StarDrive 2

StarDrive 2

41 ratings
StarDrive 2: Planet guide
By zgrssd
Planning your colonisation and conquests ahead is a very important part of this game. To that end you must understand what each Planet types advantages and drawbacks are and how they interact with your racial traits (positive and negative).
   
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Asteroid Belts
While asteroid belts are not planets per say, they can be worthwhile to to colonize.

Thier biggest drawback is they are always tiny in size, cost 50% maintenance surcharge and you cannot grow food there.
Thier biggest advantage is that they are usually Ultra-Rich and always low G with -100% pollution loss. That means you can get massive ammounts of production out of them, but at a high maintenance cost.

Proerties:
- Extra pollution has no effect
- Low farming only has little effect
- usually Ultra Rich, with rare cases of Rich or Abundant. Also low G (no -25% gravity penalty as many other Ultra rich worlds)
- Cybnetc races have a natural advantage, as they effectively get Androids for free. Photosynthehic races can also get a lot out of them (lower food import/production need). So do subterranean.
- You need bigger habitats. If you get enough of them buildings with "per worker" effect start bringing more then flat bonus buildings. Asteriod Habitats, Acrology, Biosphers - the works.
- You also need a way to feed that population. Easiest way is being cybernetic, photosynthethic or getting Androids asap. Till then then food imports, molo farm, flat bonuses (like Aeroponics Farm) or agricentric races might be worth a look. Food imports make your freighters more vulnerable, but a properly set-up asterod can out-produce any raiding. Still, if one farmer racial or building can feed your entire population that is a big boon.
- They seem not prone to have negative environmental effects, but the same appears to be true for positive ones.
Crystalline (Asteroid Belt)
These appear to be a subtype of Asteroid belts, with all the drawbacks and bonuses.
During my test-colonisation I found no apparent bonuses, penalties or specail spawned buildings but they might still exist.
Toxic (Volcanic)
These planets can be very interesting for ship production, but they rarely have good production and very high maintenance.
Most of the stuff for asteroids applies to them too, except they are not guaranteed to have many resources, be tiny or low G.

If you don't got a lot of production, consider only making ship hulls+crews here to get the bonus and retrofit them at another planet (like an asteroid belt or arid world) to thier "full power" versions.

Properties:
- If you produce a lot (actually a little is enough in 1.0d), they spawn a "Hellfire Forge". This ups Ship hulls build here by +15% HP, but you also loose 15% more to pollution (as of 1.0d, they actually loose 15% less rather then more to pollution. That might be a feature of toxic atmosphers or a bug).
- they can get the following specials: "Fire Elemental" (-75% growth), "Beautifull" (+15% approval), Diamong Rain (+6 BC). Then can contains strategic resources
- Again Cybnetic races and Androids have an advantage. But so can have Photosynthethic and subterranean races. Still they do suffer the maintenance penalty.
Barren
Another planet that cannot produce food (except with right lategame tech or molo farms). But at least it does not carry a maintenance surcharge. That measn they might be a good place to colonise, depending on the situation.

Properties:
- Cybernetic, Photosynthethc and Android populations have an advantage.
- no maintenance surcharge
- you can put the Subterranan Farms here for cheap, efficient Farming. Molo Farm can be used until availible
Radiated
Take a barren planet and add +25% maintenance surcharge. You got a radiated planet.

They are slightly less bad then toxic worlds, if you want them for strategic reasons. That is about all that is good about them
Desert
Finally a minimally fertile planet, but with a +25% maintenance surcharge.

Properties:
- While they only allow one food per worker, that is rather constant across them
- seems to be normally prone for positive effects and resources, but little for negative effects
- hgher maintenance cost
- a Desert planet calld Dhorn contain the Dhorn Race (good HP, average workers, no High-G trait, can give quests if not conquered, 3R action, Hire Ground Forces)
Tundra
Tundra is better then Desert, as it allows 1 Food per worker without the maintenance surcharge. Most of the times.

Properties:
- they are rare
- they are exctionally likely to have special properties or resources
- they also appear to be outright cursed with positive or negative effects that remove the Food production (at least for me)
- they can spawn the "Winter Resort" building (+2 BC, +10% approval)
Arid
A subtype of Desert without maintenance penalty and good population cap. Very resistant to pollution, hence good candidate for ship building world

Properties:
- x3 Population cap multiplier, with all the ups and downs (see Terran)
- 1 food per Farmer, but might contain an ocean (another +1 per Farmer)
- no maintenance surcharge
- appears rather rare
- Counts as Desert for "Rhigar, Noble Capitalist"
- Can spawn the "Massive Junkyard" (-10% Approval, +10% Ship production) even when not actively producing ships; this might be pollution based
- the Arid Planet Prissia might contain a minor race (Lazy Workers, Buy nice Rug [+5 Diplomatic Relations])
- unlike terran worlds seems virtually immune to pollution
Terran
Very easy to populate and support population. Thus exceptional tax income.
By default starting planets are medium terran planets with normal G, but racial traits will modify that.

