| Do farms do anything but set a limit to population? |
Nope, they only up the Pop limit.
If you are under the limit substantially, is there any benefit to building farms right away? |
Nope
What's the best strategy for building these large populations which can pump more tax money in |
1: Pick frisky for an ability at start of the game
2: Put 500K colonists on all the colony ships
3: Grab and build up morale and economic resources -- military resources are probably worth more and I would grab them first but I would build up morale and economic resources first.
4: build Aphrodisiac as soon as possible -- obviously there are some more important things to accomplish but when you got some breathing time sneak it in.
5: build economy buildings on planets as soon as you get 3 or 4 factories in on all your planets.
6: Go up the economy techs along with going up the factory building techs.
7: if on a huge or gigantic map -- use survey ships aggressively to grab anomalies and get that free cash.
8: build stock markets -- i wouldn't bother building any of the morale specific buildings anymore.
9: you don't have to start with Market Centers ( 30 build ) -- Advanced Market Centers ( 40 build ) or even Trade Centers (50 build ) are fine for the first Economic building
might not be the best but this is a partial list of things I do