If you ever wish to obtain power, fame, or fortune, you must understand the basics of expanding your province and building your infrastructure. While war is always an option for growth, in many instances, you will need to peacefully expand your province. Below, I will describe the methods and benefits of each of your options.

Economics: Employment, Taxes, & Productivity

The Utopian World features a rich, vibrant economic system. The buildings on your land employ people to generate tax revenues for your province. In addition, your people power your buildings to provide non-financial benefits to your land. The currency of choice in Utopia is the gold coin, demoninated by either "gc" or "$", the dollar sign as you know it. Your coffers need be plentiful if you wish to grow your province over the long term. You have one primary source of money -- tax revenues. It will be important to ensure that your people have adequate work: except for Homes, all buildings employ up to 15 men or women, each of which brings in tax revenues. Prisoners held in your prisons also generate a small amount of gold each day (0.5 gc per day). Without enough employees, you may find that your buildings function less efficiently. Building efficiency can be improved through science or by increasing the number of peasants throughout your lands.

Exploration

To gain additional lands for your province, you can send an exploration team to search out and claim new territory. These expeditions will require both money and soldiers. Unfortunately, as your empire grows larger and receives more notoriety, fewer of your men will be willing to go on these dangerous excursions, and the costs of finding new land rises sharply. Once you have your new lands in place, you will be able to begin developing them into more useful territory. It is important to understand that your people are essential to exploration, as they settle the lands. Your people will not allow you to explore unless at least 50% of your land has already been put to use.

Construction

Land alone is nice to have, but without buildings and infrastructure, it is of little use to anyone. You have a variety of buildings to choose to build, but remember this: You will need many people to make your province go, and you will need to provide these men with jobs to work. Employed peasants will bring in far more tax revenues than unemployed peasants, and money is critical for your province's growth. Advisors within your Council will help provide you the information you need to keep your economy healthy. The Utopian World offers a variety of buildings and structures to place on your lands. Each of these has some inherent benefits which allow your province to grow or specialize. It is up to you to determine how best to fill your lands, as there is no perfect or ideal balance for growth. You will find that having mass quantities of a given building decreasing the effectiveness of those buildings. I will talk more about this below.

Your Construction Options

Listed below are the various types of buildings you can build, and what effect they will have on your province. There are three types of buildings: Capacity Buildings - These buildings simply create space for you, and are not impacted by efficiency issues. Homes, for example, provide additional space for peasants. Flat Rate Buildings - This type of building provinces a set amount of a particular resource. These buildings need full employment to be fully effective. An example is Towers, each of which create a few runes. Percentage-based Buildings - The majority of Utopian buildings are percentage-based. These buildings provide an effect based on the portion of your land covered by it. For example, having 10% of your land as Banks will increase your income by a certain percentage. Like flat-rate buildings, these also require full employment to provide full effects. In addition, each additional building you contruct will be less effective. The numbers listed below would be for the first building you construct. Your Internal Affairs Advisor will help you to understand the benefits of your land. Unless otherwise specified, these buildings have a maximum effect of 25 times the number listed below. With normal building efficiency, this maximum is reached by dedicating 50% of your land to that building.

The Actual Numbers
The term "%" below refers to the percentage of land you have of that kind of building. Please see the note above for details on how your land works.
Land Capacity	Each built up acre of land houses 25 people; Barren lands house 15 people.
Homes	Increases your maximum population by 5 Employs no one
Farms	Produces 70 Bushels Per Day
Mills	Decrease Building Costs by % * 4 (Max of 99%) Reduces exploration gold expenses by % * 3
Banks	Generate $35 per day Increase Income by % * 1
Training Grounds	Decrease Daily Wages by % * 3
Armouries	Decrease Military Training Costs by % * 3
Barracks	Lowers Attack Time by % * 1.5 Increase Offensive Military Efficiency by % * 1
Forts	Decrease Resource Losses when Attacked by % * 1.5 Increase Defensive Military Efficiency by % * 0.5
Guilds	2% Chance of Training a Wizard Daily
Towers	Produces 10 Runes Per Day
Thieves' Den	Lower Losses in Thievery Operations by % * 4 Increase Thievery Effectiveness by % * 3
Watchtowers	% * 2.5 Chance of Catching Enemy Thieves % * 4 Chance of Identifying Enemy Thieves (99% Max)
Schools	Decrease Science Costs by % * 3
Libraries	Produce 3 Science Points per Day
Hospitals	% * 2 Daily Chance of Curing the Plague Decrease Military Losses by % * 4 (99% Max)
Taverns	Lowers Draft Costs by % * 4 (99% Max) Lowers Mercenary Costs by % * 4 (99% Max)
Stables	Produces One Horse Per Day (Max 75 Horses Per Stable)
Dungeons	House 30 Prisoners of War