Colonizing PQ 13 and 14 planets

I believe there a maintence cost just for colonizing on class 13 and below, how much it is I don't know though. And theres morale penalties.

~SDC~

But once you get it up to 15, the maintenence cost goes away, right?

-mS

Yes, I would assume so. But also really you want to get a planet to as high a PQ as possible, and you just can't get a 13 or 14 as high as 15 or above.

~SDC~

Well... won't soil improvement and habitat enhancement get a class 13 to class 15?

And with Terraforming, can't you get a class 11 up to class 15?

Actually, I already know the answer. But what do you think the answer is?

-mS

By the time you can build Terraforming on class 11 planets, getting another class 15 isn't worth the trouble.

~SDC~

No, the AI doesn't know something you don't, or it would certainly colonize those planets on masochistic where it gets a huge PQ bonus. Feel free to grab those planets when convenient after the initial wave of the land grab, and they are also VERY useful in the late game if you are following a strategy of cultural assimilation. If you have most of the influence wonders and resources, all you may need to grab a few AI planets is a little open PQ14 in their sector.

The cost does go away once you get the planet to PQ14 or better.

Hmm, that's dissappointing. I hope a future update addresses this. Those AIs need to be colonizing all the planets they can.

-mS

Also, if you took the PQ 5% bonus at the start of the game as one of your picks, definitely grab all the PQ14 planets, since they will, as soon as you complete soil enhancement, skip straight to PQ16!

In my games they sometimes do colonize a PQ14 when they have strategic interest.

I usually colonize PQ14 and sometimes PQ13. Usually you loose some cash but get production (constructors), research and influence from them.

The AI will sometimes colonize PQ14 on maso, but they still seem very slow to do so...which helps if you're trying to pull off the "Lightning Alpha Strike." It's hell if you fail to notice the new colony before you blow your treasury back to the Stone Age.

I've seen incred dificulty AIs colonize sub 15 pq planets. I was wondering why the hell that star was orange. This wasn't from the UP issue.

Right after my cashflow becomes positive after going crazy colonizing, I grab every 13-14 I can, and the month I colonize I just buy a soil improvement, and the next month buy a habitat. It pumps them up to (depending on your bonuses) 17-18 plus, giving you immediate revenue with very little morale hit. After around a year or two they more than make up for the price of purchase in cashflow, with a cash on cash return of maybe ~15-20 percent, not to mention pop and influence bonuses. 13s and 14s can truly mean the difference in a game. Also, as I suggested elsewhere, a quickly grabbed and improved star system of low teens can be very effective for trade, especially with minor civs, with little cash investment required. just my 2c.

I routinely colonize 14 planets, won't touch the 13's without PQ +5.

Has anyone tried colonizing planets from size 1-9 and giving them to AI civs? Would that be a good tactic for sabotaging their economies?

Hi Spacepundit, no, it doesn't work. The AI will not keep planets below PQ14.

I tried that before and they just got rid of it by the next turn. But does it raise your relations with them? It seems like a star system would be considered a pretty nice gift, or do they realize how crappy it is?

PQ 12-14 are your friend for a culture bombing attack. Just be sure to check the 'details' tab, and up their 'spending on propaganda' locally, if they are in the heart of the enemy's empire. Other than that, 14's are quite decent even in the early game. With terraforming, 13's. The PQ racial picks are not worth it, IMHO.

-Smack

Why don't you think the PQ +5% pick is worth it ?

It will give any planet with a PQ higher than 15 a boost of 1, which means higher morale and income on that planet.

I pick it every time

Considering that the early improvements can get a planet +20%, I'd rather spend those points raising something much more difficult, like economy or speed, or influence, or diplomacy. With no certainty that I'll get any galactic resources to help with the above, I'd rather focus on them.

-S

I actually prefer to play the ecologists (+5 PQ) combined with the +5 PQ ratial pick for +10 total. This bumps 14's up to 15's as soon as you colonize them, and 13's to 14's - add a soil enhancement and you've got a good world. But I agree with the earlier post - don't waste colony ships on 'em early, as the AI won't touch them, so you know they'll be there for you later.

The PQ 13 and 14 worlds always tip the balance into your favor. So you should always grab them... but just don't bother to get them until the yellow star rush is done.

Look, from a good start, you will get the average "fair" share of yellow stars, yes? Those PQ 14 worlds then turn into decent "low" yellow star yeilds, once worked up. That makes up for the fact that you don't know from turn 1 where the yellow stars are. And those PQ13 worlds, once Soiled and Habited, turn into more votes for you in the Council, and more influence spreaders. Win win. You just end up leaving them on permanent Auto Launch Colony Ship makers in late game, right? No biggie. Colony Ships are useful for making a circle of protection around unclaimed or newly freed resources, and good for protecting a minor trade partner that some other Major has targetted for harvesting (as long as you and the Major are not at war).

If you don't want to bother with them, fine. But in settings where habitability is low, those 13 and 14s are serious bonus worlds.

I'll occasionally take a 14 if I want to spread my influence into somebody else's sectors, but I usually don't bother with them.

However, in the last game I played there were no yellows at all in my cluster, so I had no choice to take 13s and 14s. Luckily I'd chosed the +5 PQ as a pick, so most of them ended up as 17s

I have a question though, does PQ effect your influence, and how much? I seemed to have a lot less this time around and had to give up my plans of cranking up production to ungodly amounts and instead build culture modules just to keep my sectors blue.

Not sure if PQ directly boosts influence. Population level does, and that's closely related to PQ. And I think if your star isn't yellow, you get influence penalties.

~SDC~

Well, that's true, most stars have 0-2 influence naturally while yellows get like 15 or so. However, purple stars have loads of influence most of the time, and you'll notice the number of purples you have is listed along with the number of yellows on the star listing.

I'm fairly certain there's a bug re: the bonus PQ pick in 1.20.086. At the moment none of my planets jump when I colonize them, I wouldn't use the pick until the next patch comes out.

I lucked into a starting pq26 yesterday and I happened to chose the +5% PQ pick so I expected the planet to jump to 27 - but it didn't and neither did any of my other planets. C'est la vie.
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I just finished playing a 1.20 game with the PQ+5 pick. Worked for me... on worlds whose PQ is higher then 14. Once I got those PQ 13 and PQ14 up to "15", they then got their PQ bonus.

Have you double checked the version you are playing and having the +5 PQ pick?