[Alneyan]

Maintenance is another key characteristic, since it governs how much you will need to pay to keep your ships running every single turn. For example, with an average maintenance, you will need to pay 25% of the ship value every turn in maintenance, meaning 2,500 minerals every turn for a ship costing 10,000 minerals. In short, you will repay the ship every four turns.

On the other hand, a maintenance of 120% (the maximum) means you will only pay 5% in maintenance, so you will repay the cost of the ship every twenty turns. In the end game, you may spend several hundred thousand resources on maintenance every turn, so even what may look like a small improvement may mean a lot then.

There are ways to work around this problem however, so you are not doomed to a life of misery in spite of the initial Empire design you took over. Nevertheless, it is quite a problem with SEIV, since most choices are not exactly balanced, and so you are more likely to make poor choices when making your Empire.