Quote Originally Posted by andrewt
When does your population growth hit 0?
Thats a good question.

As far as I can see its totally random, I can't see any logic as to when it happens or why it varies from one city to the next.

For example here is the list of growth rates for my cities with a population of 20K and over. I have set all these cities to Low Tax rate and noted the growth rate and populations as follows:

Syracuse 27K 1.5%
Tarentum 19K -0.5% (losing population)
Croton 31K 2%
Apollonia 26K 1%
Thermon 28K 1.5%
Larissa 26K 3%
Sparta 22K 0%
Kydonia 21k 0%
Pergamum 32K 2%
Halicarnassus 24K 4.5%
Rhodes 21k 0%
Sardis 31k 2.5%
Ancyra 28K 0%
Salamis 32k 1%
Sidon 28k 6%

So, as you can see there is a wide and apparently illogical variation between Sidon which is still growing at 6% per annum despite a population of over 28.000 and Tarentum which is struggling to maintain a population of 19K.

I have no idea what the difference is between these cities as they all have the same build patterns.

I did most of the things I said and I have my public order 80% or above. You don't really need to reduce your population if you can maintain 80% public order or above with it.
Unfortuantely, with cities like Sidon, Halicarnassus and Thermon the population grows to the point where all those public order measures just aren't enough and many of these cities are on their third extermination visit.

You'll only need around 20% public order and you can have it with a garrison of around 8 peasant units.
Is there something special about peasant units that I'm missing. Do peasant units have a special public order bonus?