When do you ....

[Archonon]

When do you find (turn wise) it is a good time to map out planets that will be industrial powerhouses?

Do you have a minimum size for these planets? I usually look for 7+ as I never play a gas-giant race.

My style works around letting the game manage all 5 and below sized planets while I work the 7+. I look at 6s to make up shortages I create by remapping 7+ size planets.

Anyone know the pop count required to full run an industry DEA? Or, what 1.00 unit really equates to?

[Strifeguard]

The population required to run DEAs increases with each improvement added to the DEA.

Industry DEAs have a base requirement of 1.00 pop (This is the same as 1 unit of pop in the population readout on the Planets screen. When a planet has 24/38 population that's the same as saying the planet has 24.00 population units)

Clicking on the various improvements will tell you the population they require. Thus when Automated Factories say "DEA Employees Required for 100% Production: 0.75" it means that adding Automated Factories will increase the population required to run that particular Industry DEA by .75 pop. Industry improvements are more population intensive than other improvements, meaning that an Industry DEA might require 3.00+ units of Pop to fully man with only 2 or 3 improvements.

As for when I usually start planning out which planets will be my industrial giants...never.

I let industrial giants happen to me, not the other way around. Basically, everytime I see that my empire is running inefficiently (i.e. running a surplus in food/minerals) I scan through my highest population worlds and convert them into industrial planets, regardless of size/climate/race/etc. Granted, as the game progresses, my highest pop worlds gradually become larger and larger, but around turn 100 it's not unusual for me to be giving a great deal of attention to size 5 and 6 worlds with 20+ pop.

As for what turn I start the process, it's usually around turn 30, when the first mining/farming tech kicks in and I have some tools to play with.