Fixing pops and gene modding in the new, multicultural Stellaris

[Greenslade]

So, I actually *like* the new pop system and the way you have all kinds of weird species show up. The way they distribute amongst jobs could be smoothed out but it's not that bad right now, really.

Gene-modding is a *pain* though, because once you have several species you can end up having to do a mod project nine or ten times to cover the various immigrant and half-races.

The UI sort of works for 3 or 4 species but really falls over when you have 30.

So. One way to solve a lot of people's problems is to alter the way populations are modified. Rather than active projects, make gene-modding passive.

1. Idea the first: Make a template a "target".
   • In the case where you have a primary species where you want to just remove a negative trait or add a generic boost like communal, simply make the template. The game will, over time, grow new pops and transition your old pops to the new target template.
   • This would take longer than the existing research project, but wouldn't take up society research.
   • The various gene clinic buildings could increase the rate at which your population alters.
2. Idea the second: Choose from various target species depending on the job you want to fill.
   • Assuming no new buildings, there will be a "next job" in the queue for planetary growth. Rather than picking from existing species, the growth mechanic should choose from target species. If there is a generator technician job to fill, the game should look to see which pops are going to be best at that job.
   • There could still be some variation especially for wide, messy, multicultural xenophile empires, but gestalt hive minds should know the kinds of drones they want to breed.
3. Idea the third: "auto improve" minority species.
   • Let the player set some policies for generating new target species for newly arrived migrants or refugees.
   • For eg: remove negative traits if there are spare points.
   • or, eg: add one of these pre-selected traits at random if there are spare points.
4. Idea the fourth: allow "cross species" modification designs and better filtering
   • Let the player see only those pops doing mining, or research, or unity jobs
   • Give the ability to add a beneficial trait to this group even if there are multiple species doing it, if there are enough points.
   • Create multiple "target" species as a result of that project, with those pops earmarked for modification.
5. Idea the fifth: Make the top level bio-ascension path a "mutable species."
   • At the cost of 3 APs, replace every target species with a new trait of "mutable" or "infinitely adaptable."
   • All your pops will slowly transition to this.
   • Pops with this trait will check their jobs and pick bonuses based on what they're doing, to represent a species that can effectively modify itself at a whim.
     • (or just make that single trait give all the bonuses, if that's easier)
   • Species with this trait should also adapt their habitability to suit where they are over time.
   • This is super powerful but, again, it's 3APs so it should be.
   • New species moving to your empire will be transitioned and adapted once they have access to your technology.
   • If your species emigrates to an empire that doesn't have this technology, they will transition back to a previous species template.

When players say they don't like "micro," I think what they really mean is having to do the same repetitive task over and over. So, clicking "upgrade" on a level 2 to level 3 building under the old system is "tedious micro" because you always want to do it everywhere and it's just grunt work. Similarly, going through every one of your species and taking out their negative traits/adding "communal" because you don't know where they're ending up so you might as well put a generic buff on them is "tedious micro" involving a lot of repetitive clicking and no real meaningful decisions. It's a grind.

I think that making changes such as the one above would shift the mechanics to one where the players make meaningful choices of "I want my population to look like this," and then the game shifts it that way in the background, avoiding the need to start 13 different gene-modding special projects which annoyingly somehow leave 2 pops out of 100 unmodified anyway, who then keep breeding and mean you have to do another conversion project.