Settlements

Settlements are major centers of commerce that demand your Products for their Population to consume. They are controlled by an AI that handles things like market Demand, Settlement Growth, and inter-Settlement Trading. You will have to interact with them to the benefit of both parties in order to become a successful industrialist.

Creation
At the beginning of a game, a number of Regions on a map are randomly selected for a Settlement. Once selected the game scans the Region for Raw Resources Nodes. From there the Town type is then determined based on the most numerous Raw Resource found. E.G an Industrial Region will find Coal, Copper, and Iron in the Region.

After the Town Type is determined, the Settlement will decide if the Settlement is a Village or a Town and then determine the Population size. From there the Settlement will place the following:


 * Settlement Office: Shows an overview of the Settlement and where you buy the Region's Building Permit from.
 * Farmers Market: Buys Raw Resources that are food from you.
 * Hardware Store: Buys simple Components.
 * Wholesaler: Sells Products generated by the Settlement.
 * Houses: Place of residence for the Population of the Settlement. The number of Houses represents the Population size, the more Houses the more people there.

If Settlement is a Town, it will place a random fourth Shop which is picked based on its Region Type.

Settlement Size
There are 4 sizes of Settlements in the game based on their Population; Village, Town, City, and Metropolis.

Growth
As the Game Progresses the Settlement will want to grow its population. In order to do so, it needs to have enough products sent to enough Shops to be sold and consumed. Depending on the number of Products supplied a Settlement can be in 1 of 3 states of Town Prosperity: Prospering, Shrinking, or Stagnating.


 * Prospering: The Settlement has enough Products it needs to go and starts adding to its population.
 * Stagnating: The Settlement is being supplied Products but not enough to begin growing its population.
 * Shrinking: The Settlement has less than it needs to grow and/or stagnate and the population is being reduced.
 * Bloated: The Settlement has reached its maximum allowed size at this time.

A Village will aim to have a slow growth to slowly move to the Town state, creating Farms to satisfy its population and spur a little growth. The Settlement will designate a zone 10 to 25 tiles away from the Town Center defined as the Industrial Area while avoiding the resources linked to the Settlement's type. The Village will continue to expand its production if the player doesn't provide Products. Industrial and Heavy Industry Villages will need to trade with Farming and Fisherman Settlements to get the food the population would need.

When a Village becomes a Town, it will begin to expand upon the Villages slow growth by building Gatherers and Factories to generate products that the Settlement Shops demand. After becoming a City a Settlement will continue to build even more Gatherers and Factories to attempt to build more growth til becomes a Metropolis.

At each stage of growth, a Settlement will add another Shop for the player to send goods. The Shop placed is determined randomly based the Town Type. (See above)