So I'm on my 3rd (real) game since Crusade (first with 2.13) and I’m starting to notice that I’m really not that concerned about Population as much anymore.
Prior to Crusade, Pop seemed incredibly important since Pop ~ Raw Production. Now, my understanding is that Raw Prod = Square Root of Pop, leading to MUCH smaller increases in Prod as Pop increases. Add to that there seem to be a number of things which directly boost Raw Prod (Wealthy being an easy one). Now that farms are higher up the tech tree (why, I have no idea), I haven’t focused as much on Population and I’m now miles ahead of the AI in production (and nearly everything else) after my previous games of lagging behind while trying to learn the new mechanics.
Cities take a tile, farms take tiles, and the payoff seems pretty lackluster. If there weren’t other options for increasing Raw Prod, then going with Pop would seem more necessary. But at this point, I’m typically just having the 4 pop on each world with minimal increases needed.
Anyone else observing the same thing? Or am I missing something else critical in regards to Pop?
