Population capacity

Population capacity is a game mechanic that limits the possible number of Units that can be created.

Appearance
Population capacity is indicated in the top left corner of the screen, below the ressource bar. Once the limit is reached, a red housing sign will start flashing, indicating unit production has halted.

Effects
Once population capacity is reached or exceeded by the number of your units on the battlefield, production of new units ceases.

Countermeasures
Town Hall, Barracks, 17th century, Barracks, 18th century, housing all provide dwellings for units, depending on nation. By building these buildings the population capacity will be increased by a fixed amount. The possible achievable population limit is limited due to rising building costs. The other way to make dwellings available is by having units killed or captured.

Town Hall : 100 dwellings;

Barracks, 17th century: 150 dwellings;

Barracks, 18th century: 250 dwellings;

Housing: 25 dwellings

Strategy

 * Reaching population limit is called being "housed" in RTS games and is generally worth avoiding.
 * Build enough buildings that provide dwellings.
 * Use your units in combat. Attack frequently.
 * Have enough peasants to support your economy, but don't have so many that they produce way more than you can spend.
 * Protect houses as they are capturable.
 * Build stronger units in favour of weaker units as all units cost one population space.
 * Delete unneeded units if you need to get free population space asap. (E.g. for an Officer, 17th century to organize your troops in defense of an incoming attack)
 * Destroy or capture an opponents dwellings to limit their unit production.
 * It is increasingly difficult to maintain a large population in terms of area and ressources needed.