Issue with Exotic Gases, Volatile Motes and Rare Crystals

[Pupique]

Hello guys, I am currently experiencing a crippling issue with these three special resources. You see, my empire got so big that, in order to keep everyone employed, I had to upgrade several buildings in my empire. It was no issue at first, since my empire's economy could handle it smoothly, having a 2k~3k energy credit surplus.

However, because of the supply/demand system (which isn't bad, this isn't the issue), my economy simply tanked overnight, to a point that now I have a 2k deficit.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1719519556

As you can see, half of my expenses are because of purchasing these resources. Naturally, I won't be able to support such an expense for much longer, so my bankruptcy is pretty much inevitable... I just hope I can hold it off until the end of the game.

The thing is: shouldn't higher tier buildings (civillian factories, alloy foundries and research labs) use less special resources, or maybe have such resources in more abundance in star systems? They will pretty much become a huge issue in the late game, impossible to fix.

PS.: Minerals are overpriced as well, so abusing refineries is not a solution.

[Pupique]

Originally posted by kbmodigity:

I would recommend a synthetic empire just to get your feet wet if you are "noob" as you said. They are very easy to play. You can basically do a cookie cutter of every planet and go through the roof quickly. There are no factions, no food, no consumer goods, and you can colonize anything right off the bat.

I do have to admit I was playing them solely and am now making my way back into the biological side of things which add more nuances. I stopped playing after getting so frustrated with the constantly having to manually resettle pops after each month until I found that mod I posted before.

Currently I'm playing a hive mind (non devouring swarm) on admiral no scalling and I do have to say it is much more involved than playing anything synthetic. Its a nice ease of transition from synthetic as now I do have to deal with food and all the buildings seem so less buffed. As synthetic I only had to build 1 maintenance depot per planet unless it was 22 size or bigger. Now I have to have 3 or so with planets that are only 19 and they are still growing. I still dont have to deal with pirates and trade routes and all but I will get there. I like to master something and then move on to a more difficult/complex type of race.

Hah funny, I always thought that synthetics were more complex to play with than biological for some reason. I'll try playing with one, probably as an exterminator empire though, they seem fun to play... or driven assimilator.

Originally posted by kbmodigity:

AS for your question about getting fleet cap that high, I put a stronghold/fortress on every planet as they increase your fleet cap. I also had 12+ star bases that were full on anchorages. Combine that with all the tech perks and unity tree perks it is easily achievable.

Right, the stronghold... I had completely disregarded this building. Thank you for the heads up!

[Valentine Michael Smith]

yeah, not a big fan of rare resources myself. Nothing more frustrating then finally getting the tech to upgrade your buildings only to find you need to research another tech to mine the thing you need to build and run it and another building to mine that resource. I swear half my planets are nothing but consumer goods factories because I've been waiting hundreds of years for the two appropriate techs (the mining and the actual building) to appear!

[kbmodigity]

Originally posted by Polanski:

Originally posted by kbmodigity:

I would recommend a synthetic empire just to get your feet wet if you are "noob" as you said. They are very easy to play. You can basically do a cookie cutter of every planet and go through the roof quickly. There are no factions, no food, no consumer goods, and you can colonize anything right off the bat.

I do have to admit I was playing them solely and am now making my way back into the biological side of things which add more nuances. I stopped playing after getting so frustrated with the constantly having to manually resettle pops after each month until I found that mod I posted before.

Currently I'm playing a hive mind (non devouring swarm) on admiral no scalling and I do have to say it is much more involved than playing anything synthetic. Its a nice ease of transition from synthetic as now I do have to deal with food and all the buildings seem so less buffed. As synthetic I only had to build 1 maintenance depot per planet unless it was 22 size or bigger. Now I have to have 3 or so with planets that are only 19 and they are still growing. I still dont have to deal with pirates and trade routes and all but I will get there. I like to master something and then move on to a more difficult/complex type of race.

Hah funny, I always thought that synthetics were more complex to play with than biological for some reason. I'll try playing with one, probably as an exterminator empire though, they seem fun to play... or driven assimilator.

Originally posted by kbmodigity:

AS for your question about getting fleet cap that high, I put a stronghold/fortress on every planet as they increase your fleet cap. I also had 12+ star bases that were full on anchorages. Combine that with all the tech perks and unity tree perks it is easily achievable.

Right, the stronghold... I had completely disregarded this building. Thank you for the heads up!

Just watch out with assimilators though,, they have cyborgs,, and cyborgs cannot survive on machine worlds if you go that route

[Pupique]

Originally posted by kbmodigity:

Just watch out with assimilators though,, they have cyborgs,, and cyborgs cannot survive on machine worlds if you go that route

Alright, thanks for the heads up!

[Nightskies]

Looks like you have plenty of advice to go on, but I'd throw a couple more questions out- I'm guessing you are producing a lot of consumer goods and selling them for energy just like alloys. Is it really more efficient to do that instead of making more of what you need, if that is the case?

