First time with Cravers

[Man of the Milk]

Should I abondon depleted systems? I know that Cravers rely on constant war and conquering to survive, but once i have said systems how should i manage them?

[Sizzlor]

Your higher system population limit and any infastructure you have built will off set the depletion. As will slave drivers. Idealy whats going to happen is your going to have a hand full of large systems that can support close to 50ish population depending on planet size. These are the systems you want to build up and turn into industry centers. The smaller systems that have less of a pop cap are mainly for breeding manpower and gathering strategics and luxuries.

The main things your going to lose from depletion is food and dust so as long as your making those your good.

Craver ships are cheaper than the other races and once you hit 20 cravers any system with a single craver pop will give a 15% ship cost reduction on that system. Once you hit 50 craver pop you will get 1% ship weapon and troop damage per depleted planet.

Don't let the depletion scare you. Its only a problem early game. As long as you have the basic infastructure built and are expanding to new planets at a good pace you should be able to carry on despite it.

[queenelise9830]

If you don't want to eat a planet quite yet, you can also chain gang craver pop into the military so that there are less cravers on it for the time being. Useful since the Craver pop bonus also(from what I've heard) applies to any infrastructure and/or other stuff that gives FIDS on a per-pop basis. (For example, AI Labor gives +5 Industry/pop on Hot planets as well as another +5 on Sterile planets, and the Craver boost will apparently give +150% to that. +25 Indy per Craver... yummy.)

So, you might want to hold off on eating any Lava or Ash planets until you have that improvement as well as an Industry specialization on the planet in question. You can have a nibble sure(as in, put one Craver on it occasionally to slave drive the other pops you have working there) just don't eat the whole thing until you're ready.

Yes, this requires a bit of micro, and if micro isn't your thing you can go full slash and burn from the beginning, it's just not quite as efficient.

[Man of the Milk]

Originally posted by kingedward9830:

If you don't want to eat a planet quite yet, you can also chain gang craver pop into the military so that there are less cravers on it for the time being. Useful since the Craver pop bonus also(from what I've heard) applies to any infrastructure and/or other stuff that gives FIDS on a per-pop basis. (For example, AI Labor gives +5 Industry/pop on Hot planets as well as another +5 on Sterile planets, and the Craver boost will apparently give +150% to that. +25 Indy per Craver... yummy.)

So, you might want to hold off on eating any Lava or Ash planets until you have that improvement as well as an Industry specialization on the planet in question. You can have a nibble sure(as in, put one Craver on it occasionally to slave drive the other pops you have working there) just don't eat the whole thing until you're ready.

Yes, this requires a bit of micro, and if micro isn't your thing you can go full slash and burn from the beginning, it's just not quite as efficient.

Thanks for the tips, now the 150% FDSI thingy bonus, does that apply once the planet is consumed, afterwards or is it always active. And from what I've heard the Cravers seem to prefer quite wide style of play.

[Lord Yanaek]

The 150% FIDS (no Influence) bonus applies only to undepleted planets and as kingedward9830 said, it applies to every per-population effect : base planet output, resources and anomalies, specialization, improvements, system level-ups (those that add per-population like Void Stone). It's only Craver pops that get the bonus, not your slaves (thought they have their own "bonus")
Once a planet is depleted you loose that bonus and instead the planet will provide only 50% of it's FIDS for everyone (not just Cravers) so no, you don't loose only food and dust, you also loose Industry and Science.
You have to go wide to survive as if you stay "tall" you'll quickly burn every planet and have crappy FIDS.

With Supremacy DLC thought, you might be able to keep a few systems up and running longer (possibly indefinitely) by using Behemoths to repair your planets thought i did't test how well this works.

[Man of the Milk]

Originally posted by Lord Yanaek:

The 150% FIDS (no Influence) bonus applies only to undepleted planets and as kingedward9830 said, it applies to every per-population effect : base planet output, resources and anomalies, specialization, improvements, system level-ups (those that add per-population like Void Stone). It's only Craver pops that get the bonus, not your slaves (thought they have their own "bonus")
Once a planet is depleted you loose that bonus and instead the planet will provide only 50% of it's FIDS for everyone (not just Cravers) so no, you don't loose only food and dust, you also loose Industry and Science.
You have to go wide to survive as if you stay "tall" you'll quickly burn every planet and have crappy FIDS. With Supremacy DLC thought, you might be able to keep a few systems up and running longer (possibly indefinitely) by using Behemoths to repair your planets thought i did't test how well this works.

Ah so I can use Behemoths to counter act depletion? I've so far seen them reconstruct worlds after they've been obliterated, so I'll give this a try.

[Lord Yanaek]

I think it's the same module that rebuild worlds and removes depletion points. It removes 2pts per module so with 5 modules in 1 behemoth you could remove 10 depletion points/turn but i don't know whether it's per-system or per planet. Assuming per-planet you could keep 9 cravers on each planet and still slowly heal it but since depletion is all or nothing what you want is to avoid full depletion, you don't care if it takes forever to get back to fully healthy unless the planet counts as depleted until it has no depletion points (once it has been fully depleted), as i said i didn't test it but intend to.

[Man of the Milk]

I can't seem to use the Behemoth. It seems to only work on un-colonized worlds. So it seems to actually counter Cravers or I just evacuate the system and transport Cravers there when I restore it.

[Groo the one]

Originally posted by Man of the Milk:

I can't seem to use the Behemoth. It seems to only work on un-colonized worlds. So it seems to actually counter Cravers or I just evacuate the system and transport Cravers there when I restore it.

