The pop growth issue has been bugging me for some time, and is reminiscent of 'Bistromath' as postulated by Douglas Adams in the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Here the complex & unintelligible mathematical formula utilised on a waiter's notepad is used to drive spaceships across galaxies. If only we could harness the same power utilising the pop growth formula.
Okay, so in one world, here are the figures:
Base growth : 40
Food facilities : 15
Worker upkeep : -35
Army Upkeep : -11
Missile Upkeep : -16
Conquers : 25
So, using regular everyday maths, the net pop growth should be +18.
The message in the pop box says 'Growth +17 in 22 ticks'. Okay. a discrepancy of 1 - no big deal.
In actuality, it has been a long time since I received any actual pop growth, because every 24 ticks I get the message "Population cannot grow. Your upkeep is too high. Conquer more colonies in order to grow".
Having messaged Andrew a few times in game about this, he insists the pop growth is correct
.
So, is Andrew a student of bistromath? Can someone explain to me why my pop isn't growing? What is the mystical formula for pop growth that bears no relation to what is on the screen?
A happy colony is one producing little drones to slave for me. Would softer lighting, piped Barry White melodies, and subsidised alcohol enhance the libido of my workers and solve my pop growth issue?