colonization distance

[b_ace]

Sorry, last question- what colonization distance do most people play on? I am looking for a slower expansionary game, and might try a 1 sector limit. But I was wondering if this might be too restrictive?

[Retreat1970]

You could also try lowering the colony slider to scattered. Independants too. Lowering the colony distance is fine too. You will depend on independants more to expand, or other colonization tech.

[Aeson]

Just be warned that, especially on larger galaxy sizes (size as in sector count, not star count), low colonization range limits can seriously hamper or prevent expansion, that the computer factions are affected by the range limit, and that the computer is less capable of properly dealing with the range limits than you are. A one-sector range limit is probably too low even for the smallest galaxy if you're using 400 stars, or perhaps even the larger star counts. You're probably better off keeping the colonization range limit up around two or so and just limiting the number of available habitable worlds.

Other ways to limit early expansion include playing species that natively inhabit the less good or less common colony types (especially if you combine this with a rule saying that you can only found a colony using your starting species), use lower star counts on larger maps, play a pre-warp start and put off researching the Gerax Hyperdrive, or keep the number of independents low (this means that new additions to your empire are more likely to be newly founded colonies that are essentially worthless to your economy for a fairly long time, rather than independents with populations generally at least 10 times greater than newly founded colonies, and which are therefore more worth taxing).