Infrastructure

Infrastructure describes the framework of civilisation that exists in a specific 20-mile hex map, based upon a region's population and the distribution of that population. The latter is affected by the geographical elevation of the hex as compared with other hexes in the same political region. Since infrastructure relies upon the willingness of a specific region to build public works within its control, the measure of a region's infrastructure is limited by the boundaries of that region. Therefore, a hex that's part of a dense political entity, with a very high infrastructure, can be directly adjacent to a wilderness when the two hexes are separated by a state border.

Infrastructure is used to determine the presence and nature of roads, what services are provided, cultural cohesion, education, manufacturing, wealth, agricultural development and much more. Zero infrastructure indicates the hex is wild, with no institutions or development of any kind. Backward areas have infrastructures between 1-7; mixed hinterland & rural parts, between 8-31; well-established agricultural zones, towns and small cities, between 32-99. Dense areas will have hundreds of infrastructure, with some very dense populated areas having infrastructures in the thousands.

Calculating Infrastructure

The system that calculates the infrastructure number is greatly affected by population, but does not describe a hex's population. A hex that is wholly rural can have half the infrastructure of an adjacent, densely packed urban hex — because the latter ensures that roads and installations are built in the former for general public use. Here follows a series of examples that explains how infrastructure is calculated and how it's affected by settlement location and topographic forms.