Can someone explain how virtuality works?

[Alxndr]

I've completed the tradition path and my understanding was that upon completion, virtual pops would literally instantly pop into existence and fill any available job slots. Also as soon as a building or district is completed, it would be filled by a virtual pop.

But on my planets I have tons of open jobs and my pops are still growing like normal, no virtual pops anywhere?

This tradition is so damn confusion I have no idea what's going on.

[Speed Malus]

For me it seems to work just fine.

Are you sure said jobs aren't redundant, like excess amenities?.

Mayhaps planet automation needs to be on?

is your empire massive?

[Alxndr]

Originally posted by Speed Malus:

For me it seems to work just fine.

Are you sure said jobs aren't redundant, like excess amenities?.

Mayhaps planet automation needs to be on?

is your empire massive?

I figured it out. I had to click the restore jobs button and now it populated all my empty jobs with virtual pops.

[Elitewrecker PT]

Note that virtuality empires shouldn’t have more than a handful of colonies, as each colony reduces output by 25%

[Alxndr]

Originally posted by Elitewrecker PT:

Note that virtuality empires shouldn’t have more than a handful of colonies, as each colony reduces output by 25%

I currently have 9 colonies. It's probably too many.

[Nolo Contendere]

Originally posted by Elitewrecker PT:

Note that virtuality empires shouldn’t have more than a handful of colonies, as each colony reduces output by 25%

this is generally true, but somehow in my current game I have like 14......

[CrUsHeR]

Originally posted by Elitewrecker PT:

Note that virtuality empires shouldn’t have more than a handful of colonies, as each colony reduces output by 25%

Just to clarify:


The global basic bonus for Virtual Machines (not regular Synthetics) is 200%. Which should be cumulative with all other output boni.

This bonus is reduced by 25% per colony, so with let's say three habitats, this goes down by 3*25% = 75%

So with the bare minimum of colonies to sustain a competetive empire, you have 125% left of this bonus.



I usually add one Ecumenopolis whenever a Relic World is available, because it allows to outsource all the alloy production from the habitats, so they can go full research + trade.

Remaining bonus would be +100%. Any other colonies you keep reduces it by further 25%, so with four more colonies this would be at 0% (But it shouldn't go negative).

Thus the sweet spot sweems to be at around 3-5 colonies, where the bonus is still very impactful. Main problem is that you get a huge amount of empire size from extra colonies, which quickly reverses the advantages of the free pops and their efficiency.



Another long-term problem you may have with this "Tall" build is that you cannot increase your naval cap very efficiently. And that's where the Megacorp branch offices come in.
Each Mercenary Liasion building increases your fleet cap by 10, so with only ten branch offices you can already get up to +400 naval cap.

And of course you won't have only 10 branch offices but more like 50-100 (depending on galaxy settings and your progress), so with only a fraction of branch office buildings being Mercenary Liasions, you can get thousands of extra naval power. And each of them can generate up to several hundred energy, too.

[Nolo Contendere]

Originally posted by CrUsHeR:

Another long-term problem you may have with this "Tall" build is that you cannot increase your naval cap very efficiently. And that's where the Megacorp branch offices come in.
Each Mercenary Liasion building increases your fleet cap by 10, so with only ten branch offices you can already get up to +400 naval cap.

And of course you won't have only 10 branch offices but more like 50-100 (depending on galaxy settings and your progress), so with only a fraction of branch office buildings being Mercenary Liasions, you can get thousands of extra naval power. And each of them can generate up to several hundred energy, too.

I'd like to point out that you also have starbases and soldier jobs (you DO have a colony for unity production....right?) to increase your naval cap.

that said.......your premise of a virtual megacorp does sound.......fun.......can I sign up for this newsletter?

[CrUsHeR]

Originally posted by Nolo Contendere:

I'd like to point out that you also have starbases and soldier jobs (you DO have a colony for unity production....right?) to increase your naval cap.

that said.......your premise of a virtual megacorp does sound.......fun.......can I sign up for this newsletter? :lunar2019laughingpig:

Unity is generated by trade. In fact you're doing a unity rush through the Marketplace of Ideas policy, so you could have two traditions completed before 2020.


Don't have the game installed right now so i can't post screenshots of the build.
Basically:


Individualistic Machines
Megacorporation
Voidforged Origin
Fanatic Xenophile + Materialist (max trade and AI opinion, plus robot + research bonus)
Sol System (for guaranteed Alpha Centauri as research habitat with 10+ majors)
Civics: Anything like Shadow Corporation, Free Traders, Private Prospectors, Knowledge Mentorship, etc

Council: Definitely go for three Scientist council posts to max out research speed. This also should decide your Civic choices. Curator councilor should be a given, so this doesn't need a civic. Shadow Broker is pretty powerful when you need a lot of Dark Matter when going for Cosmogenesis. The Dark Matter can also be sold for monthly trades during the early game phases.

Ruler: Official (make sure you always have enough unity to elect him every 20 years)

Habitats:
Capital - industry and trade
1st expansion - trade only
2nd expansion - research (and trade until completing ascension)


If you can make a Trade League federation, do that and switch your capital to the foundry designation.

If you find a Relic World, go Ecumenopolis. Make it a foundry ecumenopolis and once completed switch all industrial districts on the capital to research and trade.


Arc Furnace = yes
Dyson Swarm = no (for now)
Synaptic Lathe = Kind of optional in this build

Branch offices: Since you don't need to colonize half the galaxy or make claims, spend influence on branch offices instead

Diplomacy: Vassalize everyone, if possible peacefully. Goal is to have a Trade League federation with only vassals as members. Cosmogenesis should be taken just to get access to the FE ship types and tech, but keep a low profile until you can actually match the FEs with your own fleets


General goal is to keep the Empire Size effect as low as possible. It is going to climb up to something like 50% at some point, but you can push it back to maybe 20% with all the traditions and councilor traits.