best luxury resource for system development?

[its so balatrover]

I'm very indecisive, I was thinking Jadonyx would be the best but the +15 approval from Transvine could be very useful when overcolonization becomes an issue, and for situations where I have no Jadonyx deposits and few Transvine deposits I think RedSang could be an okay substitute. Which do you usually pick?

[Elitewrecker PT]

industry -> industry+industry -> industry+industry+industry

[ZumZoom]

I choose redsang or jadonix, whichever is readily available for level 2 upgrade. After that I try to get the more powerful industry and food luxuries for next upgrades. If they are hard to get, then choose influence or science.

[Elitewrecker PT]

Oh, and I also put food if I don't think I'll be able to get some of the industry ones.

[Freny]

Rush Evaporation Inhibitors and use Rare luxuries instead.

[Elitewrecker PT]

Yes, C-foundries in every development tier :P

[Freny]

Once they finish the patching and the 1 population per turn cap gets removed, you are gonna want to have Food...

[philosoraptorgames]

I usually look for influence or approval, actually. But industry's very good too. Anything else is way behind those three., or at best, situationally useful.

Especially things like manpower - if that's an issue for you food will probably solve it at least as well, and it's more useful outside of that scenario. So food is probably fourth, manpower dead last, with the rest in between roughly tied for fifth. But food is mostly useful on new(ish) colonies. It can be a good level 2 upgrade, but I'd look at you pretty quizzically for putting it in your level 4.

[Elitewrecker PT]

That last building that converts food into industry though at full pop...

[Alex]

1. It obviously depends on whatever's available. You might've unlocked C-foundries, Void stone or Hydromiel early on, but supplying enough of the stuff is another matter entirely.
2. Are there any synergies? A particularly beneficial, yet costly law might force you to go for influence on the 2-nd tier. Or, if you have a good dust surplus, then superspuds could be an interesting pick for a 3-rd tier upgrade.
3. Finally, the upgrade can make up for a deficiency. If most planets you'd want to colonize won't produce much in terms of food, then a 2-nd tier food upgrade will give early colonies a boost. Conversely, industry-deficient worlds will benefit from industrial upgrades.

By the way, has anyone ever used stuff like Amianthoid? Dark glitter might be useful in some rare scenario, but I see absolutely no sense in an upgrade which gives only extra ground battle defensive strength..

[Winter]

What do folks think of the ability of the Vaulters (and custom factions) to use strategic materials for system dev? With a good titanium or hyperium start on first couple worlds, its easy to have a supply for system dev, and the dual bonuses aren't bad.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Winter:

What do folks think of the ability of the Vaulters (and custom factions) to use strategic materials for system dev? With a good titanium or hyperium start on first couple worlds, its easy to have a supply for system dev, and the dual bonuses aren't bad.

Yeah, it's nearly cheating. The hyperium/titanium upgrades are already way too good. But the next tier is plain OP. A +3 per pop unit on two resources? What do we even need heroes for?

[Selegun]

Originally posted by Alex:

By the way, has anyone ever used stuff like Amianthoid? Dark glitter might be useful in some rare scenario, but I see absolutely no sense in an upgrade which gives only extra ground battle defensive strength..

In a vacuum, no, Amianthoid is not worth much on it's own. Having a look at anything that has synergy with the luxury is the key to using it correctly. Have tractable weapons, minefields or Gnashast/Krogan on a planet? These multiply the value of Amianthoid. Have a Citadel/System shield? That pairs well with the luxury too.

In the end it's up to you if this is a playstyle you want to try. I would argue Amianthoid pairs well on factions like Umbral and Rift. Just one upgrade makes your troops far and away better than comparable armies and if you stack three then it makes the opponent need to hack you to dig out your sanctuaries. Riftborn I've taken 2 levels of it and it makes colonies very tough to take, this helping push their expansion with little fear of losing them.

As for darkglitter, I feel it's very, very underated for what it provides especially in medium to long play sessions.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Selegun:

In a vacuum, no, Amianthoid is not worth much on it's own. Having a look at anything that has synergy with the luxury is the key to using it correctly. Have tractable weapons, minefields or Gnashast/Krogan on a planet? These multiply the value of Amianthoid. Have a Citadel/System shield? That pairs well with the luxury too.

In the end it's up to you if this is a playstyle you want to try. I would argue Amianthoid pairs well on factions like Umbral and Rift. Just one upgrade makes your troops far and away better than comparable armies and if you stack three then it makes the opponent need to hack you to dig out your sanctuaries. Riftborn I've taken 2 levels of it and it makes colonies very tough to take, this helping push their expansion with little fear of losing them.

Well, the issue is that you only get one type of upgrades. While an Amianthoid upgrade would be useful on the frontlines, I'd rather use Void stone for the core systems. Another question would be where to put it. The first upgrade? This one is usually reserved for Jadonix. The next one? But that's where you usually discover the good stuff like Proto-Orchid or Hydromiel. So, the final tier? That's way too expensive for a border colony which you might lose.

Originally posted by Selegun:

As for darkglitter, I feel it's very, very underated for what it provides especially in medium to long play sessions.

It also pairs nicely with the sim-camp building.

[Selegun]

Originally posted by Alex:

It also pairs nicely with the sim-camp building.

Sim Camp is one of those lovely little buildings that can be as impactful as you can make it. One of my favorite games with it involved a curiosities reveal that gave both the building and access to Virtual Artifacts.

Originally posted by Alex:

Well, the issue is that you only get one type of upgrades. While an Amianthoid upgrade would be useful on the frontlines, I'd rather use Void stone for the core systems. Another question would be where to put it. The first upgrade? This one is usually reserved for Jadonix. The next one? But that's where you usually discover the good stuff like Proto-Orchid or Hydromiel. So, the final tier? That's way too expensive for a border colony which you might lose.

A rather rigid list that is heavily dependent on luck and game settings. I wish I could be that picky with my luxury drops but am also a bit of a masochist and enjoy starting 2+ wars to earn what I want. Mix things up and enjoy the chaos sometime and you will find some lovely new strategies to play with.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Selegun:

A rather rigid list that is heavily dependent on luck and game settings. I wish I could be that picky with my luxury drops but am also a bit of a masochist and enjoy starting 2+ wars to earn what I want. Mix things up and enjoy the chaos sometime and you will find some lovely new strategies to play with.

If I get some useless resource like dust trees on my homeworld and the surrounding systems, then I simply restart. For the next tier, there's more leeway, since you can aquire the neccessary systems.