v1.138: County population, late-medieval buildings, and map finder

August 17, 2026 · Fallowborn devlog

Versions 1.134.0 through 1.138.3 add a county population and migration simulation, late-medieval civic buildings and technologies, a map location finder, return cargo on trade journeys, and beginner coachmark lessons.

Counties simulate population and migration

Every county now tracks a live population alongside its agricultural and urban carrying capacity. Population grows naturally each year, responds to famine and war losses, and migrates toward counties with higher development, peace, and attractive civic buildings.

The Land panel displays county population, carrying capacity, annual growth and migration flows, and local settlement development — The Land tab details county population, capacity, and net demographic flows.

Demographics directly scale the county economy. More populous counties yield higher land taxes, raise larger levy hosts, and generate greater consumer demand in local commodity markets. The Land tab summarizes total population, capacity, and the net breakdown of natural growth, migration, and losses.

Late-medieval buildings expand high-development settlements

High-development settlements can now construct 8 advanced civic, academic, and economic buildings. Each work requires a specific national technology from the innovation tree:

University: Unlocked by Universities. Adds national research and migration attraction.
Cathedral: Unlocked by Ribbed Vaulting. Generates piety, popular opinion, and crisis protection.
Civic Guildhall: Unlocked by Guild Charters. Boosts trade goods output and artisan prosperity.
Arsenal and Foundry: Unlocked by Dry Docks and Blast Furnaces. Enhance military muster and levy readiness.
Post Windmill and Endowed Hospital: Unlocked by Windmills and Hospitals. Increase food processing and disease resistance.
Merchant Exchange: Unlocked by Bills of Exchange. Multiplies market revenue and capital credit.

The settlement construction ledger lists late-medieval buildings including Universities, Cathedrals, and Guildhalls with their technology requirements and seasonal upkeep — Settlement building works list technology prerequisites, setup costs, and recurring upkeep.

Both player and AI rulers construct eligible buildings as technology and funds allow. Standing buildings add persistent value to their county and survive dynastic succession.

Map location finder

A new search button on the map HUD (and the ? keyboard shortcut) opens an overlay to find any location in the game world.

The map search overlay finds settlements, counties, duchies, and kingdoms, grouping results by category — The location finder matches settlements, counties, duchies, and kingdoms.

Searching matches settlements, counties, duchies, and kingdoms across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Selecting a result centers the map on the target and adjusts the zoom level.

Return cargo on trade ventures

Characters accompanying a trade venture can now use market proceeds at the destination to purchase return commodities. Transporting goods back home lets merchants profit from regional price differences in both directions.

Beginner coachmarks and guidance

First-time players receive interactive coachmark lessons that introduce the primary interface panels, daily actions, and character controls during early turns. These lessons can be reviewed, dismissed, or disabled in Settings.

Other changes

Save compaction: State serialization now trims redundant history to keep multi-generation campaigns within browser storage limits.
Character creation: Streamlined family generation and seed sharing on new game screens.
Audio stability: Audio initialization avoids persistent-cache permission faults in sandboxed browser frames.
Interface polish: Responsive refinements for compact mobile viewports and dialog back-navigation.

▶ Play free in your browser Stable build on itch.io

Fallowborn is a free browser grand strategy game by one developer, built openly with AI assistance. Source on GitHub.