More realistic growht rate?

[Reimu Hakurei]

In Medieval 2 Total War, cities seem to grow at an extreme speed, if you ask me.
I can do two things.
Either somehow slow down the growing rate, or increase the population requirement.
However, there is a problem with the later: would that increase squalor?
Because that would be a serious problem.

[valvegas1]

In Medieval 2 Total War, cities seem to grow at an extreme speed, if you ask me.
I can do two things.
Either somehow slow down the growing rate, or increase the population requirement.
However, there is a problem with the later: would that increase squalor?
Because that would be a serious problem.

My solution to that was to lower the growth rate bonuses on all the buildings...I think those have the biggest effect on population growth...This can be done in the EDB

[Moon]

Nah, this is what needs modifying. descr_settlement_mechanics

[Ishan]

Indeed, you can modify the squalor modifier value also from this file, found in the data folder, it's a .xml file which you can edit in a notepad btw.

[Reimu Hakurei]

I think this will make it more realistic...

<population_levels>
<!-- city -->
<level name="village" base="400" upgrade="1000" min="400" max="1700"/>
<level name="town" base="1000" upgrade="4000" min="400" max="8000"/>
<level name="large_town" base="4000" upgrade="8000" min="400" max="12000"/>
<level name="city" base="8000" upgrade="12000" min="400" max="20000"/>
<level name="large_city" base="12000" upgrade="60000" min="400" max="500000"/>
<level name="huge_city" base="60000" min="400" max="500000"/>

I wonder what to do with castles though. They didn't have that high population. Sure, they had some civilization around, with royal palaces and stuff, but Castles weren't urban centres, unlike cities. Castles had mostly rural populations, right?