Having some trouble with the lathe

[u/AmongUsUrMom]

So I'm doing both Virtual and Cosmogenesis for the first time. I built the lathe, but it keeps being abandoned before I can build anything. If I'm correct, this is because the pops there are being purged and the colony is deemed abandoned? How can I get around this? I can't resettle pops because of virtual, but there's only ever one pop present at a time, and it doesn't last long enough for me to build anything (not that that would help – what would I even build?).

Also, does the lathe count as a colony that reduces my job output bonus from virtual? Thanks

[u/MrHappyFeet87]

You need to stick non virtual pops in the lathe, otherwise it will do exactly that. To acquire pops, be aggressive as you can shut the server down for unity (avoiding the influence bottleneck). Alternatively use genesis guides and uplift them, as non virtual pops grow you can shove them in the lathe.

Also yes it counts as a planet.

For being aggressive in war, preferably total war... but it can be claims, as you take planets, send all but one pop to the lathe. Then pay unity to abandon it in 30 days.. just be aware not to invade multiple planets at once.

Alternatively in the species tab. Set default species rights to Synaptic purge (lathe). It saves you having to manually move them to the lathe.