The math on support districts

[krossbow7]

Has anyone got a really good breakdown of these? I find them to be really interesting ideas, but haven’t seen any big threads discussing them, compared to a lot of threads on automation or other energy to output options.

Honestly, unless you have an excess of planets, they seem hard to justify, as you need a second planet specialized to that resource to offset the increased researcher cost, and you could have just built another city district for more researchers anyways for additional output, without upping the researcher upkeep.

 

[Sweeze]

Yeah I don't see the value. The problem is that +10% output doesn't really scale that well. If you have 10 city districts and 10 agriculture districts with +100% output, you could have just made 20 city districts instead with 100% more jobs (yes I know the support districts add 50 jobs but that's kind of a joke). Meanwhile +2.5 base upkeep per researcher scales really horribly. You'd need either a huge amount of repeatables to make base resources truly unlimited, a very small population actually working while you get your base resources from non-pop sources, or a really huge upkeep reduction bonus.

 

[krossbow7]

Yeah I don't see the value. The problem is that +10% output doesn't really scale that well. If you have 10 city districts and 10 agriculture districts with +100% output, you could have just made 20 city districts instead with 100% more jobs (yes I know the support districts add 50 jobs but that's kind of a joke). Meanwhile +2.5 base upkeep per researcher scales really horribly. You'd need either a huge amount of repeatables to make base resources truly unlimited, a very small population actually working while you get your base resources from non-pop sources, or a really huge upkeep reduction bonus.

I think it’d have a niche if the miner’s debuff was a static minus to mineral production instead of a % reduction in job efficiency, as well as mixing the super high researcher upkeep bonus.

Then it’d be useful for if you find a planet with rare resources (like Crystals or motes, but didn’t want it for minerals: you’d have a way to harvest rare resources without impacting your research output for the planet.

 

[Sweeze]

I feel like the debuff could just be removed. You're already penalized by both not having the resource bonus of the other specialization and the penalty for researchers.

 

[durecellrabbit]

I ended up in a energy deficit because I built too much support districts and had to demolish half of them. The increase in upkeep cost is really rough if you are not prepared for it. I've been doing just 1 in each resource for the extra building slots.

The support districts for basic resources seems a lot easier to manage as the upkeep isn't as bad and it's 20% with the option to double it. I've usually been going 5 city districts with 2 supports. Not sure what to optimal ratio is.

 

[BookHermit]

The best use I can think of is a wide build where you are settling a small world and don't plan to use the Urban districts anyways, like you are just building one of the resource extraction types on a world, using that world designation, and then using the two Urban spec slots into the support districts for whatever resource you are extracting. Especially if that planet has a deposit where workers of that type are kicking out a rare resource too.

But the Resource districts with the Research support specs... I am really really trying to make them work in a game I have on pause right now and I think I am going to have to throw in the towel on them. The bonuses just don't quite feel like they offset the costs. Maybe if I had a spare world with spare population to use to cover for the added costs and lower resources or maybe much later in the game (I am still in the 2250s right now) when I've gotten more +% output techs done to counter the penalty, but it isn't working for me right now.

In context, I am trying a tall build and was trying to use them to push my research output even higher but the higher upkeep and reduced resources are instead pushing things into a lot of micro to lean on trade to cover short falls. (Also, doesn't help that my Worker population jumps between jobs like a game of musical chairs every month at the pop growth click as civilians convert up and my outputs are bouncing all over the place.)

They are a neat idea, but it feels like either it's intended for a use case that I don't see myself playing or the balance on them is just a little off in some way.

 

[Sweeze]

They are a neat idea

I agree, I like the idea of more specializations caring about planetary deposits rather than just spamming city districts on any old world. If these specializations were good then there would be a lot more thinking involved in what planets I specialize where.

 

[Eddi]

i tend to use the "just have one district to unlock the building slots" approach, then you can have some research buildings in the science support districts, leaving some room for generic research labs in the city districts.

• energy district has 3 buildings: physics lab, storm lab, astral
• mining district has 2 buildings: engineering lab, augmentation center
• farming district has 1 building: biology lab

 

[Revengeance_oov]

Science support districts are worthwhile (in the right ratio!) if you have the Discovery Traditions, designation, and bonuses. The default trade of resources to science is not worth it, but if the upkeep is discounted it becomes so.

For resource support, assuming both urban districts are dedicated to support, you can calculate the optimal allocation with calculus; omitting the math, the formula for optimal output is:

D_r = 1.25 + 0.5*N
D_s = N - D_r

Where D_r is the number of resource districts, D_s is the number of support districts, and N is the total number of districts on the planet. Or, if you prefer, build 4 resource districts, then 1 support, and then 1 additional support for every 2 additional resource districts.

 

[ainwood]

Am I missing something? I'm finding them really powerful, and the support costs are fairly trivial (the energy districts (in this example) still produce a solid amount of energy).

I'm not even optimising this... no planet or sector governor even, lots of spare districts I can build.

 

[Abdulijubjub]

(to use generators and physics as an example)

Generator support districts are quite powerful. Each generator support district adds an effect to your technicians that adds 1.6 energy in exchange for -0.67 trade. That's generally a good trade. With the boosting building it becomes even better (2.0 energy). Gestalt's trade generation jobs are only powerful when you can use the amenities though, so gestalts aren't as good at bulk generating trade. They may not want to use them.

And, of course, megacorps should be swimming in trade; for them support is basically free resources. Also, for Anglers, +20% is literally +0.4 trade, so they basically don't even pay trade upkeep.

Research support districts are a bit iffier, though. When they first start out, they're creating 0.6 physics for -2.5 energy. That's a terrible trade. Do not build them when you first get them. But when you throw in a Research World designation, Discovery traditions, and their support buildings, it eventually becomes 0.1*(6+2+2)=1.0 physics for -2.5*(1-0.2-0.2-0.2)=-1.0 energy. And that's a good trade.

The research support districts also have something else going for them: they let you cram more research onto the planet, by letting you move the physics/engineering/society buildings out into their respect generator/mining/farming districts, freeing up 3 building slots. That can make them work building exactly one, before you get enough upkeep reduction to make it worthwhile to scale them.

tl;dr: Generator Support district is good, except for gestalt. Research support starts bad, but later becomes good.