Maybe I'm Stupid...

Yup.

Strange... this particular asteroid had a max of 0 before I explored to find out it was a penal colony (max pop -20).

while we're at it (sorry for threadjacking): since when does development mandate only have 1 level? was quite surprised the other day, though I think it's a good change, since the two levels really were quite powerful indeed.

@ topic: don't beat yourself up about it. some boni are really just strange, like the xtra well together with the minus well size and the like. it may just be one of those combinations that end up being pointless. though penal colonies does have another effect, no? like faster structure build rates. if yes, then be happy you can enjoy the pros without suffering the cons.

development mandate was nerfed in one of the patches to vanilla.. can't remember which one, but it wasn't an entrenchment change.

Actually penal colony is -20% to structure cost and -30% to build rate.

Anyway, after further exploration it was "frequent metorites" that is -20 to max population.

Do you think its a bug that I was getting that -20 to pop before I explored the planet?

I think entrenchment made the change so that negative planet characteristics are always visible before colonising. not sure of the details, but I think it is negative only.

I think frequent meteorites is supposed to be visible before exploration, like gravity well sizes, weapons test facility, and some others.

I'm using the gateway map, so maybe someone else could verify that those attributes were not on the infocard at all until I explored the planet.