Is it a fixed number of colonies?

Is it tiered or graduated?

Thanks ...

If you view your empire screen (F1) you will see a gauge of your empire's max approved colony capacity vs how many systems you currently have colonized (bottom left of screen). This will change based on your government type, galaxy size, and as the game progresses which techs you've researched. There are two techs in the empire development tree that will add 25% capacity to your maximum number of colonizable systems.

After you start moving past that cap, your over-colonization penalty will slowly increase. Don't quote me on this (unless I'm right, then go crazy), but I believe at release they changed the dynamic so that each system you colonize on top of your max will add -10 overcolonization approval.

I see it. Thanks!