Pollution Problem

[Ashlocke]

I just had a game ruined due to pollution. Here's the setup.

Single player game
Warlord level (I just got this game)
8 civilizations with 6 remaining.
No nukes used at any time (I had built 2 but never used them)
2 space planes active, only a few launches, less than a dozen total.
Ecotopian government
28 cities, including 1 space city (atop the space ladder) and 1 sea colony. Most cities are very well developed with populations ranging from 10-23. All have pollution reducing improvements built. Only the sea colony and space colony are undeveloped, both recently built.

When checking the individual city stats it states Pollution Level: None (the numeric value for total pollution is a negative value from -9 to -43)

So, it would seem I am produce no pollution at all and should be reducing the global level, yes?

I have the space ladder and am using it to move units into space where they are picked up by space planes or sent out by cargo pod.

I have built 8 eco rangers, 4 have been used to destroy enemy cities.

On the turn that I began using the eco rangers, I started getting pollution warnings. I thought this odd in view of the pollution status of my cities. On the following turns my cities began to riot, tiles were going dead all over the place (some 16 tiles destroyed in two turns) and yet all my cities were listed still producing no pollution. Worse, even though I built even more pollution reducing improvements (at great cost to rush build), the pollution nightmare continued.

Finally I check the Diplomacy screen for pollution levels in frustration thinking some other nation was badly poluting and this was responsible. It was then I discovered that according to this screen, each of my cities (including the space colony and sea colony) were producing 160 pollution per turn!!! I was given to believe space colonies cannot produce pollution?

Does anyone have a clue what has happened? Is this a bug in the game (which it appears to be)? Have I overlooked something that could be causing it legitimately?

Please help, I like this game thus far, but if this is a bug and one that reoccurs I will have to stop playing as it ruins the fun.

[Ashlocke]

Okay, here's an addendum to my above problem.

I did some experimenting both with the above game and some save files of older turns to see if I could sort out what exactly was going on and if it was just a freak glitch. It doesn't seem to have been a glitch as the effect was repeatable. It also doesn't seem to have anything to do with the eco rangers. I can move them on the ground and destroy cities with no problem. The problem seems to revolve around two things, the space ladder and cargo pods. Apparently every turn I use the space ladder to lift units up to my orbital city, it adds 50 pollution to the city where the space ladder was built. This happens regardless of whatever pollution controlling improvements I've built. I was under the impression the space ladder was supposed to be pollution free?

Secondly, according to what documentation I've read, launching units into space is supposed to cause pollution, but landing units aren't. Wrong again. Each time one of those cargo pods drops out of the sky it was adding 20 pollution to EACH of my 28 cities! So when I did a massive drop of eco rangers in one turn, it added 140 pollution to my cities without me knowing it. Then the following turn I launched two more eco rangers in cargo pods, adding another 40. This pollution seems to disapate at the rate of 20 per turn, so on the second turn my polution was 160 (120-20+40=160), ugh! Why a cargo pod making re-entry causes pollution I don't know.

Can anyone confirm or deny whether it's supposed to be this way? Why would it add pollution to all my cities, even those in space? Is this a bug in the game (known or otherwise)? I did get the Gaia Controller built and it solved the problem completely, but that seems a drastic way to deal with it.