Variably Assembler/Manufactory:Very good buildings, the incentive of finding new stuff while exploring ruins is great and these buildings are either a good filler for a free spot or a good industry in it's own right respectively. The only downside is that since chips are found in ruins, i can take a while to get some of the rare ones or it is possible to not get a rare one at all, still the common ones are good enough.
9/10Commodity Forge:I don't really use this since i don't like the idea of destroying my chips for extra resources. Resources come and go all the time, but production chips are unique. Never really been in a situation where i DESPERATELY need lots of a specific resource in a quick influx that i can't get any other way and just blowing up my chips for no reason is silly, even if i have 20 of the each.
NA/10Military/Interstellar Relays:Perfect, great, would be broken but you still have to devote a colony slot to it on each colony you want this to take effect, and colony slots with this mod installed are precious. Keep in mind that, contrary to what i was told before, this WILL NOT make your patrol hq suddenly sport detachments and these same buildings are still limited by their number of patrols they can field, so it is not a replacement for high commands at all.
(yeah, i was basically lied to, but whatever.) The one weird thing about this is that 2-3 systems later, the tooltip will struggle to tell you which planet originates the bonus as they all start giving seemingly random sources.
10/10Centralization Bureau:The effect is cool and desirable in certain scenarios but the way i have set things up is a building that i don't use, simply because i run out of space and this is a low priority building in my list. But i can see someone else taking advantage of it. As a bit of trivia, this does not increase the yield for Volturnian Lobster in Volturn.
(i've tried) 8/10Salvage Yards:I've used this for a long time in conflict rich systems and i just don't see it's purpose... It takes up an industry slot, it's dependent on war, but unlike the Privateer Base, it's a very minimal benefit and in one instance it made a "ghost colony" on my colony list. There's better industry out there and this is low priority.
6/10Supercomputer:Wonderful, you just pop ai cores and your system generates more cash,
AWESOME. To get the most out of it thought you still gotta sacrifice Alphas, but Betas and Gammas still give a benefit and long term the monetary benefit is way bigger compared to selling them to another faction.
9/10Embassy:These are good, almost to the point that they are broken. If you build several embassies and put a representative from half of the factions that you are into conflict with, you basically are inmune to wars and get free roam to develop. The downside is that you are not in any wars, so you're Privateer Base becomes idle. This is the one building that i think needs a nerf.
8/10Senate:Indispensable on every system, thought not all edicts are useful. I'll make a separate window to review each edict:
Spoiler
Forced Labour: I don't understand why would you ever want to reduce your colony growth and stability for mere upkeep, if you can't afford the upkeep of your planet you have worse problems that this won't resolve.
Forced Relocation: Seems useful, but the system wide unrest is a very harsh punishment. I'd rather use Growth Reinvestment instead.
Industrial Incentives: Depending on what industries you have, it can be worthwhile to opt for this edict, more resources is always better.
Labour Restrictions: Can have it's uses if you have a colony dedicated to military only or you desperately need stability.
Growth Reinvestment: The best edict BY A MILE, this will make sure that the colony is always full on growth investments... as long as it's generating some profit. Saves a lot of micromanagement once your empire gets bigger.
Subpopulation Cleansing: Never used it because Boggled's Military Police Headquarters are a thing and it doesn't cause massive unrest either, pretty bad edict but your only choice if you don't have Boggled's terraforming mod.
Wartime Lockdown: If you don't have enough patrols on your system and IF you don't have enough military budget and/or credits for a Defense Fleet (Nex) then i guess this would be useful.
Customs Control: I don't use it but it can bump your main colony with a huge access bonus in exchange for some minor penalty on the rest. Useful and relatively harmless.
Hard Deadlines: It is beyond me how is it considered worth it to sacrifice your ship quality for anything, really. Go for industrial Incentives if you want extra output.
Even with all it's imperfections, it is a
MUST HAVE on every system for Growth Reinvestment alone.
10/10Restoration Docks: You only really need one, ever. but it can save you a lot of cash if you're struggling with it. Once you're empire is set and money start coming in it becomes less important, but it's always there and it doesn't take an industry slot and you only need one ever, so it's good.
8/10Privateer Base:Very important to have and it enables "raiding" for your faction. My only gripe with it is that i wish the blueprints it got from a faction were completely randomized instead of the current "randomized between blueprints you don't have", which is how vanilla does it, don't get me wrong but it would be nice to have the ability to change it. In the best case scenario i wish it was somehow tied to Nex's:
"nex_raidBPOnlyUnlearned":false,
But i understand that's wishful thinking.
9/10Academy:It is perfect if you don't use Better Colonies. With it, it's just "almost perfect" due to how that mod changes the tiers. Tiers one and three from that mod become somewhat useless. Also it's effect of increasing the chances of spawning more officers and admins just doesn't work with that mod on the way as the spawn will become the same as with any other planet without an academy. Either way, it is a very valuable building to have.
10/10 alone,
8/10 with Better Colonies
Requisitions Center:I rarely use it, but if you want more weapons it's an ok stock to browse, although it is a very small stock. It's good for flavor and you only really need one, ever.
7/10Engineering Hub:This is a MASSIVELY GREAT building
on paper. I can see what this wants me to do, you either scavenge ships of buy them through alliance/commission, you reverse engineer and BOOM profit, right? Unfortunately it is not as hassle free; you need several of that ship to get the desirable result, which is understandable, but you also need a blueprint of the same size to overwrite, this is tricky because in a lot of cases you are better off selling said blueprint at the Prism Freeport and since Privateers can only bring blueprints you don't know you are better off just learning those instead of overwriting. I've tried this thinking that i could just research some super rare ship until i realize it's just better to wait for my privateer to bring it to me or just raid it myself. This only works if you're a pacifist or don't want the Privateers Base or the Prism Freeport, but in that case you are giving up a lot of mechanics just for one building.
6/10Courier Port:AWFUL! The mod pushes the idea of "immersion" by giving you the ability to micromanage your deliveries. I understand that the menu was done as best as it could've possibly been made, but it is NOT ENOUGH; It is janky and awkward to set up a delivery correctly. It needs to go back to the drawing board as it is undone. So far, the best feature this building provides is that i can turn it and it's functionalities off. The only real positive of this is that at least it's trying something new.
3/10What about the derelict industries?I can't comment on those because i haven't used them, it's not that i think they are bad, but resources and location are more important factors in my decision making. It would have to be a GODLIKE bonus for me to consider setting up on a crappy system just because of one industry. Maybe it is a GODLIKE bonus in those industries and i'll never know... Eh
NA/10Conclusion:Overall, the mod is great and it gives you plenty of tools to shape your empire however you want and the fact that some mods implement some of these buildings really speaks of it's impact in the community. I was skeptical at first when using it, having too many buildings cluttering your list, but now i really like it.
Thanks for reading all this and sorry it wasn't all "pleasantries". I tried to give as objective of a review as i could on the way i use these this mod. But since i'm not being nice i guess this will be ignored into oblivion... oh well. I guess i can wait until people quote the negatives just to tell me how much of a mad care bear i am.
