Houses and land income

This window displays information about land income, and allows you to buy houses for new inhabitants.

If you can, buy houses! Every inhabitant pays you 5 each turn.

Overview of income of all your lands is displayed in Headquarters.

The higher population you have in a land, the more gold you will get - and you also need the population to recruit army. Try to keep the balance in positive numbers, otherwise you risk that your soldiers will desert your army.

What affects income of a land?

  • population - for each inhabitant you receive base income of 5 gold per turn (modified by weather - see below)
  • army upkeep - you pay upkeep for each of your soldiers every turn. If you don't need soldiers in some land, either disband them or move them to another land.
  • buildings - Iron mine, Gold mine and Workshop increase gold income, Sacred well and towers increase mana income. Some races have special buildings that also increase gold or mana income.
  • trade treaties - trade treaties with adjacent lands (both your and those of other players) increase gold income, make sure you sign them as soon as possible!
  • magic treaties - magic treaties with adjacent lands (both your and those of other players) increase mana income. They are useless unless you have lots of magic units in the land.
  • spells cast on a land - Fair weather, Magical climate and Blessing increase the income, Hailstorm, Magic whirl and Curse decrease it
  • magic units - 3rd level units (see army) generate mana each turn (1 mana per soldier, modified by weather - see below), but have high upkeep
  • weather - the base income of gold and mana is modified by weather, which is changing from day to day. Weather does not affect income of gold and mana from buildings!

When to buy houses?

If you have no empty houses in your land, and have some money, it is good to buy more houses to allow for population growth. Population will not grow without houses; on the other hand, number of empty houses does not increase population growth, so it makes little sense to buy houses in a land with lots of houses still free. In such lands, build a Granary or cast beneficial spells (Content or Blessing) to increase population growth.

Price of houses

Price of a new house is exponentially growing with each house that already is in the land. In the beginning, houses are the quickest way to increase income; later, when houses become more expensive, it is better to build mines and workshops, or invest your money into expansion (recruit army and conquer new lands).
Price of houses is also influenced by weather, so that sometimes houses can be expensive from the very beginning and you have to concentrate on expansion outright.

House icons on the map

House icons in each land on the map can help you estimate the number of houses and so the possible strength of a land. However, keep in mind that these icons (except in your lands and lands of your alliance colleagues) depict the situation after last recalculation - in standard leagues at midnight. If you suspect the player may have cast Content on the land, the real strength could be a lot greater!
For the various house icons, see houses on map.
If there is a fortress built in the land, it replaces the house icon!