Population Growth

Alright, now we have a more proper web site set up for blogging and socializing around this browser game topic of mine. Or ours, whatever. A few years (!) ago I wrote the following:

"The Conquest of Crithum (“Crithum” for short) is a real-time, multiplayer, strategy war game. The idea of the game is to conquer the Island of Crithum, which is occupied by several war-hungry chiefs (aka players).

The player starts with a single town, which acts as the players heaven (or “headquarters”). During the game, players raise armies and occupy more land and towns. Wars are unavoidable, since land is scarce and at the end, the whole island can have only one ruler."

I do not fully agree with all that anymore. The Internet is full of these "start with a town, farm, upgrade, farm, upgrade, get another town, farm more, upgrade, farm even more, get another town..". I want something different. Maybe a world where a game where you start with one or two houses. You can build your empire from there. Build a house and someone might move into it. Build a weapons smithy and someone might take up the position as a blacksmith. Or not. While the population of the game world increases "constantly", why would they choose YOUR buildings? Maybe there are factors, which makes them decide upon living elsewhere. Like the amount and quality of food available. Like accommodation: is there suitable living quarters newby the smithy for the blacksmith? Is it peaceful at your place? Are you taxing your people? How much?

Any opinions about this topic? Opinions? I'm trying to gather some good ideas and valid arguments, which I can then convert into requirements for this game. All comments are welcome, thank you!

Let the discussion continue in the forum!