Making money question

Am I doing it right?

So in an immense galaxy with abundant everything I have a good 50 planets now.  I'd say at least half of them are full econ planets meaning 1 farm, 1 morale building, 1 factory and all the rest are stock markets.  I'm playing as a custom race with the terran tech tree since I guess that is an easier tree to play.

My very best planets which make the most cash pull in about 350-460bc before expenses if I'm reading it right from the planet screen.  Is this typical of a good money planet, or am I doing it wrong?

Trade and tourism bring in paltry sums of cash compared to taxes.  The economy starbases don't bring in any extra money except from trade and trade is so insignificant it doesn't seem to be worth pursuing.

I read one guy's post about how he had some planet producing 20k science?  I don't see how this is possible unless every square around the planet is an upgraded econ starbase, but maybe that's what he did.  My best science planets make 350-480 science points.

On the other side of the galaxy I found a PQ29 planet owned by the Torians.  They won't sell this jewel of a planet to me, so I will have to eventually liberate this population from their oppressive rule.   ;p

I am having trouble getting waypoints to work.  Since I am at peace, I have all my planets building constructors and transports.  It is becoming quite time-consuming to micro-manage all of this.  If anyone has tips on how waypoints are supposed to work I'd sure appreciate it!

Thanks for the help!
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Reply #1 Top
I read one guy's post about how he had some planet producing 20k science? I don't see how this is possible unless every square around the planet is an upgraded econ starbase, but maybe that's what he did. My best science planets make 350-480 science points.


Assume he was running 100% research spending, neutrality learning centers on every available tile (including at least a couple 300% bonuses), with a tech capitol and omega research center, and in the focal point of 16 (possibly 24) economic starbases - it's doable, but not always practical.

I am having trouble getting waypoints to work. Since I am at peace, I have all my planets building constructors and transports. It is becoming quite time-consuming to micro-manage all of this. If anyone has tips on how waypoints are supposed to work I'd sure appreciate it!


Appologies if most of this is redundant, but it saves several steps of "I already knew that"  :p 

Set a waypoint by clicking the arrow icon above the box which displays your current research project. You will get the waypoint cursor, which you then click where you want the waypoint. This will bring up a box where you can change the default name of the waypoint (I usually change it to what's getting sent there, or the cluster of planets it's collecting from) and whether you want the ships to fleet or not.

To send individual ships to the waypoint, hit "t", then select a waypoint from the list. You can even use this to send a ship to the planet it was built on.

To set a waypoint for new construction from a planet, select the planet on the main map display, then click the arrow icon above the thumbnail picture of the planet on the bottom of your screen. This will bring up the same waypoint selection screen as a ship, but without the home option.

You can move, delete, or rename a waypoint by selecting said waypoint on the main map, then using one of the buttons on the left of the screen (where your tech topic is usually displayed).

Using the governors page of the civ management display, you can reassign planets and waypoints in several ways. All planets senting to waypoint x should now build *insert ship name*, all *insert ship name* should go to waypoint x, all ships going to waypoint x should now go to waypoint y - you get the idea.
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Reply #2 Top
Thank you so much! I will try the waypoint system again tonight. :D
Reply #3 Top
So I setup the waypoint system as you described and Wow! My turns go 50 times faster using waypoints instead of manually telling my ships where to go.

Thanks again for the help!
Reply #4 Top
My very best planets which make the most cash pull in about 350-460bc before expenses if I'm reading it right from the planet screen. Is this typical of a good money planet, or am I doing it wrong?


This will depend very much on your economy bonuses - from initial picks, government & economy techs, and most importantly - how many econ resources you control and how built up their mining starbases are. A good econ planet will be producing well over 2000bc net income with half a dozen fully built up econ resources.

Likewise, 20,000 research output planets are easy with half a dozen fully built up research resources.
Reply #5 Top
I see. I think I have 3-4 fully built-up economic resources. I have loads of constructors since I am at peace with the 3 remaining races. I did not choose the +20% econ government as I picked Warparty instead. I'll have to check and see what my bonus to economy is. None of my planets are even remotely close to $2000.

I recently made a dozen super fast, long range survey ships which constantly roam the galaxy picking up anomalies.