When playing, I prefer to play on an "Insane" sized spiral map, with all AI races involved. But from the very start, and most of the way through, I find keeping a positive net gain on my cash to be next to impossible, even with maintaining small fleets. Forget putting ships in orbit of any of my planets, I'd be living on a homeless shelter planet in no time.
I began wondering if all my manufacturing planets that are not sponsoring a ship yard are being wasted? Would those planets better serve if I tore down all the manufacturing plants and converted the planets to research or financial generators?
Is a planet that is specialized in manufacturing, but NOT set to sponsor any shipyard, a waste? Does manufacturing from one planet benefit my empire if it's not directed at sponsoring any shipyard?
Gonz