If you are looking purely at which gives you the most output with the least number of tiles used, you will want that 25% bonus after you have built three enhanced factories. As your technology advances more it will take you fewer factories to reach the point where that 25% is better than one factory. IIRC that bonus % production is also cheaper than "real" production.

The bonuses for power plants and manufacturing capitals add together; in the current version, a fusion plant gives 10% and a manucap gives 33%, so if you have both on one planet you'll get 43%.

You can only put one power plant on a planet, so there's not a lot of strategy involved; just put one anywhere you have enough factories that it gives a better bonus than one more factory would.

Remember, there are a few more considerations about when to put down a power plant.
One is that the power-plant's production is Bonus production, which only costs 50%. If your economy is tight it may be worth getting less bonus production...

Also, don't forget that your initial colony and civ capital are also producing industry points, as well as any asteroids you have coming to your planet - don't just count factories.

Let's say you've got an initial colony and 3 basic factories on a planet. Thats 12 + 3*4 = 24 points. A fusion planet would only add 2 (or 3, I forget how the rounding works) points, less than another basic factory. You would need seven basic factories plus the initial colony (12 + 7*4 = 40) to break even with a fusion plant.

If we move up in techs, let's say enhanced factories and anti-matter plant, you can see that the break point is also at 40 points (20% of 40 = 8, the output of an enhanced factory), but it comes between 3 and 4 enhanced factories (36 and 44 points).

Interesting aside - once you've got Xeno Industrial theory, you can build Factories and the Manufacturing capital. On a civ capital (24 industrial points!) a manufacturing capital is actually actually already a better deal than even the first factory - a factory produces 6 points, 33% of 24 is 8. Plus the Manufacturing capital produces bonus production and has an econ bonus. But of course the manufacturing capital costs 350 to build - you could get four factories for the same price.

um, first off you don't get the 24 production unless its a capital planet, normal production on just colony base that isn't a capitol is 12....

you should calc when fusion/anti-matter is worth it.......having asteroids you mined going to higher production center for bonus production might be better off, even if you lose some on the way there.....

It sounds to me like you don't have the latest patch installed. Fusion plants have been reduced to 10% bonus, and the maximum with all upgrades is now 25%, I think, not 100%. So you need more Factories now in order to break even with a fusion plant. However it still useful for planets being supplied by asteroids, and they do upgrade in time.



And that's the way you should keep doing it. Why would you want to lose out on a +2 production bonus? If you have an asteroid field that is far enough away that it only produces +1, then it doesn't make any difference where you send them. I find those very useful for getting those planets requiring terraforming techs up and running.



No, it's automatic.