Is the population eaten chosen at random, or is there a method to choose?

I  haven't tested this, but everyone else says it's the next pop that is about to produce that gets destroyed.

I had a Hissho pop being produced, but a UE pop was eaten. Whether that is a glitch, out the anecdotal evidence is wrong is more than I want to say. 

Can I get a dev or anyone who knows? I'd just like some official word on how this feature works.

Any Devs or someone that can dig into the XMLs? I asked on Steam, and no one knows there either.

I've done some digging in the XML's, chain gangs is defined in \Public\Simulation\ConstructibleElement_Industry[StarSystemImprovement].xml (Line 189)

<!-- ENROLLMENT -->
<StarSystemResourceImprovementDefinition Name="StarSystemImprovementEnrollment" SubCategory="SubCategoryMilitary" ScoreProvider="StarSystemImprovementBuilt">
<AIGain RessourceName="GrowthToManpowerGain"/>

<Tags>NoBuyout</Tags>
<Cost ResourceName="SystemTurnBased">1</Cost>
<CustomCost ResourceName="SystemGrowth"      Instant="true">300 * Property(StockLocation, @../ClassEmpire, GameSpeedMultiplier, true)</CustomCost>
<TechnologyPrerequisite Flags="Prerequisite,Discard,Technology">TechnologyDefense1NonVampirilis</TechnologyPrerequisite>
<PathPrerequisite Inverted="true" Flags="Prerequisite,Discard">../ClassEmpire/ClassResearch,TechnologyQuestVampirilis04</PathPrerequisite>
<PathPrerequisite Flags="Prerequisite,Discard" Inverted="true">../ClassEmpire,AffinityGameplayVampirilis</PathPrerequisite>
<PathPrerequisite Flags="Prerequisite,Discard">ColonizedStarSystemStateColony,!BesiegedColonizedStarSystem,!BlockadedColonizedStarSystem,!GroundBattleInProgress</PathPrerequisite>
<!-- Check growth stock instead of population count (must have equivalent to 2 pop). Also, uses flag Enqueue instead of Prerequisite so that it doesn't block construction queue once queued -->
<InterpreterPrerequisite Flags="Enqueue">Property(Context, @ClassColonizedStarSystem, SystemGrowthStock) ge (2 * 300 * Property(Context, @../ClassEmpire, GameSpeedMultiplier, true)) and Property(Context, @ClassColonizedStarSystem, PopulationWithGrowth) ge 1</InterpreterPrerequisite>
<!-- if flag Cancel is raised on a queued construction, it will be cancelled (and refund its cost) -->
<InterpreterPrerequisite Flags="Prerequisite,Cancel">Property(Context,@../ClassEmpire, EmpireManpowerStock) lt Property(Context,@../ClassEmpire, MaximumEmpireManpowerStock)</InterpreterPrerequisite>
<Resource Name="EmpireManpower">300</Resource>
</StarSystemResourceImprovementDefinition>

With the line 

<CustomCost ResourceName="SystemGrowth"      Instant="true">300 * Property(StockLocation, @../ClassEmpire, GameSpeedMultiplier, true)</CustomCost>

It would look like it uses the growth system and should take the next pop to grow (as they are also the next type of pop to die if food is negative I believe)

I myself have always had it take the next pop to grow but maybe it acts strangely when pops that can't grow but still take food are present? or something like that I'm not sure.

There may have been an issue where the pop was going to grow the next turn, therefore growing, and then eating the next in line pop. I'm not sure. Thanks for looking into this for me.

Hi,

It's actually the opposite: the pop with the lowest growth score is taken. We know this is far from ideal and it's on our improve-list to add a feedback on which pop would be consumed by the Chain Gang improvement.

But thanks for looking through the files anyways :)

Cheers,

@jhell, could you add in a feature to select the pop to be eaten?

MrJade wrote:

@jhell, could you add in a feature to select the pop to be eaten?

Enable this for feeding pits aswell. I tried messing around with it a bit lately. It actually seems really good for when you have systems with many slaves and thus low approval. This means that you will get low amounts of food which stagnates your population growth. But with feeding pits you can overcome this. It is actually a really good ability because in those 10 turns of bonus happyness and food you will grow back the population consumed. The only downside is it will eat your lowest amount of population so you have to keep micromanaging. Which is tedious because cravers are already one of the most micromanage intensive factions.

I had suggested a while back that on the pop screen they give us a flag for "unwanted citizen". That would be the first one to go whenever you did a chain gang, feeding pits, etc etc.

Stalker0 wrote:

I had suggested a while back that on the pop screen they give us a flag for "unwanted citizen". That would be the first one to go whenever you did a chain gang, feeding pits, etc etc.

I like this idea.

jhell wrote:

Hi,

It's actually the opposite: the pop with the lowest growth score is taken. We know this is far from ideal and it's on our improve-list to add a feedback on which pop would be consumed by the Chain Gang improvement.

But thanks for looking through the files anyways :)

Cheers,

I would like to know if this topic is still on your improve list.

Currently, my tests have shown that the population with the lowest growth score is NOT taken. Has any progress been made in determining what actually does determine which population is taken?

No, game is no longer under development.

Yes, they've changed it to "highest grow score".

ok good to know thanks