Population

Population and Production window: Summary View

This is by far the most complex and detailed screen in Aurora and is key to the strategic portion of the game. The empire dropdown in the top left allows you to select each empire, although you will need to be in SM mode if you wish to view multiple empires. To the right of the empire dropdown is a checkbox that allows you to switch between two views of your colony list. The default view has more detail while the basic view requires less space. Across the top of the window is the Time Control section, which contains several buttons, each with an amount of time. Pressing a button will advance time in the game by the specified amount. There is a more detailed Time Control section on the System Map. The colony list on the left shows all populations in the Empire. The largest part of the Economics View is a series of tabs showing different aspects of your colonies. As each tab has a lot of information I will tackle them one at once. This post will concentrate on the Summary view, which is the tab displayed when you first open this window

Summary View

The Summary view shows the Planetary and Sector Governors as well as a summary of the currently selected colony. The Planetary Governor applies his bonuses to all aspects of the selected colony. The Sector Governor applies one quarter of his bonus to all colonies within his sector. Both these positions can be assigned on the Officers Window (F4). The various lines on the summary view are as follows:

• Political Status: The status of the colony in relation to the Empire as a whole. An Imperial Population is a fully fledged member of the Empire and follows all normal rules. A status such as Client State or Occupied will have different effects. These will be covered in the section on Politics
• Species: The species of which the population is composed. Each empire may have populations from several different species, each with their own environmental tolerances and racial characteristics. Each population can only consist of one species so if there are two species from the same empire on the same planet, there will be two populations.
• Planetary Suitability: The colony cost of the planet. If a planet has zero colony cost, the population is not restricted in any way other than the maximum growth rate. Otherwise, the maximum population is equal to (Infrastructure * 10,000)/Colony Cost. For more details on colony cost, see the System View window (F9)
• Administration Level Required: The minimum Administration Rating of the planetary governor. In other words, no Administrator can be assigned to the role of planetary governor unless he has the specified rating or higher. If an Administrator is already assigned when the required rating changes he may remain within the role but any newly appointed governor must be at the new required rating level. Larger populations will require higher ratings.
• Annual Wealth Creation: The total amount of wealth that this population will generate in one year. This is gradually added to the Empire’s current wealth every few days.
• Total Population: Total population of the colony in millions.
• Agriculture and Environmental (A&E). The percentage and actual amount of population working to feed the rest of the population and maintain any environmental infrastructure. The required percentage is based on the colony cost and is assigned automatically by Aurora. A colony cost zero world will only have 5% assigned to this sector.
• Service Industries (SI): This is the percentage and amount of population working in service industries, which includes everything that is not related to A&E or Manufacturing. The percentage required for SI is based on the total size of the population and is assigned automatically by Aurora. As a population grows, the relative size of the SI sector increases.
• Manufacturing: The available population after the size of the A&E and SI Sectors has been determined. All factories, mines, shipyards, etc must be manned by this sector of the population.
• Annual Growth Rate: The rate at which populations increase in size. The rate of increase is based on the size of the population and small populations have a higher rate of increase than large ones (what else is there to do on a new colony?). Population growth is fairly realistic and will be around 2% or less per year for a large population. The rate is also modified by any Population Growth bonus provided by the planetary and sector governors.
• Current Infrastructure: The amount of infrastructure on this colony. If the colony cost is zero, infrastructure is not required. Otherwise, the maximum population is equal to (Infrastructure * 10,000)/Colony Cost. For more details on colony cost, see the System View window
• Supported Population: The maximum population allowed by the current level of infrastructure. For colony cost zero, there is no maximum population.
• Manufacturing Sector Breakdown: This section lists all manufacturing workers that are employed in different parts of the Manufacturing Sector and shows how much population is available for additional industry
• Requested Protection Level: This value shows how much protection this population demands from the Empire’s military forces. This is based on several factors including population size, political status and species militancy.
• Actual Protection Level: This value shows how much protection this population is receiving from the Empire’s military forces and is based on the total PPV value of Empire forces within the same star system. If insufficient protection is being provided, it will cause unrest within the colony population
• Radiation Level: The amount of background radiation present on the planet’s surface. If this is zero, there will be no radiation line on the summary. Each point of radiation decreases industrial production by 0.01%. The most likely cause of radiation is recent bombardment of the planet.
• Atmospheric Dust Level: The amount of dust in the planetary atmosphere. The normal surface temperature of a planet is decreased by the Dust Level / 100
• Sector Command HQ: Construction of a sector command headquarters creates a sector with the colony as the sector capital. Higher levels of sector command headquarters increase the radius of the sector.
