Settlement & Life

A Governor must balance taxation, food supply, and the mood of the people. Raise taxes and coin revenue grows, but happiness drifts downward. Let food run short and happiness drops faster still. When happiness falls below 40, workers slow — and at the worst levels, mines and farms produce only half their normal output. Watch the vitals on the Civic tab: stores, population, food, happiness, and the slow trickle of Lumen from the Church. The neighbouring Settlement tab keeps the island overview close at hand: buildings raised, forces stationed, research completed, and total headcount.

Resources & Economy

Production rates, storage limits, and the raw materials that fuel expansion.

Island Prestige

See how a living settlement is judged from foothold to dominion.

Affairs

Council dispatches that shape the wider realm and still strike at island life.

Coin Income

Coins flow from taxation. The base rate depends on the current tax policy (see table below). Coin income scales with population — every 50 workers roughly doubles the base rate. A sprawling island fills the treasury far faster than a small outpost.

Coins are the currency of the Bazaar, where Governors purchase supply crates and secure advantages that raw materials alone cannot buy. A settlement without coin reserves has no bargaining power beyond its own shores.

The Main House determines how many coins a settlement can hold — its vault grows with each level. Earnings beyond the vault's capacity are lost, so spend at the Bazaar or upgrade the Main House before the coffers overflow.

Food Balance

Every worker consumes food — roughly 0.35 per hour per head. A small natural yield of 8/h feeds the earliest settlers, but each Farm level adds 16/h to the supply. As the settlement grows and more buildings demand crew, food is consumed faster. Build farms ahead of the shortage. The Farm detail in the Build ledger also shows the present population, current balance, and the first Farm level that ends the shortage for that settlement.

When stores are running out — less than 24 hours of food at the current rate — happiness drops by 1.5 per hour. A negative balance with a fat stockpile is fine; only a short runway hurts morale. If food hits zero, the penalty steepens to 4 per hour — morale can collapse within a day. Recovery requires surplus food and stores above 120 before happiness begins to climb again, at just 1 per hour. Prevention is far easier than repair.

A settlement may show Food Supply as Surplus while stores are still empty. In that state, provisions are refilling, but the people still feel the shortage until stores rise above zero.

Happiness

Happiness ranges from 0 to 100 and directly affects production and military effectiveness. It drifts over time, shaped by three forces:

• Taxation — Heavy taxes push happiness down; light taxes let it recover.
• Food — Shortages and empty stores penalise heavily. Recovery requires surplus stores above 120.
• Colony neglect — Newly founded colonies lack the cushion of a starter island. Idle holdings accumulate neglect that weighs on happiness independently. Build, research, and train to steady it.

Recovery is always slower than the fall. The Civic tab names the strongest strain first so a Governor can see what needs attention. Lower taxes and ensure food surplus to raise happiness. A thriving life layer also helps an island keep climbing in prestige, because stable settlements are easier to finish and harder to lose.

The people's mood is shown on the Civic tab as one of six tones, each reflecting a range of happiness:

Production Penalty from Happiness

When happiness drops below 40, workers slow down. The lower morale falls, the harsher the penalty — at the worst levels, mines and farms produce only half their normal output.

Sea & War Penalties from Happiness

Morale does not stay on land. Once happiness falls below 40, fleets slow at sea and war operations suffer. These same penalties appear in fleet, attack, spy, and colonisation forecasts.

Tax Policy

Each tax policy affects coin income, the rate at which happiness drifts, and production speed. Extreme policies also nudge output directly — light taxes give workers a slight boost, while heavy taxes slow them down even before happiness drops.

Making Your Settlement Happy Again

When happiness drops and production slows, the fix follows the same order every time. The core rule: recovery is always slower than the fall, so act quickly.

1. Read the Civic tab — the guide line names the strongest strain. Start there.
2. Drop taxes to Very Low — fastest lever, +1.5/h toward recovery.
3. Fix food — if the balance is negative, upgrade the Farm. Recovery only begins once stores exceed 120, at just +1/h.
4. Address colony neglect — if this is a non-starter island, keep building and researching (see below).
5. Thin the headcount — if population pressure is the strain, move idle garrison troops to another island. Troops stationed abroad no longer count against the home settlement's food load.
6. Wait — raise taxes back to Normal once happiness passes 60.

Colony Neglect

Colonies you found or conquer start fragile. While they remain at Outpost or Settlement prestige, idle holdings — no building, no research, no training — accumulate a neglect score that drags happiness down independently. Neglect builds when colony happiness sits below 55, and accelerates below 35.

Once a colony reaches Colony prestige or above, it enjoys the same protection as a starter capital: neglect only resumes if its Governor falls silent. An island that has earned its standing will not be punished while you are still in port.

Active development is the cure. Starting a building removes 18 points, starting a research removes 12 points, and training units removes 0.25 per unit. The score also decays passively at 0.75/h. Keep a building and research queue active on every colony and neglect will never take hold.

Starter Neglect & Liberation

Starter islands — and any colony that has reached Colony prestige or above — are protected as long as their Governor is active. The neglect score only begins to accumulate once the owner has been silent for at least seven days — missed roll-calls, a Governor gone abroad. While the Governor keeps signing in, these islands sit at Stable indefinitely.

If silence stretches on, the starter passes through the same Strained → Fading → Forsaken stages as a colony. Once a starter reaches the Forsakenstage (score ≥ 70), other Governors may use any attack mission to raze its main house — the one case where the main house can be damaged outside a colonisation attempt. Razing the main house liberates the starter: the absent Governor is struck from the world, all of their islands return to the wild, and the freed starter slot waits for a new arrival. The liberator is rewarded only with the cleanup; they do not take the slot, and a Blighted capital can never be colonised.

If the absent Governor logs back in before liberation, the score begins to recover at the standard 0.75/h decay rate — a Governor returning from a long absence will find their capital weathered but recoverable.

Treasurer Mora notes

Recovery feels slow because it is meant to. Focus on removing the strains — lower taxes, fix food, keep colonies active — and the numbers will climb on their own. A Governor who checks in once an hour and keeps the queues running will see their settlement recover steadily.

Governance

Affair rulings shape the character of your realm across three axes — law, trade, and military posture. Over time, your decisions push the kingdom toward one of twelve possible identities. See the full Realm Governance guide for details on axes, identities, and how scores work.

Population

Every building and land unit on an island demands hands to operate. Population counts include local garrison troops, units in training, and building crews. Housing increases the settlement capacity — early levels add the most room, while later levels taper off as the settlement grows harder to manage. Ships are crewed at the harbour and do not count against population. Garrisons stationed abroad do not count against the home island.

Treasurer Mora notes

Open the Civic tab to see your settlement's mood, food balance, Lumen stores, and coin flow at a glance. When morale begins to slide, read the guide line first — it names the strongest strain before the loss worsens. Recovery is always slower than the fall.