Advanced Economy Guide

This guide is intended for those who truly wish to grasp the finer points of "Space Economics". First of all let's define some basic elements as they relate to the economic model of Space.

Capacity: This is the amount of living space on a given planet based on the number of megapolis present on the planet. Each megapoli provides space for 10,000 colonists. Therefore, if you have 10 megapolis no more than 100,000 colonists can reside on the planet. Each planet's capacity is shown as a percentage. On the planet info page, if a planet reports a capacity of 44%, this means that 44% of the living space provided by the megapolis on the system is being utilized. Remember, capacity has nothing to do with the total amount of land available on planet.
Efficiency: This indicates the ratio of economic buildings (ore mines, factories or research labs) that are currently in use. It's important to note that each economic building needs 5K in population be at 100% efficiency. Therefore, if you lack population, your plant's efficiency will be adversely affected. For example: If you have a planet with 50K in population and 100 factories, what would be your efficiency? The answer: 50K/5K = 10. Thus, your colonists are able to keep 10 factories running at full strength. The efficiency is therefore only 10% (100 factories vs. 10 fully operational factories). Again, it is important to note that if you have more population than required (remember 5K needed per building), your efficiency will still only be 100%. It doesn't matter if you have extra population or not. You simply can't be more than 100% efficient. Buildings that don't have the required amount of population are in essence a waste, as they provide no income. This is important!
Ore Density:. This indicates how rich in ore your planet is. The highest possible density is 100%. Your home world world will always start with 100% density. The output of a single ore mine is dependant on the ore technology level and the ore density of the planet. For example: If you have an ore mine built on a planet with an 85% ore density and your current ore tech level produces 13.2 units of ore per hour, then you'll produce 11.22 units of ore per hour (13.2 * .85) or approximately 269 units of ore per day (11.22 * 24). In the case of research laboratories and factories the only variable is your current tech level for research or production, as there is no equivalent "density factor" for research or factories. This is unique to ore mines.
Land Area: Very simply, this is the amount of building space on a given planet.

Now that we have an understanding of the basic elements, let's define some abbreviations and acronyms.

LAB = Laboratory
POP = Population
Econ = Economy
LVL = Level
ECO Bldgs = Ore mines, factories and research laboratories
MEGAS = Megapolis
HW = Home world
NANO = Nanotechnology

Getting Started

Ok....the galaxy has started. You begin with your HW, which always has a land area of 1095, an ore density of 100% and a "starter" set of buildings already present which provide your "base" econ.

Your first task is to colonize as many planets as possible. You are begin the game with enough population for another two colonies. It takes 2.5 million in POP in order to colonize a new system. (Your HW and first two colonies are excluded from this calculation).

During the first few days of the galaxy, you will have to face two primary economic challenges.

Lack of population needed to colonize.
Lack of resources needed (Ore and Production) to colonize.

Proper micromanagement of your econ is critical at this stage of the game and separates the men from the boys (no offense to the ladies). Mastering this is essential to accelerating the rate of your expansion.

Home World Issues

Let's take a look at your home world. You will see that your efficiency is below 100%. This means that you have some ECO Bldgs that are not being utilized yet, because you don't have enough POP. Therefore, the first buildings you should place on your HW are MEGAS.

MEGAS, unlike other ECO Buildings, do not need colonists to be of use. Instead, they provide your econ with a small amount of cash (credits) and living space for your colonists. Building MEGAS, will lower your capacity, which is good in this case, because your growth rate is determined by your capacity rating. The lower your capacity, the faster your growth rate. You should only build MEGAS on your HW until you notice that your efficiency is at or very near 100%. Then you should begin adding ore mines to your build queue.

Why ore mines? Because your HW is a rich source of ore due to its high density (100%). You won't find many planets with so high a density of ore during the galaxy. Also, if you look at Toag Market page, you will find the current value of ore and production (based on your economic tech levels). Ore is more valuable than production and is extremely expensive. That's why ore income is crucial at the start of a galaxy.

You should continue adding MEGAS and mines. In time, you will notice you have too much POP when compared to the number of mines, factories and labs. Your efficiency will be at or near 100%, but the difference between the number of jobs and your POP will become increasingly apparent. It is now time to change your build queue again. At this point, you should build only ore mines. If you notice efficiency is below 100% you can add few MEGAS. Once you reach 100% efficiency again, stop building MEGAS and continue building mines.

On your second or third colony you should choose the system with the lowest ore density rating and instead of placing mines on it, put production buildings. Even though ore is more valuable, you will need production from time to time and since your market discount is so low in the early part of the galaxy, it's too expensive to purchase production when it is needed. Ideally, you should try to keep your ECON as "balanced" as possible (i.e. your ore and production income per tick should be relatively equal).

