approval and manufacturing problems

Buy the first factory to get the ball rolling. It will pay for itself quickly.

Focus on social production. Only research the next industrial tech after one factory has been set up on most colonies. (Thalans start with it, and it is a liability.) Space out researching other building techs such as better labs, so planets do not get backed up on their queues. Other than that, there is not much that can be done--buying gets too expensive when looking at lots of planets.

Morale buildings do stack, however, there is a complicated formula so they don't always have the effect desired. Morale resources, and wonders help, as does a low tax rate. A lower tax rate (like 49%) is feasible if a player has several planets set up primarily to produce income. Trade helps. Other things that help are a better government (allows lower tax rate for same income), racial morale bonus, a political party with a money or morale bonus.

"2. factories as you know are important to build new buildings. but later on when the factories become more advanced,
it gets harder to build them as it takes longer and longer to build them, and they are more expensive to buy. how do
you guys get around this. "

Buy the first one

do multiple entertainment areas stack.

Yes.

BUT (and it's a big but) each entertainment improvement's effect is diminished as population grows. Now, I know that the formula for planetary approval that is posted in the wiki is badly flawed and outdated, but it still contains a grain of truth.

Here is how I believe it works, based on what I have read and my own experiments: There is a negative approval modifier for population. It goes as low as 20% when your planetary population hits 25. This modifier affects not only the planet's base approval rating, but also the effectiveness of each entertainment building. So, at 25+ population, that big, fat VR Center that says it gives 60% approval is really only adding 12% (20% of the full value) because of the population modifier.

If anybody who reads this knows better, please enlighten us. The whole twisted, incestuous relationship between population, approval, and planetary improvements is even harder to untangle than the Reaganomics that govern production, research, and income.

That's usually what I do, but even the first one will break my financial back when it gets more advanced. also, just letting them remain as basic factories will bog down my production of more advanced buildings later on. I was just wondering if there was a neat trick to colonizing more worlds without having to spend so much.

Getting at least 1 stock market on each planet can really help bring in the cash to fund those buildings, as well as keep up the approval.
It helps if you can snag an economic resource, too.