Growth

There is an indicator for each province on the Province Overview screen showing the growth rate and growth progress. Each step in growth constitutes a level of population surplus, shown immediately to the left of the growth bar. When the population surplus level in the province reaches a certain value, perhaps 5 or 6, it is possible to expand the capital or one of the minor settlements to allow room for a new building “plot”. It generally takes a larger population surplus to grow the capital compared to a minor settlement, and this is shown by the number in a greyed out square building plot.

When this grey “potential” plot is activated, it becomes an actual “white” empty building plot, which may then be built upon if you can afford the cost of the building.

Growth is affected by local province factors such as the level of the main town building in each settlement, and by global factors such as the food surplus.

There is a cap on building plots, however, at 5 plots for a capital and 3 for a minor settlement. If the city is on the coast each will have an additional port plot on top of this. In the late game, as you have developed, most cities have been built up already by you or their original owners and growth becomes irrelevant as a resource. In certain circumstances you may wish to downgrade buildings such as main towns or demolish sanitation line buildings if growth was their main benefit. Other building lines may have better benefits in the resources now more important for you. In the long run it is better to have the buildings you want in a city rather than save building costs with a compromised building profile.

An important general point is that if you set up an actual white empty building plot and forget to build something on it because you ran out of money or simple brain fade, soon the plot will become a slum. This provides nothing and impairs public order in the province. Then you must remember to pay to demolish the slum, and next turn build something on the plot or the slum will return again!

The same thing applies when you demolish buildings to make room for another line (another building type in the same line can usually be built more easily by swapping to the same level alternative rather than starting from scratch). You must be careful to go back to the province the next turn and build something, or slums will appear. This is a real pain in the late game when you have a large number of provinces to manage, and unlike public order, food and wealth, the list of all your provinces that you can bring up to the right of the screen does not have a marker for empty building slots.