Class 30 planet, I'm so proud.

Nice, The highest class Planet I ever got was class 38 on a huge galaxy. I have 12 economic stations supporting the thing. It can curn out a battleship every two turns with 1100 military production when focused. I found that there is only squares for 32 buildings so I think that that is the limit. I must say with the +10% civ trati to boost planet quality you get some real gems. By the end of the game any plant that was class 10 now ranges from 13 to 15. I would have a screenie but It takes ten minuets for the game to load.

I think some of the space on that planet is kind of wasted on planetary defenses. But otherwise nice use of space.

Yeah, after the Arceans settle down (or I conquer them, one of the two) I'll decommision at least one of those defense installations and put the space toward something else.

EDIT: Its now 2233 (three years after the initial screeshot) and this is the state of Greenleaf



It's now Class 32. I've terraformed the previously unavailable tiles and slapped an Empathic Tactical Centre and Hall of Empathy down, both of which should help in the war with the Arceans (which I started). I think I may have hit a ceiling with how much this planet can be improved since there are no more usable tiles left. I also built another Starbase called Eden Station, to take some of the weight off of the besieged Fort Greenleaf.

If you put one farm on that bonus tile, you will produce the same amount of food as both those farms, and will be able to free up a square.

There's some who would say that planet should be loaded with INv. Matrix'/NLC's or Man. capitol and Ind. Sectors. Look at some of Mumblefratz' research planets he's posted. It could be producing 10,000+ RPs.    or a load of money as a pure economic cap.

Yea, it's fun to get those monster planets, especially when it's early in the game and you can fully develop them. I always keep an eye out for the purple stars. The quantity seems to be somwhat random. IIRC, I found three of them in my current game (gigantic/abundant).

It could be producing 10,000+ RPs.    or a load of money as a pure economic cap.

Yes, you would be far better off specializing this planet into something. As a reseach planet surrounded by economic SB's it could be producing 8,000 RP's per turn. As a manufacturing planet again surrounded by econ SB's it could be producing 1,000 MP's per turn. Even as a dedicated economic planet it could be producing 3,000 to 4,000 bc's per turn. Of course, that's assuming it's fully developed with the top line buildings and appropriate capital. As you have it, you've got a jack of all trades and master of none.

As you have it, you've got a jack of all trades and master of none.

Fair to say, however with my civ currently at war (one which doesn't look like relenting soon) and only six planets to my empire, it doesn't seem like a good idea to devote an entire planet of such a precious few to one particular function. However, after I have (hopefully) crushed the Arceans and now the Terrans under my heel I will most likely specialise this planet economically, since by then I will have conquered Arcean and Terran worlds to move the buildings that won't fit on Greenleaf (all my other planets are full) to. That way I won't lose the bonuses of any of the buildings currently on Greenleaf (because they will be moved to newer worlds), and I will still be able to have a nice little (ie Gigantic) income being generated by this planet.

However, even with this in mind I won't be able to specialise the planet 100%, I still have defense to think about and now, having just researched Star Federation, approval from Greenleaf what with it being my most populous world.

If I had specialised this planet in any way my empire would not have survived because, without its (current) economic output, I would not have been able to afford my mighty battlefleet, without its (current) manufacturing output I would not have been able to build said battlefleet, and without what minimal research being generated I would not have been able to research technology required for aforementioned battlefleet. Basically my empire is a stable mass of planets working together, pooling their combined resources, which I think is better than specialisation, since one can become too dependent on a economically productive planet, then have it swiped by some evil nasties from outer space and find your empire in ruins afterward. At least my way if one or two planets are lost I still have the other planets to compensate for its absence, each generating industrial, economic and research points

only six planets to my empire

Yeah, I guess it's pretty hard to specialize with only six planets. I always play gigantic abundant all galaxies and I've never colonized less than about 60 planets, so I always have the flexibility to specialize.

Even in this case I often will start out building a planet like this generically in the early game, but then I'll avoid putting any capital or wonder on it that can't be removed so later on in the game I can specialize it however I want. If it's a case of survival you do what you have to do, it's just that by having both manufacturing capital and economic capital on the same world kind of prohibits this.

As far as generalization vs. specialization there are pros and cons to both sides, *but* with one planet such as this I can out research 100 generalized planets or if specialized for production I can out produce 20 regular planets. It's hard to argue with this economy of scale unless of course your entire empire consists of 6 planets.

Anyway, my point wasn't to denigrate your usage of the planet but to suggest that there other ways to use it that you might consider when and if you get the chance.

This is kind of what I'm talking about.

heh..Sorry bout that. I'm so used to everybody doing the gigantic everything abundant thing I didn't think there was anybody that plays like me anymore. I like smaller maps like the threeway scenario and such, can be a great challenge when everyone has just three planets equally balanced. You can see how you really stack up to the AI with the same amount of planets.  

Anyway, my point wasn't to denigrate your usage of the planet but to suggest that there other ways to use it that you might consider when and if you get the chance.

Don't worry about it I never thought it was and I appreciate the advice, and you *are* right, specialisation is the way to go *when* you have enough planets to your name to do so. I recently conquered Earth and found the majority of it economically based so I did in fact specialise that planet, not that it did much being only a class 15 but it helped. That's the way I play, since I almost always go for conquest victory I lay down the foundation of an empire with generalised planets, then more often than not I will specialise the ones I conquer.

This is kind of what I'm talking about.

Did you also have hyper computers and nano recorders?

Did you also have hyper computers and nano recorders?

Yes, but they don't need to be on the same planet. I also had 4 research resources fully mined and all spending set to tech. Because of the planets placement in the sector I could only get 15 econ SB's covering the planet, but that's still a 360% bonus.

I guess gigantic/abundant is pretty popular. I though us gigantic/abundant players were kind of the oddballs. It's such a management mess, I figured most people wouldn't like to play it. I can understand the draw playing smaller games. It's totally different. In that case, how you develop each planet is really important. When you have a large number planets, you can pretty much do what you feel like doing with them.