• Military Academy: The size of the colony’s military academy. Each level of an academy produces five commanders and 1000 crewmen per year, with the crewmen having 100 grade points. Changes to a empire’s Training Level (see the Empire window) will reduce the number of crewmen produced but increase their starting grade points.
• Deep Space Tracking Station (DSTS): DSTS provide EM and Thermal sensor capability for a colony. The first DSTS has a sensor strength equal to the racial Planetary Sensor Strength. Each additional DSTS adds 25% to the colony’s sensor strength.
• Maintenance Facility: A maintenance facility is able to maintain ships of a certain size in orbit. Each level of maintenance facility increases that size by 200 tons, so a Level 20 Maintenance Facility could handle ships of up to 4000 tons. If a ship of the maximum size or less is in orbit, it does not suffer maintenance failures and therefore does not use up spares.
• Mass Driver Capacity: The tonnage of minerals that this population can launch per year. A single mass driver is sufficient to catch any amount of minerals.
• Shipyards/Slipways: Shipyards give the colony the ability to construct ships (see the Manage Shipyards tab). Their annual construction rate is based on the racial Shipbuilding Rate (see Research) and modified by Shipbuilding bonuses provided by the planetary and sector governors. Each shipyard requires population in the manufacturing sector to support it based on a formula of: Number of Slipways x Capacity x 0.0001
• Construction Factories: Construction Factories (CF) are used to build all other planetary installations, such as shipyards, mines, all factory types, fighter bases, etc. Their annual rate of construction is based on the racial Construction Rate (see Research) and modified by Factory Production bonuses provided by the planetary and sector governors. Each CF requires 50,000 supporting population.
• Ordnance Factories (v4.8): Ordnance Factories (OF) are used to build missiles. Their annual rate of construction is based on the racial Ordnance Production Rate (see Research) and modified by Factory Production bonuses provided by the planetary and sector governors. Each OF requires 50,000 supporting population.
• Fighter Factories (v4.8): Fighter Factories (FF) are used to construct all fighter types. Their annual construction rate is based on the racial Fighter Production Rate (see Research) and modified by Factory Production bonuses provided by the planetary and sector governors. As with other factories, they require 50,000 population to support them.
• Fuel Refineries: Fuel Refineries convert mined Sorium into fuel for spacecraft. Each ton of Sorium produces 2000 litres of fuel. Their annual rate of production in terms of tons of Sorium processed is based on the racial Fuel Production Rate (see Research) and modified by Factory Production bonuses provided by the planetary and sector governors. Each Refinery requires supporting 50,000 population.
• Mines: Mines extract Trans-Newtonian minerals from the core of the planet or moon on which the colony is based. Each mine extracts every available mineral at a annual rate based on the racial Mining Production Rate and modified by the accessibility of each mineral and the Mining Bonuses provided by the planetary and sector governors. Each mine requires 50,000 supporting population.
• Automated Mines: Automated Mines function exactly like the mines except they do not require a supporting population. This makes them ideal for hostile worlds or small moons and asteroids that do not have enough gravity to support a population.
• Terraforming Facilities (TF): Terraforming Facilities are used to change the composition of gases in the atmosphere. Each TF can add or remove an amount of gas equal to the racial Terraforming Rate, modified by the Terraforming bonuses of the planetary and sector governors.
• Research Labs. The total number of Research Points (RP) produced by a colony is equal to the number of Research Labs multiplied by the racial Research Rate, modified by the Research bonuses provided by the planetary and sector governors. Each Research Lab require one million supporting population. See the Research tab for details on Research Projects
• Ground Force Training Facilities (GFTF). Each GFTF can train one ground unit. Every GFTF produces 100 training points per year
• Fuel Available: The total amount of fuel available at the colony. This stockpile is used to refuel orbiting spacecraft.
• Maintenance Supplies Available: The total amount of maintenance supplies at the colony. This stockpile is used to resupply ships running low on maintenance supplies
• Thermal Signature of Colony. This has the same function as the thermal signature of a spacecraft and determines the range at which the colony can be detected by thermal sensors. Industry such as shipyards, factories and mines has far more of an impact on the colony thermal signature than the size of the population
• EM Signature of Colony. This has the same function as the EM signature of a spacecraft and determines the range at which the colony can be detected by EM sensors. The population size has a major impact on the colony EM signature.
• Economic Production Modifier (EPM). If a race is using deficit spending (i.e. its wealth is lower than zero), then any installations that use resources operate at a lower output, based on the size of the deficit compared to an Empire’s annual wealth production. The EPM shows the percentage of normal output.
• Manufacturing Efficiency. This figure represents the efficiency of the manufacturing sector. If sufficient workers are available to support all industrial installations, the efficiency will be 100%. If insufficient workers are available, this figure represents the percentage of required workers that are available. The production of all facilities such as shipyards, mines, factories, research labs, etc is reduced to this amount. The radiation level of the planet can also reduce this figure by 0.01% per point of radiation. If the radiation level is 10,000 the Manufacturing Efficiency will be 0%, regardless of worker availability, and nothing can be built on the planet.
• Political Status Production/Wealth/Trade Modifiers. Some political statuses have an effect on the colony’s production. These modifiers show the effect as a percentage of normal output.
• Political Stability Modifier. If a colony is suffering from unrest, its production will suffer.

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