Population
Population is one of the most important aspects of your dominion. It is the sum of your military and your peasants.
The size of your population is determined by how much land you have, your buildings, and population bonuses.
Increasing population increases your platinum production and enables you to train more military units.
Peasants
Peasants appear automatically on your land. If you have new land, peasants will populate according to the growth rate described below.
Employment
All constructed buildings except for Homes and Barracks provide 20 jobs which are automatically filled by unemployed peasants. Each employed peasant produces 2.7 platinum per hour (multiplied by platinum production bonus).
If you have more peasants than jobs, unemployed peasants do not provide any platinum. This is called having a job underrun. Due to the large military required by most attackers and converters, this is a problem more often faced by explorers.
If you have more jobs than peasants, all your peasants will be employed but the unfilled jobs do not generate platinum revenue. This is called having a job overrun and is very common for attackers and converters.
Growth Rate
The standard growth rate is 3% of your current peasant population per hour, minus any draftees drafted that hour, until your max population has been reached.
The growth rate can be increased by casting the Harmony spell or building Temples. There is no maximum limit to your population growth rate bonus.
Military
The other part of your population is made up of your military. Your military consists of draftees, units in training, and trained units.
The potential size of your military is determined by the size of your peasantry, since each hour you can draft a maximum of 1% of your peasants into draftees (depending on your Draft rate).
Bonuses
Population bonus is used to increase the housing capacity of all buildings, except for barracks.
Aside from racial bonuses, population bonus can be increased through prestige and castle improvements (Keep).
Housing
The table below describes how much of the population can be housed in constructed buildings and on barren land.
| Building Type | Population Amount | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 30 | |
| Barracks | 36 | Only houses military units, not affected by population bonuses. |
| Other buildings | 15 | |
| Buildings in construction | 15 | |
| Barren land | 5 | Increased by certain racial benefits and techs. |
Sample Calculation
- Race: Lizardfolk (+5% racial bonus)
- Size: 2,000 acres
- Prestige: 600 (multiplicative bonus)
- Keep: 15%
- Military: 20,000 troops
- Homes: 400
Jobs: 1,600 * 20 = 32,000.
Population: (400 * 30 + 1,600 * 15) * (1 + 0.05 + 0.15) * (1 + 600/10,000) = 45,792.
Peasants: 45,792 - 20,000 = 25,792.
Employed peasants: min(25,792, 32,000) = 25,792. This means that 32,000 - 25,792 = 6,208 jobs are unfilled (job overrun).
If this player is casting Midas Touch and has no other platinum production bonus or alchemies, platinum income will be: 25,792 * 2.7 * (1 + 10%) = 76,602 platinum/hour.
Homes vs Barracks
As a general rule, when you reach over 20% total population bonus, homes are better than unmodified barracks. 20% increase on 30 is 36.
Barracks are most commonly used by attackers playing races with low, no, or negative population bonus such as Orc, Dark Elf, and Troll. However, many switch to building homes once they have reached 17% population bonus.
Player playing races with land dependent units, such as Nox and Sylvan, are almost never seen building barracks because they need the land for their specific land type and because they are often played with strategies that utilize primarily efficient, elite units.