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Social improvements strategy
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Can't seem to remember that this has been discussed. Anyway; what do you build and in what order? And why?
I favor PQ, economy and morale buildings and hardly ever build something else. I find it more efficient to keep down maintenance costs than to optimize colonies for ship building, research etc. Social and military production is boosted through star bases instead of social improvements.
The PQ and pure economy enhancements are freebies with their zero mainenance, so I usually build them first (soil enhancements, habitat improv, banks etc).
One group of enhancements are self-financing IF the planet income is above a certain level. For example, Embassy costs 2 BC but gives 5% economy. This means that a planet with 40 BC income will break even building Embassy, thus getting the other bonuses it brings for free. (This is a bit approximate, since bonuses are additive as percentile UNITS). Anyway, here's a table of those improvements and what income in BC is needed for break even:
Stock market 4+
Teleporters 8+
Anti-matter power pl. 20+
Fusion power plant 30+
Embassy 40+
Stadium 40+
Neural net 50+
Info net 80+
Cultural exchange 80+
News network 100+
In the late game, I often build these in this particular order. Early game, I go for Fusion PP as soon as possible, since it gives a nice production bonus. The others all bring useful bonuses such as morale and influence.
Another useful group of improvements are the morale enhancers. Higher morale means higher max population and higher tax acceptance, yielding higher income in the long run. I usually try to keep my morale high throughout the game for a healthy tax income (and high metavers scores). Late game, nothing less that 100% will do. Luckily, many of the social projects of the previous (self-financing) group bring morale bonuses. Nevertheless, I always seem to end up building specific morale enhancers as well. They vary a lot in maintenance and building costs, so it's worth it to be careful when selection the build order:
Entertainment network. Early game enhancer, and clearly the best. Costs 2 BC for 20% morale -> 10% per BC.
Harmony generator. Expensive to build, but same effect and maintenance as ent.net. 2 BC for 20% morale -> 10% per BC.
Multimedia center. 2 BC for 15% morale, so a bit worse than entertainment network -> 7.5% per BC.
Virtual reality center. Really expensive, but useful as a late game enhancement. 5 BC for 20% morale -> 4% per BC.
Orbital hospital. Also late game enhancement and quite expensive. 3 BC for 10% morale -> 3.3% per BC.
Only the three first are purely morale enhancers. The rest brings other bonuses as well. Apart from these, there is a large group that gives <= 2.5% per BC, but I never bother with those, instead lowering taxes until I have 100% all over again.
Comments welcome.
       
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#1
by Citizen Ellestar - 6/1/2003 6:26:32 PM
I suggest counting building cost too: say, Upkeep+BuidingCost/20
If building can't pay for itself in 20 turns, it's not worth it. Also, you are not counting effect from morale.
Neural Net? Info Net? Hm. Better to build RL/RC and maybe GRC.
Cultural exchange, News Network, Embassy, Virtual reality - IMHO crap.
I tried to do some tests here  Link, if you are interested
My build order for gigantic: Soil, Habitat, Entertainment, Banking, Manufacturing, Fusion.
My build order for tiny: Soil, Entertainment.
  
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#3
by Citizen tetleytea - 6/2/2003 12:28:44 PM
You get 1/3 free production from the Power Plants/Manufacturing Centers. 1 free production is as good as a free 1bc in economy, if not better. That makes Manu. Center break-even at just 12 IU's production, and Fusion/Anti-matter break-even earlier because you should add the econ bonus AND free production bonus together. Granted, in a happening Star Sector, Constructors are probably better, but one Constructor is 200--Manu Ctr. is 100, Fusion is only 50. Grab the easy stuff first and use that to help you build Constructors next. Most importantly, Manu. Ctrs. et al. are Social, whereas Constructors are Military. When you're rushing Social for the Trade Goods/Wonders, the rest of your planets have to have something Social to build.
Same way with the Research Labs i.e. 1/3 free research=free bc. I usually consider those a wash because of the influence bonus. Influence is important. They're usually low on my priority list, though, because I tend to broker techs until late-mid game.
A good metric for the Morale enhancers is to compare the maintenance vs. the Propaganda you would have spent. That justifies the Embassy right there. +5% Morale is usually worth ~1.25bc/turn propaganda, and the Embassy's already doing +5% Econ.
In my experience it's only the Shipyards, Culture resists, and Planetary Defenses that aren't always worth the maintenance. And the Virtual Reality Centers. Those I'll tend to build up to "Next month" and complete when I need them, and then only if those planets have nothing better to do.
    
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