Post by Brutus Aurelius on Aug 9, 2014 13:41:26 GMT -5
Well, Cory and Andrew have been asking for people to help make a guide for Empires in Exile, and I want to help out. I have a feeling this guide will turn out similar to Research in the game. Bits of info from different sources come together to make a useful bit of information! So, feel free to contribute your own bits for certain areas. I will do my best to integrate it all and I will credit anyone who gives me some info I had forgotten. I will try to supply my own images, but anyone giving some in would be appreciated. Feel free to discuss the guide as well, suggesting changes or additions!
Star Map
The Star Map is the game world. It is your Quadrant. Knowing what everything on the map is is the cornerstone of understanding the game. There are several things that will take place here, such as Exploration, Colonization, and most importantly, Combat. The stars on the map represent Systems. These are where your Colonies and the Alien Colonies will be found. Just tap a star to view the potential Mineral and Quality values of the orbital bodies. The higher they are, the more valuable the System can be. Anomalies and Asteroids can also be added to the Star Map by tapping on them. Then, if your ships leave the area, these will remain there, unobscured by the fog of war, which will prevent you from seeing where things are at first. Unless you have a Ship or Colony in the area, expect it to become surrounded by the fog.
Systems
These are unoccupied solar systems and come in several varieties and states. They each have a Mineral range, which dictates how many Minerals can potentially be there. This is very important. The Quality range of a system determines how many Upgrades can potentially be built. As a general rule, all Systems have as a bare minimum Mineral and Quality rolls of 2. When Colonized, either by you or the Alien, the game rolls for Quality and Mineral values between the upper and lower limits. There will be no way whatsoever to change these once they are set.
Generally, I use this to gauge the worth of a system:
Quality:
2-10 is Low Quality. These Systems are best as mining outposts, and if the Population growth allows it, I build an Exchange.
11-17 is Medium Quality. These Systems can be turned into many things, from smaller Military Bases, to Trade Worlds, or Mining Outposts, depending on the Faction that settles them and their Mineral rolls.
18+ is High Quality. These worlds can be generalized or specialized. Mainly the become Population Centers with a focus on Trade or Military purposes.
The Quality of a System affects Population growth and the number of individual Upgrades that can be built. It can be reduced by Bombardment and Invasion operations.
Dead Worlds have 0 Quality and cannot be colonized. However these are always a result of warfare with the Alien, either by your actions or theirs. They never appear naturally.
There are three types of Star that help visually determine what a system may be like.
Red Giants are often lower Quality but have much higher Mineral values.
Yellow stars often have high Quality but are more average in terms of Mineral value.
White Dwarves are the hardest to categorize, because they can have values all over the place. Some are High Quality, while others are high Mineral. As a whole though, they often have lower Quality than Yellow stars.
Blue stars are similar to White Dwarves, but they have higher minimum values. (Thanks squee !)
Colonies
Colonies are the cornerstone that an Empire is built on. As stated above, Colonies are found in settled Systems. The Colony is always of the Faction that founded it, unless they sell it to the Independents (which will be explained later.) Colonies generate Income, Research Points (RP), Construction Points (CP), Espionage Points (EP) and Trade Points (TP). RP, CP, and EP all start with a value of 1 for a Colony (barring Faction Bonuses, which will be explained later). TP is only generated by certain Upgrades, such as the Exchange. Colonies also have an Income value, which is how much money the Colony generates a turn. Maintenance is the counter to Income, and shows how much you pay per turn to run the Colony. To find exactly how much your Colony contributes to your Empire's income, just subtract the Colony's Income from the Maintenance.
Colonies can be specialized for specific purposes withing the Empire. This is the criteria I use to determine what I turn a Colony into.
High Quality, Low Mineral: These worlds will often rely on Trade and Population as their main sources of Income. These can easily be turned into Military Bases which can quickly build and launch Ships. When not building anything, the Idle CP will go towards Income. It can sometimes be hard to make these profitable, especially when they are just starting out. Don't stress if you cannot get it to become a profitable Colony. Just one Colony will not make or break the Economy.
