Strategies for managing resource production

[Dovahkiin789]

I have 500 hours in Stellaris, but I'm missing something in this new update. I feel like I can't stay on top of my resource gain after the first 40 years, and no matter what I do the AI seems to be doing better than me (They also tend to be the opposite civics, making alliances impossible)

What are some general methods you all have been using to build planetary districts? When I play megacorps, for example, I try to max mineral and food production while relying on a world with a ton of clerks to produce trade value (energy). This however, does not keep my consumer goods and alloys up, which causes everything else to crash down.

Overall I really enjoy the new system, but when it comes to resources I need some help.

[jacobellinger]

Originally posted by Dovahkiin789:

I have 500 hours in Stellaris, but I'm missing something in this new update. I feel like I can't stay on top of my resource gain after the first 40 years, and no matter what I do the AI seems to be doing better than me (They also tend to be the opposite civics, making alliances impossible)

What are some general methods you all have been using to build planetary districts? When I play megacorps, for example, I try to max mineral and food production while relying on a world with a ton of clerks to produce trade value (energy). This however, does not keep my consumer goods and alloys up, which causes everything else to crash down.

Overall I really enjoy the new system, but when it comes to resources I need some help.

the next patch is supose to buff alloys if that makes you feel any better. I have almost 2k hours in this game but even I have been having a hard time. but I also play on the hardest dif

[Dovahkiin789]

Originally posted by jacobellinger:

Originally posted by Dovahkiin789:

I have 500 hours in Stellaris, but I'm missing something in this new update. I feel like I can't stay on top of my resource gain after the first 40 years, and no matter what I do the AI seems to be doing better than me (They also tend to be the opposite civics, making alliances impossible)

What are some general methods you all have been using to build planetary districts? When I play megacorps, for example, I try to max mineral and food production while relying on a world with a ton of clerks to produce trade value (energy). This however, does not keep my consumer goods and alloys up, which causes everything else to crash down.

Overall I really enjoy the new system, but when it comes to resources I need some help.

the next patch is supose to buff alloys if that makes you feel any better. I have almost 2k hours in this game but even I have been having a hard time. but I also play on the hardest dif

I guess that helps, I don't usually play on the higher difficulties because I play more casually most of the time. How does it work on Grand Admiral now?

[galadon3]

Originally posted by Dovahkiin789:

I guess that helps, I don't usually play on the higher difficulties because I play more casually most of the time. How does it work on Grand Admiral now?

on the economy side, much the same, besides needing to devote more to the military to deter AI-empires.
You don't get any boosts unless you play on that new "Cadet"-difficulty, difficulty after that just ramps up AI-boni.

https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Settings#Difficulty

[Dovahkiin789]

Originally posted by galadon3:

Originally posted by Dovahkiin789:

I guess that helps, I don't usually play on the higher difficulties because I play more casually most of the time. How does it work on Grand Admiral now?

on the economy side, much the same, besides needing to devote more to the military to deter AI-empires.
You don't get any boosts unless you play on that new "Cadet"-difficulty, difficulty after that just ramps up AI-boni.

https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Settings#Difficulty

I'm aware mostly of what the difficulties do. I usually play on the one where nobody gets bonuses or debuffs (I believe thats ensign?) since I like the casual play. I have played on some of the upper difficulties with friends for fun but other than that I stick with ensign.

[Wazii]

as a megacorp i tend to make branch office generate consumer good and research (crime syndicate) . i try to focus my home sector as a trade hub as i dont have to worry about protecting trade routes. you can change your trade setting from 1 energy to 0.5 energy 0.25 consumer goods. this should lower your mineral drain. allowing you to focus more on alloys.

also don't be afraid to colonize smaller planets as colonizing a planet gives you 2 penalty points to administration (your real drivers are district giving 3 and a system gives 1)

you can set the scaling difficulty on. where the ai slowly gets buff to your dificulty setting starting at ensign i belive hitting the cap at end game.

[Fuinril]

Fisrt thing : try to understand there's not that much difference between the old and the new system. Tiles still exists and the base resources are still the same (energy, mineral, food)... and your economical power is still based on your income of those.

The only new things are amenities and housing (population management, which changed a lot more than the economical system).

