Is food automatically shipped from system to system?



For example I may have a system that has surplus food, say 8 more than needed, and another that is short 8. Does it even out across the empire or is there another mechanism at work to smooth out supply?



Thanks.

solomani wrote:
Is food automatically shipped from system to system?



For example I may have a system that has surplus food, say 8 more than needed, and another that is short 8. Does it even out across the empire or is there another mechanism at work to smooth out supply?



Thanks.

Dust & Science are totaled at empire level from all solar systems...



Food & Industry DON'T leave solar system...



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Each system must produce at least enough food to feed its current population (2 food per population unit) (there is a "growth bucket mechanism" used to accumulate surplus food for population growth .... When on food deficit the food gets consumed from the food bucket and when that gets emptied you start losing pop due to starvation) ...



While you cannot move food from system to system - you can move population from system to system using transport ships...So you can have a few food "granary" worlds growing population for your entire empire ... Just remember each system must generate enough food for its current population ...

Food is a primary development resource. Once a system has had all its desired planets colonized and reached max population, it is desirable to either demolish all food improvements and planetary exploitations, or aim to unlock the far right hand tech that converts food surplus to industry.

flipstar wrote:
Food is a primary development resource. Once a system has had all its desired planets colonized and reached max population, it is desirable to either demolish all food improvements and planetary exploitations, or aim to unlock the far right hand tech that converts food surplus to industry.

You could do that AND LOWER your overall empire population growth (but gain some dust per turn - not that useful past the early stages) ...And then struggle to raise food production in systems with all class III & IV planets (sinking precious industry and dust on food improvements) to be able to slowly locally grow pop on systems not suited for high growth ...



Or you could just keep exporting the last population unit from a max pop system to another system that needs pop (but has a hard time growing it) and keep growing population in that system .. This way you maintain high empire population growth and are able to get all your solar systems to maximum pop (maximum FIDS) much quicker ...



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A few systems with Terran planets on food exploitation with some good food anomalies and administrator hero (+50 food + 20% food) can keep growing and exporting 1 pop per 1-2 turn and help quickly populate other systems filled with nasty stuff (low food - but good Industry or Science Or Dust) like asteroids , gas giants , barrens ... Late game you can even export 2 population units at a time (transport ship with engines & 2 colony pods) if the surplus food is high enough to regrow the pop fast enough

peddroelm wrote:


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A few systems with Terran planets on food exploitation with some good food anomalies and administrator hero (+50 food + 20% food) can keep growing and exporting 1 pop per 1-2 turn and help quickly populate other systems filled with nasty stuff (low food - but good Industry or Science Or Dust) like asteroids , gas giants , barrens ...

Wow ... that's a really good idea. So once max population is reached no need for food exploits/techs with the exception if you are planing on using the food to production conversion tech. So when a solar system has negative food it just means growth is slowed?

solomani wrote:
Wow ... that's a really good idea. So once max population is reached no need for food exploits/techs with the exception if you are planing on using the food to production conversion tech. So when a solar system has negative food it just means growth is slowed?

Arrrggh ..



IF you plan to stop pop growth in that system (and population export from that system) go ahead an kill excess food cuz it would be wasted ...



When solar system is at negative excess food (not enough to feed all) - first it will "eat" from the stored food excess and when that is gone YOU START LOSING POPULATION DUE TO STARVATION ..

peddroelm wrote:
Arrrggh ..



IF you plan to stop pop growth in that system (and population export from that system) go ahead an kill excess food cuz it would be wasted ...



When solar system is at negative excess food (not enough to feed all) - first it will "eat" from the stored food excess and when that is gone YOU START LOSING POPULATION DUE TO STARVATION ..

My issue with this is that if one system has a ton of excess food and another does not you cant help the starving system out. Eliminates the idea of breadbasket systems. Having said that I have never seen negative food so it seems pretty easy to keep food in the positive. But there should be some mechanism where one system can help another.

solomani wrote:
My issue with this is that if one system has a ton of excess food and another does not you cant help the starving system out. Eliminates the idea of breadbasket systems. Having said that I have never seen negative food so it seems pretty easy to keep food in the positive. But there should be some mechanism where one system can help another.

Here is why they're never going to do what you are suggesting...





Food costs for growing a new population unit in a system grow exponentially .. Its not a very steep exponential (you can "get ahead" of it and keep high population growth even in highly populated systems by focusing on food production) but is still an exponential ..



http://endlessspace.wikia.com/wiki/Population_table





It takes 1949.8 accumulated excess food to grow a system from 44 to 45 population ...

It takes 192.1 accumulated excess food to grow a system from 8-9 ...

It takes 34.8 accumulated excess food to grow a system from 2-3 ...



So IF you allow food to move from one system to another you potentially could grow +1 population per turn in say 50 systems that are below 10 population units for many turns - using the food generated in one mega system focused on food generation ....



Same Food used to grow 1 pop in one system used to grow 50 pop in other less populated systems in the same amount of turns ... You can certainly see the problem ...

I'm not fussed with the current mechanics. Just seems odd that you cant have food basket planets. /shrug not a big deal.