the yor collective

I haven't played the TA Yor that often, but I get an OK economy by keeping some worlds high-profit but low output. To get good cashflow, you need to get a boost from something like economic resource mines or by buying or stealing an econ tech like Trade Centers from another civ. It also helps if you pick econ bonuses during game setup.

The best way is to trade for some techs so that you can build trade centers and the like. With those and the efficiency center you become a money making machine (literally ). If you have disabled tech trading, you will have to be more creative. Pwn some minors for some economic reasorces. For what i've found, if you have disabled tech trading, then you almost have to play as the federalists, and have the max economic boost chosen.

I always play as Yor, this start works pretty well for me.

1.  Early on, you have two structures to go for:  The efficency center (25%) and the recruiting center (10%).  Recruiting center also boosts population, critical for economy.  Research efficiency I, then the first tech on the track to the recruiting center (stellar fortification? or the one before that...), going back and forth between the two tracks will save time, it seems.  You'll get the recruiting center first, then the efficiency center at efficiency studies III.  By the time you get these two techs, you'll have had time to rush build at least one collective and regular-build the research structure and the maintenance grid on Iconia.  Keep the tax rate at 49%, production at 100% for now.

2.  The next track to pursue is toward economic capital, which you get with Trade.  These techs go fast, sometimes one turn apiece for the first three, so this won't take long.  Build the economic capital on Iconia.

3.  Don't rush-build any, but you should only be building colony ships up to now unless there's a resource nearby.  I usually send them out with 100-150 colonists.  Yes, Iconia's econ takes a hit in the short term, but the head-start on population on new planets is worth it down the road.

4.  After economic capital/trade, the next techs to pursue are new propulsion/ion drive/sensors.  With your miniaturization bonus you can put together a good range/speed survey ship.  Use a cargo hull and build a couple of these to investigate anomalies.  Even in ToA, with less cash floating around out there, these can be a lifesaver.

5.  Watch your cashflow. About when you get your first survey out, your cash will be at about zero.  Don't let it go negative.  Drop your production until you're making a profit, even if it's only 1 bc/week.  I've had to drop it as low as 20% on occasion.  As your population grows, you'll recover, and you can inch the production % back up every week until it's up to 100%.

6.  While you're at low production in the interim, you might be reminded why it was such a good idea to spend a point on creativity when customizing the Yor.  There's not much cooler than researching Planetary Invasion when you're at a low point (it might be estimated at up to like 80 weeks), and having the research done early.  Creativity also saves time sometimes in the above tech branches.

After I get the above foundation in place, it varies depending on the circumstances.  I might go for the colonization techs if there are planets making it worthwhile, target aphrodisiac, or be forced to get a couple defenders out, but at this point, the economy is well on its way.

Hope this helps, fellow evil-robot fans.

There are a few things you must know to be competitive as the Yor:

1. The Yor are a poorly min/maxed civ. They do some things better than other civs, but are often weaker in other aspects. The lack of economic buildings is compensated by a quicker access to a strong passive economic bonus tech (+45% total, which is equal to what other civs might get from economic techs and advanced government). Their factory buildings are more cost effective than standard factories (and achieve higher output at the end), but their power plant techs are quite poor when compared to other civs.
2. Because of their poor economy, you should attempt to "zerg rush" the other civs. If you are unable to acquire vital economy techs, you *will* fall behind in economic power if you give the other civs the time. The only way to compensate without the techs is be larger than the other civs, and/or have enough economic galactic resources.
3. Because a sizable amount of the Yor's economy comes from their "Efficiency" techs, you should be able to take worlds and move on and take more worlds without spending too much time to bother developing the acquired worlds. If you have economy techs from other civs, you can use that to further develop your worlds so they can greatly add to your war machine.
   

Thanks for all the replys. I have been reading and using the info 

I traded for simple xeno economics and build some +12% advanced market centres on about 2 worlds. What have really concentrated on was getting high approval everywhere for high growth.  I ran at 100% approval nearly everywhere for a while and then turned on the taxes and making a tidy 600 a turn now and have leaped from 2nd bottom economically to 2nd top  

The 4 great buildings for every colony make them solid in alot of things.

recruiting centre +10 econ +20% pop growth

maintence grid +20% morale

research matrix 12rp 2 maintence cost

efficency centre +25 econ

With these even a PQ 5 planet with high population is good

Charging stalks that give 3 food and +20 approval seem good to sustain high populations too.

Thanks all for help. Im gradually realising dont need so many buildings to be profitable.