Quick Guide to Planet Population in Distant Worlds - Shadows

[Osito]

[Edited to take into account further observations based on comments from others, especially relating to native bonus]

First off, although this game has been out for 3 years, I've only been playing for a month, and it could be that someone has done this before. If so, I apologise for the repetition.

I'd been wondering how to tell what the maximum population of a planet would be and I think I've finally figured it out. Mostly. This guide concentrates mostly on the effect of planet size and quality on the population potential of a planet. If you're aware of other factors which affect maximum planet population, please let me know about them.

Planet Size

It seems logical that planet size affects maximum population and indeed it does. In fact, maximum planet population in Distant Worlds is proportional to the square of planet size.

Note that the maximum size for colonisable planets and moons is 40k.

Planet Quality

Planet quality also affects planet size: in Distant Worlds, maximum planet population is proportional to the square of the planet quality.

Native Planet Bonus

Different races have different native planets. Your native planet is the one you start on. For example, for human empires, the native planet is continental; for Boskaran empires it is volcanic; and so on. Each race can achieve a higher population when it's on its own native planet type. Note that researching colonisation of other planet types does not, in itself, entitle you to the native planet bonus for the researched planet types.

The native planet bonus will add an extra 10% to the maximum population for the planet.

My testing has not conclusively established every circumstance in which you will get the native planet bonus. However, I think the following statements are correct, but it's possible people will find counter-examples:

1. Once a planet has been given the native planet bonus, it will keep it, even if the conditions which caused the planet to get the bonus no longer apply. (Edit: I have subsequently seen a counter-example, so I no longer have confidence that this is true)
2. The native planet bonus always applies to your starting planet.
3. If you colonise a planet which is a native planet for the race in your colony ship, you will get the bonus.
4. Any planets in your empire which have just one race on them will get the native planet bonus, provided that the planet is a native planet for that race. This applies even if the race on the planet is different from your empire's starting race.
5. If you have a mixture of races on a planet in your empire, and the planet is a native planet for at least one of those races, then you can get the bonus provided you have enough of the relevant race(s). There is an issue as to how much is "enough". My testing indicated around 45% of the total population is enough, but I can't say this is a hard and fast rule.

Putting it all together

So, assuming you don't get the native planet bonus, the formula for working out the maximum population of the planet is:

Max pop = 2.5x[(Planet Size/10000)^2]x[(Planet Quality/100)^2]

If you do get the native planet bonus, add 10% to the figure calculated from the above equation (i.e. multiply the figure by 1.1).

The max pop is in billions. Please be aware that planet size is given in thousands, which is why I have a divisor of 10000 in the formula. So if the game gives the planet size as 29.5k, then you have to use 29500 as the planet size in above formula.

For example, if you start the game on your native planet with a planet size of 29.5k and a planet quality of 100, your maximum population will be:

1.1x2.5x[(29500/10000)^2]x[(100/100)^2] = 23.93 billion

On the other hand, if you colonise a non-native planet with a planet size of 21k and a quality of just 65, your maximum population will be:

2.5x[(21000/10000)^2]x[(65/100)^2] = 4.66 billion.

So what's the theoretical maximum possible planet population? Well, assuming you're on a native planet, and that the maximum planet size is 400, and that the maximum planet quality is 100, the maximum population would be 44 billion.

NB: The planet quality and planet size displayed on the screen are rounded to two and three significant figures respectively. This means that the theoretical figures calculated by the formulas may not exactly match the figures you see, owing to rounding errors. For planet qualities down to 50, the theoretical figure should be within 2% of the actual maximum. For very low planet colonies (e.g. 5-20), the theoretical figure could be out by as much as 20% (but then, you wouldn't have much population anyway, to be honest!)

Edit - there also seems to be a minimum population: should you find yourself colonising a 0% quality planet, there will be a minimum population of 20 million.

I hope someone finds this useful.

Caveats:
- I'm a human not a Kiadian, so this analysis may contain mistakes. If you see any , let me know.
- I haven't looked into how this works when you start the game as a pirate empire, but I've no reason to believe it's any different.

Osito

[Bingeling]

Excellent work again. It could be that there is a post here with this info, but that would not diminish the value of this one in any significant way.

