Related Links
Economy - Getting Started
This section covers very briefly the four major components of the Space Economy. For more information, see the Advanced Guide.
There are three sources of revenue in Space (credits, ore and production) and two minor ones (research and bioforming). Most building types produce one of these resources as "tax revenue" so long as you have the population to man them. Each such structure takes 5,000 colonists to operate (except scanners, shield generators, and minefields). Example: if you have 50,000 colonists, 10 mines and 5 factories you actually are operating all those buildings at 66% efficiency - they need 75,000 colonists for full utilization and you have 50,000.
The only exception to this is megapoli. These structures not only house the living quarters for your populace, but also hold all the service sector jobs in your economy. Workers are automatically assigned to production buildings if there are open jobs there. Left over workers stay in megapoli and take up service sector jobs that generate a nice amount of extra credits in tax revenue.
The mines and factories are your first goal because ore and production determine what you can build. Cash is probably next as you will need to maintain the buildings and ships that you make. Research is valuable in the long term and all systems will eventually have labs on them. Bioformers are only necessary on worlds with less than 100% habitability and the bioforming units produced in each system are only applicable in that system.
Research, although not a direct source of revenue is critical to developing a strong economic base for your empire. Space features thirteen different technologies, which you can increase to further benefit your empire. Each species starts play with several levels of research already completed in each technology field (see the manual for species briefs).
Every hour your research labs add to your base of knowledge. If you want to increase the speed you are researching at then build more research labs. However, if a given star system has too many buildings and not enough population, than your labs will operate at reduced efficiency.
Each level you gain gives a fixed increase in capability over and above any species advantage you may have. However, the costs to gain each new level increase somewhat exponentially. This cost increases as level of technology desired grows and also with the total number of technology levels you possess.
Summary
The above information is only a very brief description of the major components of your empire's economy. As stated above, for more detailed information, consult Lestat's Advanced Economic Guide.