Food

Food is a FIDSI resource. It is used to feed and grow the population of cities.

A few factions have unique interactions with Food:
 * The Broken Lords do not use or see  at all, and instead buy population using  due to their "Appetite for Dust" trait.
 * The Necrophages produce 1 fewer  on tiles due to their "Agriculturally Challenged" trait
 * The Kapaku are only able to produce  from Volcanic terrain due to their "Born of Ash" trait, while every other faction cannot produce any  from Volcanic terrain.

Population
Each consumes 2  per turn. Any excess food is automatically applied towards growing the population of the city. When the accumulated food reaches a given limit, a new is added to the city, as shown below.

The Allayi require twice as much to produce a new  due to their "We Chosen Few" trait.

Note that producing less food than what is consumed by the population can result in a negative income of food, and ultimately the starvation and loss of a unit of population. This problem is especially prevalent during winter.

See Cities for more information.

Terrain
The Food output of the tiles a city is placed on determines the city's initial Food production, and should ideally be more than 2 when placing a new city to ensure there is a net population growth.

Basic Terrain
Of the general terrain types, Plains provide the greatest boost to Food, on average providing 2 on a tile. Exceptions to this are Grasslands, which provide 3, and Shrublands, which provide only 1. Sea, Lake, and Forest tiles each typically provide 1, exceptions being Wetlands which provide 2 , and Crystal Forests which provide no Food. Finally, the Snowy Field tile provides 1.

Rivers provide an additional 1 on tiles, in addition to whatever other  FIDS output they have.

For the Kapaku specifically, Volcanic terrain tends to provide 1, exceptions being the Scorched Wilds that provide 2 and the Badlands that provide 3.

Anomalies
Anomalies on a tile provide an additional bonus to its FIDSI output, and there are a number of anomalies that provide a bonus of 2, 4, or 6 on a tile.
 * 2 : Chromatic Land, Dragon Tree, Escaped Specimens, Moss Pearls, Mychordia, Salt Desert
 * 4 : Azotic Exotics, Botanical Garden, Hidden Springs, Igloo Larvae, Massive Tree
 * 6 : Black Earth, Life Tree, Northern Loam, Oasis, Steppe Soil

City Improvements
This list includes any City Improvement that increases a city's food output, even indirectly. Many of the improvements listed have additional effects that do not affect Food production, but for simplicity those effects are not listed.

Expansions
While most expansions listed increase a city's Food output, the Borough Streets expansion actually reduces the Food on the tile it's placed on, though not to a significant degree. Again, only the effects related to Food have been listed here.

Approval
Approval in a city has an effect on the generated food as well.

Heroes
Heroes provide a number of ways to increase the Food output of a city they are the governor of, whether that be through capacities, skills, or accessories.

Capacities
As an additional note, the Sway of the Master can be equipped on heroes to give them the Slavery capacity.

Accessories
All listed accessories are Tomes.

Miscellaneous
There are a number of other ways to increase Food production in addition to these that vary greatly.

Arcana
The Ardent Mages are able to research the Arcana of Renewal technology, which unlocks the Pillar of Regeneration for placement. This pillar increases the Food output of tiles within range depending on the Arcana level as shown here: Additionally, the pillar provides an extra +3 on tiles in range during winter after obtaining the Cold Engineering technology.

Assimilation
The Bos provide an assimilation bonus of +5% on cities per pacified and rebuilt village, up to +30%.

Empire Plan
Tier 4 of the Empire and Expansion branch of the Empire Plan grants a +50% Food bonus on cities.

Resource Boosters
A number of Luxury resources (and Strategic resources for the Vaulters and Mezari) can be used to increase empire-wide Food production.

Stockpiles
Food Stockpiles can be applied to cities for a lump-sum quantity of Food at the end of the turn.

Technology
The only technology that increases Food output directly without the need to build a city improvement is the Era IV technology Self-Driving Plows, which increases the Food output of cities by 100%.

Urkans
Kazar has the Urkan Agriculture training available. Upon unlocking this training, while Kazar is rooted in a region, cities owned by Kazar's owner and their allies will get a +30% bonus, while enemy cities will get a -15%  penalty.