HeyI LOVE to talk (especially about my "hyper-focus" topics, of which this is one) so I'd love to keep discussing it right up until you tell me either to "shut up Jalyha, and go away"or that you've made a final decision either way.
1) Quite the contrary. I'm assuming a reasonable percentage of split-levels, duplexes, manors, normal 1 story homes and 1 room houses. (Mostly the first.) The confusion is my mistake, because I didn't clarify. Overall, you need about 300 *dwellings* per 1000 people. On average, for a "village" setting.
You have 500 buildings. Let's say half of them are 2 stories/families. That's 1000 *dwellings*. That's 3333 people. (and 1/3, but he died). You want 5000 people. That means you need 1500 *dwellings*.
If half of those poor people buildings are 2 stories, that means you need 375, two-story, buildings (Total: 750 *dwellings*) and 375, single story (whatever size) single family homes (750+375= 1105 *dwellings* which is 750 *structures*.)
The other 395 *dwellings* (1500-1105=395?) A few will be big mansion/manor-type houses with live in servants, and a few will be 3 or 4 story structures, so let's give you a break and divide by 5. (that's five FAMILIES per structure, not 5 people) that means 395/5 = 79 additional *structures*.
750+79 = 829 *structures* for a population of 5000 people *IF* most of them are more than one story/family per structure. Minimum.
Again, you have 556 *structures*, total. You're short (minimum) 273 *structures*. That's *if* those 273 structures contain some multi-story/multi-family homes.
2) See #1 I don't assume single families/nuclear society. I assume multiple families in seperate *dwellings* within *structures* cause that's how small towns/large villages tend to work.
So we agree here, I just wasn't expressing it clearly. BUT as you said, it will dilute over time. 5000 people, medievally, isn't a village anymore. It's a town, and dynamics will change over time.
3) I hate metrics >.< Next post I will just say what I mean in miles, and you can convert, since you're better at it ^.^
4) What I mean about the size is:
farms.jpg
1 & 2 are too close to the same size for in-town and outskirts farms.
Either 1 should be about 1/4 that size, or 2 should be much larger, or both, depending on if you stick with your scale or not.
I don't know where your scale is off, but *visually* it's off. A "plot" in a town or city farm is more like a large backyard garden... usually about the size (or less) as a house... sometimes up to 2x the size.
farms.jpg
I'm not saying that your people (5000) couldn't accomodate the farms. I'm saying you don't have enough buildings for the farms (or to house that many people) AND:
farms.jpg
The way you have it laid out, even without enough structures EVERY single man woman and child would have to work those farms year round, or they would not have a harvest from them. the seed and grain you planted would go to waste.
For anyone (and especially for born-farmers, like you have here) this is a big no-no. Maybe I think the farms are bigger than they are. I might have it backwards. I don't know much about your scales, or any scales... I DO know the size of a field compared to the size of a small (or large) farmHOUSE. And you have houses on your map.
So maybe your farms aren't too big. But that means your buildings are too small. Either way..
5) Right, and that's fine ... I don't have a problem with the abundance. What I have a problem with is you would need 10 families living in each of your *structures* to make a population of 5000.
I suggested moving the townie farms and putting buildings there, because that's more common, AND I thought it would be easier. Another alternative would be adding more houses around the current fields/farms.
My whole point is that you don't have half enough man-made structures *for the population* to be 5000.
The thing with the farms is possible... but like I said... if ALL those fields are planted (compared to the size of the buildings) that means *all* your townspeople are full-time farmers. There's no lords or ladies, no blacksmiths, no maids, no anything... just farmers, and the kids do farm chores too.
If the buildings were larger, OR the farms were smaller, it would make sense.
That's for an early-history, farming based village/town like you have here.
The size of the farms compared to the houses is pretty close if they are all modern farms with lots of machinery to help.
OR if some of the fields are left unplanted each year... you can rotate crops like that.. but then they'd look like mud in the off years.
But even then, you still don't have enough buildings to house the population... :/
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