As a person with weaker PC and some leftovers of sanity i prefer smaller amounts of colonists, but i still end up with large colonies by area. My solution for optimization is restricting colonists to their areas. They dont all need to cross the entire colony 2-3 times per day, they just get food, go to crafting station, then go to bed. Exception is haulers and construction/maintenance.
As a person with weaker PC and some leftovers of sanity i prefer smaller amounts of colonists, but i still end up with large colonies by area. My solution for optimization is restricting colonists to their areas. They dont all need to cross the entire colony 2-3 times per day, they just get food, go to crafting station, then go to bed. Exception is haulers and construction/maintenance.