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 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.