Hmm... This made me think of something.
If you have enough people, you can create a new colony independent of you. It would be AI controlled (but you, as the commander of the mother colony, could give your own orders to it too) and it would have separate resource counts. It'd kinda be like a new player. Any tech either of you gets is shared though.
Let me try to sum it up:
1) P1 (Red Eden we'll say) has 300 people. 121 kids, 107 workers, and 72 scis.
2) P1 decides to make a separate colony. He constructs enough equipment (ConVecs, Trucks, Miners, kits, etc) to support a new colony.
3) The new colony is built and begins mining operations, growing food, keeping mraoel high, etc.
4) P1's population grows too high and he is unable to maintain it. His population demands too many agridomes/reses/etc.
5) P1 clicks Command Center #1-02 and clicks the "New Colony" button. He is asked how many colonists (minimum of 20 workers and 12 scis) he wishes to transfer to the new colony, along with food and metals. He clicks the number he wants and clicks "Establish Colony." He is given a message saying "All structures connected to this Command Center will be transferred to the new colony. Are you sure?", and he clicks "Yes".
6) The entire base is now a Green Eden Ai controled base. But P1 can still command it/etc, although the Command Center is now labelled #1A-01 (if it's his second new base it would be #1B-01). Also, P1 can always click the "Merge Colonies" button and will automatically gain control of the colony if his old one is destroyed.
Note: CC #x-01/lowest numbered CC wouldn't have the New Colony option.