How to increase your population on Travian

Recently I've introduced my peers to my favourite empire-building browser game, Travian. However, they've been bothered by Romans, Gauls and Teuton attacks, hoping to claim their prize. Now, my armies aren't endless nor are my supplies, so I'll have to help them another way. But how? Psychology, of course. Instinct dictates that if an enemy is larger than you, or is showing signs of aggression, chances are you will fail in a fight against it. Being a video game, the same rules can apply in a different sense. In tis case, the enemy is population, and the signs of aggression are how many digits are in the number (3 is enough to send enemies fleeing in terror). Sun Tzu once said,

If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight!

In Travian, that is not entirely true. You can reach end game without going on a single adventure (you don't have to do the quest), or attacking any villages. So here are a few tips on how to keep your pockets full of resources and your Alliance rank high.

Upgrading resource tiles (Wood, Clay, Iron and Wheat) will no doubt make a difference to your village's population. How much of a difference? That's up to you. By having a few lv.5s here, and some lv.4s there you're not really going to appear as a major threat. Increase them all to 5 and 6, then perhaps have a few 8's or 9's. These will not only increase your population by a few tens, but also make sure you never get any lower than 1000 resources at a time. Be sure to upgrade your warehouse to around lv.8 to fully benefit from this. Also, in doing that you're increasing population by a fair amount.

Having one cranny in a village with a population of 100+ is not nearly enough. No wonder you're being attacked frequently! Having around 4 crannies in one village isn't a bad idea, and at lv.10 (each), they can store 4000 resources when an attack is inbound! By upgrading buildings, you're increasing your population ever more. The cranny is cheap and plays a major role in storage.

A strong barracks is needed for infantry, which will be essential against other footsoldiers and siege weapons. Romans will need a higher level barracks so they can build their expensive troops faster, as they take quite a while to train too. Cheaper than other military buildings to upgrade, this will be nice for those who don't have the best resource tile levels.

The Forge will be very important for upgrading troops, and will add to population quite a bit. Know that it can be expensive, so upgrading it once a week or two weeks would be your better option. Once it's at lv.4-5, leave it for a while and continue with other things. Be sure to upgrade your troops too - you may not get population gains from it, but it will certainly help for attack and defence anyway!

The Academy isn't cheap, but can still add to population. Without it, you can't research certain units which will turn the tide of battle!

The Siege Workshop is expensive and takes a long time to build. Unless you're an attacker, don't bother building this the moment it's available.

The Wall is a cheap expansion to your city and a very valuable one to any troop holding the line. Teutons don't need Iron to build one, but require more clay, so it's good resource wise. Adding a wall to your city, even just up to lv.1 will increase population quite a bit and you'll notice an increase as it's upgraded!

The Stonemason's Lodge helps fortify buildings in the city, useful if you're constantly under attack from catapults and battering rams. Upgrading this may take some resources and you won't get a great deal of defence in return, but if it's population you're looking for, go for it!

The Trapper is an excellent building, and every Gaullic city should have one! Every time it's upgraded it will increase population a small amount and really help with defence!

The Main Building is cheap and is worth upgrading before other buildings are to be created. Not only does it reduce build time, but increases population greatly as it's upgraded. A worthy investment.

The Embassy is used to accept/decline Alliance invites. Upgrading it to level five will increase population a bit, but will also allow you to form your own Alliance and invite people to it. Not bad for someone who likes control and dominion.

The Residence is one of the most (if not the most) expensive building in Travian, and takes a long time to upgrade to lv.10 (where you can train Settlers to make a village). However, being the most expensive, you can also increase population by a huge amount! The same goes for the Palace.

Finally, the Marketplace would be a good place to invest resources in. Not only are your traders that tad bit faster, and can carry more, but population will increse slightly. For early levels (say 1-7) it will be affordable but any higher and you may feel your pockets full of resources get lighter. Still, yet another worthy investment.