You may be thinking to yourself.....Why do I need MEGAS? If you compare the credits produced by MEGAS, they are in no way comparable to the income derived from ore or production. They are essentially, a "necessary evil" because you MUST "house" your POP. As I mentioned before, each MEGA creates housing for 10,000 slaves (Sorry, I mean happy citizens), and since each ECO Bldg needs 5,000 in POP, they are essential to your overall econ.

You may have noticed that based on the numbers provided by each MEGA and the numbers required for each ECO Bldg, that you will need to make at least 33.3% of your buildings MEGAS. The remaining 2/3 of your buildings should be ECO Bldgs.

You may be asking yourself, "So what buildings should I put on a new system that I'm colonizing"? I'm glad you asked. I could go into a long explanation here and all sorts of theoretical models regarding this, but to save time, let's just keep it simple and very conservative. Let's assume that you don't want to think it to death, if so, simply place 50 Megas, 49 Bioformers and 1 scanner (which is minimum requirement). If it's early in the galaxy, and you've been under attack already, you may want to put 10-20 scanners on the system to help keep enemy ships at bay.

There are all kinds of variations on how to properly colonize new systems, but they all involve specific scenarios that I don't want to go into here. Suffice it to say that there are a LOT of methods and theories on the subject. However, if you follow the example above, you'll do fine.

Growth Rate

Keep in mind that each species has it's own growth rate. For example, the Oomari have the lowest growth rate (14%) and the Drall have the highest at 17%. The growth rate is additionally modified by several factors:

Nanotechnology Level. Each level of nano adds 0.1% to population growth. You might think that this isn't significant, but you'd be surprised.
Habitability of planets. Your POP grows faster on high habitability planets. Your HW has a HAB rating of 100% of course and therefore your POP growth is at it's maximum.
Capacity of planets. Lower capacity means faster growth. Here is where MEGAS can help.

One of the keys to Space is quick expansion. Thus, you will need some EXTRA POP to colonize planets later. Remember about the colonization requirements of 2.5 million in POP for each new colony. Extra MEGAS mean that you will be able to colonize SOONER (assuming that you have enough resources on hand). So, assuming that we place only 33.3% MEGAS on our HW, the question becomes: Where will you get surplus MEGAS to be used to colonize later?

One of the most popular ways to accomplish this is to make several planets an ALLMEGA system (No other ECO Bldgs, just MEGAS only). You should choose a system that has a LOW ore density rating. You should normally make your first ALLMEGA planet on your 4th or 5th colony. The lower your species growth rate, the sooner you should make an ALLMEGA.

Be careful not to make too many ALLMEGA systems or you will find that your empire is "overpopulated". You will have plenty of POP, but not enough resources to colonize anything. You should always be thinking two steps ahead. Try to predict what will happen over the next 1-2 days, and whether or not you will have a deficit in POP or resources (ore & production) and try to adjust your strategy accordingly. You should make an ALLMEGA system every 4th or 5th colony, until you find that you no longer are having POP problems when wishing to colonize.

Another popular method of solving your POP problem is to simply raise the percentage of MEGAS on ALL planets. The percentage of MEGAS will depend on the species that you play. For those species with with lower growth rates I would suggest making 44-45% of your buildings as MEGAS. For species with higher growth rates, 42-43% should work nicely. Of course this percentage can be decreased once your NANO levels increase. An occasional ALLMEGA planets could still prove useful when using this technique, but of course you won't need as many. Either method will work, simply choose the strategy that seems to work best for you.

Resources

Now, the other side of the coin. You've got plenty of POP for new colonies, but do you have enough resources to colonize? Here are a few tips:

Keep building on planets only if you can afford it.
Do not build ECO Bldgs on planets with low efficiency. Build MEGAS only!
Make some calculations to try and predict when you will be able to colonize
Always try to keep efficiency between 85-100% (85% because humans need SOME sleep and a REAL LIFE, you can't be online 24/7).
Try to capacity between 40-50% if possible (again, we all need sleep).
Don't even think about building any additional research labs until your econ reaches at least 300 in ore AND production income (or equivalent) per tick.
Remember if you have a surplus of resources and nothing to colonize at the moment, you can always build MEGAS. They do not need population.
Unless you come under attack, do NOT build ships. CONCENTRATE on your economy! An enemy attacking a system that has not been colonized will take it in a single tick if it's undefended. If he does, big deal. You've not invested any resources into it yet. You'll eventually want to retake the system (or perhaps become allies with him, more on that later).
However, if it's been colonized, don't panic. It takes a LONG time to kill off a colonized system with a decent amount of population and buildings on it. Time is on YOUR side. There will be plenty of time to make ships and defend yourself if needed, so WHY make ships and waste resources for something that may not even happen. You're better off to INVEST your resources into your economy, not waste it on making ships.

Summary

That should just about do it. If you read and understood the information above, you are on the right track to becoming a solid player and ally in Space. If you have questions, be sure to check out the CFS Forums for help. The Space community is generally very helpful to new players. Don't be shy, if you don't understand something, ASK QUESTIONS!