How do you expand your empire ?

[shadow]

I can't expand anymore because I barely have any influence profit. if I do try to expand my borders then my unfluence maintenance cost would go up and then I will no longer receive any influence earnings. Without influence I can't replace my dead leaders. Without influence I can't expand my borders and even if I do expand my borders it will cost me a monthly influence which would remove my chances of earning any influence and then I wouldn't be able to replace my dead leaders or spend influence to expand border.

If I can't expand my border then I'm limited to a certain amount of resources. Since, I can't get anymore resources I'm stuck with the planets I have, because of that I have to make sacrifices and remove my engineering facilities and bio labs to replace with mining facilities or power plants so I can build more military ships. Without bio labs and engineering facility my chances of improving my technology has decreased. Making me weaker than the a.i. empires. Eventually I will come to a time where I can't replace my bio labs and engineering facilities anymore and my increase of minerals and energy will come to a halt.

Without an increase of energy and minerals I can't expand my military fleet. I will be weaker and much smaller than the A.I. empires. influence is a huge obstacle for me.

it's a small problem, but that small problem effects on how I expand my empire.Plus most of the territory is taken by other empires leaving little for me. The only way to expand is to start a war. I need alliances since I'm weak. alliances cost influence too. I did just that. I was in a alliance. alliance member started a war with another empire. I thought we had an advantage since it was 3 against 1. Nope, another empire and his alliances joined the war and wrecked my home base. it was overwhelming. I couldn't even defend my own bas. it was a massacre. See I can't even win wars even with alliances.

i'm too weak. In order to get stronger I must expand. To expand, I need influence and then that just leads me back to the beginning of this post.

I know there is a mod that removes the influence maintenance cost, but I want to play the game the way it's ment to be played. since it's my first time playing any grand strategy game.


tl;dr To sum it up. it's like a dominos effect . one small problem of expanding borders through outpost leads to bigger problems. Influence is a big obstacle for me.

[SmaugTheHobbit]

just colonize, if possible not too far from your empire.

[Straybow]

There are mods on the steam workshop (no influence cost for outposts, capitals gain influence) but it is worth it trying to learn the system.

Influence management can be tricky in the early game, and I think particular starting FTL methods make it more of an issue. I use the frontier outposts to take control of key systems (particularly with hyperdrive) and generally try to use planets to expand my borders. Using outposts as the main method of expansion can lead to the problem you faced.

[[NcK]MasterShake|CM]

If you're running short on influence you've either been put in a tight spot and had to make some tough choices or, more likely, you're unwisely building frontier outposts.

Colonization is generally preferable to frontier outposts, ideally a full bubble outside of your current territory so they merge together for border coverage.

If it's an undeniably great system of strong stretegic importance or mineral/energy/research wealth, go for it. By wealth I don't mean a measly 5 energy credits.

If it's a placeholder for a system you indend to colonize in the near future and you don't want some other prick snatching it up, go for it.

Really carefully consider frontier outpost usage, what you're going to gain from it and whether or not you can live without it. Odds are you can.

[DeadlyDanDaMan]

Colonizing is the #1 way to expand. Frontier outposts are meant to allow a player to grab a strategic piece of territory, not full blown expansion.

[Snoozer]

You also get tech to research that will boost monthly Influence, and a fully upgraded planet capital tile will give you +1 influence.

[Aazo5]

Yeah I made the mistake of spamming frontier outposts my first game as well. Now I only use them when I need to push back another empire's borders to keep resources that are important.

[Straybow]

Also starting govenment has some impact, particulary democracies.

[Tamasin]

It is possible to colonize without frontier outposts?

[[NcK]MasterShake|CM]

Originally posted by Rahu:

It is possible to colonize without frontier outposts?

Absolutely.

[Neme]

Originally posted by BoredKitty1573:

I can't expand anymore because I barely have any influence profit. if I do try to expand my borders then my unfluence maintenance cost would go up and then I will no longer receive any influence earnings. Without influence I can't replace my dead leaders. Without influence I can't expand my borders and even if I do expand my borders it will cost me a monthly influence which would remove my chances of earning any influence and then I wouldn't be able to replace my dead leaders or spend influence to expand border. If I can't expand my border then I'm limited to a certain amount of resources. Since, I can't get anymore resources I'm stuck with the planets I have, because of that I have to make sacrifices and remove my engineering facilities and bio labs to replace with mining facilities or power plants so I can build more military ships. Without bio labs and engineering facility my chances of improving my technology has decreased. Making me weaker than the a.i. empires. Eventually I will come to a time where I can't replace my bio labs and engineering facilities anymore and my increase of minerals and energy will come to a halt. Without an increase of energy and minerals I can't expand my military fleet. I will be weaker and much smaller than the A.I. empires. influence is a huge obstacle for me. it's a small problem, but that small problem effects on how I expand my empire.Plus most of the territory is taken by other empires leaving little for me. The only way to expand is to start a war. I need alliances since I'm weak. alliances cost influence too. I did just that. I was in a alliance. alliance member started a war with another empire. I thought we had an advantage since it was 3 against 1. Nope, another empire and his alliances joined the war and wrecked my home base. it was overwhelming. I couldn't even defend my own bas. it was a massacre. See I can't even win wars even with alliances. i'm too weak. In order to get stronger I must expand. To expand, I need influence and then that just leads me back to the beginning of this post.

I know there is a mod that removes the influence maintenance cost, but I want to play the game the way it's ment to be played. since it's my first time playing any grand strategy game.

Wall or Text Critical hits for OVER 9000

<--- Iz ded

[Nuee]

Paragraphs are your friend and ours. Now if we can translate that wall of text into a fleet weapon... WOW!

Seriously though a tip. I work at a place that has a lot of email interaction and I have learned over years that if you want people to read what you wrote, breaking it into smaller parcels is vital. Master Shakes and Lysi's posts above are great examples of that.

However great topic you created. I am new to stellaris and have learned something useful asd will others no doubt.

[shadow]

Sorry, for the wall of text lol. I broke it up into parts so it's easier to read.

Thanks for the tips and advice. I realized I was doing something wrong the moment I came into this problem. I was being to agressive on outpost.

I can't really use warp drives to expand my empire since I'm using ftl. plus, i heard warp drives can give you a disadvantage in war. My next playthrough will use warp drives and see where it goes

I really thought that was the only way to expand my empire. Some of my outpost are even unneccesary now that I think about it. I'm also going to remove my alliance until I have a good empire border or military fleet. I will expand by colonizing then.

[Straybow]

Originally posted by BoredKitty1573:

Thanks for the tips and advice. I realized I was doing something wrong the moment I came into this problem. I was being to agressive on outpost.

I can't really use warp drives to expand my empire since I'm using ftl. plus, i heard warp drives can give you a disadvantage in war. My next playthrough will use warp drives and see where it goes

I really thought that was the only way to expand my empire. Some of my outpost are even unneccesary now that I think about it. I'm also going to remove my alliance until I have a good empire border or military fleet. I will expand by colonizing then.

I find wormholes the best due to their overall strategic utility (particularly on my current 4 arm galaxy) but each FTL method has some strengths and weaknesses.

Have fun.