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Food is a life-sustaining commodity required in the Upkeep for mortal creatures in Master of Magic. Failure to harvest sufficient Food in a particular town can cause it to experience population decline. Not having enough food will result in the most recently-trained Normal Units disbanding.

Unlike Gold and Mana, Food cannot be stockpiled in the Wizard's inventory and held between turns. Any surplus Food you may have gets converted into Gold at 2:1 ratio instead. While the Wizard can spend gold and mana in bursts, his empire's Food harvesting capacity places a steadier, turn-by-turn limit on how many conventional troops he can field and how many townsfolk he can afford to designate as Workers.


Description[]

Icon FoodFood supply is at the center of most economic and political relationships. From their point at the top of the hierarchy, Wizards view management of these affairs with varying degrees of irritation. Most of them still see a need to facilitate production of this basic commodity in their quest for greater forms of power.

The more fertile land a town catches, the bigger its possible Food harvest. Productive races can pursue urban development projects ranging from the basic (like Granaries) to the profound (like Animists' Guilds) to bolster the harvest. Once Farmers are working all the fertile lands, additional farmers will face diminishing returns. From this point the townsfolk are probably diversifying into labor-intensive specialty goods, moving from perishable bread and fresh foods to durables like beer, dried produce, and cured meats that would be valuable supplies for armies on the move.


Base Food Level[]

Each city has a base food level of Icon FoodFood which can be efficiently produced with enough farmers, as follows:

  • Icon Food½ for each Terrain Arcanus Forest Forest, Terrain Arcanus Hill Hill, or Terrain Arcanus Shore Shore in its catchment area.
  • Icon Food for each Terrain Arcanus Grassland Grassland in its catchment area.
  • Icon Food2 for each Terrain Arcanus River River, Terrain Arcanus RiverMouth River Mouth¹, or TerrainSpecial SorceryNode Sorcery Node¹ in its catchment area.
  • Icon Food for each TerrainSpecial NatureNode Nature Node¹ in its catchment area.
  • The food generated is TerrainSpecial Half halved if the terrain tile is shared with another city.
  • Terrain tiles with TerrainSpecial Corruption Corruption do not count. However, tiles with unbroken nodes or lairs do count.
  • +50% to the above quantities if the city has Gaia's Blessing cast on it.

¹ Reported incorrectly by Surveyor.

Food Production[]

Food can only be produced by settlements, and there is a limit to how much any one settlement can easily contribute. The food production of a city is:

  • Icon Food2 for each Farmer. This increases to Icon Food3 if the farmer is a Halfling or the city has an TownBuilding AnimistsGuild Animists' Guild.
  • Icon Food2 for a TownBuilding ForestersGuild Foresters' Guild.
  • Icon Foodx1/2 the food above is halved if the city enchantment Famine is active.
  • If this total exceeds the city's Base Food Level, all excess is halved. So if the food produced is 9, but the Base Food Level is 6, then this counts as Icon Food7.
  • Icon Food2 for a TownBuilding Granary Granary.
  • Icon Food3 for a TownBuilding FarmersMarket Farmers' Market.
  • Icon Food2 for each TerrainSpecial Wild Game Wild Game in the city's catchment area. This decreases to Icon Food1 if the terrain tile is TerrainSpecial Half shared with another city. If the tile is afflicted with TerrainSpecial Corruption Corruption, the bonus does not count.

Maximum Population[]

Main article: Maximum Population

The maximum population reported by the Surveyor before creating a city is equal to the Base Food Level. After the city is created, the Surveyor reports the following.

  • Start with the Base Food Level.
  • Icon Foodx1/2 halved if the city enchantment Famine is active.
  • Icon Food2 for a TownBuilding Granary Granary if present.
  • Icon Food3 for a TownBuilding FarmersMarket Farmers' Market if present.
  • Icon Food2 for each TerrainSpecial Wild Game Wild Game in the city's catchment area. This decreases to Icon Food1 if the terrain tile is TerrainSpecial Half shared with another city. If the tile is afflicted with TerrainSpecial Corruption Corruption, the bonus does not count.
  • The maximum population is equal to this food output, or to 25, whichever is less.

Food Upkeep[]

Townspeople[]

Each Farmer, Worker, and Rebel in a town eats Icon Food1 per turn from its own town's harvest. Food is not transferred between towns to cover the needs of the townsfolk.
Attempting to starve Rebels is usually unfeasible and unwise. Firstly, the town forcibly assigns enough Subsistence Farmers to feed the entire population, including the Rebels. Starvation only happens under conditions of extreme unrest and loss of discrete Icon FoodFood sources like Town Buildings and Wild Game. Secondly, it's generally fine to let Rebels eat until they can be pacified, and let the town grow during this period, rather than regrow the town. Finally, when a town does grow while there are Rebels, the new population unit is not necessarily rebellious, because Unrest is a percentage of the population.

Normal Units[]

Each Normal Unit in a Wizard's army deducts Icon Food1 from the pan-imperial food surplus for that turn.

Heroes[]

Heroes do not draw Normal Unit Food Upkeep. A unit of Icon FoodFood represents such a large package of supply, demand, and logistics that individual needs are economically negligible.

Fantastic Units[]

Fantastic Units also do not draw Normal Unit Food Upkeep. Wizards bind these magical creatures from outer Realms and sustain them with Mana.

Undead[]

Normal Units which have acquired the Undead property have passed beyond all earthly needs and do not require Normal Unit Food Upkeep. Used on a grand scale, these units can drastically lower the need to produce Icon FoodSurplus to feed city garrisons throughout the empire. The property is exclusive to the Icon DeathDeath Realm and can be imposed on normal units through the following means:
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