High Mineral, Low or Medium Quality: These worlds are best used as Mining Outposts. They should focus on Mines and Spice Dens to keep the people happy. However, at less than 5 Population, you will not need a Spice Den. These will often be the most profitable Colonies in the Empire.
Medium Mineral, Medium Quality: These worlds should be a Jack of all trades. They should have some Mines, an Exchange, and Factories. They are not as fast as Population Centers or Military Bases at building things, but they get the job done.
Anomalies
Anomalies are found on the Star Map. They are purple clouds and swirls that occupy a space on the map. They can be used with the Explore Training. You must move an Explorer or Solar Exo-Scout next to the Anomaly, select Explore, and then tap the Anomaly. It will light up and you will hear a sound effect play. Next turn, the Anomaly's effect will be put into play. (the Explorer is the starting scout that accompanies the Templar Defenders and the Exo-Scout is the default design that is unlocked when your research unlocks the Explore training)
Possible Results:
Research bonus (Major Breakthrough): The Explorer will generate 50, 100, 150 or 200 RP that is applied to current research.
CP Bonus (Artifacts and Material): The Explorer generates 10 or 20 CP applied to a random colony Project.
Morale Boost (Templar Activity): This will give a major boost to Morale on a random Colony.
Morale Hit (Xeno Infestation): This causes Morale to plummet on a Colony.
Economy
Plain and simple, the Economy shows how much raw Income you produce. Net Income comes from subtracting the Empire's Maintenance costs from the Raw Income. So, if you are generating 4,000 Credits in Income per turn, with a Maintenance Rate of 2,000 Credits per turn, your Net Income is 2,000 Credits.
Ways to increase your Net Income are varied, but focus on one of two things. You can either reduce your Maintenance costs by
A) Increasing Morale in the Colonies
B)Trying to eliminate negative conflicts such as Embargoes
C) Creating positive Conflicts such as Trade Routes.
Or you could increase your Raw Income by:
A) Building Mines
B)Building Exchanges
C)Building Factories
Both of these methods focus on one aspect of the equation. Use both to maximize profit and squeeze every Credit out of the Factions!
Factions
The Factions are the organizations that make up the Empire. There are 8, including the Independants and Templar Order. Each Faction has unique bonuses and technology! However, Faction specific tech can only be utilized on worlds controled by the Faction that has the tech. An example is the Merchant Academy, only able to be built on De Valtos worlds.
De Valtos:
Focus: Trade
The De Valtos Syndicate is a trade powerhouse, gaining both bonuses to Colony TP and Credit bonuses for TP to maximize profits. Their unique tech tree give Merchant Academies, which provide Spice and Research. They also gain access to a unique Trade Manipulation Treaty that upgrades Trade Routes into Trade Alliances with a resounding 80% success rate! They can make good use of both high Mineral and high Quality worlds. High mineral worlds can use more advanced Mines to dig up more minerals, and more advanced Mines spit out TP as well as cash! Use them to power your economy and send it sky high!
Cadar:
Focus: Military
The Cadar Syndicate is an expert at military endeavors. They start with a +2 CP to all their Colonies, allowing early upgrades to be built rapidly. However, while this might seem like a reason to expand with only Cadar worlds, remember that the De Valtos and Rychart can be just as powerful in other ways. They gain access to the Military Academy, which acts like a smaller version of FDF upgrades, protecting 7 levels of Upgrades (14 when improved) and +1 Research (+2 when improved). I usually give them higher Quality worlds when I don't need to fortify a border (and not just because I am a Cadarian at heart). They are best at specializing into Military Bases. They are useful as border guards and can help form the backbone of your Fleet, especially early on. Use them to protect the borders of your Empire and support the Fleet!
Rychart:
Focus: Politics
The Rychart are crafty and sneaky, and often their endeavors help guide the Quadrant's politics in their favor. They start with +2 EP and +2 RP to their Colonies, helping you to make crucial early Trade Routes, keeping the peace while your infant Empire struggles to its feet, and speeding the reclamation of lost technology. Their unique tech tree gives them Spy Academies that boost EP production by # and RP by 3 (4 for both when upgraded). Their unique treaty ends bothersome Spy Wars, which otherwise cannot be ended. They are best at generalized Colonies, and so I give them whatever Systems I haven't given to De Valtos or the Cadar. Use them to keep the Factions from tearing each other to shreds!
