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Cities and their surrounding Regions are the backbone of your economy inMillennia. They’re where your empire will get all of its Wealth, Knowledge, Culture, and just about everything else it could possibly need. Building strong cities is the surest way to success.
Regions have a lot of moving parts and require a bit more care than the cities of other 4X titles. This guide has everything you need to know about building and developing your nation’s lands, including tips on how to get the most out of your people’s hard work.
Regions, Capitals, And Towns
Every nation isdivided into Regions, which consist of a main city (the Regional Capital) and its surrounding Towns. By default, each Region can support one Town, buttechnologies like Infrastructurecan raise this limit.
Towns can be destroyed by invading armies, but Capitals can never be removed from the map except by extraordinary circumstances; once a Settler claims a territory, the Region is there to stay.
Productionis used to construct Buildings, train Units, or complete Projects in the Capital. Each Region can only have one such task in progress at a time, but if you switch to a different one any Production spent on the previous project is saved for when you come back to it. Buildings provide resources, usually in the form of Domain XP and other bonuses, for the rest of the game once they’re completed.
Townsare constructed using a Culture Bonus, and can be placed within or just outside their Region’s borders. Towns have three important functions:
Towns generate Wealthfor every Improvement adjacent to them.This bonus increases as the Town gains levels, which can be done by using theExpand TownEngineering Domain Power. Increasing a Town’s level also increases the total Regional Level, which determines the Region’s maximum Population.
A Region’s Population cap is equal toits Regional Level multiplied by five.
A Town of Level 2 or higher can be specialized, causing it togenerate more Wealthif its adjacent Improvements fit its specialization:
Coastal Town
Try placing a town with a plan for specializing it - a future Mining Town surrounded by hills, for example.
A Region’s borders expand as it producesInfluence. Influence is evenly allocated to every unclaimed tile on the border as it’s gained; when a tile has enough Influence, it becomes annexed. Rougher terrain such as Hills and Forests takes longer to annex, but some National Spirits likeNaturalistsandAncient Seafarerscan speed up expansion into their favored type.
Population And Needs
A Region is more productive as its population grows, but it will also require that the people’s Needs be filled in order to keep growing. As you progress through Millennia’s Ages, larger cities will develop more complex Needs, as follows:
1 per Population
1 per Population above 5
2 per Population above 10
1 per Religious Population above 5
1 per Population above 15
Education
Enlightenment
1 per Population above 30, plus additional demand from certain Buildings and Improvements
1 per Power Drain
1 per Population above 30
Information
All of a Region’s Needs are taken together to determine whether its population will grow or shrink. This means that if you aren’t meeting one Need but have a surplus in the others, the net result is that the population willgrow over time, albeit at a slower rate than it would if all Needs were met. By the same token, you canslow a decline in populationby keeping some needs met even if others are lacking.Luxury is especially good for this, as it never counts as being unmet.
Meeting a Need by more than double the required amount has no additional effect.
Some Needs have additional effects. Sanitation, Faith, and Education can all trigger Crisis Ages if they go unmet for too long, while a shortfall in Powerdecreases Regional Efficiency(see below for more on that).
Religious Population
From the Age of Kings forward, populations can begin adopting any Religion that has been founded. Pops convert slowly over time,favoring their official State Religionand any faiths followed by neighboring Regions. If more than five Pops of a single Religion exist in a Region, they’ll start to develop a Need for Faith. However, Religious Populations generate Culture, so fostering their devotion is always beneficial!
You canonly fill the Faith Need for your State Religion, so members of other sects will always have this Need unmet. You can use Arts Domain Powers like Religious Celebration to speed up conversion, or you can useAdopt Religionto convert to another nation’s faith if that’s the way your people are headed.
Starting in the Age of Enlightenment, Regions will slowly start to develop Secularism in addition to any other Religions present.. Secularism does not require any Need for Faith, but also doesn’t provide any Culture bonus.
Improvements And Goods
Unlike Buildings,Improvements are constructed directly on the map.Each tile within a Region’s borders can support one Improvement. Most Improvements need one of the Region’s Population to work them to do anything, but a few provide bonuses just for existing.
Improvements are built using Improvement Points, which are displayed in thebottom-left corner of the screen.Improvement Points can be spent in any Integrated Region, not just in the Region that created them. Later in the game, you’ll also have access to Specialists, which work the same way as Improvement Points but are used to create advanced structures.
Clay, Bricks, and Concrete are the best sources of Improvement Points.
Most improvementsgenerate Goods when worked.Goods can either beconsumed by their Regionto provide resources like Food, Production, or Wealth, or they can becrafted into more advanced Goodsby other Improvements. For example, a Farm generatesWheat, which becomes three Food if it isn’t used for anything else. If the Region has a Mill, that Wheat will instead by turned intoFlour, which becomes six Food instead. An Oven, in turn, turns the Flour intoBread, which is worth a whopping ten Food.
Conversely, some Goods can be crafted in multiple different ways, so you’ll need to decide how to best use them.Marblecan be turned intoStone Blocksat a Stonecutter, providing extra Production, or it can be sent to a Sculpting Studioto makeStatues, providing valuable Arts Domain XP.
It’s always worth it to craft a basic Good into a more advanced one if you may.
Foreign Imports And Domestic Export
Once a Capital has mercantile Buildings likeMarketsin place, a Region can start buying and selling Goods. Foreign Imports can be purchased from any nation with whom you have Open Borders, and will be considered part of the city’s inventory for as long as you keep paying the import cost (usually about 4-8 Wealth per turn). Importing a good doesn’t take it away from the selling nation, but insteadcreates a copy that you can use.
If you don’t have any trade partners available, you canalways import Trade Goods, which provide 1 Culture for 8 Wealth per turn.
A Region with Stores canexport its extra Goodsto another Integrated Region that you control. This is a good way to move all of your raw materials to a dedicated industrial center, or to make up for a shortfall caused by external factors.Each Region can only ship to one other Region, regardless of how many Export slots they have. Unlike imports,exporting to a friendly city transfers the exported Goodrather than making a copy.
Vassals And Integration
When a Region first comes under your control, regardless of whether it was by settling, dipllomacy, or conquest, it’s considered aVassal.Vassals are part of your nation but otherwise self-sufficient; they see to their own Needs, require no upkeep of any kind, and will construct Buildings and Improvements on their own (albeit very slowly). You’ll receivea fraction of your Vassals' incomeeach turn, which isn’t much but can add up if you have many Vassals all contributing.
Once a Vassal has been under your rule for some time, they can beIntegratedfor a one-time investment of Government Domain XP. This gives you full control of the Region and makes you responsible for its costs; namely, theCulture Upkeepper Population. Integrating too many Regions too quickly can cause your Culture production to stagnate.
Founded by a Settler
15
Vassalized a Minor Nation via diplomacy
20
Conquest
50
you’re able to speed up a Vassal’s Integration with theIntegrate VassalDiplomacy Domain Power, but it will still take several turns.
Every Region also generates more Unrest for every other Region that you’ve Integrated.
Every Vassal has aProsperity Ratingthat determines how much tribute they provide. TheKingdomandFeudal MonarchyGovernments have ways of boosting Prosperity or spending it for one-time gains. Any Government type can use theCultural ExportsArt Domain Ability to increase the Prosperity of a Vassal.
It’s up to you how many of your Regions should be Integrated and how many should remain Vassals. In general, smaller Regions should remain Vassals, while a large and powerful Region that you’ve conquered from your foes will be worth more to you if you Integrate it.
