After some more self-playtests I think the answer, at least when everyone takes individual turns, is to stop at 20 points. Pretty sure it’d play out differently if we were all voting, but that might just be a matter of variants.
I think I’m about ready to pack up Pulsars 'n Politics and call it “done enough.” The series of modifications have led to a game that is stable and reaches a consistent end intentionally, and I’m no longer interested in pursuing the theme far enough to make it into a better game. My goal was to make Impulse less bad, and after the most recent couple of rounds, I think I can comfortably say I’ve done that, at least to my tastes. I’ll probably solicit some playtests of what I consider the “final” version, and maybe down the road slap together a more “final” design using open-source artwork. I could see keeping it around for when I feel like playing generic pew pew space trash.
From here, I’m going to take this game and continue developing it into Road to Thingvellir, which is a game I am actually interested in developing into something better. I’ve been using PnP cards to test prospective rules, but will need to make a separate set of assets for that game because I’ve changed stuff like color balance and what not. At some point I’ll be starting a new thread for that, linking it from here, and once I’ve fully wrapped up PnP, I’ll be shutting this one down.