There are 3 basic types of farms:
You require construction materials like stones, timber and marble if you wish to construct a villa rustica or latifundia. So once you have 20 or more iugera at a certain location you will have to build a villa rustica or latifundia. If you own a villa rustica or a latifundia, then you gain prestige points each season. The construction costs for each upgrade are as follows: 2 marble, 8 timber and 4 stones.
Land
The default land of a farm is barren land. The basic unit of land is the iugera.
Barren land can be cultivated into pasture or farmland. Pasture is set fallow each summer, while farmland is set fallow each winter.
Though barren land is barren and often fallow, this does not mean nothing is produced. Fallow land or barren land, may be necessary. Land that is fallow produces the following resources:
Normally speaking one farm worker or peasant can cultivate 1 iugera of pasture and 4 iugera of farmland every season (assuming fatigue of the worker is 0). Though this cultivation rate may be increased if you have discovered harvesting technologies.
The number of animals you can keep on pasture is limited. These limits are:
New farm animals are born each spring, as long as you do not already have more animals than the maximum you can keep on your pastures. The basic birth rates vary. The number of newborns per mother is as follows:
For those birthrates it is assumed that half of the flock is female. On top of this basic birthrate you get 1 extra newborn. This birthrate can be multiplied with several bonuses, that come from blessings of some gods and goddesses, and certain regional fertility bonuses.
So even if you start with 0 animals, as long as you have allocated pasture for farm animals before spring, you will see a growth of your flock.
Animals can be slaughtered for their meat and hides at a butcher's workshop in the city, but certain kinds of animals also produce other resources without them needing to be slaughtered, such as:
Aside from pasture you can also cultivate certain types of farmland, such as: orchards, vineyards and so on. This is a list of crops, that you can produce:
The yield of crops per iugera varies a lot. There are 4 major factors that influence the yield, these factors are: soil fertility, climate, weather and certain bonuses that may come from blessings of some gods and goddesses.
Certain blessings and the attitude of the gods may affect the yield of harvests and the births of livestock. The following list shows the gods whose divine favor affects certain yields:
Harvests in the autumn tend to yield about 10% more, if the previous summer was rainy and the yield will be 10% less, if the previous summer was dry. In all other circumstances the yield will be as expected.
Climate
In all there are 7 types of climates. These climate types are:
The basic yield of crops according to the type of climate can be seen in the following table.
| Crop | Plains | Moderate | Northern | Mountainous | Mediterranean | Desert | Floodplains |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| millet | 450 | 500 | 420 | 450 | 520 | 390 | 550 |
| barley | 280 | 290 | 280 | 260 | 290 | 250 | 300 |
| grain | 180 | 220 | 170 | 160 | 230 | 160 | 250 |
| vegetables | 2800 | 3200 | 3000 | 2300 | 3200 | 2300 | 4900 |
| grapes | 0 | 550 | 0 | 0 | 550 | 550 | 550 |
| olives | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6000 | 6000 | 6000 |
| apples | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 | 0 | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 |
| berries | 3500 | 3500 | 3500 | 3500 | 3500 | 3500 | 3500 |
| figs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4000 | 4000 | 4000 |
| dates | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3800 | 3800 |
Aside from climate, the crop yield may also be influenced by soil fertility. Some areas are more suited for the growing of olives and grain than other areas, while yet other areas are more suited for rearing horses and sheep. So in all there are 4 kinds of regional soil fertility bonuses: