[raynor]

Expansion in Space Empires IV is a little bit different than in MOO because the planets are in solar systems separated by wormholes. If you ask whether or not you should colonize every planet in every solar system before moving on to the next solar system, well, then obviously that would be a bad idea. Instead, you should constantly expand outward to new solar systems.

Strange though it may seem, your first new colony in an outlying solar system may not be the best planet since you'll need to build at least a Resupply Depot and Spaceport on that planet and may not want to waste facility space for those on a planet with really high minerals.

When you enter into a military alliance with another empire, this allows them to resupply at your Resupply Depots. This almost certainly guarantees that they will try to establish colonies inside your empire. So... once you have stopped expanding, you'll be sending colony ships to build colonizes on mineral rich and large or huge worlds. At the same time, you would be wise to build colonies on even moons that border another empire with whom you plan to enter into a military alliace.

BTW... colony ships in Space Empires IV are practically free compared to MOO/MOO2. Some players don't send out armed escorts and frigates to do their scouting. Instead, they send out colony ships. In MOO, you might not want to build a colony on a planet close to the enemy because of the risk of attack. Until you had built a certain industrial infrastructure on the planet, it wouldn't be able to build up defenses fast enough to defend itself. But in SEIV, a new colony can build its own defensive emplacements quite rapidly compared to a new colony in MOO.