Last point of following description ("Rejuvenation") is about to refill depleted planets (even these you still did colonize):

Originally posted by Official G2G forum:

Mining

*The Behemoth will be able to place mining probes on uncolonized planets. The strategic and luxury resources for which the player has the technology will be mined

Planet Improvement

All these modules require the player to have the corresponding anomaly/terraformation technologies unlocked.

* Anomaly Reduction: allows the Behemoth to reduce anomalies on neutral planets
* Terraformation: allows the Behemoth to terraform neutral planets
* Rejunevation: allows the Behemoth to refill depleted planets and to reassemble destroyed planets

Source: https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space-2/blogs/628-supremacy-behemoths

[Man of the Milk]

Originally posted by Groo the one:

Originally posted by Man of the Milk:

I can't seem to use the Behemoth. It seems to only work on un-colonized worlds. So it seems to actually counter Cravers or I just evacuate the system and transport Cravers there when I restore it.

Last point of following description ("Rejuvenation") is about to refill depleted planets (even these you still did colonize):

Originally posted by Official G2G forum:

Mining

*The Behemoth will be able to place mining probes on uncolonized planets. The strategic and luxury resources for which the player has the technology will be mined

Planet Improvement

All these modules require the player to have the corresponding anomaly/terraformation technologies unlocked.

* Anomaly Reduction: allows the Behemoth to reduce anomalies on neutral planets
* Terraformation: allows the Behemoth to terraform neutral planets
* Rejunevation: allows the Behemoth to refill depleted planets and to reassemble destroyed planets

Source: https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space-2/blogs/628-supremacy-behemoths

Okay so it does confirm that it can be done, but for some reason the option to do so is grey-ed out. It also says I can't afford mining probes which is weird.

Where is all the UI tooltips for this mechanic in game!?

[Groo the one]

Originally posted by Man of the Milk:

Okay so it does confirm that it can be done, but for some reason the option to do so is grey-ed out. It also says I can't afford mining probes which is weird.

Where is all the UI tooltips for this mechanic in game!?

The number and duration of mining probes you can launch is limited by equipped module(s) and their cooldown time. Same with probes you send out by explorers. Do you have equipped "extreme terraformation modules" to refill depleted planets, or do you have equipped other modules, what would explain why it doesn't work?

[Lord Yanaek]

Originally posted by Man of the Milk:

Okay so it does confirm that it can be done, but for some reason the option to do so is grey-ed out. It also says I can't afford mining probes which is weird.

I think there's some confusion. From what i understand refilling depletion points is a passive ability for behemoths with that module so all you need is have them orbit the system you want to restore (and potentially stay there indefinitely).

You can't use mining probes on planets you already colonized so if the system is fully colonized, that module isn't very useful. I find that highly specialized behemoths work better than do-it-all-but-badly ones so i wouldn't put mining modules on terraforming behemoth.

I'll be able to tell you more once i actually get Behemoths in the Cravers game i just started to test this.

[Lord Yanaek]

Originally posted by Lord Yanaek:

With Supremacy DLC thought, you might be able to keep a few systems up and running longer (possibly indefinitely) by using Behemoths to repair your planets thought i did't test how well this works.

Strike that!
The devs actually considered the option and replaced the Behemoth module that replenishes depleted planets with a Cravers unique module that provides some science per depletion points so no way Cravers can repair their own planets with a Behemoth.
Only option left would be to find the Sowers minor civilization and put more of them on your planet than you have Cravers. Sorry for the false hope, as i said i didn't actually test it.

[ElPrezCBF]

Originally posted by Lord Yanaek:

Originally posted by Lord Yanaek:

With Supremacy DLC thought, you might be able to keep a few systems up and running longer (possibly indefinitely) by using Behemoths to repair your planets thought i did't test how well this works.

Strike that!
The devs actually considered the option and replaced the Behemoth module that replenishes depleted planets with a Cravers unique module that provides some science per depletion points so no way Cravers can repair their own planets with a Behemoth.
Only option left would be to find the Sowers minor civilization and put more of them on your planet than you have Cravers. Sorry for the false hope, as i said i didn't actually test it.

I wanted to tell the OP that but realized it might not be practical if you're playing the Cravers themselves. The default Craver pop generation rate will still be too much even for the Sowers.

[Groo the one]

Found this here:

Originally posted by lo_fabre - extracted from official G2G forum:

Cancelling Depletion points:

Well, essentially this allows you to get rid of noxious Cravers effects on planets. Her you only need the behemoth module and tech, this is a passive action and doesn't have an specific button.

As the tooltip says the planet will be restored in 3 turns, so cancelling all nosious Cravers effects.

Some things to have in mind:

- When a behemoth is parked it will passively restore all planets in the system at once.

- As long as you don't get rid of Cravers, they'll continue to deplete the planet, so undoing the behemoth work. Depending on how much modules you have and how much Cravers pop is, it can only slow the depletion.

- Normally is longer than 3 turns. As told before, this game have settings created sepcifically to test this.

Source: https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space-2/forums/71-strategy-guides/threads/31773-behemoths-terraforming-reducing-anomalies-restoring-planets-and-reconstruction

Originally posted by Lord Yanaek:

The devs actually considered the option and replaced the Behemoth module that replenishes depleted planets with a Cravers unique module that provides some science per depletion points so no way Cravers can repair their own planets with a Behemoth.

Source?

[Lord Yanaek]

Originally posted by Groo the one:

Source?

Me looking at the tech tree and seeing a Craver icon on the tech giving that module, then looking at the description of the module. I didn't take a screenshot but you can see for yourself unless you're not playing the same game.