Properties:
- they have significantly higher population quotas. They have 4 times what a planet of thier size normally would have.
- they are incredibly rare. Chances are good that the only ones in the entire game are starting planets of other races. Wich means racial traits may affect them heavily (including making them high G, low G or different subtypes)
- expansionist cultures tend to be very focussed on getting these and are very likely to go to war over them if they see one - even your homeworld
- appears to be always subject to loss of farming from pollution
- cybernetic and android populations can use the planet primarly for large amounts of workers
- considerable income can be generate via tax or Food Surplus sales. Later tends to atract Agricultre exchange, wich halfes how much food you need to cap out that income
- due to thier abilities to produce a lot of any resource for a time, they attract producion buffing buildings like flies
Ocean
The starting planets for Aquatic races

- fertiltiy of Terran world, but without population multiplier
- Triggers full power version of aquatic trait
- May have beatifully, deep sees, sharknado or treacherous sea trait
- The Ocean planet Hurmglub might contain the Hurmglub race (3R action, 200 BC for extra approval in entire empire). Hurmglb.
Swamp
Swamps appear to work like terran worlds, except they only have twice the population capacity of thier size.
The swamp planet Klatak is inahibted by a minor race.
Gaia
The Gaia type is a Terran type, except better in all regards

Properties:
- Incredibly rare. Might not get even one naturally occuring in a 100 system galaxy
- Terran planets terraform into this via terraforming, wich removes the terraformer;
- may spawn the "tropical resort" (+10% approval)
- 3 base food per farmer
- Population limit 5 times what is normal for thier size (note that terran is already 4 times, so only a minor increase)
- Same resistance to pollution as terran worlds. Previous debuffs are taken over
Population, Pollution and Farming
If you cause a lot of pollution on certain planets, you aqurie a debuff to food production per farmer on said planet.
It is not 100% certain wich planets can be affected by pollution in this way:
Gaian and Terran are always subject. Terran subtypes are propably always affected too.
Tundra appears to be subject if the population exceeds an unknown treshold (around 10; should only apply to subterran races).

What appears certain is that continued subjection to 20 or more pollution causes the debuf to appear (if the planet is succeptible). Long subjection to less pollution is nessesary to remove it.
There appears to be only one level of this debuff, but really high population planets might get aditional ones.
19 Comments
MasterGamer 11 Apr, 2016 @ 6:09pm 
You also need those sorts of anomalies you can mine like in Galactic Civilization 3. Antimatter is easier to acquire from a black hole and that needs to be a resource you should acquire. I suggest looking at Distant Worlds, Endless Space and Galactic Civilizations 3 to see what types of resources should be considered as strategic for certain uses necessary in the game.
MasterGamer 11 Apr, 2016 @ 6:05pm 
What is this technology. Well you can create floating population centers similar to the one in Star Wars Episode V. This also means there should be different types of gas giants. Helium, Hydrogen, Methane and Oxygen types. Hydrogen is easiest to synthesize, making it the easiest to colonize when you got the right tech. Helium is difficult, but offers an easier abundance of Helium-3. Methane types also offer valuable resources and oxygen types are more practical for environmental residences, because you already have air you can breathe, well with minimal adjustments considered of course.

As for Stars, we are talking about a dyson sphere. Take everything concerning a gas giant and just multiple your gains a hundred fold at least.
MasterGamer 11 Apr, 2016 @ 6:05pm 
Eventually you should be able to colonize a star, but this is done in steps after you have the technology to colonize a gas giant, starting with Brown Dwarfs, then Red Dwarfs, then Average Stars, then Giant Stars, then White Dwarfs, then Supergiants, and then Neutron Stars.
MasterGamer 11 Apr, 2016 @ 6:05pm 
Colonizing a Gas Giant is something more practical after you develop matter alteration technology, although you should be able to mine it before colonize it. Similar you should be able to mine Asteroids and worlds without an atmosphere before you can colonize it. Mining should allow you to gain resources, thus increase income and gain access to valuable resources, but you won't be able to build anything or have a thriving population until you colonize it. This could be done with a constructor.
MasterGamer 11 Apr, 2016 @ 6:04pm 
What I would consider is something like Endless Space but instead of solar systems, you click on a planet it will pop up that particular planet with its moons right after the planetary entity. This way when you decide to colonize say Titan, you send a colony ship to Saturn and it will pop up a menu in which you can look Saturn and its moons.
MasterGamer 11 Apr, 2016 @ 6:04pm 
You should make another dlc that allows lunar colonization. It is a shame you cannot colonize moons, gas giants, or even stars. What what am I talking about? Well the moon part should be very easy to understand Ganymede is larger than Mars and if it wasn't orbiting Jupiter, it would be another planet in our Solar System between Mars and Venus in size. Titan, Europa, Triton, Calisto, and Io are also moons of relative planetary likeness. I know adding in "EVERYTHING" would be an impossible task, but you could at least extend to eight planet bodies with at moons. Although moonlets like Phobots could also be considered but for decoration since it would addup too much clutter.
zgrssd  [author] 28 Mar, 2016 @ 2:39am 
@Rimini: I never managed to move my Food Market to a specific planet. Scrapping it only resulted it in respawning on one of the same 3 planets again. When I tried it, they did not appear to be bound to current Food production

@Sgt. Wolf[GER]: Medium Sized Planets have 3 population by default. Unless a racial atribute or the type changes that.
Started with a different race?
Conquered planets of another race wich lacks the same bonuses? (in this case you should be able to ferry your people onto the planets on top)

Note that I stopped playing this game and I am not even sure for wich version I had originally written it. 1.4 or before that, I think.
Sgt.Wolf [GER] 24 Mar, 2016 @ 6:31am 
hmm what happens with my planets - all med only 3 pop ???????
Rimini 6 Mar, 2016 @ 2:19pm 
+1 Thx, was trying to get a food market on a toundra, why not ! XD
Anyone know exactly how to get a food market ?
RawrKitteh 21 Apr, 2015 @ 12:58am 
Guide name is "StardDrive 2" , note the excess "d" in there. Section 1 of the guide is "Asteriod Belts" , the "i" and "o" are swapped. In the overview is says "...with your racial trats (positive..." , "trats" is missing an "i".