Thulun:
Focus: Research and to a lesser extent, Military
Known as the strongest House, Thulun are experts at both construction and research. They often lead the pack in terms of build speed and research contribution. Thulun Colonies are unique in the fact that the +2 CP and +2 RP do not occur at the same time. When building something, the Colony gets +2 CP and when Idle, the Colony generates +2 RP. Due to this, Thulun Colonies build up quickly and can start focusing on researching faster when they are done. Their unique tech tree gives them the Naval Academy, which is similar to the Cadari Military Academy, except it starts with 14 Defense, 1 Population, and +1 Research. When upgraded it gives +3 Research. Their unique Festival is the Research Festival, which grants an impressive +30 RP to the current project, but drops the Morale of the Colony by 2-3 points (Thanks jayte !). Beware overusing them. Use Thulun to reclaim lost technology and command the Fleet!
Javat:
Focus: Mining
The Javati are experts at Mineral extraction and Trade, gaining an impressive 25$ per Mineral, rather than the usual 21$ that every other Faction generates. Early on only a few Javati colonies can support the entire Empire's economy! They are best suited to Red Giants to best exploit their mining skill. Their unique tech tree gives them access to the Orbital Refinery, an improved Orbital Mine. It extracts the same amount of Minerals as the Orbital Mine, but generates +3 TP rather than +1 at the first level. The second level extracts 3 Minerals and +4 TP. Their unique Festival is the Trade Festival, which increases Income, possibly via temporary TP boost. If you can, try to fit an Exchange on their colonies to really boost their Income. On larger Mineral worlds, I can get 500$+ in raw income. Use them to power the Economy!
Steel Song:
Focus: Military
The Song are experts at warfare. Their Colonies start with a unique Hab Unit known as the Steel Fortress. It provides 7 Defense and 1 Population. Their Ships start with 5 XP, giving them a 5% chance to do Critical Damage right off the bat! Their tech tree includes upgrades for the Steel Fortress, giving 2 Population and 14 Defense, then 3 Population and 14 Defense for the third level. Their unique treaty is the Assassin's Call, which calls a Vax-Jak'tar championship to end a Duel of Assassins, freeing up a precious conflict spot for a more favorable conflict. They are best suited to smaller systems with the occasional Yellow star for large Military Bases. Build Mines and Exchanges on their worlds to fund the base, then focus on Factories and Habs. Use them to power your Fleet to victory!
Independents:
Focus: Trade and Mining
Those Systems with horrible Quality (4 or less) or those who have 1 Morale for too long will be converted to Independent Colonies. Independent worlds never grow in Population, but still generate Income for the Empire. They also are not affected by politics, so they will not be as effective with Exchanges, but it will be potentially more steady than Faction trade. However they will not build Ships for you. Focus on Mines which will help generate a steady Income.
Politics
The big one. Politics in Star Traders are very complex and can be very confusing to new players. Politics can be divided into 2 categories: Positive and Negative. Positive Conflicts are things like Trade Routes, Trade Alliances and Alliances. Negative Conflicts are things like Solar Wars, Trade Embargoes, and the dreaded Spy War. Each Conflict has a treaty that either starts or ends it. Here are the Conflicts and their details. All conflicts can begin and end on their own.
Positive:
Trade Route: The simplest trade agreement. It gives a minor boost to cash from TP and Idle CP.
Treaties: Trade Meeting (Planetary Construction 1), Trade Summit (Planetary Construction 3), Spice Treaty
Upgrades
There are several types of planetary upgrades that can be built to improve you Colonies. The upgrades all have a construction cost and a maintenance fee associated with them.
Starports- They are the Core Upgrade every Colony starts with. They provide some Housing, Construction, Mining and Research. The benefits scale with the level, and mid to late game is can be a good idea to upgrade them. Obviously because of the wide range of benefits, they are very costly to upgrade and maintain.
