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Hi Guys (and gals )

What are the benefits of colonising independent worlds ? I was playing the Sluken and colonised some Dhayuts and after a while I noticed I seemed to be able colonise desert worlds without having to research the tech...

This didn't seem to happen instantly. Only after playing for a while did I notice that I seemed to gain the ability to colonise other types of planets than I could playing as the Sluken.

So firstly - why didn't it happen instantly (does the Dhayut population have to grow above a certain threshold or something?) Secondly, are there other benefits to colonising independent worlds ?

Thanks!

The benefits are you have more population to tax, you take the colony off the available list for the other empires

Above 500 million population the planet may build colony ships and colonise planet types you do not have the tax for

The main driver of your empires income is population taxes so any chance to gain population easy should be taken

Only colonies of population greater than 500 million can build colony ships. I would guess your new Dhayut colony was a bit below that when first colonised but grew over the threshold. Note that you will only be able to colonise different types of worlds (without having researched the appropriate technology) with colony ships built at colonies of races who have that world as their native type (=desert for Dhayut). Colony ships built at your other colonies still cannot colonise desert worlds...

An additional benefit can also be that you acquire some racial bonuses from the race which joins your empire. There are population thresholds for this which I am not entirely clear on but you need a certain minimum population to get them and then they scale up to a maximum which might be if that race reaches 20% of the population of your empire, I think. Only some racial bonuses can be acquired by your empire in this manner.

But the biggest benefit of adding an independent world (apart from being able to possibly colonise new types of worlds from it) is the added population, particularly early on. It means that your new colony becomes quickly or immediately financially viable (if you wish to tax them).

Hope that's all not too vague for you. [:)]

Thanks guys !

That's perfectly clear.

Plus some of those other races make great troops. Generally, the more mean and nasty the race is, the better their basic troop strength is. [;)]

ORIGINAL: Shark7

Plus some of those other races make great troops. Generally, the more mean and nasty the race is, the better their basic troop strength is. [;)]

Yes the above is paramount if your playing a weak troop race such as the Teekan/Securan etc.

IIRC The Naxillian and Mortalen are great troops as standard.

Independent worlds will also sometimes give you additional money, research or exploration locations when they join your empire.

Regards,

- Erik

Erik, will they do it only when joining peacefully? Or invading will also provide those bonuses?

Only when joining peacefully, IIRC.

Regards,

- Erik

I invaded a wekkarus independent colony near my homeworld in my present game to hinder them become a fully fledged empire.

Some time i stombled upon the the space port construction yard that I build on the planet. All my facilities had 300 construction speed at that time, except the wekkarus one, which had 330.

Is this anywhere documented, a bug or did I missed something about the wekkarus?
 

The Wekkarus get a 10% bonus to construction speed at Ocean worlds. I think it is documented both in the race selection screen and in the race section of the Galactopedia. Certainly not a bug. [:)]

It sounds like the benefits of having independant worlds join you is similar to having minor races join your Federation in "Birth of the Federation." Is this mostly the case? Thanks in advance.

ORIGINAL: Marshall Thomas

It sounds like the benefits of having independant worlds join you is similar to having minor races join your Federation in "Birth of the Federation." Is this mostly the case? Thanks in advance.

In short, yes. [:)]


There are IMO only two main differences between how minor races in BOTF work and independent worlds in DW:

1.) Getting independents into your DW is more of a crapshoot -- while the game gives you the odds, there's still no real way to know ahead of time whether they'll join your empire peacefully (when you attempt to colonize them), or if they throw you out (at which point your only other option is to invade).

2.) If you have the option enabled, they can become empires in their own right (in Distant Worlds).