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[Folded]

Hey everybody!

I just started the game a few days ago and could need some advice regarding systems suited for colonization.

As I already gathered a few valuable items and have some spare credits, I feel like a should start a Colony very soon. I've been exploring a while (~ 10 constellations) and found a few class V planets, but they're all in systems with comparatively few planets and not that much resources on them.

So far I've found 3 systems that I'm not sure if they are worth colonizing or not:

1. System
 2 planets (jungle & tundra) with 100% Hazard rating, poor farmland and poor to normal resources (organics, ore, rare ore) ~ 40ly from center. besides that there are only 2 stable points in the system.

2. System
1 Plannet (Tundra) with 125% hazard rating, adequate farmland, moderate rare ore and organics and ultra rich ore. Another planet (Desert) with 150% hazard but only modarate ores and no farmland and a bunch of other planets with more than 175% hazard rating. 1 stable point. ~ 30ly from center.

3. Systems
1 Planet (Jungle) with 100% hazard, rich farmland and organics but only poor ore. there's only one other planet and one stable point in the system. ~ 40ly from center. Around that systems are a bunch of unexplored systems, so babysitting it wouldn't be a big pain since I could explore them while keeping an eye on the colony.

I've read a lot of advices on the forum and redit. Some say that you should ideally have all types of resources (there are no volatiles in any of the sectors) and around 3 colinizable planets. But other's that hazard rating is a top priority and you don't need all of the resources around. I also read that a focus on farming might be great as it wouldn't draw attention of the other factions - that's the reason I think that system 3 might be interesting as well.

What do you think? Is any of the systems worth colonizing or should I wait for a better one?

[intrinsic_parity]

There's definitely a lot of personal preference in this. Of the three, I would choose the 2nd, but I would also explore more first. Usually I try to explore all the constellations in the first ring around the core and any yellow stars or promising systems outside of that before going for colonies. Being close to the core is actually one of the biggest factors for accessibility which hugely impacts profit so I don't go for far away systems. I don't think it's practical or reliable to get good amounts of all resources in one system, but that's the dream. It's definitely worth having all resources available in-faction but they don't all need to be in the same system. I often end up with 4 colonies split between two systems. I would highly recommend at least 2 colonies per system though, it just makes defense so much easier.

I typically start two colonies at the same time or in quick succession and make sure I have enough cash to throw down defense asap. I usually have ~2 mil to go for level 2 stations and max ground defenses but that's overkill so I can safely ignore raids. I also generally start colonies very late in the game compared to other players so I don't worry to much about staying under the radar.

[KCR]

Well, my first ever colony was just a solo Terran world with 50% hazard rating (+cryosleeper in that system). After putting some money, time and effort into this colony, it started to make something like 100k or something, so basicall it was enough to go and continue exploring. So, what do i mean by this, is that all resources in one system is nice, but not always necessary. You can find some lucky spot and raise to max, and then you can go and find places to fill in empty resources stocks. So, i would pick third variant.

[Serenitis]

I've read a lot of advices on the forum and redit. Some say that you should ideally have all types of resources (there are no volatiles in any of the sectors) and around 3 colinizable planets. But other's that hazard rating is a top priority and you don't need all of the resources around. I also read that a focus on farming might be great as it wouldn't draw attention of the other factions

A lot of it comes down to preference. In the end it doesn't really matter if you are happy with the result.

Having all reources allows you to get the maximum amount of upkeep reduction, but isn't necessary at all.
Your colonies will import what they don't have access to 'locally' from other factions and work just fine.
My preference is to have all resources in a single system, but that doesn't mean you have to do that.

Hazard rating is not really worth worrying about too much. Anywhere which is 'habitable' will be perfectly fine for a low-effort colony that produces a profit.
In the last version (0.8 ) hazard rating was absolutely critical and would override every other consideration as it was possible to have colonies on even moderately harsh worlds become huge money sinks just for existing once developed.
The current version (0.9) is much more relaxed about it, to the point that resources and location are (imo) far more important than hazard.
In the current game it is possible with minimal effort to make a profitable colony on a 300% world.
That being said hazard is still somewhat important because the lower it is the faster your population grows, so you may want to consider that.

Farming is an excellent choice for an early start to industry.
It doesn't require anything other than a planet with suitable land and small amount of starting funds.
After that it just produces a steady income which, as mentioned doesn't attract much in the way of attention.
Also, it doesn't matter about the 'quality' of the farmland, as even the worst (-1) will provide enough food for that colony to feed itself, and any other smaller colonies.

[IonDragonX]

I'd take any one of those. You have great luck!.

