the 11th, and will be upgraded later). They can be upgraded later with the "Upgrade [all] Facilities" button in the construction minister window (with all the SYs in the empire listed).

[Litcube]

I fully admit I'm an anal & stubborn bastard.

I'm going ahead with the moddifications. Are there any tools to do this with? Or am I .txt'n this the whole damn way?

[Fyron]

There are some modding utilities. Look for David G's modding tool or something like that.

[Litcube]

For the love of God, my idea isn't even possible.

Grabbed the utility. No options for such things. It's built in to % of resources ability.

Damnit. Damnit all to hell.

[Fyron]

First off, could you watch the language?

Secondly, I don't think there is any way to limit the number of a type of facility on a planet (except SYs, but that is hard-coded).

I am not sure what the second part of your post is referencing.

[Litcube]

I'll watch the language. Sorry. I didn't think I said anything that one couldn't say on prime time, but there may be more sensitive ears here. My appologies.

No. There's no way to mod what I wanted to do. Oh, well.