Playing the Silicoids

[MaxPower]

I wish I knew the reference for where I found that bit out; it was some years ago. The DecimalFactor is the tenths place of your current population, which is essentially getting doubled for free every turn.

However, if it didn't exist, then the pop growth at the start of the game would be wrong:
40 --> 42 --> 45 --> 47 (send 7 pop away, so at 40) --> 44
is in reality:
2300: 40.0 --> 42.4 (40*60 = 2400, so 2400/1000 = 2.4, and since our starting pop was at 40.0, we get +0.0 in the DecimalFactor)
2301: 42.4 means a decimal factor of 0.4, and we get natural growrth of 42*58/1000 = 2436/1000 = 2.4 (game's truncating).
So it's 42.4 + 2.4 + 0.4 = 45.2
2302: 45.2 gets natural growth of 2.4 again (45*55 = 2475, still truncated to 2.4, and decimal = 0.2, so growth is to 47.8)
2303: We founded a colony, and put 7 pop on boats. So we're at 40.8 after transportation. Natural growth: 2.4. Decimal factor: 0.8. Ending pop: 40.8 + 2.4 + 0.8 = 44.0.

If we didn't have this boost, then the pop patter would be:
40.0
42.4
44.8
47.2 (send 7 pop away, so down to 40.2)
42.6

So it's 2 extra pop in 2304, and boosts you from there.

Nice explanation of this complex game mechanic. I always wondered how the game calculates the exact pop growth. I tried before to apply the formula constant*CurrentPop*(MaxPop-CurrentPop) and found that it wasn't accurate.

Population growth = CivFactor*CurrentPop*(MaxPop-CurrentPop)/1000 + DecimalFactor, and is stored in tenths (Decimal Factor: if the world's true pop was 40.8, then the decimal factor is 0.8; that's a much larger percentage of Silicoid pop growth, and means that you can get a world where natural growth is, say, 1.1, but if it's at 40.9 pop then it grows to 42.9, you transport those 2 pop away, rinse and repeat until the end of time, when in a random universe you'd expect to average about 1.5-1.6 pop a turn out of that planet. It's a significant boost) CivFactor is 0.5 for the Silicoids, and it doesn't affect the Decimal Factor bit.

Is there an easy way (other than tracking in an excel sheet every turn of pop and pop growth of the colony since it gets founded) to determinate the DecimalFactor?
It would be nice to set up a planet like the one you describe above to feed my colonies with silicon beings.

[Cyneheard]

Is there an easy way (other than tracking in an excel sheet every turn of pop and pop growth of the colony since it gets founded) to determinate the DecimalFactor?
It would be nice to set up a planet like the one you describe above to feed my colonies with silicon beings.

I'm having a little trouble making it work in the opening (where you know the starting point), so it's possible that there's a rounding issue with the Silicoids.

[MaxPower]

It's also really nice getting the guaranteed Terraforming +10 and +20 at the first two Planetology levels, making all of your planets larger in the early game.

You are not guaranteed to IT20, as a matter of fact the game random generated tree often screwed me bad, forcing to take the expensive and useless death spores in its place (I don't like to employ Sssspin department guys). You are guaranteed to get IT10 and IT30.

[MaxPower]

Is there an easy way (other than tracking in an excel sheet every turn of pop and pop growth of the colony since it gets founded) to determinate the DecimalFactor?
It would be nice to set up a planet like the one you describe above to feed my colonies with silicon beings.

I'm having a little trouble making it work in the opening (where you know the starting point), so it's possible that there's a rounding issue with the Silicoids.

That's odd. The Silicoids should be the best race to try the formula because natural growth isn't "polluted" by the excess of eco slider mouse click.

[haphazard1]

Thanks for the explanations on pop growth! I had thought that it was just a function of what fraction of the max pop you currently had, so I was avoiding increasing the max if I was not into the best part of the growth curve. Now I have learned something new and useful.

[Aratak]

Is there an easy way (other than tracking in an excel sheet every turn of pop and pop growth of the colony since it gets founded) to determinate the DecimalFactor?
It would be nice to set up a planet like the one you describe above to feed my colonies with silicon beings.

I'm having a little trouble making it work in the opening (where you know the starting point), so it's possible that there's a rounding issue with the Silicoids.

I did some experimenting before and tried to adjust the decimal factor via the ecoslider to 0.8 on the first turn.
In theory that would result in an constant growthrate of +2 pop per turn, as long as the population stays in the region where natural growth would be 1.2 (turncuted).
Meaning a population of x.8 would grow by 1.2 to x+2 and with the previous decimal factor (0.8) added resulting in a population of (x+2).8 on the next turn. That way you could transport 2 pop away on every turn without touching the ecoslider again and stay at a constant population of x.

It didn't work however and I am not sure why that is. A natural growth of 1.2 on a size 100 planet should happen when the population is between 40 and 60.
In my testings I got mostly unstable results, like +2,+2,+2,+3... or +2,+2,+2,+1 despite holding the population between 40 and 60.

But after a while I found an 'easy' instance where it actually works for at least 20 turns in a row (probably indefinately):
I started a usual impossible game as Silicoid and put 28 BC in the ecoslider on the first turn. Zero to eco on the following turns.
I colonized 2 parsecs away. Population on Cryslon developed 40->41->43->43->43->43->43... while always transporting 2 pop away when it first reaches 43.
It becomes unstable again when you let the population rise to 45. So I just stayed at 41 working population and invested in Industry until I got 82 factorys and then started a Colonyship.

Seems like a decent and easy opening for Silicoids, you get alot of population and the colonyship at about 2320 or a bit later depending on when you build scouts or look at the techs.

Maybe I find a simmilar opening for the more common case when the first colony is 3 parsecs away...