Resource Map

The resource map is intended to be an intuitive meter of the resources available to support the human population.

First, a note on % capacity. The idea here is that the human population, in this picture, is using 74% of the land's agricultural potential. That means 26% of the human-usable resources are available for wildlife. At 100% capacity, the land is supporting only humans, and as many humans as it can. Anything above 100% isn't really possible, but unless capacity effects are turned on, the resource map simply shows that the human population requires XXX% of the available resources to feed itself.

Increases in agricultural productivity can make the same resource base feed more people. Thus it is possible for the population to increase while %capacity decreases. This may seem like cheating, but agricultural productivity has made phenomenal strides in the past century.

  • Agricultural productivity only increases if you invest aid points in agriculture or education.

Now for the display. The light green area is agriculture - combined with the water, it is feeding the population.

The mountains to the upper right represent land that's unusable for human agriculture (desert, mountain, etc.) It might support wildlife. If capacity effects are used, the unusable land may grow as agricultural land is destroyed (too salty from irrigation, soil eroded, water table exhausted, etc.) This bonus desert, if any, is shown as extra yellow at the top of the picture.

The deep green/forest area indicates how much "natural" land remains, whether forest or natural grasslands. If the water is at its maximum, further decreases in capacity utilization can only expand the forest. The forest won't grow beyond 2x its original size, purely for looks. The forest shrinks as more land is converted to agriculture.

The grey area is conceptually "paved over". Human industry, houses, roads, etc. have rendered its productive capacity negligible for humans and wildlife. Unlike the mountains, its area grows directly with the human population. The river system that meets the sea at the city's center is just for decoration. It doesn't change.

The water at the bottom is actually showing wild resources and resources used up by humans as well, in combination with the forest. The grayed out water is supporting humans (agriculture, drinking and cleaning water, etc.) The bright blue water, combined with the forest, is untapped natural resources. I chose to show water as well as forest, conceptually, because often water is the limiting natural resource. However, for the resource meter's purposes, the two simply work together, and the grayed water is more-or-less "more agriculture".

How Capacity Effects work is discussed in another file. But in short, unless capacity effects are turned on, the population is allowed to grow beyond the capacity of the land to feed it.

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