...suggested this before, here it is again...
As a fix to this problem, and to enhance gameplay in general, I think players should be able to exceed the stated population limits on planets, but at a *major* cost to happiness, productivity and population growth (ie negative pop growth). There should be a significant risk of plagues as well.
This should only be possible by offloading population from a ship, natural population growth should level off when a planet reaches capacity.
Could cause an exploit problem with emotionless races but it does make sense in terms of roleplay / realism.
This is all hard code of course.
£0.02
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"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"Uh, I think so, Brain, but balancing a family and a career ... oooh, it's all too much for me. "