The **Needs** of a population represent those goods and services which they use to meet their everyday demands. Needs are divided into categories:
  * **Water**: Water is readily available in coastal provinces or in provinces with significant rivers. In provinces without these features, infrastructure to transport water will be necessary to sustain a larger population.
  * **Food**: The vast majority of any population is concerned with food production. Insufficient Food (referred to as starvation or famine) causes major penalties to [[Health]] and will likely also inspire [[Migration]].
  * **Basic Goods**: Goods and services that provide for common human needs like shelter, clothing, and tools. Insufficient Basic Goods slightly penalizes Health and [[Happiness]], but their largest impact is on [[Production:Production_Efficiency|Production Efficiency]]. Basic Goods are subdivided into:
    * **Cloth**: For clothing as well as bedding and many other functions.
    * **Ceramics**: Most commonly used for containers.
    * **Woodwork**: The largest component of most shelters as well as a key component of many tools.
    * **Metalwork**: The most expensive basic goods, commonly used in small amounts in many tools.
  * **Luxuries**: Each Luxury good individually provides a significant bonus to Happiness, alongside effects specific to the good, when a population first gains access to it. Over time, however, populations become **accustomed** to access to the good, and the Happiness bonus decreases. Once accustomed, a population that loses access to a specific Luxury will suffer a significant penalty to Happiness until either access is restored or they re-adjust to life without that Luxury.