Ecplise - Population Cubes full on return

Question

I played a game of Eclipse last night and we encounter a discussion about returning Population Cubes.

The scenario: You have taken over a system (A) with 2x lab, and a system (B) with 2 white planets.(and more, but not relevant for this example )

• Economy has -2 Population Cubes;
• Research has -2 Population Cubes;
• Mining has -3 Population Cubes;

Now you lost system (B) and you return the 2 cubes to Research. (because its a white planet you can choose)

The status of your Population Cubes now:

• Economy has -2 Population Cubes;
• Research has -0 Population Cubes;
• Mining has -3 Population Cubes;

What happens to the cubes when you also lose system (A)? You won't have room for them in the Research bar..

1. Would they overwrite the limit and deny you from any income for that resource?
2. You can choose where you can put it (like a white planet)? (like we declared as most fair)
3. Would they stay in your grave until you have enough room at the start/end of the round?

Or maybe something else?

Answer 1

This is from the official FAQ on BGG: (italics added by me)

Q: What happens if I cannot return a Population cube to a track because it is full? This might occur if you return cubes from grey squares to different tracks than where they originally came from.

A: The track may be filled completely, so that no number is visible. This means that you do not have any production of that Resource. If a track is full and you still need to return cubes to it, the cubes must go to any other track(s).