Not sure about morale, but in manufacturing the +x is the amount added to the base percentage number. So a planet with 10 people and all planet government sliders set to 100% manufacturing is 10 production. Add a +5(from a building, or starbase, racial bonus, etc) to that you get 15 production. The percentage is then applied to that. The Mega Factory is a third tier production building which, without adjacency bonuses, give's you a 40% increase. This is 40% of the base production. Using the previous numbers, 15 * .4, you now have 6 more production. A final total of 21 manufacturing for the planet.

So +x is added to the base, while the +x% is added to the overall percentage used to determine the final manufacturing number.

So basically any time you can get a +x over a +% it is best to take the +x ... correct?

Thanks

That would depend on how big is the planet, and what you are doing. For example you are building a manufacturing capital on a class 20 planet. 19 empty tiles. if I had only base buildings assuming the colony produces 10 production points. lets assume the factories are 5 mp's. That is 105 pp's. That sounds pretty good until we lay down a manufacturing capital instead. A manufacturing capital produces 100 percent production. That is 200pp's with only changing on tile. The answer is not that easy. Without math you can't play this game to full potential. Lets say instead I only build three factories, or two and a fusion plant. Three factories would be 15 pp's where 2 factories and a fusion plant would be 12.

Generally take flat bonuses before percent bonuses. And have as many farms as the largest quantity of resource booster buildings. It's a very simple way of getting the ratios right. If you want to get better then you may want to have a calculator handy. The adj bonuses is what makes this more complex (and for me fun). I love this system. Every planet is a puzzle waiting to be solved. 

 

Is this still true? I've noticed since maybe Beta 4 that that didn't seem to be the case any more, or are there just very often hidden bonuses on all planets?

I just started a new game to have a closer look, and I stand by what I said.

 

New game as Drengi, population 10, +5 manufacturing from Civ capital, yet 100% manufacturing results in 19.4 production.

 

Edit: Took a screenshot.

http://i.imgur.com/czW71UQ.jpg

I've also noticed that the bonus of "+5 Total Production" from the Civ Capital applies to Manufacturing, Research, and Wealth, however it uses the Manufacturing icon - This can be a little misleading. I didn't realise there was a difference between Production and Manufacturing until now.

Man, if you gurus can't figure this out, what hope do dopes like me have?