What's the formula for max population on a plantet before morale falls?

hmm?

The formula is not known. There are a few gamers trying to figure it out by analyzing the data files.
Personnally I use the following numbers, keep in mind that I play gigantic galaxies:
PQ 20 - 250 colonist
PQ 18 - 100
PQ 17 - 75
PQ 16 - 60
PQ 15 - 50
PQ 14 - 10

when you start, the 1st objective is to find what planets to colonize so your survey ship is used to explore, send the colony ship to a cluster of stars at the edge of your range, preferably toward the center of the map and colonise there to further increase your range.
2nd objective is to re-distribute you population as evenly across your sectors
to allow sufficient population to continue expanding and to resist to invasion.
3rd is to build colony and scouts.
I try to colonize at least 2 planets per stars. Let's say there is a star with 3 planets: 20PQ, 15PQ, 14PQ. I would colonize PQ20, set it to construc a scout (4 turns), when that is finished build a colony ship, then colonize PQ15, and set it to build a scout, then a colony ship. and depending how things are going I would colonize PQ14 also, and set it to build a constructor.
If the star had been 20PQ, 14PQ, I would have colonized the 14PQ.
The main reason for 2 planets per stars is to prevent disruption to production and for protection against invasion. With that I can continue building the exensive stuff with the 20PQ, and use the 14PQ to build a defender or what ever.

Hope this helps.

~SDC~

p20 250 colonists? DO you mean 2500 or 25,000? 250 can't be right. same goes for the other numbers.

Yes, please tell us what those numbers mean. "250 Colonists" means what? 250 MILLION? 250 BILLION?

Are you talking about a max population figure... or about the number of colonists you put on a ship destined to a planet of that PQ class?

The "full" population of a planet is determined by the rating of a planet. On top of that, the number where the population of the planet stops growing is determined by your morale modifier (including any morale modifiers from planet buildings) and the morale modifiers from your tax rate.

You get a fixed number of BC for a planet no matter what population you have on it; for a size 19 planet, for example, 5 million guys on a class 17 at 0% tax rate gives you 3 BC/turn.

Beyond that, the BC varies linearly with the tax rate; 20% gets you half as much as 40%, and so on. However, when you change the tax rate, that changes the morale of the planet, which changes the max population of the planet. The population of the planet adjusts to come in line with the new morale as turns go by.

So, there's a tradeoff between population and income. The maximum long-term cashflow from a planet comes from having it at whatever tax rate results in 26% planet morale. Obviously, you don't want all your planets to look like that

The way the tradeoff works out, at the beginning of the game you get the same stable income at 50%, 60%, and 70% tax rates; below that, the population goes up and the tax revenue goes down. Season to taste, depending on whether you want revenue or pop.

Other notes:
The amount you can spend per turn on a planet is limited only by the planet class and the manufacturing percentage on that planet.

Propaganda on a planet that's already full for a given tax rate doesn't make you any more money; once the planet stabilizes at the new stagnated population, your income will be the same as before the propaganda. Just save it for emergencies.

Oddly, morale improvement buildings only seem to get you a cash improvement at the 50% tax rate. Obviously more testing is needed.

the units are millions.
Jason, thanks for your info, I'll monitor it during my next game.


~SDC~