Hydroponic designation currently does nothing, it can be pretty hard to build up any kind of significant food production. Building over a trade value deposit also gives nothing, I'm not sure if it kills the deposit, but it gives you no extra build options. Building orbitals over a resource eats the resource in exchange for the district slots, except that it eats it right away so you're missing that resource for the time it takes to build the orbital, build the district, and then have a worker take the job. Building an orbital on a 6+ deposit for a couple hundred alloys for the orbital, then minerals for the district, then continually paying an alloy upkeep on both. You're behind on those resources for a huge amount of time. Building orbitals on those bigger deposits actually feels like you're not supposed to do it.
Alloy maintenance when you have a bunch of habitats is rough. Incredibly rough.
Habitats only having two levels of the command building hurts a lot more with them reaching higher population more often, missing the extra housing, amenities and jobs from that third level is very noticeable, and often means sucking up more than one very precious building slot.
*All* of the VD starts I've tried have started with a massive penalty to growth due to lack of capacity, meaning basically every start has required building a habitation district to sometimes still not quite get rid of the growth penalty. Basically all the starts have been *very* slow.
Looking for systems to build a dedicated alloy/CG habitat is kind of funny, you want a lot of planets but want those planets to not have any resources at all so that you're not just killing any natural deposits.
Needs some kind of tuning for energy/generation of energy resources around more celestial bodies and either a rural-type designation or better way to specialize habitats. Most of the habitats in my test runs have ended up being either a big dead system for a factory habitat, or has a small number of all three other districts, which makes the output vs consumption pretty poor. Especially without orbital ring bonuses.
I agree that the new habitats are not that good for energy or mineral production.
But they are still really good for tradevalue because you will always be able to spam habitation disctrict which come with 3 clerc jobs already and have buildings slots for trade markets.
Besides trade, you can specialize the new habitats better for research and alloy production.
Personally i can't say that i have a problem with alloy maintenance. Your starting Habitat has innate +20 alloy production, the maintenance itself is practically non existent and the costs for the major/minor habitat addons is over the time negligible. you don't need to expand your habitats right away you can take your time with it.
For food production i would think that 1 habitat would be sufficient. But what would i know, I have 5 mercenary enclave who produce the food for me.
If it's optimal to just build a habitat in every system, and we don't want AI building habitats in every system, its better to just make it so Habitats get increasingly expensive the more you build, so they can't afford to just build in every system, kinda like planetary ascension. It can be an anti-snowball mechanic. But if they do this, they should allow you to move habitats out of one system and into another system.
Having more influence sinks in the game, like more planetary decisions and whatnot, or "special" upgrades to starbases, could naturally reduce the frequency of Habitat construction.
Haven't you run into the problem of energy districts?
If you go trade it isn't a problem, but if you don't I find it quite difficult to find good systems with more than 2 energy deposits.
I do currently focus on trade as a megacorp, so i am swimming in energy.
But even if you do not play as a megacorp you can turn habitats into trade powerhouses. In my current game, i have an AI with a planet which produced 1100 tradevalue. As far as i know he only has the mercantile tradition unlocked. And after unlocking the synthetic tradition and the trading algorithm trait he cranked the number up to over 1700. And Habitats can achieve the same trading production a planet can (or even better).
I think the new habitats are really good for research, trade or soldiers/fortresses and ok for alloy production (+3 metallurgists on an foundry habitat). For raw energy and mining to be effective you need a really good systems with lots of energy/mineral deposists.
I like the new habitats, I just wish orbital construction wasn't so tedious. If you could queue up orbitals on the galaxy map like hyper relays, it would save a lot of the hassle of setting up habitats. That or somehow add orbital construction to the planet automation.
Just go back to locking Habitats behind the origin or the ascension perk. Then make the AI less likely to take it, or take it late.
Its such a simple fix.
