Grain Imports

Levels at a glance

	Level	Cost	Build time	Minimum settlement	Upgrades to	Excludes
	Grain Imports (Food trade)	2,500	1	town	Large Grain Imports (Food trade)	Small Granary (Food trade)
	Large Grain Imports (Food trade)	5,000	1	large town	Grain Import Network (Food trade)	Small Granary (Food trade)
	Grain Import Network (Food trade)	7,500	1	city	Huge Grain Import Network (Food trade)	Small Granary (Food trade)
	Huge Grain Import Network (Food trade)	10,000	1	large city	—	Small Granary (Food trade)

Costs in denarii, build time in turns.

Grain Imports (Food trade)

Grain imports boost population growth, though the extra mouths don’t do trade any favors.

To fill their bellies, we must first empty our coffers.

As the city population and prosperity increases, the local farmland alone can no longer keep pace. Thus begins the great trade in grain, as merchants arrive laden with foreign harvests, their ships groaning with sacks of wheat and rye. Of course, they don’t bring such bounty out of charity, each loaf costs dearly, and we also need the infrastructure required to store and distribute the grain.

But when bellies are full, tempers stay cool, and the governor sleeps soundly. Sure, the treasury may weep, but the people rejoice, and for now, peace reigns.

For a few extra coins, even the most rebellious citizen is content to wait in line for his ration.

Requirements: no faction you can play is able to build this level.

What it does

• +2 population growth
• +1 public order (happiness)
• -15 taxable income
• -1 trade income
• Consumes 1 grain surplus point from your faction. Grain surplus points can be increased by building grain exports (granary) buildings

Excludes: building this rules out Small Granary (Food trade). Choose deliberately: this is not reversible by demolition in every case.

Large Grain Imports (Food trade)

An expanded grain network increases population growth further, but at the expense of trade income.

A full stomach today means no riots tomorrow, even if there are less coins in our coffers!

With the city’s hunger for bread ever growing, the grain trade has taken on a life of its own. This is no longer a trickle of sacks but a well-organized river of grain from far-flung fields. Caravans roll in day and night, the markets bustle, and the granaries fill as fast as they empty.

Merchants, sensing the city’s dependence, seem to raise prices with every shipment, yet the alternative, an empty stomach, is too dangerous to contemplate. Perhaps the merchants think they’re running an empire of their own with these prices. Peace has its price, and here it’s paid in grain and gold.

The people may not notice the rising costs, but the city’s leaders certainly do. Nonetheless, the masses stay content, and isn’t that worth every coin?

Requirements: no faction you can play is able to build this level.

What it does

• +4 population growth
• +3 public order (happiness)
• -15 taxable income
• -2 trade income
• Consumes 2 grain surplus points from your faction. Grain surplus points can be increased by building grain exports (granary) buildings

Excludes: building this rules out Small Granary (Food trade). Choose deliberately: this is not reversible by demolition in every case.

Grain Import Network (Food trade)

Vast grain imports increase the population growth, but trade suffers as food imports dominate resources.

Nothing says great nation like importing food from a thousand miles away!

This city’s appetite has gotten even greater, and only a vast network of foreign farms can keep it from the specter of hunger. Now, entire fleets are dedicated to importing grain, an impressive logistical might that would make even a Greek philosopher scratch his head in admiration. From Alexandria’s wheat fields to the shores of Sicily, the bounty flows, nourishing every citizen, artisan, and soldier.

It’s almost enough to make one forget the astronomical costs. The coffers may be emptied and trade profits exhausted, but for a city this big, what’s a little expense if it means keeping the peace? Let the merchants smirk, for as long as the ever-hungry masses are fed, our people endures.

Requirements: no faction you can play is able to build this level.

What it does

• +6 population growth
• +5 public order (happiness)
• -20 taxable income
• -3 trade income
• Consumes 3 grain surplus points from your faction. Grain surplus points can be increased by building grain exports (granary) buildings

Excludes: building this rules out Small Granary (Food trade). Choose deliberately: this is not reversible by demolition in every case.

Huge Grain Import Network (Food trade)

Grain imports increase growth and happiness at the cost of considerable lost income.

As Rome grows the great numbers of the urban poor threaten to become a tool that in the wrong hands could overthrow the republic. Better therefore to keep them happy, and for a poor man nothing produces tranquility as much as a sure and cheap supply of bread. For this reason we, the noble conscript fathers, have instituted the Frumentatio, the grain dole. Grain is shipped in from Sardinia, Sicily, Africa and most of all Egypt to be distributed to all citizens at an extremely low price. The cost is great but better to pay for stability in bread than in blood.

Requirements: no faction you can play is able to build this level.

What it does

• +8 population growth
• +8 public order (happiness)
• -20 taxable income
• -4 trade income
• Consumes 4 grain surplus points from your faction. Grain surplus points can be increased by building grain exports (granary) buildings

Excludes: building this rules out Small Granary (Food trade). Choose deliberately: this is not reversible by demolition in every case.

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