Hello, and thanks for looking.

The blasted wiki password system broke when I tried logging in just now, which is too bad because I was gonna try to contribute to this project.  I spent time figuring stuff out which I guess I will just post right here, but I'm unhappy. It isn't just that a representative of the game's design team should be doing this work, not I. but I made this document in the hope that people with '?' over their head will lose their ?'s. much of what you have likely asked in the past is handled

-------- Start

The colonies, star bases and claimed resources in Galactic Civilizations III generate influence at varying rates, which over time translate into zones of control on the galaxy map.

I ran a test over the course of 50 turns and adding the results to some old observations here's what I've managed to glean

1. Over 46 turns a race capital may go from a territory 1 tiles around to one that's 11 tiles around
2. Over 61 turns a race capital may go from a territory 11 tiles around to one that's 17 tiles around
3. The claiming of empty tiles (blank space) and values given to them depends on the varying player structures emanating influence from nearby. An isolated emanator will have a concentrically decreasing effect, with range, which is why you always see the area as a big hex shape
4. Planetary influence producing rate can gain from starbase buffs, but doesn't otherwise change from the presence of other player assets. Cumulative influence on world X doesn't depend on the influence production of such other owned influence emanators. This particularly was tested.
5. It takes a set value of gained inf for area of control around an emanator to expand by one tile length.
6. Thus actively generating worlds expand AOC territory both faster and with stronger weight.
7. Overlapping controlled ares will join their values by some obscure formula - this might actually not be obscure, but ordinary addition.
8. When an emanator is removed, so is its AOC.
9. Whereas planetery conquest doesn't change the stored culture value, nor does it when a planet changes sides from diplomatic ceding. But you will certainly notice the loss of that emanator's contribution to your tile ownership from that point.

It's my guess about the situation where a colony is receiving influence from a foreign Race then the foreign influence is accumulated and shown as a multiplier of the domestic total. "has nX influence" refers to this while "percent in rebellion" leads to culture flip eventally, and your planet's resistance value gets worked in somehow to stave off that outcome.

It remains unresolved whether a planet when flipped will lose some of its gained culture points, but aside from this influence values held by assets can only grow over time.

it stands to note, the minor races cannot gain recognized culture, and when one is overcome their world may soon flip to whoever owns their surrounding space. A lesson which Drengi could stand to benefit from.

--end -------

Unfortunately this lack of support is just a little much for me, and I'm truly thinking of quitting GC3 same as I quit it at version 1.5 for there are frustrations here which are too much for me, when hassle-free entertainment could easily be substituted. Sorry stardock: hardly what I would call a dud, but bad stats (300 hours played, per steam's dumb counter) for a 4X-er. Making the game is much more than "half the battle", but making it a friendly experience is a necessary post-battle step, imo.