I already gathered a few valuable items and have some spare credits,

I hope that "some spare credits" is about 1M. IIRC, you'll need 100K for the farm, 250K for the Patrol HQ, 250K for the Orbital Station and 100K for the growth incentives. Also, build a Com Sat immediately with 100 metal, 5 heavy machinery and 10 transplutonics.

[Mordodrukow]

In each run i m trying to colonise planets with 175% or less hazard rating. 200 is little too much, but still can be profitable ifit has good resources.

For resources: you need to check what resources planet has. Resource bonus is nice to have, but is not nessessary at all. For example, having normal organic, normal transplutonics and +1 common ore is more valuable than having only +3 trasplutonics.

Also you need to check the number of stable locations, cause you need at least one for comm relay. Difference between system with comm relay and without it is 2 stability. It is ok to live without it, because you can get around 13 anyway, but extra +2 gives you some opportunities, like: allowing freeport, dont bothering about ludd cells and having colonies over your limit. If you are using alphas as admins it is not important, ofc.

Also, it is very good if the system has its own relay, because it gives better bonus.

The last factor is the distance to the core worlds. It gives you some access bonus. Difference between the system right into the center and the system on the halfway to the border on the normal size map is around 20-30%. It is nice, because it is extra money. But what is more important: if you have colony near the core, you will spend less time and fuel reaching it. On the other hand: you will want to travel to the borders anyway, so, you will want colonies closer to the borders to perform an outpost role.

So, in my regular run i have 7 colonies (3 myself +4 admins), trying to get spots closer to the halfway to the borders on the circle around the core, sometimes trading resorce quality, because big colony will have nice production anyway (also you can use alpha core and skill for +2 bonus). I rarely allow freeport, but try to have 1 or 2, because of "medicine" in-faction demand.

What planet to colonise first? Well, it is pure random any time. I had one run when i spent a lot of time trying to find satisfying planet. All your planets are pretty good. In your example i d pick 2nd variant and colonise only tundra.

[bobucles]

Mining worlds are good first picks. Look for planets with 3 or more mining types, they all multiply into the same industry. They're easy to set up and can pay for themselves very quickly and even if they fall, the investment was cheap.

Low hazard worlds are more important for setting up industry. Light industry, heavy industry and fuel refining all have daunting upkeep. These belong on low hazard worlds, which also tend to lack resources worth mining. They are much more expensive to set up, but building defenses will make them take even longer to pay off so it's a very long term investment.

[DDwarrirofire]

Just as a useful note because I didn't know this for some time.

Max values
Farmland +1
Organic +2 (mining)
Volital +2 (mining)
Ores +3 (mining)

In my case I hunted for systems with a lot planets.  I didn't care if they had everything,  I just wanted to make a self sufficient fortress system.

Lucked out and found an 8 planet red star system with 2 stable points,  +3 ores, 0 organics, -1 farmland and 0 volital. Became a 7 planet mecha of fleets that murder all who trespass. 20+ fleets flying around.

Even got luckier and found a +1 farming, +2 organic and +2volital in a nearby system.  So I can supply my entire factions needs except for drugs.

Hell even a low hazard world with no resources can be profitable so you have options.   Pirates could be a thing though still.

[Folded]

Thanks a lot for all your answers! That input is really helpful and now I feel really confident about starting a first colony =)

I acctually found a system which I considere an even better pick:

1. Terran World with rich farmland and 125% hazard rating
2. arid world with +3 on rare ore +2 on ore and organics, 175% hazard rating

And it's even closer to the core.

[Goumindong]

What do you think? Is any of the systems worth colonizing or should I wait for a better one?

In general there is a minimum requirement to colonize

Min Requirement:
One Stable Point
Resources You want to use

You need one stable point in order to get a communications hub, which is worth, i think 3 points of stability(+1 for owning it, +2 for it being there). Its possible to stabilize systems without it but its a lot harder.

The first system you colonize should have at least

One stable point
+ 0 Farmland

This is because food shortages are the worst of all the shortages and farming has no inputs. You just get food out. Its also hard to trigger expeditions based on food because lots of places farm. Additionally

An ideal system for colonization has

2+ stable points with one or more domain era satellite.
Every resource in at least +0. You need a +0 resource to supply an even size colony. A -1 resource will leave you in shortage unless you have an input reduction method (skills or AI cores) or one of your input planets is smaller than the rest.
3+ Planets. You need at least 2 planets in order to get all of the possible industry but 3+ planets will get you to the "big 7" much faster than anything else and because some industry may need to be duplicated(you only get the resources you can mine, so you need mining on every planet that has a unique resource). The big six being Farming, Mining, refining, light industry, heavy industry, military, and fuel. Commerce and tech mining are unnecessary (though tech mining is a good thing to do for your first year or so of a secondary colony and a good thing for a second industry to be replaced on your first colony) though commerce is nice just because you can now dump all the chaff you don't need.

