Population growth should be exponential!

[The Rusty Gamer]

I think instead of population growth being a fixed/average growth per turn (factoring in approval rating of course), it should increase exponentially until half the population cap is reached and then decrease exponentially. This way, there is an incentive to build farms earlier to increase pop growth rather than wait until the population cap is almost reached.

You could have a variation on this for different races. Perhaps one race will reach it's peak growth at 75% population cap, another at 40% etc...

[tetley]

There's serious play-balancing issues with population increasing exponentially, but I do like the idea of asymptotically approaching your population cap as you get closer to it. It makes your farms more interesting.

[DaviddesJ]

Re: Population growth should be exponential!

Originally posted by The Rusty Gamer
I think instead of population growth being a fixed/average growth per turn (factoring in approval rating of course), it should increase exponentially until half the population cap is reached and then decrease exponentially.

I'm not sure what you mean by "then decrease exponentially". A simple mathematical model that is often used to describe this sort of growth is the "logistic model", first introduced in the 19th century. It's defined this way:

PopulationGrowth = CurrentPopulation * GrowthRate * (1 - CurrentPopulation/PopulationLimit)

When the population is small compared to the limit, the growth looks like an exponential curve; then it tapers off and approaches the limit asymptotically.

P.S. Note that it follows directly from the formula and simple calculus that the maximum growth occurs at 50% of the limit. This is a shortcoming of the logistic model in that the growth rate for small population sizes and for large population sizes cannot be varied independently. There are more complicated models that relax this constraint.

[Badtz Maru]

One has to take into account that the population figure does not reflect the actual population, but the portion of the population that is paying taxes. This is why population drops so fast when approval ratings get low - it's not that your population starts dying off, they just stop reporting their income. One of the quarterly reports alludes to this fact when your population appears to be growing rapidly.

[Gufnork]

Having exponential growth rates would fix imbalances rather than create new ones and I'm all for it. Your idea to vary optimal growth is new to me though and sounds interesting. I'm a bit too tired right now to determine whether it's a good or bad idea though.

[The Rusty Gamer]

The optimal growth point could vary depending on race and/or planet type. Perhaps it is harder for huge growth on an ice planet for instance and so the optimal growth point may be as low as 25%.

[tetley]

Unless it's an ice and a mountain planet. Then you have a ski planet. Major growth.

[Peets]

Look at the abilities, not everyone has the same abilities. Some of them have more growth then others already ingame. I think that would cover your second part?

[The Rusty Gamer]

Yep, I guess.