Great work.

[feelotraveller]

Nicely done.  And formulae as well. [8D]
 
A quick clarification - native planet type is assessed on a dominant race per empire basis?  (Confirmation would be seen if the native type bonuses change as the dominant race changes.)  This means that dominant race per planet does not affect the calculation.

[peddroelm]

Checking formula:

----------------------

size 29.7 k
quality 84%
Native yes


MAX_POP= 17139 M

Formula
2.75x(2.97^2)x(0.84^2) = 17.11607436 //pretty close (higher +)
----------------------

size 27.5k
quality 69%
Native no


MAX_POP=8896 M

Formula
2.5 * (2.75^2) * (0.69^2) = 9.001265625 // close (higher ++)
-----------------------

Maybe it needs more tweaking ? I would think formula calculated population MAX should be lower than displayed in game because of migration ...

[Osito]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

Peddroelm, I assume you're getting your in-game "MAX-POP=" figures from the colony select screen, when the population figure has MAX after it. In particular, I assume there isn't a screen somewhere that displays the max pop for every planet, because if there is I have overlooked it, and all this is rather redundant. I'm assuming for the moment there isn't a specific MAX POP display.

Perhaps I should have explained my methodology, as this would have enabled people to spot any flaws in the way I arrived at the numbers. This methodology was based on the observation that if you create a planet in the editor, which has too large a population for the planet size and quality, the game will automatically reduce the population down to the maximum within a few days' game time. What I did was this:

1. Started a brand new game.
2. Opened planet editor, created one of each colonisable planet type.
3. Placed human colonies (pop 20 billion; this appears to be the maximum you can set in the editor) on each planet type. Set a common planet size and quality for each planet.
4. Exited editor and ran game. If 20 billion pop was too much for the planet, the game would set it to MAX within a few days' game time.
5. Systematically changed the planet size and quality to get enough data to fit a formula to it.
6. Repeated steps 3-5 (partly) adding another race to the original colonies.
7. Repeated steps 3-5 (partly) creating colonies for the other races, instead of human. All the races that come with the game were tested.
8. Worked out formulas from data in steps 5-7.
9. Designed new planets, predicted the results based on formulas, built the planets in the editor, and checked whether the actual result matched the prediction.

What I found in step 9 was that the actual results always matched the prediction. On that basis I inferred (admittedly, this was inductive reasoning) that the formulas were accurate. Of course, it only takes one counter-example ...

Anyway, looking at this further what I can now say is this:

1. In practice, the actual population jumps about a bit. I think the game still tries to add on the growth, and this will result in the displayed figure sometimes being above the calculated theoretical figure. Then it will go down again, either because the game has reduced it back down to the theoretical maximum, or because there has been migration from the planet. So if you look at your first example, peddroelm, and allow the game to run a while, you'll probably find the planet population jumps up and down, sometimes being larger than the theoretical MAX, sometimes smaller.

2. It appears that the quality of a planet does not have to be a whole number, although it is always displayed as a whole number (even in the editor). This means that if the quality is displayed as, say, 69%, it may be anywhere in the range 68.5 to <69.5. The lower the planet quality, the higher the effect of this rounding error. On a 50% quality planet, the error can be as high as 2%. This same thing applies to planet size, although the discrepancies will be lower, as planet size is given to greater significance in the first place. I think this explains your second result, peddroelm (and possibly your first one too).

3. It's a lot more difficult to test colonies with multiple population types, and the results are not consistent enough for me to give any hard and fast rules. I will say that after further observation in an actual game, I now believe that the native planet bonuses are different from what I said in my OP.

4. It seems clear that at best these formulas are good to a precision of about 1-2%. If anyone is colonising planets with very low qualities, e.g., in the 5-20 range, the theoretical figure may be 10-20% out, owing to rounding errors.

I will edit the OP to refer to these points.

Osito

[feelotraveller]

Thanks for clarifying regarding the native planet bonuses.&nbsp; It is a somewhat finicky thing to test for.&nbsp; [:)]

[DarkThug]

Nice job, thank for the info.

[Flinkebeinchen]

I made a quick spreadsheet with the formula above. Its an openoffice document (.ods). Just enter your Planetsize and Quality and you will get the Max Population.