I’ve been reading the wiki, and I’ve got a few questions.
It says that all towns start out as hamlets and then turn into towns under the right circumstances. What are those circumstances?
Also, it says that, for towns, of of +, *, #, or ☼ is used according to the population. For hamlets, are the distinctions between Æ and æ, and = and ≡ also based on population? If so, what are the required populations?
Also, is the list of population ranges for each level of town in the wiki correct? If so, what determines whether a town with (for example) a population of exactly 1000 shows up as a + or a *?
I wrote "under the right circumstances" at the time b/c I didn't know the cause(s) for a hamlet to gain a market + ascend to (or replaced by) a town. I wish I didn't word it like that b/c it implies there's more than one factor involved. I just didn't wanted to put down "for unverified reasons," I think. Should have just excluded the "why" part. Anyhow, since then I've observed that there can't be another market site within X world tiles. That's the only visual criteria I've seen, idk if there's other factors. I'll revise it to a more simple general statement for now.
Link to original for reference.
For context: in worldgen if you pause at the right time and know where to look, you'll see a hamlet generate in a world tile where a future town will appear in a year or two. When pausing before history starts but after starting sites are placed, you'll notice that the starting human sites are hamlets. If you look at their history in legends, some towns had a mead hall that got replaced w/ a keep. Mead halls/keeps aren't constructed the instant the site gets created + hamlet-to-town conversion happens fast, so town-to-be hamlets usually skip out on the mead hall (i.e. they don't have the chance to build one before they become a town). Historical event type is 'replaced structure'.
No, hamlet symbols aren't based on pop. It's on the
hamlet and
map legend pages, but æ/Æ are hamlets on hills and =/≡ are on grassland (flat) regions. There doesn't appear to be any distinction between æ & Æ or = & ≡; probably just alternate tiles like biomes, grasses, etc.
I ran some tests and the pop. ranges are mostly correct, but the overlaps were most likely a minor slip by the editor. It should be ≤999, 1000-1999, 2000-9999, ≥10000. It's fixed now.
There's a talk page on each wiki page where you can discuss about its contents, including any written info you want to confirm w/ other players. Though admittedly there's more active traffic here than there. There's also the subforum for gameplay questions.
I noticed a lot of gameplay-related questions being asked in the past several months/years. Token behaviors, formulas, exact values, etc. I thought Future of the Fortress was supposed to be about development and the roadmap. Not complaining though. Toady doesn't seem to mind.