Hab Units- Simply put, Hab Units are your Housing. They are cheap and quick to build compared to other Upgrades of their class. They are essential Upgrades for any System.
Factories- Factories are the baseline for your industrial and military infrastructure. They are a bit more expensive CP-wise to build, but are always useful.
Mines- Mines are your economic backbone. They extract material from the orbital bodies in the System to make a hefty profit of 21$ per turn per Mineral. 20 Mineral exploited = 420 Credits of Profit per turn (500 with Javati worlds)! They are essential upgrades, especially for higher Quality Systems.
FDF- These are defensive Upgrades built to protect your Colonies. FDF upgrades, not including the (Mechanized defenses unlocked later on) will give EP and Housing bonuses to your Colonies. On border worlds, they are essential, especially when your Fleet cannot stop early World Killers.
Festivals- Festivals are useful to increase Morale, Trade and Research. They are one time events, meaning they do not cost Quality and their effects are only applicable once per Festival. Spice Festivals increase Morale, Research Festivals increase RP by (UNCONFIRMED AMOUNT), and Trade Festivals increase TP by (UNCONFIRMED AMOUNT)
Orbitals- Orbital Upgrades are mid-late game Upgrades that cost 0 Quality. That's right folks, 0 Quality! However, they are more expensive to build and maintain than equivalent Upgrades of comparable level.
Palace- Palaces are the administrative centers of you Colonies, where the Faction Princes and Independent Warlords rule from. Palaces provide a small Housing bonus, EP and RP bonuses, and a small Defensive bonus. These are not essential, but good for any Colony.
Exchange- Exchanges are the centers of interstellar commerce, allowing Spacers to buy and sell goods, and like in Star Traders, the more advanced the Exchange is, the more Spacers want to visit it. They generate huge amounts of TP, with more advanced ones giving RP and Spice bonuses to the Colony it is buit on as well.
Terraforming- Promised since the Alpha Testing, Terraforming has arrived as of 1.5.1! A late game tech on the Planetary Construction tree, these Terraforming Generators soak Quality costs for Upgrades. So if you build a TG 1 on a Quality 10 System, it would be as if the System was 12 Quality! Useful for late game Colonies with overcrowding issues.
Research
Ship Designer
Xeno Ships
Deep Space Combat
Invasion of Xeno Systems
Tactics
Star Map
The Star Map is the game world. It is your Quadrant. Knowing what everything on the map is is the cornerstone of understanding the game. There are several things that will take place here, such as Exploration, Colonization, and most importantly, Combat. The stars on the map represent Systems. These are where your Colonies and the Alien Colonies will be found. Just tap a star to view the potential Mineral and Quality values of the orbital bodies. The higher they are, the more valuable the System can be. Anomalies and Asteroids can also be added to the Star Map by tapping on them. Then, if your ships leave the area, these will remain there, unobscured by the fog of war, which will prevent you from seeing where things are at first. Unless you have a Ship or Colony in the area, expect it to become surrounded by the fog.
Systems
These are unoccupied solar systems and come in several varieties and states. They each have a Mineral range, which dictates how many Minerals can potentially be there. This is very important. The Quality range of a system determines how many Upgrades can potentially be built. As a general rule, all Systems have as a bare minimum Mineral and Quality rolls of 2. When Colonized, either by you or the Alien, the game rolls for Quality and Mineral values between the upper and lower limits. There will be no way whatsoever to change these once they are set.
Generally, I use this to gauge the worth of a system:
Quality:
2-10 is Low Quality. These Systems are best as mining outposts, and if the Population growth allows it, I build an Exchange.
11-17 is Medium Quality. These Systems can be turned into many things, from smaller Military Bases, to Trade Worlds, or Mining Outposts, depending on the Faction that settles them and their Mineral rolls.
18+ is High Quality. These worlds can be generalized or specialized. Mainly the become Population Centers with a focus on Trade or Military purposes.
The Quality of a System affects Population growth and the number of individual Upgrades that can be built. It can be reduced by Bombardment and Invasion operations.
