Population Levels

[Poisoner]

King Kong, I doubled the necessary population that it takes for each settlement to grow and it seems to counteract being able to build high and late units too early in the game if you play .5 years a turn or 1 year a turn and I thought I might let you know so you could make a descr_settlement_mechanics.xml for 1 year one turn to go along with the export_descr_buildings file you have.

[King Kong]

Hi Poisoner,

That's actually a really important point!
I think I won't double the poulation levels, however I've already increased the them a bit for the future 4.0.
It seems to work quite good and as you said it also prevents to get some units too early...

[Poisoner]

Hi Poisoner,

That's actually a really important point!
I think I won't double the poulation levels, however I've already increased the them a bit for the future 4.0.
It seems to work quite good and as you said it also prevents to get some units too early...

I know doubling it sounds extreme but mathematically if you double the turns you should double everything else. I find the most important reason to increase the population cap is to keep up with the building times that way you can have your castle/city maxed out before the next level.

[Caesar Clivus]

I assume the doubling applies to the AI's cities as well?

[napoleonic]

? why would doubling the population makes it harder to recruit elite units? I don't get it.

[CtrlAltDe1337]

? why would doubling the population makes it harder to recruit elite units? I don't get it.

Because it takes longer to get the higher level walls which allow you to build buildings that produce better units.

[napoleonic]

but what if it makes it is impossible to reach huge city?

[Poisoner]

It doesn't make it impossible, just takes a lot longer. Lets just say it will take you the same amount of years but twice the turns.

[napoleonic]

then you're talking about decreasing the population growth, not increasing the population level required to upgrade the city.

[Daergar]

Doesn't squalor make it insanely difficult to reach the top-tier walls for cities if you double the population requirement?

[Poisoner]

then you're talking about decreasing the population growth, not increasing the population level required to upgrade the city.

No I am not. Although I did make iy so that you take a larger population growth hit when you raise the taxes.

Let me spell it out for you. Normally a town upgrades at 2000, now its 4000. A large town used to upgrade at 6000, now its at 12000. And so on and so forth.

[napoleonic]

yes, but then why not simply lowering the pop growth? I just fear that what you do could make it impossible to reach huge settlements.

[Poisoner]

yes, but then why not simply lowering the pop growth? I just fear that what you do could make it impossible to reach huge settlements.

Because what I have done is an easier and more direct approach. And the larger your city gets, the faster it grows. Thats why the population needed to level up increases exponentially. 3.5% of 12000 is a lot more than 5% of 1753.

[Darkmoor]

i suspect that naopleonic has a legitimate point - have you actually played your "mod" to the highest population levels yet?

[King Kong]

i suspect that naopleonic has a legitimate point - have you actually played your "mod" to the highest population levels yet?

That is indeed an interesting question.


Hi Poisoner,

Would be great when you could let me know how many turns you needed to reach the highest settlement levels with your population settings...

[Poisoner]

I've gotten to about 28000, about 20000 short of the highest city level. Didn't have anymore squalor problems than normal, I think squalor is based on a percentage and not actual population. I just took off 3.2 patched to the stand alone version to imcorporate some changes I made on my brother's PC to mine so I have to start a new campaign.

[Poisoner]

Playing as England @ turn 53 London has just upgraded to a population of 12213 and is now a minor city. My castles are about 2.5k from becoming fortresses at 9000. I know thats a little extreme but its fine for me. Actually, I wish this game was like the first medieval so you couldn't build advanced units until it was the time period, regardless if you had the buildings or not. Doubling is too extreme for the average player. But for those who like 1 year one turn, maybe a 30% increase would be justified. Along with higher growth rate tax penalties, it allows the player to build everything in the current building tier before moving on to the next level. So you aren't still building barracks when you have to upgrade the walls again.

[Poisoner]

These are the city levels I have changed.

<population_levels>
<!-- city -->
<level name="village" base="400" upgrade="400" min="400" max="1500"/>
<level name="town" base="400" upgrade="4000" min="400" max="5500"/>
<level name="large_town" base="4000" upgrade="12000" min="400" max="14000"/>
<level name="city" base="12000" upgrade="24000" min="400" max="30000"/>
<level name="large_city" base="24000" upgrade="48000" min="400" max="56000"/>
<level name="huge_city" base="48000" min="400" max="96000"/>
<!-- castle -->
<level name="moot_and_bailey" base="400" upgrade="0" min="400" max="1500"/>
<level name="wooden_castle" base="400" upgrade="0" min="400" max="3500"/>
<level name="castle" base="1500" upgrade="9000" min="400" max="12000"/>
<level name="fortress" base="9000" upgrade="18000" min="400" max="20000"/>
<level name="citadel" base="18000" min="400" max="24000"/>
</population_levels>
</root>

[Hellmut34]

Good Arguements here.........well received King Kong

[King Kong]

Hi Poisoner,

Playing as England @ turn 53 London has just upgraded to a population of 12213 and is now a minor city. My castles are about 2.5k from becoming fortresses at 9000. I know thats a little extreme but its fine for me. Actually, I wish this game was like the first medieval so you couldn't build advanced units until it was the time period, regardless if you had the buildings or not. Doubling is too extreme for the average player. But for those who like 1 year one turn, maybe a 30% increase would be justified. Along with higher growth rate tax penalties, it allows the player to build everything in the current building tier before moving on to the next level. So you aren't still building barracks when you have to upgrade the walls again.

I forgot to thank you for the reply. So, thanks!
I think I have now found a pretty good level for the settlement upgrades...