The monetary investment early in the game is well worth it. But again, it's worth it considering the sensor power of the Mercenary ships. Some Mercenary ships will require resources, which means you'll need to first lay down a Constructyor (Erector) vessle and create a starbase to mine the proper resources.

This helps you clear the Fog of War much faster, helping you to find habitable planets. For money (and sometimes a couple resources, like Thulium) you can hire Mercenary ships that have HUGE sensor ranges, like 11 or 13 in size. I don't normally advocate DLC content in my guides, but in the case of the Mercenary DLC I cannot understate the power and value of the Sensor ships that the Mercenaries can provode. Another really good option to help with Colonization is to hire a Mercenary from the Mercenary DLC. To effectively colonize as many planets as possible you will need to use your Survey vessle to find habitable planets and not worry about surveying anomalies.Use some of your initial money to rush-buy colonizers when you find new planets. Once all the planets are claimed, the only way to get more real estate is to flip a neighboring planet or take it over in a hostile manner (war), or through an Ideology bonus.

Once the map is fully colonized, that is when things will get tense, as factions go to war with each other to gain more planets and resources. Real Estate, like the real world, is finite. At the beginning of the game spread out and colonize every planet you can find.

So in the early game make use of your Citizens. The second most effective way to get Administrators is to Research down the trees of Diplomacy and Espionage. Your first 3-to-5 Citizens should probably be Administrators. The first, most effective way to get Administrators is to train your Citizens that you get every 10 turns. Administrators are limited so you must acquire more. You need them to build Colony ships, Survey ship and Constructors. Administrators are the key to the early game in Galactic Civilizations 3.

Galactic civilizations 3 ships