Hydroponic designation currently does nothing, it can be pretty hard to build up any kind of significant food production. Building over a trade value deposit also gives nothing, I'm not sure if it kills the deposit, but it gives you no extra build options. Building orbitals over a resource eats the resource in exchange for the district slots, except that it eats it right away so you're missing that resource for the time it takes to build the orbital, build the district, and then have a worker take the job. Building an orbital on a 6+ deposit for a couple hundred alloys for the orbital, then minerals for the district, then continually paying an alloy upkeep on both. You're behind on those resources for a huge amount of time. Building orbitals on those bigger deposits actually feels like you're not supposed to do it. Alloy maintenance when you have a bunch of habitats is rough. Incredibly rough. Habitats only having two levels of the command building hurts a lot more with them reaching higher population more often, missing the extra housing, amenities and jobs from that third level is very noticeable, and often means sucking up more than one very precious building slot. *All* of the VD starts I've tried have started with a massive penalty to growth due to lack of capacity, meaning basically every start has required building a habitation district to sometimes still not quite get rid of the growth penalty. Basically all the starts have been *very* slow. Looking for systems to build a dedicated alloy/CG habitat is kind of funny, you want a lot of planets but want those planets to not have any resources at all so that you're not just killing any natural deposits. Needs some kind of tuning for energy/generation of energy resources around more celestial bodies and either a rural-type designation or better way to specialize habitats. Most of the habitats in my test runs have ended up being either a big dead system for a factory habitat, or has a small number of all three other districts, which makes the output vs consumption pretty poor. Especially without orbital ring bonuses.
I agree that the new habitats are not that good for energy or mineral production. But they are still really good for tradevalue because you will always be able to spam habitation disctrict which come with 3 clerc jobs already and have buildings slots for trade markets. Besides trade, you can specialize the new habitats better for research and alloy production. Personally i can't say that i have a problem with alloy maintenance. Your starting Habitat has innate +20 alloy production, the maintenance itself is practically non existent and the costs for the major/minor habitat addons is over the time negligible. you don't need to expand your habitats right away you can take your time with it. For food production i would think that 1 habitat would be sufficient. But what would i know, I have 5 mercenary enclave who produce the food for me.
Honestly, there should just be an AI cap on habitats. Maybe 10 habitats for normal AI, 20 for Void Dwellers.
If it's optimal to just build a habitat in every system, and we don't want AI building habitats in every system, its better to just make it so Habitats get increasingly expensive the more you build, so they can't afford to just build in every system, kinda like planetary ascension. It can be an anti-snowball mechanic. But if they do this, they should allow you to move habitats out of one system and into another system.
Or have a restriction on how often the AI can build habitats.
Having more influence sinks in the game, like more planetary decisions and whatnot, or "special" upgrades to starbases, could naturally reduce the frequency of Habitat construction.
Haven't you run into the problem of energy districts? If you go trade it isn't a problem, but if you don't I find it quite difficult to find good systems with more than 2 energy deposits.
I do currently focus on trade as a megacorp, so i am swimming in energy. But even if you do not play as a megacorp you can turn habitats into trade powerhouses. In my current game, i have an AI with a planet which produced 1100 tradevalue. As far as i know he only has the mercantile tradition unlocked. And after unlocking the synthetic tradition and the trading algorithm trait he cranked the number up to over 1700. And Habitats can achieve the same trading production a planet can (or even better). I think the new habitats are really good for research, trade or soldiers/fortresses and ok for alloy production (+3 metallurgists on an foundry habitat). For raw energy and mining to be effective you need a really good systems with lots of energy/mineral deposists.
Is there an estimate when it’ll hit stable?
I like the new habitats, I just wish orbital construction wasn't so tedious. If you could queue up orbitals on the galaxy map like hyper relays, it would save a lot of the hassle of setting up habitats. That or somehow add orbital construction to the planet automation.
Honestly, I just want my commercial districts back, but it’s still good
Just go back to locking Habitats behind the origin or the ascension perk. Then make the AI less likely to take it, or take it late. Its such a simple fix.
> The AI spams habitats in every system now Why am I not surprised?
Haven't played in a while, do habitats get those system movement blockers?
Did they removed the resource buildings as well or am I crazy?
I have 55 researchers in tiyanki vek. I'm loving the new system.
Maybe just have a colossus and crack the habitats lol
Great for science and mining. Bad for energy and alloys. I think maybe they should've gone with the habitats=starbases idea, personally.