Before the patch mineral was a jack of all trade thing. Now you have to dedicate a part of your production to war and a part to your population (just like before except you have to choose what part would be allocated to what). Pure mineral does not have much value anymore.

One common mistake (I know I did that) is to overvalue one resource, especially overvalue the amenities or houses (which you should only build as you need them). Luckily the new market system is a nice way to change the currency you overproduced into the one that you need to fix your economy.... because, contrary to the old one, you will need to replace building a lot as you expand and planetary specialization is very much needed past midgame.

[Zsrai]

The biggest thing I've noticed is that you have to pace your expansion. This means both your external (systems and stations) and internal (buildings and districts). If your external expansion is too fast you'll run into energy problems pretty quickly, through going over the admin cap (not bad unless you shoot over it too fast) and through station upkeep. If your internal expansion is too quick, all of your pops will promote and you'll get boned with little or no raw resource production. After that it's just managing how many raw materials (mostly Minerals) you can afford to spend as inputs for Alloys, Consumer Goods, and special resources.

Don't forget that a LOT of things take Consumer Goods are inputs now too, like Science and Amenities (basically Happiness) jobs.

[Dovahkiin789]

Originally posted by Fuinril:

Fisrt thing : try to understand there's not that much difference between the old and the new system. Tiles still exists and the base resources are still the same (energy, mineral, food)... and your economical power is still based on your income of those.

The only new things are amenities and housing (population management, which changed a lot more than the economical system).

Before the patch mineral was a jack of all trade thing. Now you have to dedicate a part of your production to war and a part to your population (just like before except you have to choose what part would be allocated to what). Pure mineral does not have much value anymore.

One common mistake (I know I did that) is to overvalue one resource, especially overvalue the amenities or houses (which you should only build as you need them). Luckily the new market system is a nice way to change the currency you overproduced into the one that you need to fix your economy.... because, contrary to the old one, you will need to replace building a lot as you expand and planetary specialization is very much needed past midgame.

Fortunately I do understand how the new system works on a surface level. Though I do think I overvalue mineral production a lot just because of its prevalence in the newer resources.

[Dovahkiin789]

Originally posted by Zsrai:

The biggest thing I've noticed is that you have to pace your expansion. This means both your external (systems and stations) and internal (buildings and districts). If your external expansion is too fast you'll run into energy problems pretty quickly, through going over the admin cap (not bad unless you shoot over it too fast) and through station upkeep. If your internal expansion is too quick, all of your pops will promote and you'll get boned with little or no raw resource production. After that it's just managing how many raw materials (mostly Minerals) you can afford to spend as inputs for Alloys, Consumer Goods, and special resources.

Don't forget that a LOT of things take Consumer Goods are inputs now too, like Science and Amenities (basically Happiness) jobs.

I didn't think about pop promotion! That may be an issue for me, especially since the consumer goods building will drain 12 minerals when at full production. I believe that better pacing might actually help.

[Dovahkiin789]

Originally posted by Wazii:

as a megacorp i tend to make branch office generate consumer good and research (crime syndicate) . i try to focus my home sector as a trade hub as i dont have to worry about protecting trade routes. you can change your trade setting from 1 energy to 0.5 energy 0.25 consumer goods. this should lower your mineral drain. allowing you to focus more on alloys.

also don't be afraid to colonize smaller planets as colonizing a planet gives you 2 penalty points to administration (your real drivers are district giving 3 and a system gives 1)

you can set the scaling difficulty on. where the ai slowly gets buff to your dificulty setting starting at ensign i belive hitting the cap at end game.

I knew about the policy that changed trade value resource production, but I did not consider how it can keep mineral production stable by taking up some of the consumer goods. Previously with megacorps I produced as much energy (as much as 160 by year 2240) and just bought whatever I needed. I see now that I was overlooking a major option for production!

[Zsrai]

Originally posted by Dovahkiin789:

I didn't think about pop promotion! That may be an issue for me, especially since the consumer goods building will drain 12 minerals when at full production. I believe that better pacing might actually help.

Yeah, not only will you lose the 12 minerals from the consumer goods being manufactured but you'll also lose the minerals (or energy or food) that the worker was making too. It can really crash your economy hard, especially since once pops promote to specialists they take years to demote back to regular workers.

[vkobe]

Trial and error and you learn from your experience ;^)

just remember you need to burn more minerals than before :^(