The effect of two races on a planet.

[dogscoff]

Not sure if your advice is for proportions or a standard game or both.

Both in theory, although this effect is exaggerated in proportions by the importance and relatively slow growth of population. In the standard game it's usually insignificant becasue population is so cheap anyway.

Nomally, it would be.

1 human populatates a planet at turn 1.
1.1 humans at turn 2
1.2 humans at turn 3
.
.
.
.
.
.
1.9 humans at turn 10
2 humans at turn 11

It is rounded up to the next one-tenth of a integer rather than a full integer as in a normal game.

But more important, are you saying that by adding another race in Proportions, it changes the way it calculates population growth and each race is rounded up a full integer rather than one ten-tenth of an integer.

No.
Put it this way: Because of integer maths, the lowest population growth a planet can have (ignoring population decline or zero growth) is 1 million per growth period. However, if you have multiple races on a planet, you get at least 1 million per race per growth period.

So in any game it goes according to the following table, the only difference is that in proportions, each growth period is ten turns and in the standard game it is every turn.

code:

---

                Planet with 1 race.   Planet with 2 races.   Planet with 3 races. 

Start:             1 million             2x 1 million           3x 1 million

Growth period 1:   1m + 1m =2m.       2m + one of each =4m   3m + 3 of each =6m

Growth period 2:   2m + 1m =3m.       4m + one of each =6m   6m + 3 of each =9m

Growth period 3:   3m + 1m =4m.       6m + one of each =8m   9m + 3 of each =12m

---

And so on for 4 races, 5 races etc.

The above model is complicated further in the real game by varying population growth rates (ie according to happiness and cloning facilities etc) but that only makes a difference when the "natural" growth rate (ie if you only had one race on there) would exceed 1 per growth period.

If you have enough population and high enough growth rate on a planet to be producing more than one person per growth period "naturally", and you introduce a second race, you will get no bonus population- the natural growth is split between the two populations. However, if your natural growth is 2 per period and you have 3 races, you will get 3 growth instead of 2.

[ March 25, 2003, 11:59: Message edited by: dogscoff ]

[tbontob]

Hi!

I feel I am missing something here. It is probably so obvious that I wouldn't notice it if it hit me full in the face.

Statements have been made that it is especially useful in a Proportions game.

The examples given apply to a standard game.

What I think is being said is "Growth of very small populations in both the standard game and the proportions game is in direct ratio to the number of races on the planet."

So, "Small (but equal) populations of two races will have double normal growth in the sense that each race will have a normal growth, but when taken together, the growth rate is doubled when compared to the growth rate of just one race."

Further, "It is particularly useful in Proportions because of its slow growth rate of populations."

Would this be an accurate assessment? Or am I still missing something?

[Suicide Junkie]

Yeah.
If there is any positive growth rate, you get a minimum of 1M of each race on the planet each time the growth is calculated.

[dogscoff]

Statements have been made that it is especially useful in a Proportions game.

The examples given apply to a standard game.

The mechanism is the same in both games, it's just that the numbers are different. In the normal game growth rates are high anyway so the exploit rarely applies. Furthermore, population is so cheap that it is of little importance when it does.

What I think is being said is "Growth of very small populations in both the standard game and the proportions game is in direct ratio to the number of races on the planet."

So, "Small (but equal) populations of two races will have double normal growth in the sense that each race will have a normal growth, but when taken together, the growth rate is doubled when compared to the growth rate of just one race."

What you've said there is true, but only for small populations.
If the "natural" (ie how it would be without the exploit) growth rate is greater than or equal to the "exploited" growth rate, then the natural rate applies.

[ March 25, 2003, 14:24: Message edited by: dogscoff ]

[tbontob]

Originally posted by dogscoff:

quote:

---

What I think is being said is "Growth of very small populations in both the standard game and the proportions game is in direct ratio to the number of races on the planet."

So, "Small (but equal) populations of two races will have double normal growth in the sense that each race will have a normal growth, but when taken together, the growth rate is doubled when compared to the growth rate of just one race."

What you've said there is true, but only for small populations.
If the "natural" (ie how it would be without the exploit) growth rate is greater than or equal to the "exploited" growth rate, then the natural rate applies.

---

Thanks Dogscoff.

Just a small point. What if the "natural" growth rate is less than the "exploited" growth rate? Does it not apply to both?

[dogscoff]

Hmmm. OK.

What I've been calling the natural growth rate is the standard amount of new population you would expect to get from a planet with only one race on it. It is calculated by multiplying the existing population by the "growth rate" figure, as visible on the planet info screen. (There may be a third variable in there, I can't remember.)

In all cases, the natural growth rate is applied to the *sum* of all populations on the planet, and the new population is split in species across all the races present.

However, each race present must get at least one million of it's kind added in every population increase. If the natural growth rate is not enough to accomodate this, extra population is added above the natural rate, leading to an abnormally high reproduction rate and an exploit.

Some examples:

Let's say that in all of these examples there is a 20% reproduction rate after all modifiers have been applied, so a 100 million population planet would expect to get an extra 20 million people.

Example 1:
You have 1 million phong all on their own on the planet. By rights, you should only get 1m x 20%= 0.2m extra population, but the game can’t handle fractions and you get 1m extra. That means your reproduction rate has been artificially bumped up to 100% for that turn!

Example 2:
You have 100 million terrans and 100 million phong. The game adds them together to get 200 million, and sees that you are entitled to 20%=40 million new people. You get 20 million new phong and 20 million new terrans.

Example 3:
You have 100 million terrans, 100 million phong and 50 million Vikings. This time you should get 50 million. I’m pretty sure this will be divided up in the correct ratio, 20m phong, 20m terran and 10m viking.

Example 4:
You have 99 million Vikings and 1 million phong. In theory, you should get 19.8m vikings and 0.2m phong. The important thing is that the total is still 20m. The game will not exceed 20m in this case, because it can just give you a million phong and 19 million vikings. The ratio is out but the 20% overall rate is maintained.

Example 5:
You have 2 million Vikings, one million phong, one million terrans. You should get just 0.75 new population, but the game wants you to have one of each of these species, so you get 3 million new poulation. Your effective reproduction rate has been artificially forced up to 75%!

[ March 25, 2003, 15:43: Message edited by: dogscoff ]