Population at which growth hits maximum?

I'm trying to come up with a rule of thumb for how low I should let planet populations get when I'm trying to seed new colonies.

Please let me know if these assumptions are correct:

1. As I understand it, with the latest update, the population growth rate hits its maximum when the planet holds 2.5 billion people.

2. The unmodified maximum growth rate at that point and beyond would then be 75 million per turn?

3. Then this maximum base growth rate would be multiplied by factors for morale, race, etc., but no matter what bonuses you had, the maximum growth rate would still be reached at a planet population of 2.5 billion?

4. Before you get to 2.5 billion, the growth rate is proportional to the planet population? So starting a planet with a population of, say, 1 million would result in EXTREMELY slow growth rate?

The reason I'm asking is because I'm trying to come up with the most effective way to get my initial population up -- basically, does it make sense to use a Colonizer to "shuttle" population from the Homeworld to increase a Colony's population to above 500 million to maximize the speed at which I can produce new people and colonies? And when a planet is producing Colonizers or Transports, I needn't worry about depleting the shipbuilding planet's population as long as it doesn't go too far below 2.5 billion?

Thanks in advance for any corrections or confirmations you can provide.

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Yes, Yes, Yes and Yes.

However the other factor you're neglecting is income. Depleteing your home planet's pop to 2.5B is a pretty big hit to your income. In a small galaxy, your initial money may be sufficient to get you through the colony rush even with this reduced income. On a larger galaxy I would recommend that you keep your home planets pop to at least 5B. The 70% pop growth racial ability is costly but it allows you pull off 500 colonists every other turn while not depleting your home planet's pop.

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However the other factor you're neglecting is income.... On a larger galaxy I would recommend that you keep your home planets pop to at least 5B.

Think of it this way: assume 2.5 billion are left on your Homeworld no matter what. Now consider two alternatives, all else being equal, for what is done with the other 2.5 billion people.

If left on the Homeworld, the additional 2.5 billion people essentially do not reproduce. Secondly, income is proportional to the square root of the population on a given planet, so they generate an additional square root of two, or 42% over what the first 2.5 billion generate.

Now assume, all else being equal, that those second 2.5 billion people are instead distributed across 5 different planets, with 500 million on each. The total income they generate is five times the square root of 1/5, or 2.23 times the income generated from one world with 2.5 billion people on it.

This makes the income from those additional 2.5 billion people more than FIVE TIMES greater when distributed than it would be if they had remained on the Homeworld. In addition, those 2.5 billion distributed people are all reproducing -- which they would not be doing if they were stuck back on a world that already had 2.5 billion people on it.

Of course in the early game planetary upkeep can be a problem, but that's a separate issue. What I try to do early on is Focus some of my new colonies on Research. That way they don't build up too quickly so they won't go in the hole too much, and they reach the break even point early. This gives me enough Research for my early techs, and it allows me to plant as many flags as possible during the initial colony rush -- which is what it's all about at that stage. After my population and economy are built up, then I go back and "turn on" more planets to Social production.

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If left on the Homeworld, the additional 2.5 billion people essentially do not reproduce. Secondly, income is proportional to the square root of the population on a given planet, so they generate an additional square root of two, or 42% over what the first 2.5 billion generate.

This is correct, but again there's a couple points that you're leaving out. One is that not all of your pop are credited towards income (how many are not counted varies per version of the game), the other is that there are per planet maintenance costs that need to be covered (again different on different versions).

In theory what you're attempting seems to be a good way to optimize growth. I'm just not sure it will work out exactly as planned because of planet maintenance costs. I believe the net income of 20 planets at 2.5B will be less than the net income of 10 planets at 5B. I even suspect that the net income of 20 - 2.5B planets will be negative. I doubt you'll be able to sustain the colony rush very long using this method. As I said before, in a small galaxy this might work. But try colonizing 100 planets in a gigantic galaxy against 6 or 7 suicidal AI's before you consider this a universal strategy.

You may as well try it and let us know how it turns out, but I do know with my method I can outcolonize suicidal AI's while never allowing my home planet (or any other planet that sources colony ships) to fall below 5B.

If your method does work out make sure to let us know the size of the galaxy, the number of planets colonized and the number and difficulty of the AI's.

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I've used a simpler version of this strategy, but for me it comes down to how good your 1st colonization is close to your homeworld.

I used to forget sometimes to reland my 1st colony ship and fill it to 500k, and then upon taking a planet with it find an awesome planet for production. This causes a problem, because that planet doesn't have the population to support cranking out colony ships.

So what I'd do is ship about 300-400k at a time from my homeworld over, and then send the remaining colonists out to scout & then colonize a smaller planet.

I like having my homeworld, and at least 1 other planet cranking out colony ships. This is mostly because I build a good bit of research on my home planet, and i like to find a planet with a few bonuses before building a manu-capital. (also play the dregin which don't start with tech to build it early)

I think if you try to do too much in building up your populations, you'll end up wasting too much time. That's why I'd suggest only trying this when you get a decent planet close to home to work it with.

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So what I'd do is ship about 300-400k at a time from my homeworld over, and then send the remaining colonists out to scout & then colonize a smaller planet.

I've done this as well and it works pretty good. Essentially you're setting up two home planets from which to colonize the rest of your empire. As you said these planets need to be close. If you spend too much time setting your second planet up this can backfire. But still, I think you'd like to keep at least 4~5B on both planets. That's what I do anyway.

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