Beginner questions

[sloanjh]

A colony requires 10,000,000 pop and a spaceport before civilians will start moving trade goods (which generates tax revenue for you).

I knew they required the pop, but I haven't read anywhere about requiring a spaceport for trade goods.

I believe the correct statement is that supply and demand for trade goods will begin showing up at 3M pop, whether or not a spaceport is present.

...I'm pretty sure I've seen a Steve post recently that said new shipping lines will only form at planets with a spaceport.

Hmm... can we get Steve or another moderator to confirm this? He didn't mention that in his answer to me about Spaceports, previously in this thread.

I believe the thread had to do with someone asking if shipping lines could form away from your homeworld.  I believe the answer was that they could form outside the home system if there was a spaceport present; there might have also been a pop (e.g. 10M) requirement.  I believe the thread was fairly recent (within the last month or two) in The Academy - it shouldn't be too hard to find if you search for "spaceport" in *Steve* postings.

John

PS - Steve is the final authority on the way it is - moderator status doesn't mean anything special in terms of game knowledge beyond that any other "old hand" would have.

[Steve Walmsley]

Shipping Lines always form at the capital. There is no minimum pop or spaceport requirement but there is a requirement for you to have two populated worlds of any size (even 10,000 colonists is enough). The 10m pop requirement is for civilian mining colonies. They will only appear in a system with a 10m+ population.

Spaceports are now purely for improving loading times. That can make a significant difference over time to the amount of trade goods, infrastructure or colonists you can move, especially to nearby planets/systems.

Steve