eliteCount

The number of best individuals carried forward unchanged into the next generation. Must be

= 0. At use, the effective elite count is clamped to populationSize - 1 so that at least one offspring is produced each generation; a value >= populationSize would otherwise freeze the search by carrying the entire population forward unchanged.

Keep this well below populationSize for healthy exploration. A value at or near populationSize leaves only a handful of offspring (as few as one) per generation, so the search still runs but progresses very slowly — the clamp prevents a hard freeze, not this near-stall.