Something new - at least for me:
I've started moving large arc fleets - some 50 or 100 arcs strong. Not to colonize new planets (I'm getting close to where I can not longer expand without hitting my neighbours or moving through them), but to redistribute population. I have loads of fairly fresh colonies with low population and a bunch of old planets with overpopulation. So today the thought struck me: Why not move a ton of arcs out towards them? That also gives the border planets more steel to build defensive fleets with, so I don't have to move those out from the inner planets.
No idea yet whether it's a smart or stupid idea. I'll do a couple and see what I think of it.
depends on how far and late it is compared to when the colony is founded. better off to send lots of arcs in the 1st place or have them arrive very early.
eg.. starting with 20k pop off 10 arc is more effective than starting with 2k and then adding 18k a lot later when the planet already has 20k pop, for example. (because the one starting with 2k would have 200k already.. or something a lot more than 38k...)
steel could be a good reason.. but arcs tend to be slow.... so might not be as effective. though... of course, you can view pop transfer as a bonus to the main purpose of steel movement.
