Early Campaign Population Control

[Etimos]

No doubt already addressed somewhere, but I cant find it, so here we go.

I recall some mention of population in the early campaign version of SS that said it would be slower, that settlements would need more pop to expand, huge cities would be rarer, etc. and at the time, it sounded ok, but now I must ask, is there some way around this?

Basically this feature hamstrings my late game, because my settlements get to a sort of maximum, then just flatten out. They NEVER grow any larger than fortress/minor city. EVER.

Slower growth is one thing, but this is just not feasable. Lithuania gets NOTHING from minor cities, just baltic spearmen and axemen, and fortresses cap out with lithuanian regular spearmen. I cant even recruit swordsmen, and I've got the teutonic order to worry about.

The same goes for other factions, I should think. Byzantium has conquered half the middle east with spear militia, novgorod and kiev never once fielded anything more threatening than druzhina as I wiped them out. It's a bit boring marching around the battlefield with armies of baltic spearmen for two hundred years because I still cant produce anything better.

Right now, the only way I can get a citadel is if I cheat.

[Ferdiad]

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ight=mechanics