Just take a look on Sol III primitives. The more advanced is country - the less natural pop growth they have. And the only reason why overall population is still growing - the existence of less developed countries. But they will develop sooner or later (at least I hope they will make it). So one of the most obvious and logical solutions for Sol III primitives is developing some kind of artificial reproduction. And it would take only a couple of decades to shift the society into the opinion that anyone who is still growing naturally is some kind of freak or religious fanatic.
But any empire in Stellaris is even more advanced than the primitives of Sol III. If we take the ongoing demographics crisis as some logical rule (better living standards, more amenities, more urbanisation and better technological level always leads to reduced (or even negative) growth rate), which can be true for almostly any species with similar traits (birth is painful and needs some time while you just can't work, new pops take ~20 standard years to become mature, it is kinda expensive and so on), pop assembly should be more common than natural growth (in Stellaris we have exactly opposite situation). So natural growth should be available only for Spiritualist/Authoritarian empires or for species with some unique traits (e.g. for some reptilians with painless egg laying and fast maturation cycle), while the other empires should heavily rely on artificial growth.
Well, we could pretend that natural pop growth in Stellaris is not so natural and behind all these numbers there is some kind of advanced society that managed to maintain growth. But:
1. If the pops aren't grown naturally, why the pops can't be grown just on demand like you order buildings, ships, armies and so on? We can't do this, so the growth is more likely natural. Also balance issues, but let's not break the fourth wall.
2. Maybe there is some kind of genetics technology to make growth process and maturation way more faster and this technology just not displayed in initial technologies list? Since all new leaders are about ~30-40 years old, the maturation cycle remains unchanged so biologically UNE humans in 2200 are exactly the same as the pre-FTL variant. Leaders of species that are not grown naturally (synths, clone soldiers) are younger.
So all of this means that natural pop growth is really natural. But also it means that in the game about future and space exploration the display of pop growth mechanisms is more suitable for 19th century, but not even for 21st, while the game starting year is 2200.
There is another explanation - ongoing crisis is just temporary and in 2200 everything will be fine, but all the logic why the current Soll III primitives' growth is pretty much dead in 21st century society also could work with more advanced society. Also Stellaris is a sci-fi game. The whole genre is built around extrapolation of current society into more advanced age (so that is why, for example, the future described by Asimov sometimes feels like I'm reading the book about 1950 year) and by observing the current society I really believe that any spacefaring civilization should be far away from natural growth.
But any empire in Stellaris is even more advanced than the primitives of Sol III. If we take the ongoing demographics crisis as some logical rule (better living standards, more amenities, more urbanisation and better technological level always leads to reduced (or even negative) growth rate), which can be true for almostly any species with similar traits (birth is painful and needs some time while you just can't work, new pops take ~20 standard years to become mature, it is kinda expensive and so on), pop assembly should be more common than natural growth (in Stellaris we have exactly opposite situation). So natural growth should be available only for Spiritualist/Authoritarian empires or for species with some unique traits (e.g. for some reptilians with painless egg laying and fast maturation cycle), while the other empires should heavily rely on artificial growth.
Well, we could pretend that natural pop growth in Stellaris is not so natural and behind all these numbers there is some kind of advanced society that managed to maintain growth. But:
1. If the pops aren't grown naturally, why the pops can't be grown just on demand like you order buildings, ships, armies and so on? We can't do this, so the growth is more likely natural. Also balance issues, but let's not break the fourth wall.
2. Maybe there is some kind of genetics technology to make growth process and maturation way more faster and this technology just not displayed in initial technologies list? Since all new leaders are about ~30-40 years old, the maturation cycle remains unchanged so biologically UNE humans in 2200 are exactly the same as the pre-FTL variant. Leaders of species that are not grown naturally (synths, clone soldiers) are younger.
So all of this means that natural pop growth is really natural. But also it means that in the game about future and space exploration the display of pop growth mechanisms is more suitable for 19th century, but not even for 21st, while the game starting year is 2200.
There is another explanation - ongoing crisis is just temporary and in 2200 everything will be fine, but all the logic why the current Soll III primitives' growth is pretty much dead in 21st century society also could work with more advanced society. Also Stellaris is a sci-fi game. The whole genre is built around extrapolation of current society into more advanced age (so that is why, for example, the future described by Asimov sometimes feels like I'm reading the book about 1950 year) and by observing the current society I really believe that any spacefaring civilization should be far away from natural growth.
