I am pleased to announce that this season, we are re-launching the HWP population mechanic. I have a new and improved pop sheet that I have spent hours modifying from its original version.

Master Pop Sheet

To find out more about the population sheet, read the documentation below:

About the Population Sheet

The population sheet is an optional mechanic. It is not a requirement for claims in HWP to have a pop sheet. However, it is highly recommended that claims have a pop sheet if they intend to participate in a moderated war. At the same time, if a claim without a pop sheet is brought into a moderated war, the war mod will be able to give you an estimate of the size of army you can field.

What does the population sheet do? It gives an estimated population for your claim based upon the terrain, tech level, and urbanization of your claim. It calculates how large an army your claim can field based upon its current population, econ score, and level of organization. It gives you a place to keep track of your tech and econ information, as this information is used in computing your army size.

How to Use the Pop Sheet

Firstly, before you do anything else, you must make a copy of the master pop sheet. DO NOT under any circumstance, edit the master pop sheet (you shouldn't have permission to do so anyways unless you have hacked mathfem's account).

Secondly, the only fields you should ever edit are(1) those with white backgrounds and (2) those with checkbooks. Those with colored backgrounds have formulas or constants in them. The only exception to this is editing the technology section of the Modifiers sheet as new key inventions become available.

The Overview Sheet

The first thing to do here is to enter your "nation name", "player handle", and add a link to your claims wiki. Select the claim type from the drop-down menu. It is highly recommended to include a map of your claim, either by adding a link to the "map link" or by copying and pasting it in the big gray box.

Next, you should input your provinces. There are three situations that may apply:

If you have a province with no city in it, just type in the province name and check the "My province" box. Leave the city name and city density blank. If you have a province with a city in it, type in the province name, check the "my province" box, and then enter the city name and city density. If you have a city in a province you do not own (usually this is an isolated trade post or treaty port, but could apply in other situations), enter the province name, city name, and city density, but leave "my province" unchecked.

The Terrain Sheet

Each province comes with a number of terrain characteristics which determine how populous the province is. These are determined based upon the terrain maps below. Make sure the check the appropriate boxes next to the name of each province including provinces you do not own in which you have a city.

Note that the base map has been updated more recently than some of the terrain maps, so if the tiles don't quite line up use the closest fit.

The terrain maps are:

-The elevation map. Lightest colour is no modifier, the darker ones are "foothills", "mountains" and "peaks" in that order.

-The lakes map. Lighter blue is "notable", darker is "prominent". Pink is "oasis".

-The rivers map. Lightest blue is "minimal", then "notable", then "prominent".

-The negative Modifiers map. This map is complicated enough it needs its own legend. Note that if a province is "drained" it needs the "wetlands" box and the "drained" box checked. If a provinces is "deforested" it needs the "forest" and "deforested" box checked.

-The volcano map.

-The tiny islands map.

-The fertility map. Light green is fertile dark green is very fertile.

The Regions Sheet

Use the pop regions map to determine which region each of your provinces lies in. Also, note that each pop region "ignores" certain terrain modifiers. (For example, claims in the Andes don't suffer a population malus due to small mountains) You can find the terrain to be ignored in the "Modifiers" pane of the pop sheet. Note that terrain to be ignored should be the only reason why you would be checking the "deforested" box but not the "forest" box.

The Tech Sheet

This should be the easiest sheet on which to enter data. Simply select your current tech era from the drop down menu and type the names of any key inventions you have below. Make sure the spelling of the key invention matches the spelling in the list on the "Modifiers" sheet.

The Econ Sheet

The only part of this sheet which is absolutely necessary is the "current econ score" box in the top left. The rest of this sheet is simply a tool that should help you use your current econ score to compute your new score during each econ review. Enter any modifiers that have been approved by econ mods in the lists on the left, keep track of your past econ scores in the list in the middle, and computer your new econ score instead top left.

Developing Your Provinces

One purpose of the pop sheet is to give players ways to "play tall" and develop their claim without map painting. There are two ways in which you can do this: improving terrain and building cities.

Improving Terrain

You can improve terrain by (1) chopping down forests (2) draining wetlands, or (3) building aqueducts. You can modify up to three tiles in one of these three ways per turn. Please be sure to ping a pop mod in the post in which you attempt to improve terrain. Your post should involve some sort of RP, describing how and/or why you are improving the terrain. The tech level of your claim will factor in to your success in improving terrain.

Building Cities

Cities have five 'densities'. The actual population of a city varies cubically with the city density so a tier 5 city is 125 times as big as a tier 1 city.

-Tier 1: small towns and isolated trade ports. Not a significant contributor to your overall population, but may be strategically or economically important.

-Tier 2: regionally important cities like Londinium in Roman Britain.

-Tier 3: large regional trade centers like medieval Pisa or Genoa, or capitals of rural-based Empires like Charlemagne's Aachen.

-Tier 4: capitals of populous somewhat urbanized kingdoms or regional centers in an expansive empire. Think Babylon or Athens at its height.

-Tier 5: massive capitals of world-spanning empires such as Xi'an or Constantinople at their peak urban population.

A claim can city-post at most once per turn. This city post can either be establishing a new city or upgrading an existing city one Tier. Mods may deny a city establishment or upgrade if the site is not appropriate or the hinterland not rich enough for a city that large. Do not expect to build a massive city in 5 turns. Economically poor claims should not be developing cities.

To establish a city on a province you do not own, you need permission of the player if it is on a player-owned province. Establishing a city in grey space should be done through an expansion post.

Recruiting Armed Forces

The pop sheet determines the amount of various types of armed forces you can raise for warfare.

-Militia: these are ordinary citizens pressed into defending their homes. They can be used as garrisons of forts or as guerilla resistance fighters, but will not travel far from their home province. They are a fixed percentage of the population of each province.

-Levies: these are ordinary citizens pressed into service as part of a field army. When a moderated war is declared, each side rolls 2d50 to determine the number of levies they are able to successfully raise. Large claims will have a large maximum levy size, but will rarely be able to fully utilize this potential.

-Regular army: these are professional troops drawn from your own population (think Roman legions). Stronger governments will have larger regular armies. Regular armies grow with diminishing returns: they form a smaller and smaller percentage of your population as your claim grows exceptionally large

-Mercenaries: these are professional troops hired from greyspace. Small rich claims will be able to afford large mercenary armies relative to their population. Poor claims cannot afford mercenaries.

-Civilian sailors: these are ships usually used for fishing or trade which are pressed into military service during times of war. The number given is the number of sailors, the player can choose whether they use a few large ships or many smaller ships.

-Navy sailors: these are purpose-built warships, which historically were quite expensive. They will perform better in battle than civilian ships, but depend on your econ score. Poor claims cannot afford a purpose-built navy.