Strategy Games With Realistic Population Mechanics

Strategy Games are one of the all-time favorites of players who want to feel like rulers of their own small world. Starting from a small village to a powerful metropolis, every strategy game has its particular approach to the population mechanics.

Related

How Manor Lords Compares to Civilization Gameplay Ahead of Civ 7

Manor Lords is the newest title to be added to the city building genre, and it could be solid competition for Civ 7 ahead of its release.

Posts

By  LB Beistad

But some games like to raise it a notch, and their population mechanics are so realistic that learning how to deal with it means the difference between success and total annihilation. From perilous winters that make the population dwindle to managing the birth and death rates like a god, these strategy games will let players experience population management like no other.

1 Dawn Of Man

Its Approach To Age Evolution And Population Makes It Challenging And Fun

Dawn of Man is an extremely polished and detailed strategy game, where players manage a small village of primitive people, from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. Its approach to seasons and climate is impressive and has realistic population mechanics that involve settlers, morale, birth rate, climate, feeding, and more.

The lower the morale, the less likely new settlers will arrive, and it is more likely that settlers leave the village for good. If the settlers aren't fed properly and possess a balanced diet, the less likely it'll be for them to give birth to children. In the middle of winter, the birth rate dwindles, while the death rates increase. It is a marvelously designed experience, with hundreds of technologies to unlock, and dozens of cool mechanics that make it one of the best simulation and management games out there.

2 Frostpunk

Scout For Survivors, Lead Them To Your Settlement

Frostpunk is not just your average city-building game, but a complete survival experience in a post-apocalyptic frozen land. Players are the leaders of a community of survivors, and on their shoulders rests the responsibility of leading them through a never-ending winter. Build, craft, research, and designate tasks for survivors - but to do all that they need to increase their population. It is not an exaggeration to say that population is the most valuable resource in this game.

Related

27 Great Turn-Based Strategy Games To Play If You Like XCOM

Gamers longing for some turn-based strategy action like XCOM will find that these games perfectly scratch that itch.

Posts

To get more people for their settlements, players need to send search parties to increase their population, but before that, they need to build a beacon to let them know there's a safe haven there, and for their search party to know their way back. After that, it's all about sending search parties to scour the surroundings of towns, gather survivors, and put them to work. Later in the game, the different types of settlers might have several needs, and players will have to build specific buildings to accommodate them.

3 Anno 1404

One Of The Best In The Franchise, With A Polished Population System

Anno 1404 is one of the best strategy games with a particular population system: building settlements and increasing their status are the main mechanics of the game. And to do so, population is the key to going from a small settlement to a cosmopolitan city.

But the complexity of its system doesn't simply end up with "increase the population," it also depends on the world population limits, how many inhabitants are present on certain islands, their "budget," and how players build and advance their civilization levels. What's more, the population will gain status and "ascend" from peasants to noblemen as their settlement advances. It is a pretty complex and realistic take on social status and its influences on the development of culture.

4 Black And White 2

Divine Influence Will Increase Or Decrease Population Levels

• Released: 2005
• Developer: Lionhead Studios
• Genres: Strategy, Fantasy, Simulation
• Platform: PC

Developed by the legendary Lionhead Studios, the second (and sadly, the last) instance of the Black & White franchise was a very unique game. Combining the best of the classic strategy builders with some cool and interesting mechanics, players can literally be gods. Raising a Creature that would be like the player's envoy in the world, commanding it to cause miracles (or destruction), and raising the population of a small settlement into a powerful civilization to adore them and grant them power, are the basics of this incredible game.

It's quite a complete game, with loads of cool mechanics, but its population system is one of the things that made it such a challenging and complex title. Devotees could contract and spread diseases, the birth rates dwindled if their inclination for human sacrifice went too far, and depending on the miracles players cast and the amount of faith they gathered, it could increase or decrease accordingly. To increase their godly powers, players needed more faithful people praying at their altar, and if a rival god made their population dwindle by sowing plague and destruction upon the civilization, it was game over.

5 Manor Lords

A Complete Feudal Simulation, With One Of The Best Population Systems

Manor Lords has, perhaps, one of the most complex population mechanics among modern strategy games, which not only depends on how well players manage their settlement but also the approval rates that their decisions have among their citizens. If the rates increase, it is more likely that new families are willing to join a settlement, and this influences the speed at which players can make it grow into a prosperous fief.

Similar to Frostpunk, each building in the settlement requires at least one family member to manage it, and similar to Dawn of Man, over time (month) the settlement can receive new settlers depending on how well players manage it. Of course, players also have to deal with several other complex mechanics, like food income, resources, and space allocation. Expanding too fast can lead to famine, while expanding too slow will probably leave the settlement vulnerable to other dangers, like Raiders.