Also, is your trade for energy or is it energy/goods or even energy/science? Given the low mineral income it would be tough to change it, but it could be worth it to do so.

[Pupique]

Originally posted by Nightskies:

Looks like you have plenty of advice to go on, but I'd throw a couple more questions out- I'm guessing you are producing a lot of consumer goods and selling them for energy just like alloys. Is it really more efficient to do that instead of making more of what you need, if that is the case?

Also, is your trade for energy or is it energy/goods or even energy/science? Given the low mineral income it would be tough to change it, but it could be worth it to do so.

Well, my consumer goods surplus wasn't even that great, to be honest. Most of it was being consumed by science labs and pops. I was selling circa 300 consumer goods per month, which is around 10% of what I produce in total, if I recall correctly.

Regarding your second question... I didn't really understand it. Could you rephrase?

[northernwater]

Use edict "Ambition: A Grand Fleet"

[Nightskies]

There is a Policy that you can set which determines what you get from Trade Value. One is just a 1:1 for Energy Credits. Another is 1:0.5 Energy Credits and 0.25 Consumer Goods. It is my impression that this policy, the Consumer Benefits policy, is superior to the others and should be taken almost all the time. If you switch to this from the default policy, you can switch a bunch of your industry to motes/crystal/gas. You'll lose jobs, but that also means more pops for better work!

As mentioned, switching your Trade Policy this late in the game will be a bit painful and you might not have enough minerals to switch your industry quickly. I think it's worth it, though. The Grand Fleet is a good idea too.

[northernwater]

By that time in the game you should have built at least one matter decompressor if minerals are an issue. First mega structure for me is always a strategic coordination center. Then a matter decompressor.

[Pupique]

Originally posted by northernwater:

Use edict "Ambition: A Grand Fleet"

It is already active.

Originally posted by Nightskies:

There is a Policy that you can set which determines what you get from Trade Value. One is just a 1:1 for Energy Credits. Another is 1:0.5 Energy Credits and 0.25 Consumer Goods. It is my impression that this policy, the Consumer Benefits policy, is superior to the others and should be taken almost all the time. If you switch to this from the default policy, you can switch a bunch of your industry to motes/crystal/gas. You'll lose jobs, but that also means more pops for better work!

As mentioned, switching your Trade Policy this late in the game will be a bit painful and you might not have enough minerals to switch your industry quickly. I think it's worth it, though. The Grand Fleet is a good idea too.

Consumer Goods aren't worth 2 EC, so that isn't really worth it.

Originally posted by northernwater:

By that time in the game you should have built at least one matter decompressor if minerals are an issue.

I don't have the Megacorp DLC.

[northernwater]

I don't know what to tell you. I've never had an issue with credits that late in the game even before megacorp. I always play tall with a much smaller empire and I'm flooded with credits and with a fleet cap over double yours. Your research and unity seem strangely high for that late in the game. I always play all the DLC though. Good luck!

[jesper.wahrner]

I almost never build anchorage-stations unless I really have stations to waste. Instead I go for fortress habitats. For some reason fortresses add housing to the habitat which no other buildings on habitats does which means that you can get a lot of them on an habitat even if you only dedicate three slots to housing on them. By spamming these habitats you can get an almost unlimited amount of naval capacity. Had about 6k by the end of my last game (with grand fleet on).

I agree that 2.2 has made playing egalitarian rather tricky.

[northernwater]

I agree with fortresses on planets with low district counts. You can convert these to an Ecumenopolis and then use the building slots for strategic resources and fortress slots. Early game I rely on anchorages and shift as the game progresses.

[Pupique]

Originally posted by northernwater:

I don't know what to tell you. I've never had an issue with credits that late in the game even before megacorp. I always play tall with a much smaller empire and I'm flooded with credits and with a fleet cap over double yours. Your research and unity seem strangely high for that late in the game. I always play all the DLC though. Good luck!

Yes, I have tons of fully upgraded research stations and monuments. That's why these two are so high.

Originally posted by jesper.wahrner:

I almost never build anchorage-stations unless I really have stations to waste. Instead I go for fortress habitats. For some reason fortresses add housing to the habitat which no other buildings on habitats does which means that you can get a lot of them on an habitat even if you only dedicate three slots to housing on them. By spamming these habitats you can get an almost unlimited amount of naval capacity. Had about 6k by the end of my last game (with grand fleet on).

I agree that 2.2 has made playing egalitarian rather tricky.

That could work, although it pains me to waste an ascension perk on habitats.

[Pupique]

Originally posted by northernwater:

I agree with fortresses on planets with low district counts. You can convert these to an Ecumenopolis and then use the building slots for strategic resources and fortress slots. Early game I rely on anchorages and shift as the game progresses.

Ecumenopolises are nice, but again... I don't have the DLC.