it seems pretty effective, short of existing for every possible tick [which is unfeasible unless you don't sleep for more then a hour]... you pretty much have to use them in order to be as effective as possible.. I only started playing a bit today on the newbie sandbox server.. and i think i'm picking up pretty quick how effective and useful my gov' is, i can see why someone might pay money just for the feature of being able to save/load your gov' code over multiple galaxies, as even to a newbie like me, it seems like its getting longer and more complex as i try and make a blueprint for how to raise my little planets...and have them auto do things like keep the right balance of workers/farmers for producing things without starving, and to let them build certain buildings in a certain order and when to change the military recruitment rate ect... i have to do less and less to keep my empire running... now i can just click "build me a ship" and then it will auto figure out how to produce it effectively without starving, and arrange for some food to go the military so that some military guys will be ready for the ship... and then have it set everything back afterwards so that even if i wasnt around, it didnt waste time with guys on labour when i rather have them feeding my people ect... and not waste food going to the military when its unnecessary... ect.. I can barely imagine how complex the governors rules/decisions would get for someone who was actually experienced.