Population

Population is the basic building block of an empire. The very much countable millions of hearts working as one towards your goal, whatever it is.

Overview

 * Your population is represented in units, each abstracted as a single worker who can be assigned to one of three jobs on the planet (food, research points, and production).
 * Population generates income through taxation on top of the resources generated above. A larger population means more income across the board.
 * The motivation of your population to continue working for you is represented by morale. The lower the morale, the bigger percentage of the population will go on strike and reduce your income (a striking population unit does not generate anything).
 * Each population unit requires one unit of food per turn to survive. Otherwise, starvation sets in and you lose one unit of population per turn of negative food income.

Population icons
These little icons represent one unit of population in a simplified manner, aiming to make the race and occupation immediately recognizable. Scientists wear a white lab coat with a vertical blue stripe, and hold a beaker. Farmers wear blue overalls and hold a pitchfork. Workers wear a hard hat and an orange vest and hold a jackhammer. If they are non-productive due to low morale, they sit on the floor and hold a sign with a red X on it. The neutral population icon is used to represent civilian populations in planetary combat.