population

And when you attack someone and they lose pop. those people go to your town, increasing your pop! I also think that if your food goes negative beyond zero your pop should drop accordingly(no food equals angry people who leave). Good ideas though. and yes you can siege and capture a zero pop town, done it. Also is practical to start out of a pop of at least 1.

Nahhh better as is.

Officials already accounted for working in the consulate and wall size reflects castle size so some in that too.

Unemployed people just starve to death as there is no welfare state. That should make The Tea Party happy.

~C~

It seems that the population is messed up.  It increases if a building is made, not at a steady rate like in the real world.  Soldiers do not decrease the population, even though they are clearly people, and not part of the city's actual population.  I think population should be made into three subcategories:  laborers, unemployed, and government officials.  Laborers should be what is currently represented as population, they pay part of their earnings to the government (taxes), and increase when jobs are open (when a building finishes). Unemployed people should mimic real world growth, increasing at steady rate, and dropping in times of war (attacks).  Every time a job opens, an unemployed person would turn into a laborer.  Officials are diplomats, soldiers, and traders (caravans).  They cost gold to have, because they need to get payed directly from the government.  They too, would decrease the amount of unemployed, for the same reason as laborers.  Population would be measured as a combination of the three.  Also, new cities should start with a population of 10, because in the real world it is practically impossible for someone to start a new settlement alone, and this would make noobs siegeable