Magnate races...

Okay, so I'm sure this is gonna get me one of those "lazy gamer" comments, but I'm a bit lost as to just what they are and what their function is. I mean, I understand the point that they're remnants of races that no longer have space-travel technology, but beyond that, I don't understand what they do in game terms. I colonized a world with a magnate species (with my second colony ship, no less) and apparently I don't actually have a colony there yet, because while the world's name has turned green (my color) and the % of the magnate species has gone from 100% to like 89%, the name of the planet is in lowercase and I can't do anything with it. I'm very confused.

In the interests of finding things out for myself, I entered the word "magnate" in the encyclopedia search and got nothing, and I searched these forums with the word "magnate" and got a bazillion returns but nothing that seemed to help. There is one thread about magnates and migration, but that's more about the in-depth mechanics of how the computer determines which worlds get a magnate civilization. All I need to know right now is how do I deal with them in terms of colonization.

[FurionStormrage]

1) Keep sending colony ships until the world turns from lower case to upper case. A lower case name for a system means you have an outpost there instead of a colony.

2) The magnate civilizations can add bonuses to your race. For instance, if you have a race whose ground combat bonuses suck and you get a magnate race whose ground combat stats are great, then you can build superior ground troops from your magnate civilization.

If that doesn't answer all your questions, feel free to ask more!

EDIT: And the in-game encyclopedia is worthless. Go to the Fan Modifications forum and download StormHawk's Encyclopedia mod. It combines a lot of the different strategies and the fan speculations on various things and places it all in one spot.

[Ron_Lugge]

A) Magnates are very nice. generally, they prefer to inhabit planets that your own race considers less-than-optimal, and will allow you to get better populations on those planets. Once you get a magnate, use it to back-fill your empire (Use it to colonize planets that it finds green, while your own race finds it yellow 1 or below.

B) On any planet that isnt green or higher to your race, only a portion of a colony ship's personell will survive. Because of this, you will only get an outpost.

Originally posted by Ron_Lugge
B) On any planet that isnt green or higher to your race, only a portion of a colony ship's personell will survive. Because of this, you will only get an outpost.

** DAMMIT!!! ** This is exactly the sort of thing that is missing from the stupid manual. I agree that the thing is good at setting up the game in terms of backstory - very good, in fact. But if the manual were to go in-depth about any part of the game, then I would have thought that colonization would be that part.

Anyway, thanks; that makes a huge difference.

Originally posted by FurionStormrage
EDIT: And the in-game encyclopedia is worthless. Go to the Fan Modifications forum and download StormHawk's Encyclopedia mod. It combines a lot of the different strategies and the fan speculations on various things and places it all in one spot.

Thanks, I will. I take it that this mod only modifies the Encyclopedia?

[StormHawk]

Originally posted by Turling
Thanks, I will. I take it that this mod only modifies the Encyclopedia?

Correct. No change in gameplay at all. It just makes all the information you need available at the click of a button. (maybe a few clicks )

I'm pretty sure it even works in multiplayer (I haven't tested it presonally, but it should as the game only checks spreadsheets AFAIK)

[Wainamoinen]

Originally posted by Ron_Lugge
B) On any planet that isnt green or higher to your race, only a portion of a colony ship's personell will survive. Because of this, you will only get an outpost.

For reference, you'll need two colony ships for a yellow, four for a red.

Alternatively, just send one colony ship (or even an outpost ship) and then "set migration" (in Planets screen, or Forces tab in the system view) to the planet until sufficient new colonists have arrived to take the numbers of your guys above 1000 (the threshold to gain colony status).

N.B. When a planet is marked as a red, that's for your base race. If you get a magnate (as others have implied), their planetary preferences will be different, and any colony ships constructed on planets where the magnate race is in a majority will land colonists from the magnate race, so the range of planets you can productively exploit increases.

Originally posted by Wainamoinen
For reference, you'll need two colony ships for a yellow, four for a red.

Would there be any point in designing colony ships with two colony pods? Or would that even be possible?

Originally posted by Wainamoinen
Alternatively, just send one colony ship (or even an outpost ship) and then "set migration" (in Planets screen, or Forces tab in the system view) to the planet until sufficient new colonists have arrived to take the numbers of your guys above 1000 (the threshold to gain colony status).

Is this an excruciatingly long process?

Originally posted by Wainamoinen
N.B. When a planet is marked as a red, that's for your base race. If you get a magnate (as others have implied), their planetary preferences will be different, and any colony ships constructed on planets where the magnate race is in a majority will land colonists from the magnate race, so the range of planets you can productively exploit increases.

Interesting. How would I know which colony ship is which once they are built? Are they marked as such in some way?

[Wainamoinen]

Originally posted by Turling
Would there be any point in designing colony ships with two colony pods? Or would that even be possible?

Yes, it's possible, and yes it might well make sense. Less extra stuff to pay for per colony pod, but it would take longer to build than a single.

Originally posted by Turling
Is this an excruciatingly long process?

Depends. If you've planets suffering overpopulation and you set migration to a planet that's green for the race, you can get thousands per turn.
If it's early on so population is sparse, and you try to set migration to a red, they'll be slower. maybe 50-100ish a turn, there's a random element to the actual number. How long depends on how many turn up, and how many started there, to reach the magic 1000.
N.B. If a colony is blockaded or starving, it's population can drop below 1000 for a while without reverting to outpost status. Not sure of the precise numbers though.

Originally posted by Turling
Interesting. How would I know which colony ship is which once they are built? Are they marked as such in some way?

The race of the colony ship is marked in your reserves in the patched version of the game - I find that once I create a colony taskforce with a magnate colony ship, it's simplest if I just name the TF "MrrCol" or whatever so I can tell which colony TF has the Mrrshan colony ship.

If you go to planets screen, select by Terraform Zone, and view by (whatever the magnate race is), you can check out the magnate's top picks of available planets.

(Sudden mental image of Mrrshan couple looking in estate agent's window - "I dunno dear. Do you really think Alpha Crucis III is our sort of planet? And what about the neighbours, I hear they're awfully rowdy?")

Would there be any point in designing colony ships with two colony pods? Or would that even be possible?

Yes, there definetly is. But for two pods, you need a battlecruiser IIRC. So it will be more expensive to build one, Especially in the early game.

Is this an excruciatingly long process?

Depends on the planet and how far you are in the game. Can take between 1 to more then 20 turns. Note that other races can send colony ships to that planet in the meantime. At that moment it will become a race to get that 1K population first

Interesting. How would I know which colony ship is which once they are built? Are they marked as such in some way?

When you build a colony taskforce, in the taskforce creation screen, it will show the race between brackets after the shipname. Like "Colony3(Alkari)".

Thanks! That's exactly the kind of thing I needed to know.