A couple of questions

[capnq]

3. What are teh keys to econ development? In Stars!, if you didn't manage your population properly, you were screwed compared to those who understood the 25/33% pop breakpoints and how to use them. Is there anything similar to that in SE?

There are a series of breakpoints listed in Data\Settings.txt ("Pop Modifier" entries). In the unmodded game, the breakpoints are at 100M, 500M, 1000M, 2000M, 3000M, etc. Some mods add much finer graduation to the bonuses.

I am very annoyed that I bought and payed for SE IV only to find out that I didn't actually purchase the latest Version of the game, and there is no upgrade path.

I'm surprised that you found a non-Gold copy available for sale; SE IV Gold came out nearly a year ago.

If you are going to want to play multiplayer on PBW(which you should!), you will want SE4 Gold.

PBW also supports the final non-Gold patch (v1.49) as well as Gold. It's a bit harder to find opponents for "classic" games, but not impossible.

[Grandpa Kim]

Originally posted by Berkut:
1. I read a decent number of the strategy guides, such as they are. Are there any that deal specifically with race design? In Stars! race design was crucial to success, is that the case in SE? Does it usually make sense to play with the numbers?

3. What are teh keys to econ development? In Stars!, if you didn't manage your population properly, you were screwed compared to those who understood the 25/33% pop breakpoints and how to use them. Is there anything similar to that in SE?

Berkut

Welcome to the Boards, Berkut!

Spoon covered your questions pretty well; just a couple more notes:

1. Race design can hurt you or help you, but I wouldn't say its "crucial". IMO, you should increase the following:
maintenance
research
defensiveness
aggressiveness
construction
mineral mining
Decrease the following:
repair
tolerance
farming (except for organic race)
strength
All the rest are debatable, so have fun.

As for advanced traits, my choices are Advanced Storage, Natural Merchants and Hardy Industrialist.

3. You can give a small boost to your economy by managing your population to optimal numbers. A various population thresholds, you get bonuses. These occur at 100 million, 500 million, 1 billion and each billion thereafter. Domed colonies often cannot hold even the 500 million! So there is no point letting their populations grow much beyond 100 million. It can be worthwhile to bleed off population from these planets and move it to colonies that can grow to high numbers. This is super micro management, but it can pay off.

If you have colonized a planet and its moon(s), you can transfer population between them directly-- no need for a transport ship! I often keep the moons at a population of 1 (million) letting the planet grow at a much faster rate.

These are little things but over the course of a game they will give you a significant boost in both pop. and economy.

In general, SEIV is very well balanced; no one decision is the ultimate. Have fun experimenting. Eventually you will find a balance that suits your style.

Enjoy!