
there is a system development luxuary resource that reduce the overcolonization penalty by a percentage (Benthic Gems) there is a minor faction (mavros) law that reduce the overcolonization penalty by a percentage some technologies increase the number of supported systems some government form increase the number of supported systems some factions (united empire or a custom faction) reduce the overcolonization penalty by a percentage There are mechancis that deal with overcolonization directly: planet terraforming: planets themselves provide happiness ranging from -20 to +10 laws, some of which have dependencies, e.g. some system development luxuary resources, most notably Transvine You can provide happiness bonuses to counter the unhappiness from overcolonization, such bonuses can be found in a multitude of game mechanics such as: The magnitude of this penalty gets larger the higher the difference between the actual colonized systems and the maximum of supported systems is. If you have more systems that your empire can support you will face an unhappiness penalty on all systems.

Each empire can support a number of colonized planets, you can see this number by going to the empire tab (dafaul shortcut: F1, in the lower left of the empire screen).