-----

You can spread your resources out among different systems but every system you add "needs" its own military base (patrol can be sufficient if the planet is not a significant target) and if there are shipping disruptions you can more easily break your supply chain

[Serenitis]

Every resource in at least +0. You need a +0 resource to supply an even size colony. A -1 resource will leave you in shortage unless you have an input reduction method (skills or AI cores) or one of your input planets is smaller than the rest.

Farming is the exception.
Even a -1 will let you fully feed the farming world, plus any smaller colonies with zero skills or items.
(Population requires size-1 food. -1 Farm produces size-1 food.)

And the farming world is overwhelmingly likely to be your first, lowest hazard, and therefore your largest colony. So it's only in the most outlying situations (like making your 1st colony NOT on the habitable world) you ever have to worry about farmland quality.

And as mentioned, farming doesn't have very burdensome inputs - nothing until size 4 (i think), and then a small amount of machinery.
So it's ideal for early colonies, which further cements the farming world being the largest colony by virtue of the headstart it gets coupled with the reduced hazard from the habitable condition (which is required for farmland).

[Plantissue]

I don't care about resource as a minimum requirement. I trust that my colonies will be kept supplied by imports. Certainly I want all the resources and with as high a resource as posible, but not for the reasons to self supply, but because you need at least one of every resource to gain access to sell to that market. If you don't have a source of food, you simply lack the profits from being part of the food market. To be honest I can't say I've noticed when difference in income when goods are imported in from ouside as opposed to in-faction or produced on the colony itself.

Perhaps it is market upkeep modifier, which is a mystery to me how it is calculated. For example I lets say I have 2 of stability 10 world of hazard 175% and Industrial planning 3, but one has Market upkeep modifier of 1.18 and the other has 1.15 and I can't work out why they would be different.

[DDwarrirofire]

I don't care about resource as a minimum requirement. I trust that my colonies will be kept supplied by imports. Certainly I want all the resources and with as high a resource as posible, but not for the reasons to self supply, but because you need at least one of every resource to gain access to sell to that market. If you don't have a source of food, you simply lack the profits from being part of the food market. To be honest I can't say I've noticed when difference in income when goods are imported in from ouside as opposed to in-faction or produced on the colony itself.

Perhaps it is market upkeep modifier, which is a mystery to me how it is calculated. For example I lets say I have 2 of stability 10 world of hazard 175% and Industrial planning 3, but one has Market upkeep modifier of 1.18 and the other has 1.15 and I can't work out why they would be different.

If I remember correctly supplying your colonies needs in fraction reduces the upkeep of your structures.   Up to 50%.  Upkeep being effected by player skill,  planet hazard and in faction supply. 

More impactful if you have high hazard/high upkeep industries

[IonDragonX]

I actually found a system which I consider an even better pick:
1. Terran world with rich farmland and 125% hazard rating
2. Arid world with +3 on rare ore +2 on ore and organics, 175% hazard rating
And it's even closer to the core.

You have stupendous luck! Take good care of that system!

What is the game seed? I'd like to have a go in that sector.

[Plantissue]

I don't care about resource as a minimum requirement. I trust that my colonies will be kept supplied by imports. Certainly I want all the resources and with as high a resource as posible, but not for the reasons to self supply, but because you need at least one of every resource to gain access to sell to that market. If you don't have a source of food, you simply lack the profits from being part of the food market. To be honest I can't say I've noticed when difference in income when goods are imported in from ouside as opposed to in-faction or produced on the colony itself.

Perhaps it is market upkeep modifier, which is a mystery to me how it is calculated. For example I lets say I have 2 of stability 10 world of hazard 175% and Industrial planning 3, but one has Market upkeep modifier of 1.18 and the other has 1.15 and I can't work out why they would be different.

If I remember correctly supplying your colonies needs in fraction reduces the upkeep of your structures.   Up to 50%.  Upkeep being effected by player skill,  planet hazard and in faction supply. 

More impactful if you have high hazard/high upkeep industries

I'm sure it does, as everybody writes it, but I am saying that market upkeep modifier is opaque. Where do you go to see if indeed 50% upkeep is occuring and why? How is this communicated to the player? Where in the game is this information communicated?