Dead Worlds have 0 Quality and cannot be colonized. However these are always a result of warfare with the Alien, either by your actions or theirs. They never appear naturally.
There are three types of Star that help visually determine what a system may be like.
Red Giants are often lower Quality but have much higher Mineral values.
Yellow stars often have high Quality but are more average in terms of Mineral value.
White Dwarves are the hardest to categorize, because they can have values all over the place. Some are High Quality, while others are high Mineral. As a whole though, they often have lower Quality than Yellow stars.
Blue stars are similar to White Dwarves, but they have higher minimum values. (Thanks squee !)
Colonies
Colonies are the cornerstone that an Empire is built on. As stated above, Colonies are found in settled Systems. The Colony is always of the Faction that founded it, unless they sell it to the Independents (which will be explained later.) Colonies generate Income, Research Points (RP), Construction Points (CP), Espionage Points (EP) and Trade Points (TP). RP, CP, and EP all start with a value of 1 for a Colony (barring Faction Bonuses, which will be explained later). TP is only generated by certain Upgrades, such as the Exchange. Colonies also have an Income value, which is how much money the Colony generates a turn. Maintenance is the counter to Income, and shows how much you pay per turn to run the Colony. To find exactly how much your Colony contributes to your Empire's income, just subtract the Colony's Income from the Maintenance.
Colonies can be specialized for specific purposes withing the Empire. This is the criteria I use to determine what I turn a Colony into.
High Quality, Low Mineral: These worlds will often rely on Trade and Population as their main sources of Income. These can easily be turned into Military Bases which can quickly build and launch Ships. When not building anything, the Idle CP will go towards Income. It can sometimes be hard to make these profitable, especially when they are just starting out. Don't stress if you cannot get it to become a profitable Colony. Just one Colony will not make or break the Economy.
High Mineral, Low or Medium Quality: These worlds are best used as Mining Outposts. They should focus on Mines and Spice Dens to keep the people happy. However, at less than 5 Population, you will not need a Spice Den. These will often be the most profitable Colonies in the Empire.
Medium Mineral, Medium Quality: These worlds should be a Jack of all trades. They should have some Mines, an Exchange, and Factories. They are not as fast as Population Centers or Military Bases at building things, but they get the job done.
Anomalies
Anomalies are found on the Star Map. They are purple clouds and swirls that occupy a space on the map. They can be used with the Explore Training. You must move an Explorer or Solar Exo-Scout next to the Anomaly, select Explore, and then tap the Anomaly. It will light up and you will hear a sound effect play. Next turn, the Anomaly's effect will be put into play. (the Explorer is the starting scout that accompanies the Templar Defenders and the Exo-Scout is the default design that is unlocked when your research unlocks the Explore training)
Possible Results:
Research bonus (Major Breakthrough): The Explorer will generate 50, 100, 150 or 200 RP that is applied to current research.
CP Bonus (Artifacts and Material): The Explorer generates 10 or 20 CP applied to a random colony Project.
Morale Boost (Templar Activity): This will give a major boost to Morale on a random Colony.
Morale Hit (Xeno Infestation): This causes Morale to plummet on a Colony.
Economy
Plain and simple, the Economy shows how much raw Income you produce. Net Income comes from subtracting the Empire's Maintenance costs from the Raw Income. So, if you are generating 4,000 Credits in Income per turn, with a Maintenance Rate of 2,000 Credits per turn, your Net Income is 2,000 Credits.
Ways to increase your Net Income are varied, but focus on one of two things. You can either reduce your Maintenance costs by
A) Increasing Morale in the Colonies
B)Trying to eliminate negative conflicts such as Embargoes
C) Creating positive Conflicts such as Trade Routes.
Or you could increase your Raw Income by:
A) Building Mines
B)Building Exchanges
C)Building Factories
Both of these methods focus on one aspect of the equation. Use both to maximize profit and squeeze every Credit out of the Factions!
Factions
The Factions are the organizations that make up the Empire. There are 8, including the Independants and Templar Order. Each Faction has unique bonuses and technology! However, Faction specific tech can only be utilized on worlds controled by the Faction that has the tech. An example is the Merchant Academy, only able to be built on De Valtos worlds.
