Quick answer
If your bigger town suddenly feels weaker, congestion may be part of the reason. It is growth pressure, not just bad worker assignment.
How To Think About Congestion
- WikiTactics lists congestion penalties starting at 1,050 congestion.
- The listed penalty steps continue upward, reaching heavy reductions at higher congestion values.
- WikiTactics also notes a congestion floor of 0.8x.
- So if growth feels slower after expansion, check congestion before blaming one resource building.
What The Data Says
The useful thing from WikiTactics is not just that congestion exists. It shows threshold-based penalties, so the player can understand why a settlement can cross a line and suddenly feel less efficient.
What To Fix First
Before moving every worker around, check the wider town-health stack: congestion, sanitation, happiness, food, housing, and storage. A production problem is sometimes a city-planning problem wearing a resource mask.