I know that the planet trade percent determines whether SST or SDT is more profitable. I think 66% or less favors SST, more favors SDT.

So a setting under 66% restricts red cashing. (It doesn't affect the value of SST, of course; it just eliminates SDT.) But does a higher setting tip the balance toward blue? Or does the bonus to SDT balance out the bonus to PT?

Any other factors I'm not thinking of?

Also the trade % has to do with free product.
What I mean is if you can get 1 to 1 production from cols on a planet and trade % is > 70% and port port regeneration is @ 200%/day you can cash both ways
as a red farmer or blue farmer to offset the reds SST/SDT.

Normally the real factor to red is the port regen rate .. if its < 100% it favors red play as cashing even with planet trade set to 100%.

So to cap the topic , if planet trade <=60% and port regen rate <=100 as well as planet/col productions > 2 to 1 then red play is definitely the way to go.
But at this point , if planet trade is <=60% then SST is more profitable.

I may be wrong , but this is how I see it.

btw , good topic

Vid, I don't understand a single thing you just said.

Don't reds prefer lower port regen?

Yes , exactly ..
I'm sorry my post was so long , but I was trying to put the whole picture up
for anyone before extra questions come up.

I was just trying to also say that red can do farming if the conditions were there too.

Short story is that bad planet trade and bad port regen = play red for cash
and SST .

Certainly. Although it's never turn-efficient for reds to colonize their own planets, right? They'd want to steal them from blues. And then they'd planet trade just like a blue, since it only takes a few turns to sell off product.

Would they then steal-dump? Or just let the planet produce and the port regen on its own?





Makes sense. But I guess my original question might have been better phrased: does higher planet trade help blues more than it helps reds? Or does anything above the point where SDT becomes profitable multiply red and blue income by the same factor?

I'm not sure on the math for that.
The longer the game or turns .. the more planets and colos the blue has can eventually out produce cash for a blue in the long term game.

Early game the red will almost always out cash the blue.

And your right , to steal you colos ..
but there may be times you do have to colo as a red .. just to get a planet started .. or you can try what I use to do years ago .. threaten a blue to help you or join up with you. hehehe

Yeah, makes sense. The early game is where I'm trying to find an interesting balance with my Equilibrium edit. I'm trying to make it a challenge for red to find blue's planets before they go mobile, and leave red with barely enough cash to invade them. In a stock game with a typical number of turns, it's no contest; any red with half a brain will dominate by the simple fact that SST earns about 17 times as much as PPT.

You could also reduce the number of eprobes that ships can carry and jack up the price on the eprobes. That will slow down exploration for both reds and blues. Blues main exploration would occur while running PPT or world trade.