Happiness, fire safety and health: needs that raise or lower them

Happiness, Health and Fire Safety are attributes of each residence. Supplied needs and services in range add to them, a few needs subtract, and the City Status of a growing island adds a penalty to all three. The fastest fixes are the needs that add several points at once: Theatre (+3 Happiness), Aqueduct Cistern (+3 Health, +3 Fire Safety) and Baths (+2 Health, +3 Fire Safety) for Equites and above.

City Status

Every island has a City Status that rises with its population and lowers Happiness, Health and Fire Safety in its residences. Steam players describe it as the main reason a large city suddenly gets fires, illness or riots. Update 3.0 made the penalties grow more gradually around tiers 2 and 3; the end-game values did not change. Patch 1.5 added an easier City Status option in the game setup.

Hovering over an attribute bar in the residence panel lists every factor behind it, City Status included. Resolver buildings fight fires, quell riots and cure plagues once an incident starts, and Civil discoveries add more of them and strengthen them.

Players in the threads above report that bonuses from several buildings of the same type do not stack on one residence, while penalties do. Spreading different service buildings across the city works better than placing two of the same kind side by side.

Needs that raise the attributes

Attribute	Latium	Albion
Happiness	Tavern +1, Pileus +1, Beer +2, Garum +1, Sanctuary +1, Theatre +3, Cloaks +2, Chariots +2, Amphitheatre +3	Cockles +1, Bardic Hearth +1, Garum +1, Sausages +1, Recreation Ground +1, Drinking Horns +2, Fur Hats +2, Theatre +3
Health	Olive Oil +1, Aqueduct Cistern +3, Baths +2, Oysters with Caviar +2, Cloaks +2, Handmirrors +2	Reed Shoes +1, Recreation Ground +1, Olive Oil +1, Fur Hats +1, Cloaks +2, Barrow +2, Aqueduct Cistern +3, Baths +2
Fire Safety	Amphorae +1, Aqueduct Cistern +3, Baths +3	Amphorae +1, Aqueduct Cistern +3, Baths +3

With Dawn of the Delta, Soap adds 2 Health for Plebeians and Mercators, and Kollurion and Dates add 1 Health for Equites.

Needs that lower them

Need	Effect	Who
Gambling House	−2 Happiness (+3 Income, +2 Population)	Equites, Patricians, Nobles, Aldermen, Chanters, Gymnasiarchs
Bird Tongues in Aspic	−2 Happiness	Patricians, Nobles
Library	−2 Fire Safety	Patricians, Gymnasiarchs
Loungers, Wigs	−1 Fire Safety each	Patricians, Nobles, Gymnasiarchs
Chariots	−1 Health	Patricians
Scribing Sets	−1 Fire Safety	Equites, Patricians, Mercators, Nobles, Scribes, Gymnasiarchs (Dawn of the Delta)
Oil Lamps	−2 Fire Safety	Potters, Chanters
Stuffed Goose	−1 Health	Potters, Chanters
Beer, Wine	−1 Knowledge	Every tier that drinks them

These needs still add Income, Prestige or residents, so the usual choice is to supply them and offset the loss with the service buildings above.

Order of fixes

1. Check which attribute is short in the residence’s panel before building anything.
2. Fire Safety at tier 2: supply Amphorae. At tier 3 and above, Aqueduct Cisterns and Baths add 3 each.
3. Health: Olive Oil early; Aqueduct Cistern and Baths later; Cloaks and Handmirrors for Patricians.
4. Happiness: Tavern and Beer for Liberti, Theatre (+3) once Equites unlock it. Keep Gambling Houses where the Income is worth 2 Happiness.
5. On large islands, spread service buildings so each residence is in range of several different ones.