Reducing the capacity of houses

[pontiuspilate]

hello, I was wondering if there is a way to reduce the capacity of plebe/equites housing? a problem i have with cIV is that I can't build a massive city as a few blocks of houses will give me 4,000+ people which is more than enough for anything I'd want to do, and anymore will just stay unemployed. what file do i need to edit to change this value?

[Keith]

Don't build so many blocks right away. I usually start a new city with six insulae to get things rolling. When those evolve and I need more industry or farms I add a couple more insulae if the current population is already fully employed.

When I place insulae housing I count each one at their potential maximum capacity and not what they are currently capable of holding. So a insulae fully evolved would hold 150 people. Domus at maximum development hold 80, and a Grand Mansion holds 30. Don't overbuild housing. Provide the things they need to make them evolve as best you can.

[Tekee]

I like making massive cities too but I think it would look more massive if you add more factories and work buildings for people. Though I think Caesar 4 strikes a good balance of how big a city with 5000 people would look like. Though I don't know if the current housing values will allow you to create a huge 100,000+ city, that would be an awesome Rome.
Anyways the whole housing thing is a weird part of city builder games. Making realistic populations is just impossible even though you have a huge city that should either hold more people or less if you are designing a small town. (6 insuale and 1,200 people?? Like the size of a farm holds 1,200 people?)

[Jimaaten]

Welcome, pontiuspilate. I do know its possible to change the housing capacities. Way back when there was only a demo, I remember someone changed the housing capacity. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about it tell you which file and what to change. I think its a constant file, but don't blame me if that's wrong.

Try doing a forum search in the general area for "reduce population" or "change population" and see what you get. The editting forum is mostly for using the in game editor rather than changing game files. This forum section wasn't even up when the demo came out. FYI, I think if you modify the constant file you'll get a you cheated message on any win-screen. And it goes without saying that you should save a copy of any file before you modify it.

[aramann]

<begs yells and screams for hieronymus who knows more of the inner workings of this than I do and this sounds like it would be FUN in a scenario!!!>

[Hieronymus]

<begs yells and screams for hieronymus who knows more of the inner workings of this than I do and this sounds like it would be FUN in a scenario!!!>

You called, milady?

Sorry, I came as quickly as I could - just trying to get that blue dye out of the carpet in your basement.

[aramann]

<OGH!>
HAHAHAHAHA!
I'm reporting for Hieronymus... but apparently it's not possibly to edit this without changing the constant files and THAT'S a bit of a mess and tricky so I'm guessing it wouldn't be recommended?
However there ARE ways to detect upgrades to housing and for actions accordingly...

<OGH!> = the sound one makes when falling out of one's chair from laughing too hard.