Buildings

Almshouse

The Almshouse raises the population cap of the city it stands in.

Its effects

• Population cap +1

The population cap is base 5 plus its steps: the Almshouse is one of them; Farm, Healing and Cavalry each open one too (Cities and population). Once a city reaches the cap, growth stops and surplus food is not credited to that city — the Almshouse raises the cap and pushes both back a notch.

What it's for

Population acts as a multiplier on production (Economy): a city stuck at the cap cannot grow its production no matter how much food it piles up. The Almshouse does not remove this bottleneck, it moves the cap — food still has to keep flowing, and the cap still has to be close enough to matter.

When to build it

• In cities that pile up surplus food in their region and are already close to the cap.
• In a city with low population or scarce food, the Almshouse has nothing to give — the cap is already far away, and raising it further pays for nothing.

The opposing AI builds the Almshouse once its city quota is full and no enemy is near, and wants it more in a city whose population sits at the cap (The AI opponent).

The numbers on this page are read from the game’s balance tables.