I've been enjoying this mod that allows to extend the replayability but I've hit a wall, I found myself unable to survive raids, then came here and saw the pinned discussion about it, glad to see I'm not alone :D

So here is my issue, even tho I have plenty of food and space, my population just won't grow that much. Usually by the time the first raid comes, from the starting 40 I barely hit 50 people and usually lose about 10 people, so by the time the second raid comes, I'm right back at the beginning. I think I only once reached about 60 people but inevitably died at the third raid.
And it's systematic, I usually can survive the first two raids, but not the third.

I make sure I have enough weapons for everybody, always of the latest tech available, I always keep 10-15 housing space available to grow and my welfare is almost always above 75%

Then I read about the wife playing and reaching 75 pop and losing only 4 to the first raid... is there a mechanic I'm not aware of regarding growing pop and combat?