Solar Plant: How high do you go?

    It's no secret that the Solar Plant scales quite poorly in terms of ROI with respect to Energy. Yet this topic focuses on how far you will go before you stop upgrading your Solar Plants. Do you stop at level 25? Level 30? When do you stop and do you use Fusion Plants in an active capacity or purely as a Reserve source if Solar Sats are destroyed. Discuss ;)


    As for me, I'm an old timer returning for Lifeforms and aim to try something rather unorthadox. Namely, my goal is to try and see if I can't obtain Graviton without building 1 Solar Satellite to do so. In other words, 300k Energy from just Solar Plant + Fusion Plant. Going to be an insane long-term ride that may not be even possible but perhaps it can be done with Lifeform Technology(notably Rock'Tal) and perhaps Lifeform Buildings(although my goal is to not use Rock'Tal or Mecha if I can help it for Energy Boosts). I also aim to not use Collector Class, Engineer or any Energy Items to achieve the goal. It will purely be from Infrastructure and Energy Research. I hope to see a new universal Energy Structure someday but who knows when or if that day will come.


    If I wasn't going for an unorthadox goal, I'd probably stop building them around level 30 since Solar Sats are just too cost effective at that point, particularly with the Lifeform Research making them that much better.

    In a non-lifeforms uni level 30 max unless you're in slot 1 for a crystal production planet then probably level 32 but afterwards its so much rez to build its not worth it because the output is still not enough to warrant the cost.

    Zapdar :pardon:

    Yeah that's the thing I learned years ago was that the ROI on the Solar Plant was just not worth it when you got Solar Sats producing a fixed amount of Energy for a fraction of the cost. I mean sure losing them sucks and is especially aggravating that you have to build/activate a Fusion Plant to keep the lights on while they're replaced but I think after 20 years, these old Energy relics may need some sprucing up considering they added Lifeforms and their corresponding Energy demands into the equation(balance has shifted). Back then I stopped at 25 when I started having to spend 1kk+ Metal for 690 Energy when 20 Solar Sats at the same location yielded roughly the same amount of Energy for a fraction of the cost. I mean when the Solar Plant is barely able to meet the Energy needs of Metal + Crystal at the same level(30/30/30 for example) but has nothing left in the tank for Deuterium that it needs some rebalancing(aka outright buff) to make it worth building into the 30's/40's. Ditto Fusion Plant beyond level 15, although the effects of Energy Technology certainly do help it(which is something the Solar Plant simply does not have and why I'll never know).

    no fusion for me i go slot 8 for my planets. when i ran slot 15s i would go straight fusion. i dont get attacked on planets bc i dont make myself profitable. if i do get attacked its bc ive upset someone and 1 sat or 5000 sats they would still hit out of spite. id rather have the planet spots open for other buildings

    Ehe3AUU.jpg
    Thanks DISASTER for the awesome Sig!

    Quote from Bizzle

    no fusion for me i go slot 8 for my planets. when i ran slot 15s i would go straight fusion. i dont get attacked on planets bc i dont make myself profitable. if i do get attacked its bc ive upset someone and 1 sat or 5000 sats they would still hit out of spite. id rather have the planet spots open for other buildings

    Interesting strategy on Slot 15's. Granted I have two Slot 8's right now on Zenith that are 300+. Going to be difficult to even fill that, much less the extra space from Terraformers that are made cheaper/easier to build thanks to Lifeforms(Humans). Then there is Kaelesh and their Bio Modifier that artificially increases the Planet's fields at the cost of power(no space taken). Therefore, I'm more inclined to upgrade the Solar Plant higher than I'd normally do given the space and the fact I want to Experiment this playthrough and see if I can't get Graviton without building a Solar Sat. Everything else is fair game, including Lifeform Techs/Buildings + Items but no Solar Sats. Ideally I want to do it without Energy Boosters but I don't think that can be helped given Solar Plant's base Energy output(level 40 is merely 36.2k at the cost of Hundreds of Millions of resources to get). Shame Energy Technology doesn't boost Solar Plants in some capacity. Otherwise people might upgrade them beyond what they normally do since even at 2%/level, that'd be 50680 at level 20. Not sure if Boosters/Lifeform Technology would be multiplicative or additive(I assume latter) but yeah given the cost, the benefits just simply are not there for Power Plants that take up Planet real estate.