De Valtos:
Focus: Trade
The De Valtos Syndicate is a trade powerhouse, gaining both bonuses to Colony TP and Credit bonuses for TP to maximize profits. Their unique tech tree give Merchant Academies, which provide Spice and Research. They also gain access to a unique Trade Manipulation Treaty that upgrades Trade Routes into Trade Alliances with a resounding 80% success rate! They can make good use of both high Mineral and high Quality worlds. High mineral worlds can use more advanced Mines to dig up more minerals, and more advanced Mines spit out TP as well as cash! Use them to power your economy and send it sky high!
Cadar:
Focus: Military
The Cadar Syndicate is an expert at military endeavors. They start with a +2 CP to all their Colonies, allowing early upgrades to be built rapidly. However, while this might seem like a reason to expand with only Cadar worlds, remember that the De Valtos and Rychart can be just as powerful in other ways. They gain access to the Military Academy, which acts like a smaller version of FDF upgrades, protecting 7 levels of Upgrades (14 when improved) and +1 Research (+2 when improved). I usually give them higher Quality worlds when I don't need to fortify a border (and not just because I am a Cadarian at heart). They are best at specializing into Military Bases. They are useful as border guards and can help form the backbone of your Fleet, especially early on. Use them to protect the borders of your Empire and support the Fleet!
Rychart:
Focus: Politics
The Rychart are crafty and sneaky, and often their endeavors help guide the Quadrant's politics in their favor. They start with +2 EP and +2 RP to their Colonies, helping you to make crucial early Trade Routes, keeping the peace while your infant Empire struggles to its feet, and speeding the reclamation of lost technology. Their unique tech tree gives them Spy Academies that boost EP production by # and RP by 3 (4 for both when upgraded). Their unique treaty ends bothersome Spy Wars, which otherwise cannot be ended. They are best at generalized Colonies, and so I give them whatever Systems I haven't given to De Valtos or the Cadar. Use them to keep the Factions from tearing each other to shreds!
Thulun:
Focus: Research and to a lesser extent, Military
Known as the strongest House, Thulun are experts at both construction and research. They often lead the pack in terms of build speed and research contribution. Thulun Colonies are unique in the fact that the +2 CP and +2 RP do not occur at the same time. When building something, the Colony gets +2 CP and when Idle, the Colony generates +2 RP. Due to this, Thulun Colonies build up quickly and can start focusing on researching faster when they are done. Their unique tech tree gives them the Naval Academy, which is similar to the Cadari Military Academy, except it starts with 14 Defense, 1 Population, and +1 Research. When upgraded it gives +3 Research. Their unique Festival is the Research Festival, which grants an impressive +30 RP to the current project, but drops the Morale of the Colony by 2-3 points (Thanks jayte !). Beware overusing them. Use Thulun to reclaim lost technology and command the Fleet!
Javat:
Focus: Mining
The Javati are experts at Mineral extraction and Trade, gaining an impressive 25$ per Mineral, rather than the usual 21$ that every other Faction generates. Early on only a few Javati colonies can support the entire Empire's economy! They are best suited to Red Giants to best exploit their mining skill. Their unique tech tree gives them access to the Orbital Refinery, an improved Orbital Mine. It extracts the same amount of Minerals as the Orbital Mine, but generates +3 TP rather than +1 at the first level. The second level extracts 3 Minerals and +4 TP. Their unique Festival is the Trade Festival, which increases Income, possibly via temporary TP boost. If you can, try to fit an Exchange on their colonies to really boost their Income. On larger Mineral worlds, I can get 500$+ in raw income. Use them to power the Economy!
Steel Song:
Focus: Military
The Song are experts at warfare. Their Colonies start with a unique Hab Unit known as the Steel Fortress. It provides 7 Defense and 1 Population. Their Ships start with 5 XP, giving them a 5% chance to do Critical Damage right off the bat! Their tech tree includes upgrades for the Steel Fortress, giving 2 Population and 14 Defense, then 3 Population and 14 Defense for the third level. Their unique treaty is the Assassin's Call, which calls a Vax-Jak'tar championship to end a Duel of Assassins, freeing up a precious conflict spot for a more favorable conflict. They are best suited to smaller systems with the occasional Yellow star for large Military Bases. Build Mines and Exchanges on their worlds to fund the base, then focus on Factories and Habs. Use them to power your Fleet to victory!
