here are a few basic concepts you would be well advised to get straight before embarking too far on your journey to become the finest Governor in the Empire.

Housing: Designate an area for housing, after which people will move in and set up their own homes, which they will upgrade if you provide them with the facilities they seek. If there's not enough empty housing, no one can move into your city, however much they may wish to. You can find out more about housing on page 41, Housing and Desirability.

Roads: Citizens usually walk only on roads. Most buildings employ people, and need to be both adjacent to a road and reasonably close to housing so that citizens can reach the building to start work. For more on roads, please turn to page 56, People on Roads.

Food: Not unreasonably, your citizens need to eat food. People who live in tents, the simplest housing, expect to forage for their own food, but everyone else expects you, as their governor, to provide it for them. Failure to do so could lead to unhappiness and possibly severe crime, as well as preventing immigration. You can read about food on page 111, Food, Farming, Industry.

Unemployment: Providing jobs is nearly as important for luring immigrants as providing food. Unemployment quickly makes people unhappy, and unhappy people are likely to leave your city, talk other people into not moving in, or, worse still, turn to crime. Beware very high unemployment. There's more information about employment on page 49, People, Employment, Migration.

Desirability: In addition to needing goods and services, housing often requires its surrounding area to be made more pleasant before it evolves to higher values. This means prettying it up with gardens, plazas, statues and temples, or removing some of the more antisocial buildings nearby, such as workshops or military buildings. You can read up on desirability on page 43, Desirability.

Water access: Water is critical to all life, even that found in the slums of Rome's cities. Poorer areas expect to either get their own water directly from a river or lake, or to draw it up from deep wells. But better citizens want a nearby source of clean water, and they'll soon demand a fountain before they upgrade their housing. Of course, fountains won't please anyone unless they actually distribute water, for which they need access to a reservoir. Learn more about the city's water supply on page 135, Water Supply.

Security: Prefectures help to suppress crime, and they guard against fires in the city. Engineers inspect your buildings for structural flaws and keep them in top repair. If you skimp on prefectures and engineer's posts, your city will not last for very long. Read more on page 66, Prefectures and Fire.