Early game econ crash

My guess is you buitd too many production buildings. Too many factories/labs will use up a lot more bcs to run at 100%, so you have to throttle them down and in the mean time you are wasting excess bc on maintaning them where half the structures woudl do. Go back and do exactly the sam thign but build 1/2 the labs and 1/2 the factories of the previous game.

yeah, i had this problem too, and my current theory is to build an even split of econ, manufacture, and research buildings.

first a production one, then two econ, then a starbase. buy the factory, set the planet to focus on social, then leave it alone until the starbase completes.

then fill out the rest of the tiles with a mix that evens the mix out between econ, manufacture, and research.

garnish with farms, morale, influence, and serve.

so, even though the eventual mix is even, front loading on econ buildings helps keep spending from running away from income.

the key is to get the tax base up before the mix evens back out again, for which i've been picking Very Frisky. holding back and not colonizing so many planets during the initial rush might help too?

Make sure to build a farm or two on planets that can handle it. More citizens = more tax money.
Grab every economy and morale resource you can get your hands on. More morale = higher tax percentage
Dont buy factories and labs (except maybe the first factory) since if you build to fast you won't be able to fund it all.
Finally, running at 50% the whole game isn't a huge deal. It might be a bit inefficient, but it's not the end of the world.

-Dewar

One other tip is to to pick the highest morale and economics abilities before you even start your game. They can help keep you out of the hole, while at the same time giving you the opportunity to try out various economic models....

Also, trading helps. Even if you are a warmongerer, you generally aren't at war with everyone at the same time. (If you are, then you are either foolhardy and are about to be squashed like a bug, or you are playing at too easy a level.)

The trade income, particularly from a long-distance, long-established route, can be very substantial. (That's why the AI will go after you if you go to war with a substantial trading partner of theirs. They have too much potential $ at risk when the trade route disintegrates.)

I also tend to be fairly general in my development, particularly on my first few planets. However, if I find a particularly juicy high-class planet I will note it for future use as a $ (or research, or production) generator. To build a cash cow planet, just build improvements that increase population (farms), keep them happy (entertainment) and magnify their economic activity (markets and economic capitals).

I think everyone is overlooking happiness. For a planet with less than 100% happiness the reproduction rate is 100 million people/week. With happiness @ 100% it's 200 million people/week. My initial build order is factory, happiness, then farm. The player really needs people at the beginning, both for taxes and colonization purposes. Specialized planets, with all production or all research should be a mid game deal, after the "core" has been established.

Since focusing on happiness until I can get trade going my Economy has been an upward graph. Too bad economic booms don't last longer or occur more often

Another thing, put econ starbases at all your trade routes.

Depending on the grouping of your planets, one star base can cover 3 to 5 planets. Build an econ starbase early, upgrade it and start trade routes from those planets. Helps keep the economy rolling. Also build a factory, then the trade building, then lab, then happiness helps to keep the economy on an even keel.

Yup i find that if i can spare 3 slots on a planet i build farm entertainment and trade building.

I used to have that same begin game crunch but since i have been doing that i never have it and i always pick a fairly large planet to be my economic capital. Always useful.

Limit your spying to only one neighbour at a time.

Spare no expense to get those economic resources although i hear they are nerfing the mining modules in 1.1

The AI have this problem too, at least judging by the graph, after 30-50 turns a few of them will have their Ind and Research plummet for a while before picking back up. I've chalked it down to a cash cruch since I am ussually out of start up funds so to speak at that point if I am not lucky with survay money...

I definately agree whith the others, about too low population, i usually play on though and my priority is always to at least have manufacturing and farms, even though the planet is small, i try to squeeze in atleast one farm, and i always go with 1farm = 2entertainment ratio.
Thanks to this i can always kepp my production bar at 100, and 100 happiness.
It also keep your empire up to date with larger ones, since the planet population plays a big role in determing how much military, social and research you can produce.
Also keeping your tax income at high revenue, regardless to productivity slideer at 100, or tax rate lower 59%
I
m playing a huge map now, and my empire is the smallest in influence.
But i have really focused my rates and population, i go with +30researh and +30Economics and industrialists.´
Im about 1-2 years into the game and i only owe 9planets, in comparison to the 4AIs medium at 15-20 planets,
At this rate i have 100%morale, ~5000Bc weekly revenues (after spendings have been drawn) with my productivity slider at max and taxrate at 59%.
My ratings far exceeds those of the AIs, wich i btw have on Though standard.

Sure this method is very demanding and requiers frequent attention to economical and social handling,
for Ex. your productivity may get lost during population growth, so make sure you have good timing when building approval and farms.
On the other hand, if you succeed, you will have no truble dealing with though and below, difficultie settings.

Love this game btw, i spend as much time with the shipcreator as a do with the actual game
(as well as my girlfriend:P)
GL HF all GalCiv2 gamers!

BTW. Check out my empire, its in my character, id like som response, and see if its worth even having it...

I disagree with the advice here.

The key is that you need specialized-economy planets, and you need for the first few planets you colonize to be dedicated money-generators.

On a new planet, build factory-entertainment center-factory-factory-factor-factory-farm-bank-farm, and so on with 3 farms, enough morale boosters to stay at 100%, and the rest in banks. You need 5 factories to ensure that the banks get built quickly; even with 5 factories on a planet, it takes 20 turns to build a stock market. On a very high PQ planet, you may want to start with 6 or 7 factories. The reason I have "entertainment center" 2nd in the above equation is because, in v1.1, you get a production boost and population growth boost for 100% morale, critical for getting an economic planet going.

If the first few planets you colonize are dedicated economics planets, then you'll have no trouble maintaining a 100% spend rate after you blow through your initial cash. With this strategy, I may need to drop down to 70-80% for a few turns, but your cashflow really gets a boost as those economic planets mature.

Wow, lots of posts . So, basically it sounds like, first and foremost you need to get your money flowing. Guess I was just a little too pre-occupied with getting my production/research high without regard for how I was going to pay for it.
One problem I'm still having is knowing just how many farms to build. To be honest I've never gotten past mid-game, so I haven't figured out what the PQ-defined pop cap is. I know that farms aren't the only thing that decide what your max pop is, so I'm always wary about making pop-planets since I don't want to waste the space.

Thanks for all your help though!

* PQ 4 = 2.5 b.
* PQ 5 = 4.3 b.
* PQ 6 = 6.9 b.
* PQ 7 = 10.2 b.
* PQ 8 = 14.6 b.
* PQ 9 = 20.0 b.
* PQ 10 = 26.6 b.
* PQ 11 = 34.6 b.
* PQ 12 = 43.9 b.
* PQ 13 = 54.9 b.
* PQ 14 = 67.5 b.
* PQ 15 = 81.9 b.
* PQ 16 = 98.3 b.
* PQ 17+ = 100 b.

https://www.galciv.wikia.com/wiki/Population

One problem I'm still having is knowing just how many farms to build. To be honest I've never gotten past mid-game, so I haven't figured out what the PQ-defined pop cap is.

In other words, based on Astax's post above and assuming no farm bonus tiles, you don't need to even think about farms on PQ6 worlds and below, and you don't need more than one farm on worlds up to PQ9. From PQ9 on, you actually need to think about it.