Influence of planetary Hubs on system development?

[frumple]

I have a limited number of planetary slots to build in. If i build only Large Sttlements am i doing it wrong? Is it better to build a mix of Settlemens of different sizes and Hubs?

Bigger is better, right? Maybe not when it comes to system economies.

I have lots of orbital slots so adding orbital Installations will no doubt help things, but i am mostly interested in what to place in the planetary slots.
Planetary Starports are out of the question, but maybe a planetary port is a good idea? If it is, why is it a good idea when a Settlement can trade directly?

[JohnRando]

Some ground facilities are required to unlock orbital ones. For example you need a bio settlement to create a T2 orbital research lab. Same with military or tourism.

Also, planetary ports add more population than orbital or ground settlements ; around 5k vs 400-800 from what i've seen so far. As to what more population does, it's still unclear... But if it turns out to be an important part of the mix, then you may want to reserve those limited ground slots for some buildings with the best stats / most population increase.

[spam]

I will add that if you are doing a settlement, the large settlements yield 2 T3 construction pts each as opposed to the medium and small settlements which only yield 1 T3 construction pt. I currently see no advantage (other than hauling time) of choosing anything but a large settlement until I no longer need T3 construction pts.

[frumple]

Originally posted by spam:

I will add that if you are doing a settlement, the large settlements yield 2 T3 construction pts each as opposed to the medium and small settlements which only yield 1 T3 construction pt. I currently see no advantage (other than hauling time) of choosing anything but a large settlement until I no longer need T3 construction pts.

That's what i was thinking. No point in building small. Unless large facilities require smaller facilities and hubs in order to function properly.

My current Agricultural facility (large) produces nothing and buys nothing. This is ok, it's early yet. I will add orbital installations.
But i have only one more planetary slot left and i am wondering whther to build another large facility, or build something that helps the Agri facility function properly.