Is Planet Quality +7% worth it?

I'm messing around with +PQ ability right now, and IMHO the answer is no. Spend your AP on something else. I expect the benefit to go up, though, when you get Terraforming. Purchase the Terraformer from Mitrosoft--who cares if you've got a 60-year lease; you're not going to be playing for another 60 years. That's 4 planet upgrades in all, stacked with your bonus. Besides the obvious bonuses this should also let you stack your Manufacturing Capital and Hyperion Factory on the same planet without any penalties. This should soar your mega-planet up well over 200 IU's/turn.

IMHO for the cost +5 PQ is well worth it while +7 is not. What +7 gives you that +5 doesn't is really instant gratification, i.e. you only start to see the effect of +5 when combined with terraforming on PQ<20 worlds whereas +7 gives you a bonus of 1 upon colonization for PQ15-19 worlds. However, after soil enhancement and habitat improvement get built (my first 2 build items anyway) then there is only one difference, for PQ 15 worlds +25 gives 18 while +27 gives 19. You wind up with the same PQ for all other worlds with +25 or +27, and that includes PQ 12-14 worlds too. Not worth the 5 (or 4, can't remember) extra points +7 gets you in the startup, which for me usually go to speed and economics.

I just finished my game with +7PQ, and I will say one thing: it's the only game where I got the +16PQ event. I'm on the lookout now to see if that event only happens with +PQ.

Even with it, though, I say thumbs-down to +PQ ability. Much better stuff out there. +70% Pop growth gets my vote.

How about maxed-out diplomacy? It seemes overpowered to me.

Diplomatic bonuses are incredibly useful at the lower difficulty levels, but above "Bright" the AI's really start getting hard to persuade into anything no matter how strong you are at diplomacy.

~SDC~

Yea, at some point (even on Bright, somewhat) the AI is just like "Oh look, the hoo-man has some pretty numbers, isn't that special... No trade for you!"

But I haven't tried max diplomacy, so I wouldn't know... I have tried max pop growth, though, and that was incredible

I'm currently addicted to +2 speed, however...

My current game on painfull, with maxed diplo + populists, works just fine. All alliens are at war, I am a leader in every single cathegory, picking up weaklings when that suit me.

Yep - diplo was enhanced recently (1.04.059?) - I am trying maxed diplo with good ol tech whoring as my 'new' strat for maso/small-medium. Game going really well - works a lot better than without it, but results still irregular - I don't see the pattern yet. Certainly, minors are sometimes easier to take advantage of.

~SDC~

+5% is good, especially when there is a star two spaces from Sol that's first planet is a natural 26

~SDC~

I have been playing with + PQ and it seems to work out well on small and tiny. I'm not sure about using the +PQ to colonize 13-14. You can get the PQ 14 to 17 with SI and HE but the influence is always super low like 2 or 3. They flip quick in a high difficulty game, or so it seems. They better be well within your sphere of influence.

~SDC~

No way is PQ 7% worth it. I take 5% just about every game so I'm a big believer in it. But the extra 2% is not worth 5 picks. Not when for that or one pick more you can get max economy, max pop growth, big diplo or other niceties.

My current favorite setup is: Federalists, +30 economics, Luck, PQ 5%, +10 Morale

~SDC~

IMHO, the biggest issue with PQ is revenue vs. spending. Even without the empire bonus you can upgrade planets to generate profits. If you are making a profit, that's the biggest concern. I can see the benefit in large galaxies once the 15+ systems are gone, or where they are uncommon as you'll need to colonize 15- systems and bonuses will get you into the black more quickly!

~SDC~