HOW TO PLAY · WORKFORCE
Your citizens are one of your most limited resources
Buildings do not produce at full capacity by themselves. You decide where your citizens work, and every assignment is a trade-off: more workers in one building means fewer people available somewhere else.
Population
Limited
Production
Assignment-based
Flexibility
Reassign
WORKFORCE
1. Open the Workforce screen
Use Workforce from the settlement menu to see your available population and how many citizens are assigned to each production building.
LIMITED PEOPLE
2. Decide what your settlement needs most
Each building can accept a certain number of workers, but your total population is limited. You therefore need to choose which resources deserve more production right now instead of filling every workplace automatically.
Food
Essential
Farms compete for the same workers as your other production buildings.
Timber
Construction
More workers in a lumberyard can increase timber production when building demand is high.
Other resources
Trade-offs
Stone, clay, iron, tools, cloth and other production all compete for the same workforce.
Unassigned
Available
Citizens not currently working can be moved into the buildings that need them most.
Read the numbers before assigning everyone
The Workforce screen shows how many workers are currently assigned to a building and how many it can support. It also shows the current production rate for that assignment.
The key idea is simple: an empty workplace is not automatically a problem. Sometimes it is better to leave capacity unused so your limited citizens can produce the resources you need most.
3. Change your assignments
Choose a building
Find the resource producer you want to increase or reduce.
Use + and −
Add citizens to that building or remove them so they can be reassigned elsewhere.
Watch your unassigned population
The Workforce screen keeps track of how many citizens are still available to place.
Compare production
Use the displayed production rates to judge whether the new distribution fits your current plan.
Review the whole distribution
Before saving, check that moving workers has not left another resource you rely on too understaffed.
Click Confirm Assignments
This step is essential. Your proposed changes are not applied until you confirm them.
DON'T FORGET
4. Confirm Assignments before leaving the screen
Changing the + and − controls prepares a new workforce distribution, but it does not finalize it. Always click Confirm Assignments after you are satisfied with the changes.
Before confirm
Pending
You are still editing the proposed workforce distribution.
After confirm
Active
The settlement starts using the new assignments.
Common mistake
Leaving early
If you forget to confirm, the workforce setup you intended will not be saved.
Good habit
Check twice
Review assigned and unassigned citizens before confirming the final distribution.
EARLY GAME
Balance workforce with your current goals
There is no single workforce setup that is always correct. Your best distribution depends on what you are building, which resources are running low, whether you want to answer an empire request and what the wider realm currently needs.
BUILDING
Feed the construction queue
If upcoming projects need lots of timber, stone or another material, assigning more citizens to that production can help keep construction moving.
REALM
↗React to empire requests
A nearby empire asking for food or timber may make that resource temporarily more valuable to produce.
Read the realm status guideECONOMY
↗Do not produce everything equally
Your population limit forces specialization and creates reasons to adjust production as your plans change.
Learn about the economyA useful early-game habit
Whenever you start a new construction project or spend a large amount of resources, check your Workforce screen again. Ask yourself:
- Which resource will I need next?
- Which production building has spare worker capacity?
- Can I move citizens away from a resource I already have enough of?
- Do I have any citizens still unassigned?
- Did I click Confirm Assignments?
START HERE
↗Getting Started
Learn the complete opening flow from choosing a realm to building, assigning workers and exploring.
Read Getting StartedREALM STATUS
↗Seasonal Effects & Realm Objectives
See how outside events can change which resources are worth producing and contributing.
Read the realm guideSYSTEM
↗Civilization Building
See how production and specialization fit into the longer development of your civilization.
Learn about civilizationsYour population is small. Make every assignment count.
Match your workforce to what your settlement needs now, then confirm the assignments so production can get to work.