Independents:
Focus: Trade and Mining
Those Systems with horrible Quality (4 or less) or those who have 1 Morale for too long will be converted to Independent Colonies. Independent worlds never grow in Population, but still generate Income for the Empire. They also are not affected by politics, so they will not be as effective with Exchanges, but it will be potentially more steady than Faction trade. However they will not build Ships for you. Focus on Mines which will help generate a steady Income.
Politics
The big one. Politics in Star Traders are very complex and can be very confusing to new players. Politics can be divided into 2 categories: Positive and Negative. Positive Conflicts are things like Trade Routes, Trade Alliances and Alliances. Negative Conflicts are things like Solar Wars, Trade Embargoes, and the dreaded Spy War. Each Conflict has a treaty that either starts or ends it. Here are the Conflicts and their details. All conflicts can begin and end on their own.
Positive:
Trade Route: The simplest trade agreement. It gives a minor boost to cash from TP and Idle CP.
Treaties: Trade Meeting (Planetary Construction 1), Trade Summit (Planetary Construction 3), Spice Treaty
Upgrades
There are several types of planetary upgrades that can be built to improve you Colonies. The upgrades all have a construction cost and a maintenance fee associated with them.
Starports- They are the Core Upgrade every Colony starts with. They provide some Housing, Construction, Mining and Research. The benefits scale with the level, and mid to late game is can be a good idea to upgrade them. Obviously because of the wide range of benefits, they are very costly to upgrade and maintain.
Hab Units- Simply put, Hab Units are your Housing. They are cheap and quick to build compared to other Upgrades of their class. They are essential Upgrades for any System.
Factories- Factories are the baseline for your industrial and military infrastructure. They are a bit more expensive CP-wise to build, but are always useful.
Mines- Mines are your economic backbone. They extract material from the orbital bodies in the System to make a hefty profit of 21$ per turn per Mineral. 20 Mineral exploited = 420 Credits of Profit per turn (500 with Javati worlds)! They are essential upgrades, especially for higher Quality Systems.
FDF- These are defensive Upgrades built to protect your Colonies. FDF upgrades, not including the (Mechanized defenses unlocked later on) will give EP and Housing bonuses to your Colonies. On border worlds, they are essential, especially when your Fleet cannot stop early World Killers.
Festivals- Festivals are useful to increase Morale, Trade and Research. They are one time events, meaning they do not cost Quality and their effects are only applicable once per Festival. Spice Festivals increase Morale, Research Festivals increase RP by (UNCONFIRMED AMOUNT), and Trade Festivals increase TP by (UNCONFIRMED AMOUNT)
Orbitals- Orbital Upgrades are mid-late game Upgrades that cost 0 Quality. That's right folks, 0 Quality! However, they are more expensive to build and maintain than equivalent Upgrades of comparable level.
Palace- Palaces are the administrative centers of you Colonies, where the Faction Princes and Independent Warlords rule from. Palaces provide a small Housing bonus, EP and RP bonuses, and a small Defensive bonus. These are not essential, but good for any Colony.
Exchange- Exchanges are the centers of interstellar commerce, allowing Spacers to buy and sell goods, and like in Star Traders, the more advanced the Exchange is, the more Spacers want to visit it. They generate huge amounts of TP, with more advanced ones giving RP and Spice bonuses to the Colony it is buit on as well.
Terraforming- Promised since the Alpha Testing, Terraforming has arrived as of 1.5.1! A late game tech on the Planetary Construction tree, these Terraforming Generators soak Quality costs for Upgrades. So if you build a TG 1 on a Quality 10 System, it would be as if the System was 12 Quality! Useful for late game Colonies with overcrowding issues.
Research
Ship Designer
Xeno Ships
Deep Space Combat
Invasion of Xeno Systems
Tactics
