Ed Beach's 1-2-3 Rule of Population& Growth

[remconius]

This was taken from one of the developer's livestreams and I think it would be interesting to share.

The 1-2-3 Rules basically goes as follows:

1. You need 1 housing for every 1 population.
2. You need 1 amenity for every 2 population.
3. You can have 1 district for every 3 population.

Good to remember as you are expanding.

 

[Bigv32]

Thanks. That will make it easier to remember when the game comes out, I start the first game, and proceed to forget everything I learned from the forums and Let's Plays. lol

 

[Hannibal J]

Do we know if those numbers round up or down? For example, a city with a population of 7 would have/need what, exactly? It seems like it'd get only two 2 districts, but need only 3 amenities?

At first glance, it looks like a city should be size 3, 9, 15 or 21 if you just have a ton of food. Odd-numbered multiples of three will get the max number of districts but require one less amenity. Or am I reading this all wrong?

 

[whynes]

This was taken from one of the developer's livestreams and I think it would be interesting to share.

The 1-2-3 Rules basically goes as follows:

1. You need 1 housing for every 1 population.
2. You need 1 amenity for every 2 population.
3. You can have 1 district for every 3 population.

Good to remember as you are expanding.

Expanded to 1-2-3-4

4. Each copy of a luxury provides 4 amenities, each auto-distributed to 4 of your cities.

This suggests your civ's city-count should be in multiples of 4; i.e., 4, 8, 12, 16, etc,
depending on your luxuries profile. This will also inform how many copies
of a luxury to keep, versus trade away, depending on your settlement goals over the
period of the trade..

 

[joncnunn]

On the rounding rules:

# of amenities needed: The first two population is free, but the 3rd person needs another amenity, as does 5th, 7th, 9th, etc.
# of allowed districts: At size 1 thru 3, the city can support 1 District; when it grows to size 2, it can support a second district; at size 7 a third, etc. *
* City center does NOT count for this purpose. Nor do neighborhoods. Unique Districts also don't count.

Also note that having +2 amenities is exactly the same as +1. In addition, it appears that being at -2 amenities is exactly the same as being at -1.

The housing is by far the most important; in addition to every citizen needs housing; simply being at +1 instead of +2 knocks 50% of the growth off. And when it reaches the capacity it's down to 75%. It's stated that being 5 over the limit would cause ZPG but the city is unlikely to reach it.
In fact cities at (and above housing capacity) are the first ones you should choose to build settlers from.

Basically don't neglect granaries and getting farms / plantations / fishing boats out before you can work them if you want your cities to grow at a reasonable pace.

 

[Paramecium]

* City center does NOT count for this purpose. Nor do neighborhoods. Unique Districts also don't count.

I think aquaducts dont count to the district limit, too. I think it was mentioned in the Rome/Kongo livestream.

 

[Lord Yanaek]

That would make sense : you don't use up a district slot just to grow larger and support more districts, it would be pointless.

 

[MasterDinadan]

Going by data in the XML...
Population is not required for:
Neighborhood
Aqueduct
Wonder

It also appears that population is not be required for any of the civ-specific districts:
Acropolis
Bath
Hansa
Lavra
Mbanza
Street Carnival
Royal Navy Dockyard