Ascension

Ascension is the mechanics of upgrading a building to a higher tier.

Ascension rights

There are four tiers of residences; Pioneer residences, Vassal residences, Merchant residences and Imperial residences. The basics for ascension is that for every 10 residences of a certain tier, 5 can be ascended to a higher tier, with the exception of Imperial residences that has a slightly lower ascension rate of 2 per every 5 Merchant residences.

In order to reach the goal of 4,000 Imperials, you'll need at least 87 Imperials residences (each within the radii of all attraction buildings), leaving you with the following split of residences per tier:

x 500 (1,000) ^[1]	→	x 250 (500) ^[2]	→	x 150 (250) ^[3]	→	x 100
4,000 Pioneers	→	3,750 Vassals	→	3,750 Merchants	→	4,000 Imperials

↑ Initially you need a total of 1,000 residences in order to get the 500 Vassal residences required.
↑ Of the 500 Vassal residences you'll ascend 250 of them to Merchant residences.
↑ You'll ascend 100 of the initial 250 Merchant residences to Imperial residences.

Rights are acquired and based on residences

What this means is that once you've earned an ascension right, you can never lose it. It also means that it doesn't really matter how many people you have in your houses.

So while you will need to reach the limits of the different tiers to unlock the ability to ascend to a higher tier, once you've done that it stops looking at your actual residents and simply count the number of residences you have of each tier.

This opens up for some interesting meta gaming when it comes to ascension. For example, you can "pad" your island with empty Pioneer residences simply to gain ascension rights. You can even remove lower tier residences once you've acquired enough ascension rights of a certain tier, even before you've ascended them all.

A warning to anyone trying to free up space by removing lower tiers: You will not be able to gain any more rights apart from the ones you already have unless you rebuild all the buildings you removed.

Make sure you've unlock the rights for all the desired tiers before you start removing residences.

Vassal ascension

For every 10 Pioneer residences you have, 5 can be ascended to Vassal residences. Another way to look at it is to take the total number of Pioneer and Vassal residences you have, and for every interval of 10, half of them can be ascended. To reach 250 pioneers (needed to get vassals), you must have at least 32 pioneer residences which have a well, carpenter's workshop and chapel linked to them. Pioneer residences have a minimum occupancy of 2 pioneers.

→	# of Pioneer residences	# of Vassal residences
x 32 - 39 Cite error: The opening `<ref>` tag is malformed or has a bad name	Pioneer residences x 17-24	Vassal residences x 15
x 40 - 49	Pioneer residences x 20 - 29	Vassal residences x 20
x 480 ^[1]	Pioneer residences x 240	Vassal residences x 240
x 1,000 ^[2]	Pioneer residences x 500	Vassal residences x 500

↑ Midgame it takes 480 Pioneer residences to get enough Vassal and Merchant residences to reach the Imperial-stage.
↑ Endgame you'll need 500 Vassal residences for further ascension. This means you need to build as many as 1,000+ total residences.

Merchant ascension

Merchants follow the same ratio as Vassals, for every 10 Vassal residences, you can ascend 5 to become Merchant residences. To reach 1500 vassals (needed to get merchants), you must have at least 75 vassal residences which have a well, carpenter's workshop, chapel, barber, tavern and fire station linked to them. Vassal residences have a minimum occupancy of 5 vassals.

→	# of Vassal residences	# of Merchant residences
x 100 - 109 Cite error: The opening `<ref>` tag is malformed or has a bad name	Vassal residences x 50-59	Merchant residences x 50
x 110 - 119	Vassal residences x 55 - 64	Merchant residences x 55
x 240 ^[1]	Vassal residences x 120	Merchant residences x 120
x 500 ^[2]	Vassal residences x 250	Merchant residences x 250

↑ Midgame it takes 240 Vassal residences to get enough Merchant residences to reach the Imperial-stage.
↑ Endgame you'll need 500 Vassal residences to be able to ascend the 250 Merchant residences needed for further ascension.

Imperial ascension

Imperials have a different ratio than the other tiers. For every 5 Merchant residences you can upgrade 2 to become Imperial residences, or 4 Imperial residences for every 10 Merchant residences to keep the base the same as for other tiers. However, since ascension rights are given out in batches of 5, this means that you must add 12/13 merchant residences to get additional rights.

To reach 3000 merchants (needed to get imperials), you must have at least 84 merchant residences which have a well, carpenter's workshop, chapel, barber, tavern, fire station, tournament arena, debtor's prison and church linked to them. Merchant residences have a minimum occupancy of 9 merchants.

→	# of Merchant residences	# of Imperial residences
x 120 - 124 Cite error: The opening `<ref>` tag is malformed or has a bad name	Merchant residences x 72 - 76	Imperial residences x 48
x 125 - 129	Merchant residences x 75 - 79	Imperial residences x 50
x 250 ^[1]	Merchant residences x 150	Imperial residences x 100

↑ Endgame you'll need 250 Merchant residences to be able to ascend the 100 Imperial residences needed for 4,000+ Imperials.

Type of residence			^[1]
Pioneer residence
Vassal residence
Merchant residence
Imperial residence

↑ This is the time it takes from a newly built or ascended residence to have all its residents moved in.

Reaching ascension

As your population grows and you get more and more residents of a certain type, their needs will increase. Once a residence has all their needs met, they will be ready for ascension.

In order to ascend, all the needs of a residence has to be filled before they can ascend. This includes all goods and buildings listed in food, drinks, clothing, community, and for the higher tiers property goods.

See needs for more details on the needs of residents.

Buildings / Residents		Community	Services	Faith	Entertainment
Cite error: The opening `<ref>` tag is malformed or has a bad name	Pioneers
Cite error: The opening `<ref>` tag is malformed or has a bad name	Vassals
	Merchants
	Imperials

Other buildings

There are many other buildings with tiers too, like harbourmaster's office (adds a pier slot and a cart), distribution houses (adds a cart), the treasury (increases the coin limit), lighthouse, piers (additional slots) etc. Unlike residential buildings, these buildings can be upgraded as you pass certain thresholds in your population (like 1,500 Vassals or 500 Merchants).

See the timeline for more details on when certain buildings become available to you.

[1] Initially you need a total of 1,000 residences in order to get the 500 Vassal residences required.

[2] Of the 500 Vassal residences you'll ascend 250 of them to Merchant residences.

[3] You'll ascend 100 of the initial 250 Merchant residences to Imperial residences.

[4] Midgame it takes 480 Pioneer residences to get enough Vassal and Merchant residences to reach the Imperial-stage.

[5] Endgame you'll need 500 Vassal residences for further ascension. This means you need to build as many as 1,000+ total residences.

[6] Midgame it takes 240 Vassal residences to get enough Merchant residences to reach the Imperial-stage.

[7] Endgame you'll need 500 Vassal residences to be able to ascend the 250 Merchant residences needed for further ascension.

[8] Endgame you'll need 250 Merchant residences to be able to ascend the 100 Imperial residences needed for 4,000+ Imperials.

[9] This is the time it takes from a newly built or ascended residence to have all its residents moved in.

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