First post - mineral bottlenecks

[USS America (OP)]

Hello everyone.   I've been reading the forums and wiki, and poking around in Aurora 5. 52 for around a week.   The scale and depth of the game seem to be fantastic.   

I'm starting on my first game and my biggest concern is to not over produce anything that will quickly drain my mineral resources.   Is there any general guideline for which mineral resources get used the most and which usually run out first?  I need to get some ship designs started and then some construction, but I have a couple of geo and grav survey ships that I created with the tutorial.   My priority is to get mine colonies up and running as quickly as possible to feed the industry on Earth, and then try my hand at some defensive ship design/building.   I just am leery of running my economy into the ground through over spending on industry and ships before my game really even gets going.

Any suggestions?

[Erik L]

Duranium usually seems to be the most likely to run out first, as it is used in a majority of facility construction. The others are dependent on what you build, what components are involved and how much of the resource is initially available.

[Thiosk]

In most games I'm stressed on corundium; key for mine construction.  Hard to fix mineral bottlenecks if you can't build more mines. 

This game, I'm stressed on mercassium-- can't get a solid source for constructing research labs.

[Cassaralla]

I often find Gallicite to be a problem once I start ramping up the missile production.

[Herode]

In most games I'm stressed on corundium; key for mine construction.  Hard to fix mineral bottlenecks if you can't build more mines.  

This game, I'm stressed on mercassium-- can't get a solid source for constructing research labs.

Confirmed mercassium & corundium problems here for my current game. Corundium shortage is extremely... hmmm... fun  

[USS America (OP)]

Thanks for all the feedback, guys.   Between this and the Newbie thread, I've put together a much better picture of what to watch as I start spending resources on construction.

[Owen Quillion]

My first real game I had a killer neutronium crunch, and most games I've started afterward seem to have it in fairly short supply on Earth.  Of course one of my first priorities is more and better shipyards, so that might be less applicable for other playstyles. 

Wealth is another easily-overlooked consideration - I'd been running everything full-tilt my first game and was quite surprised to see the event log telling me I was in debt. 

[Thiosk]

Its all about establishing some civilian industry for wealth-- my current game, I needed to put in ~50 financial installations... but that problem went away after taking 2 alien homeworlds.

[Ashery]

Wealth is another easily-overlooked consideration - I'd been running everything full-tilt my first game and was quite surprised to see the event log telling me I was in debt. 

I suppose that's one advantage of having chronic duranium, mercassium, and corundium shortages: There's plenty of spare factory production to build up a significant number of financial centers.

[Garfunkel]

Also, colonize all easy-to-terraform planets even if they have no minerals as you get to tax the civilian commerce between colonies.