Maybe you sholdn't have so many rich buldings.. if they are too wealthy they don't work in the city industries and so on. I have kind of the same problem with one of my cities so I'm not sure that I will help..... but you can try.... (if my english isn't too correct.... it's because i'm swedish....)

: That's partly true. Only permit 2 or more gods to those areas that you want to be villas or above. Part of the problem, and I like the 4x14 blocks too, is that you need to stabilize your housing. Not all of your housing can be villas of course, or you have no workers. Have a couple of blocks of casa level, and a several at Grand Insulae level. I beat that one with only one block at palace level. Prosperity is based on the average of your housing. Another possibility is to use 4X19 blocks. Make sure that your housing stays in the 4x4 squares within it. At Grand Insulae level, that will give you an extra 336 people, or about 112 workers per block. You will need only slightly more services to maintain the block, and in the end you should be able to net an extra 80 workers or so. Watch your food production and distribution, and make sure that you have enough markets, because they will eat 30% or so more food.

Hi! Thanks for your suggestions, but I think I already found a solution. I gave up on Londinium and tried Massilia instead, and there I finally changed my housing blocks back to a 9x9 block and immigrants started pooring in. When I got enough workers to start producing oil, even the ailing 4x14 block became nice and rounded again. I still wonder why immigrants did not want to come so readily to my 4x14 block, although it was attractive enough. Proconsul Conan said something about "donut" blocks. Is 4x14 a donut block? Rgs Sami

: What did your Chief Advisor say about immigration? Are taxes too high? Food supplies too low? Venus angry? Are enemies present? Are wolves eating immigrants as they appear on the board? ;-) Any of these can deter immigration. A 4x14 would not normally be considered a "donut" block. Donuts have inner roads, as in the case of concentric circles. But, if a house has two different roads connecting to it, and those roads do not connect to each other, then you can have the same problem. Treborius

Hi, I'm the 'someone' who raised the issue of immigration bug long ago :). Yes. Donut blocks have a problem. If you want to build donut housing layout, you need to leave a hole. For example: RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RHHHHHH HHHHHHR RHHHHHH HHHHHHR RHHRRRRRRRRRHHR RHHRSSSSSSSRHHR RHHRSSSSSSSRHHR RHHRRRRRRRRRHHR RHHHHHHHHHHHHHR RHHHHHHHHHHHHHR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR where R=road, H=housing, S=structure(temples, schools etc) That way, you can avoid the 'blocking the main entrance' solution altogether. That method was pioneered by myself. It Caesar cut your aquaduct and took away a few insulae, you should rebuild the aquaduct ONLY and leave the disappeared housing ... disappeared. That way, immigrants will still pour in. The solution to your 'lack of workers' problem is very easy. Build 8 palaces, and give shitty housing to the rest (medium insulae). That way, you'll still be able meet the prosperity rating requirements. With so many mediocre housings, you'll have many workers for your towers and work force.

I don't think that I've ever seen a definition of a donut block. However, if you visualize a donut, that's what your block would look like if it were a donut block. It has a hole in the middle. I believe 14x14's are donuts. A 4x14 is more of a solid block. Little or no gardens. It's good to use in tight building areas where natural constraints prevent you from building larger blocks. It's also modular. I like that aspect. I may be wrong, but I think that donuts have services on the outside of a circuit road, with housing on the inside, and then gardens inside of that. I can tell you one thing however. Your labor shortages had nothing whatsoever to do with the style of housing blocks that you use. That only really affects how many people you have. Building the new blocks fixed it, because you built new blocks. It didn't really matter what your blocks looked like. Your problems lay in too many services being offered at the wrong time and unstable housing. (ie: too early) If you build too fast, that will happen. If you have supply problems of one or more products, it can cause your housing to yo-yo up and down. That's bad, real bad. It really screws up your labor. Build only when the housing has stablized at a particular level, then only build what the houses ask for. Query more than one house, because one house may complain about a market, while the next may be wanting furniture or oil. Make certain that your supplies for the next level are in place prior to upping the housing, so they stay there, because inital consumption is about double maintenance consumption. That's what I meant when I discussed stabilizing earlier.