Given how much POP count means now in 2.2 slavers became a very viable strategy. Either with heavy use of galactic slave market or with conquest/barbaric despoilers you could have a very nice slaver empire. And slaves have zero CG consumption, and reduced housing and amenities usage, which is logical and good. Plus, you actually have a nice issue with slaves - they are usually very unhappy, and while having very low impact on planetary stability, they quite often outnumber your own species on a planet, so you are kinda forced to run some sort of stability-compensation strategy - in form of noble elites, police state etc. And this is good - this make a nice rounded play style, both in terms of gameplay mechanics and in term of RP. It requires a lot of micro, sadly. And with the current growth mechanics you are basically forced to have population control enabled for every enslaved species, because you always need your own species to grow - they are specialists that make very useful stuff. Slaves are here to do the basic jobs - so you can't afford a slave to take up growth slot. So it would be nice to have multiple species able to grow at once, but that's only the minor issue with slaves that I found (at least you could always go and get some more slaves, which you usually do).
But a major issue I found with slaves - they consume the same amount of food as masters. Which kinda makes no sense - surely they have access only to the most basic of foods, compared to masters. But it's not a problem on it's own - it's a problem when we are talking about habitability modifier. Usually the most punishing thing about low habitability is high CG and amenities usage, and while food is equally affected, it's usually the former two that pose a problem. When we are talking about slaves though - we suddenly find ourselves with a problem of food, of all things. Since slaves do not require CG (I'm talking about 'standard' slavery, when all slaves are workers and live under 'basic subsistence' standards) and have lowered amenities usage it's food modifier that hurts the most. But that's the thing about slaves - you want them as your low-class workforce. And you can't afford to be picky about their preferred habitability, more often then not you won't have neighbors of the same habitability preference as your own. You could genetically modify them (which I did), but that is: a)a high-end technology; b)take quite some time to actually modify; c)you would have to do that for every species (and thing about true slaver run - you would end up having quite a few different species as slaves); d)you would have to repeat modification process every so often since you would capture more of them.
You could go without genetic modification, of course, but the penalty is too severe - you end up having 50% more food upkeep for every slave (with wrong habitability). I had to switch to 'strict rationing' at one point while trying to run a tall-ish slaver empire, since I haven't taken into account the fact that a single slave POP have the same food upkeep as a Ruler POP.
So, what I suggest is very simple - have different POPs have different food upkeep, the same it is now with CG. They could be fixed or they could be made into the similar 'living standards' species rights mechanics, since right now food consumption is regulated by empire-wide food policy.
But a major issue I found with slaves - they consume the same amount of food as masters. Which kinda makes no sense - surely they have access only to the most basic of foods, compared to masters. But it's not a problem on it's own - it's a problem when we are talking about habitability modifier. Usually the most punishing thing about low habitability is high CG and amenities usage, and while food is equally affected, it's usually the former two that pose a problem. When we are talking about slaves though - we suddenly find ourselves with a problem of food, of all things. Since slaves do not require CG (I'm talking about 'standard' slavery, when all slaves are workers and live under 'basic subsistence' standards) and have lowered amenities usage it's food modifier that hurts the most. But that's the thing about slaves - you want them as your low-class workforce. And you can't afford to be picky about their preferred habitability, more often then not you won't have neighbors of the same habitability preference as your own. You could genetically modify them (which I did), but that is: a)a high-end technology; b)take quite some time to actually modify; c)you would have to do that for every species (and thing about true slaver run - you would end up having quite a few different species as slaves); d)you would have to repeat modification process every so often since you would capture more of them.
You could go without genetic modification, of course, but the penalty is too severe - you end up having 50% more food upkeep for every slave (with wrong habitability). I had to switch to 'strict rationing' at one point while trying to run a tall-ish slaver empire, since I haven't taken into account the fact that a single slave POP have the same food upkeep as a Ruler POP.
So, what I suggest is very simple - have different POPs have different food upkeep, the same it is now with CG. They could be fixed or they could be made into the similar 'living standards' species rights mechanics, since right now food consumption is regulated by empire-wide food policy.
