More questions but it is starting to make sense

[Decimator]

Why build mineral-bare planets up?  Settling and terraforming them is good, because it gives you money and trade, but nothing beyond that seems logical.

[sloanjh]

That brings up another question.  I've settled a few planets with no minerals but haven't bothered to build them up other than with terraforming. How does everyone else handle these?  Ship some CF there with minerals or mostly let them be?

I usually ship ship (or build) ~100 factories.  That gives you enough manufacturing oomph to build things like a spaceport.  And yes, I ship the minerals there - a LOT of minerals fit in the space required for a single factory/mine/whatever.

The main reason for doing this is that cargo space tends to be a limiting factor in empire expansion.  Since bulk minerals usually require less space than the equivalent installation, it's cheaper in terms of transport cost to ship the factories to a planet then let the factory build stuff, even if minerals need to be shipped in.  In this vein, the first thing I start building is usually more factories.

John

[Steve Walmsley]

If you go into SM mode, unlock this ship design, and change it to how you want it, the already built ships of the original model will be changed also. This may be cheating, depending on your perspective. IMHO, since this was an honest mistake based on ignorance of the game mechanics rather than just a bad decision on your part, it's not a cheat. That's what I told myself when it happened to me, anyway.

Once you update the class, you also need to go into the Ship window and select each existing ship of the class as well. Although some class-related information is held at the class level, each ship holds some data as well. Selecting each ship in turn will refresh that ship with the new class information. Just scrolling through the list of ships on the left hand side is enough.

Steve

[Steve Walmsley]

On the Civilian Contracts window set your producing colonies to 'Supply X <mineral name>' and set Earth to 'Demand X <mineral name>'.  If you set supply greater than the amount currently available you may get an error, but you can certainly set the demand higher and later add more supply orders when more of whatever mineral is available.

Actually, that's incorrect.  While IMO we should be able to set up mineral contracts, they don't yet exist (or they're in a completely different window that I haven't seen).  You can only set up installation contracts for shipping mines, infrastructure, factories, &c around.

That's correct - there are no civilian contracts for minerals (yet).

Steve

[Steve Walmsley]

Why do you settle them in the first place unless the system is strategically important?

Because small colonies grow faster than large ones and they provide different trade goods. Establishing a few small colonies, even if the planets are not strategically important or contain a lot of minerals, will help wealth generation in the long term

Steve

[UnLimiTeD]

Oh, ok, I never thought about it that way.
Currently got a game with severe Uridium shortages, but over 30k income per year after expenses.

[randal7]

If you go into SM mode, unlock this ship design, and change it to how you want it, the already built ships of the original model will be changed also. This may be cheating, depending on your perspective. IMHO, since this was an honest mistake based on ignorance of the game mechanics rather than just a bad decision on your part, it's not a cheat. That's what I told myself when it happened to me, anyway.

Once you update the class, you also need to go into the Ship window and select each existing ship of the class as well. Although some class-related information is held at the class level, each ship holds some data as well. Selecting each ship in turn will refresh that ship with the new class information. Just scrolling through the list of ships on the left hand side is enough.

Steve

Guess I know what I need to do first next time I have a chance to play...

[UnLimiTeD]

I normally just refitted them from A to also A^^
Granted a huge bunch of errors, but worked.

[Hyfrydle (OP)]

Is there any point putting a geosurvey team on a civilian mining colony?

[ZimRathbone]

Is there any point putting a geosurvey team on a civilian mining colony?

If you are buying the mineral output, then yes definately, the might increase the amount of something you need, and (less likely) may increase avalaibilty (which would be a real plus as you get more minerals for the same cash outlay.

If you're taxing the CMC then its less helpful, but still good (it will usually extend the life of the tax base).

and in both cases the team will go up 5% every time it finds something.

best use IMHO is still on your own mining sites, and preferably planets as you are more likely to make a find on a planet than a smaller body.