While it sounds good, i'm a bit worried about possible performance issues. I guess the player will be limited (through skills?) to only a few outposts. However i can't imagine a limit when it comes to selling them, and that's potentially dozen of new markets in the sector during a long campaign, now in the AI's possession. The sector economy and our computers might not like that.
I was under the impression that the number of markets will be a non-issue for performance in the new version with the economy rewrite.
Yeah, I'm not sure. I mean, filling up the entire Sector with outposts would definitely cause problems, while something like doubling the core world amount shouldn't, but where in between is the boundary? It's hard to say without doing a bunch of testing.
Does the pop system track emigration numbers, or do pops just die if there are negative growth factors? What about refugee populations?
Neither, I think? It just tracks a percentage towards the next size up.
I really enjoy the style of run-down, reclaimed and hastily repailed that goes with the idea of being a refugee in space on some derelict station. It'd be cool to see some sort of a population dynamic etc tied with small, transiently inhabited stations popping up and disappearing as refugees move. Maybe tied with early game trading to supply their limited needs or something.
I could see that sort of thing as a standalone mission, maybe. But with the core worlds being relatively close together, there's not much space in-between for transient stations etc.
Can you pack a transport ship full of crew and them debark them on your colony to grow it manually? For a size 3 or 4 market that should theoretically have a major influence
Hmm, not as things stand. Could be a fun thing to do, but it also sounds like the sort of hacky one-off that might make things difficult in the long run. E.G. you might feel forced to keep buying up crew to bring to your outposts, there might be exploits related to buying up crew *from your own outpost* to put back in, etc. Probably wouldn't make much difference for size 4 and up, too, since we're dealing with 100k+ populations.
Can you tell us more about the "later fun things" that can come out of tracking the population composition? An influence on resource output (Hegemony pops are better industry workers, Luddites are better farmers etc.)? Or more like "unrest if you have a majority stemming from a faction you are at war with", with a chance of revolutions and stuff like that?
Most of those are on the table, actually! The general idea is that population composition (plus other factors) can lead to your markets getting specific conditions, which may be harmful or beneficial. I've got a running list of conditions I'd like to put in, but haven't gotten to actually implementing that yet.
Some I'm more excited about than others - I mean, a farming bonus is neat RP-wise, but it's just a stat bonus. An example somewhere in the mid-to-high tier of my excitement level (spoilered because 1) spoilers and 2) the mechanics could change entirely, and in fact this is not at all guarantee that the thing involved would work exactly like that, but something probably will):
Spoiler
Let's say you've had a "free port" for a long time, but eventually decide to clamp down - need that stability. A few months later, "organized crime" pops up, and pirates start preying on shipping. You track some of them back to a nearby system, which has an established pirate base. It's too strong to take head on immediately, so you spend some time picking off fleets and attacking important installations on the fringes and eventually take on their remaining fleets guarding the pirate station.
... or, you make some sort of deal with the local crime boss.
So, something like that. Ideally, I'd like for the negative conditions to have resolutions that drive you towards combat gameplay and not shuffling numbers around. That's not to say everything will be like that - for some things like "general unrest in the population" it might not make a lot of sense - but that's what I think would add the most to the gameplay.
If populations have distinct faction-specific attitudes and/or skills, can the player faction also (eventually) have pops with a distinct culture that influences these parameters?
I don't think so. Heck, I don't think every faction is going to have these kinds of attitudes in the first place. The Luddic Church/Path/etc will, since it's less "faction" and more "culture". Pirates/criminals will, because, well - not so much "culture", but certainly a different set of attitudes. Your average Hegemony citizen isn't much different from a Tri-Tachyonite or an independent, though - most of the differences there are at the top.
Can market conditions emerge or disappear dynamically? I mean, with population composition being tracked(although vague), I can see something like Organized Crime, Luddic Majority etc coming up as the outpost grows. As well as market conditions affecting the compositions(Does it already do that?).
I think the above mostly answered that, but yeah. And yes to conditions affecting the compositions as well, e.g. good farmland will attract more luddics.