Hows Govener Work?

Your guess is as good as mine.

I find the governor UI so unwieldy that I ignore governors altogether.

Stupot

The least complicated way to use the Governors is to use only the default one (Mr Ford).

Go to the domestic screen (F4), click on the list of social projects in the top left box that you want all your planets to build. Clicking the project would drop it into the Governor box below it and the order in which the projects are listed would be the order in which they would be built.

Example, I click Soil Enhancement, Banking Centre and Entertainment Network.

In the governor list, I will see:

1. Soil Enhancement
2. Banking Centre
3. Entertainment Network

Once this is set up, all planets would follow this build queue. Once the final item in the list is built, control would be returned to you.

I use only the default governor myself. Using more than one is too much micromanagement for me.

For the system/s that I designate for wonder/TG building, I go to the Planet screen, then click Planet Details, then choose any one of the other 3 governors (top right box). Since I did not list any social projects under the other governors, these planets would be under manual build control.

The reason for the above is that all new systems colonised/captured would use the default governor so there is no need to change anything.

Subsequently when new social projects are available through research, return to the governor list and add them in.

I do about the same as Ray. Also, you an use the governors to swithc production from one ship to another on all your planets (like switch all planets building battleaxes to frigates).

Thanks very much for the information. Is it recommended to to build all / most social projects on all your plants?

I don't tend to play long enough to find out persoanlly, but it's my understanding you generally can't afford to build everything on every planet.

~SDC~

It is definitely not recommended to build everything available on every planet! Your economy would go down the toilet, no matter how good you are at counting beans.

Some guidelines:

~ On your very best PQ planet, build all manufacturing projects. Manufacturing Center, Manufacturing Capital, etc. This is because your output will be highest due to the high population they can handle.

~ It is my belief that you never need to build Planetary Defenses. The money wasters can still be defeated (hey, the AI's usually build 'em and I don't have too much of a problem taking their planets!)

~ Build Info Nets and Neural Nets only if you are very sure your economy can handle them. They are fairly large money drains and don't give much in return.

~ Build Entertainment Networks on all planets! Some may disagree with this, but try to maintain 100% morale without 'em (at least in the early game)!

The best policy is to pick and choose where you want to locate some social projects. It goes without saying that you should build Soil Enhancement and Habitat Improvement on every planet, since they cost nothing and give you huge benefits! Weigh the benefits of every option before deciding to build something. Remember that everything that has a +Economy is not always a bargain, as an item that gives a +5% Economy but costs 5 maint. is usually not a good deal.

This is just my opinion, and I'm sure there are many out there who will disagree with at least some of my ideas. Hope it helps!

For advice on which improvements to build, you might want to look at this thread on the GC strategies forum:

http://www.galciv.com/forum.asp?BID=GS&id=78358#80621

I don't agree with all of it but it's generally good. In general, which improvements are worthwhile will depend on what kind of game you're playing.