A province consists of up to four regions, each one containing a settlement, the hub of activity within it and in which you can construct buildings to improve its strategic and economic potential, enabling growth. One of these is always the provincial capital, a major, walled settlement, whilst the remainder are minor settlements without defensive walls. Building construction improves the strategic and economic potential of settlements, enabling them to grow. Depending on settlement size and available resources, different chains of buildings are available for development. Over time, provincial growth enables you to develop settlements either by upgrading existing buildings or by constructing additional ones. Depending on settlement size and regional resources, different chains of buildings will become available for development. Coastal settlements can also contain port buildings that enable the construction of fleets.
Farms, markets and ports supply food and settlements and certain buildings within them consume it. Although food is automatically distributed across your territory, if total consumption is not matched by production then food shortages can occur, which can lead to unrest and, ultimately, rebellion. Make sure you keep food production buildings upgraded.
As your campaign progresses, growth enables surplus population to accumulate via the primary buildings in your settlements, enabling them to expand. Certain buildings will improve that rate of growth. However, the larger your settlements, the more food is consumed, so it is important to keep food producing buildings upgraded in tandem with the size of your settlement in order to avoid shortages.
As your population increases, the conditions inside your settlements worsen as more and more people are crammed into the limited space. It is therefore sensible to upgrade buildings in the capital chain so living space expands to cope with a larger populace. Ignoring squalor eventually leads to public order problems. Some buildings increase squalor also, so always make sure there is enough space, food and income to soften the blow before selecting them for construction.
In the ancient world, poor living conditions and sanitation often resulted in disease, and, as understanding of contagion was non-existent, plagues soon spread throughout infected regions. As such, if you do not construct buildings from the sanitation chain, an army moves into a diseased region or settlement or close to an infected army, there is a chance they will contract plague within a few turns. Plague will cause attrition within an army or fleet and reduce growth in a population.
Resources are the natural elements and manufactured goods present in a region. They can be exploited to your faction’s benefit, so other factions will target your territory if they wish to obtain resources they do not currently have access to. Since each region contains different resources, some more valuable than others, so it is wise to keep an army nearby to protect them.
When a faction controls an entire province, provincial edicts may be issued from the provincial capital. Lasting until you change to another or switch them off, they have powerful effects such as increased tax income and food or improved public order. The number of edicts that can be issued per turn depends on your faction’s imperium.