Trans-Newtonian Start Economy and senors

[dooots (OP)]

I've done a few Trans-Newtonian starts now and each time my economy stinks,  is it just something you have to learn to deal with in a Trans-Newtonian start or am I missing something?  I think part of my problem is I only do one pass over all the production techs, but even with two passes I'm forced to run only my industry, research labs, and build ships.  I can't expand shipyards or add more research labs (I have not tried to make ground units or build missiles yet).  I guess I could go with three levels of expand civilian economy although that would be 70,000 RP, maybe two levels of expand civilian economy and only one level on everything else.  I dunno it just seems odd that I can only use about 50-75% of my production.

As for sensors is there any place that tells you if your sensors are down after a jump?  I came out fairly close to a planet and couldn't see anything but I had no idea if it was just from sensors being offline or if there was nothing there to see.  Turned out there was nothing to be seen but it would be nice to know so i don't sit there for 5 minutes to make sure my sensors are working.

[UnLimiTeD]

Well, you can see active sensor coverage in the system map if ticked, and manually activate sensors on ships by means of the fleet or combat screens.

As for the economy, yes, thats meant to be that way.
It's a choice.
Bigger pop starts may have less of a problem with that, with more spare tax payers.
If you have spare Corrundium and Uridium, try building some financial centers, and try colonizing near planets.
Get a civilian spaceport on every population above a few millions, and once you have civilian shipping lines, they will trade between the planets generating wealth.
Normally, the first Expand Economy tech is way enough, the rest is better spent in Research speed.
If you want to produce non-stop, you need less shipyards and factories

[MattyD]

I think the start is nicely balanced. I changed the number of Research Labs to 40 and tech rushed the research tech up to 320 RPs and  it destroyed me financially. As long as you accept that little steps are necessary it's a nice little balancing game.

The problem is all those other nasties out there who can spoil the day without breaking into a sweat.

It is frustrating to encounter something so deadly after a good few hours work setting up research, building survey ships, perhaps even colonizing Mars and then BANG, aliens hostile aliens loom large on the horizon, your little survey ships shatter in seconds and back home, you have neither the tech, the resources or the capability to construct any kind of response.

Perhaps, I need to reign in my survey efforts, they tend to push quite far from my home systems before I'm ready to cope.

But where's the fun in that?

[welchbloke]

As for sensors is there any place that tells you if your sensors are down after a jump?  I came out fairly close to a planet and couldn't see anything but I had no idea if it was just from sensors being offline or if there was nothing there to see.  Turned out there was nothing to be seen but it would be nice to know so i don't sit there for 5 minutes to make sure my sensors are working.

On the Task Group (F12) screen after a transit 2 of the columns change to 'Sensor Delay' and 'Fire Delay'; these columns will have either a yes or a no.  this tells you if the sensors are up or down and whether the ship is able to fire yet.

[dooots (OP)]

Guess I just need to adjust my goals at the start of Trans-Newtonian games, or just stick with conventional starts.

As for sensors is there any place that tells you if your sensors are down after a jump?  I came out fairly close to a planet and couldn't see anything but I had no idea if it was just from sensors being offline or if there was nothing there to see.  Turned out there was nothing to be seen but it would be nice to know so i don't sit there for 5 minutes to make sure my sensors are working.

On the Task Group (F12) screen after a transit 2 of the columns change to 'Sensor Delay' and 'Fire Delay'; these columns will have either a yes or a no.  this tells you if the sensors are up or down and whether the ship is able to fire yet.

Ah the one place I didn't check.