In the attached diagram, the grid on the left side shows several layers from my world-building project. Each square represents a 4x4 sq km (2.5x2.5 sq miles) area.
- Layer 1: Terrain, showing the river and water body at the top (Done)
- Layer 2: Terrain, biome and altitude (cell colors) (Done)
- Layer 3: City layer (red circle) (Done)
- Layer 4: Resources layer (in progress)
- Layer 5: Village (green circles)/Town (blue circle) (in progress)
The program lays out cities as close as 40 KM up to 100 KM apart giving a country ratio that based on Medieval Demographics Made Easy is on par with the calculated country population * .04 (4%). Each city in this world has a population between 8,000-15,000. The program also gives bonus population to cities on larger rivers, but this current design change is intended to add value to that bonus.
96% of the country population is dispersed into towns (1,000-8,000) and villages with a couple hundred people or smaller. This creates the population for the new layers.
The current development challenge is shown on the right side of the diagram. It lays out new data points and aspects that are not covered in the MDME document.
Food Channel - The farms are necessary to feed the generated cities (and smaller towns). Not enough farms, the towns and cities will not grow. Surplus creates opportunities for the cities to grow larger and increasing the population ratio.
Raw Goods Channel - The materials to build more than a village and create a larger economic structure in the cities.
Luxuries Channel - the value add components of existence are included here. Where these items are revealed on the layer dedicated to resources, opportunities to add them to the economics of the area are created.
Trade Channel - the city resides on a major river. It is also near the larger ocean body, so another method for supplying goods to the city is along this channel.
Taxes - presented in the diagram, but Government layer is not part of this question.
The goal in this process is that by adding the resource layer to the map, the program will be able to identify specific resources that are feeding the city. The quarry would get details that identify it as a source of fine marble... which could be consumed in the architecture of the city. The mine could be a source of wealth in the form of gold, silver or gems making the region a strong economic center for the government that controls this area. If the farms in the region produce more goods than the city consumes, it becomes an export/source for other areas in the world map.
Question: When examining the four channels, is there any other channel that could be added to the resource layer that would have contributions to the Economic potential of this area around the city? (or) Is there a better channel component that replaces one or more of the four?
Please limit your answers to economic components.
