Silly Question: Why have sub-13 planets in the game at all in 1.03?

from Stardock Forums
Now that PQ starting bonus is limited to +5% (fine in my book), why have planets below 13 or 14 in the game? When to they come into play?

I can see colonizing them if you are really rich and going for the culture win, that that is awfully expensive at 5-15BC/turn.

Is it more for reality than for the game?
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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Even with the startup pick reduced to +5%, you can still obtain a cumulative +75% PQ bonus with a combination of social improvements, wonders, and technology. There are also the random colonization events and occasional precursor finds during normal gameplay to account for as well.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
9 * 1.75 = 15.75, so even with all the bonuses, 9 is the lowest non "loss-leader" planet.

Does the AI now colonize sub-15s?
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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
All planets have a strategic value, and I recently had a precursor event that raised the PQ of all of the uncolonized planets in the Sol system by 7.

So suddenly Mars went from a class 8 to a class 15. Cool.
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Also at one time it was said that in the future we may get an update allowing us to mine for reasources or otherwise use the lesser planets. Weather this is still planned I don't know but it is a good reason to have the planets around if it does.

~SDC~
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
I've seen a precursor event (twice!) that raised all PQs within 2 sectors of the find by 13. Of course both times were deep within AI controlled areas...
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Also planets are useful for extending range:
A colony ship is cheaper than a constructor, so, if you need to extend your range in order to reach a good yellow star, you can settle a class 1 planet on the way, (rush) build a colony ship there (or move it there from somewhere else), load everyone on it, send it to the yellow star, then disband the PQ 1 colony. You've extended your range cheaper than with a constructor building a lousy starbase in an emoty and strategically useless sector.
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
Yeah, that's a tried and true method all the way back from the GalCiv OS/2 days :)

Bill

~SDC~