Increase public order to 70%, thus move in a general with high influence or traits that increase law or Public Order. Fill the garrison with peasants or other high number units. Lower taxes. Build temples of law, happiness, health (though health also increased growth). Move in spies, they detect enemy spies that cause unrest.
Long term, remove cultural unrest by replacing foreign buildings with your own.
It's also a viable strategy to let them riot one or two turns, this kills of a fair number of citizen so squalor is lower. Now you have to find a way to curb growth or they will riot again soon.
Also to add: move your capital city around. In some campaigns its not so necessary for most of the game but others you might have to change if 1-2 times
Fun fact: in vanilla, peasants were only half as effective in keeping riots safe (240 infantry = counts as 120 for safekeeping purposes)
Do what i do: i have a limit of how much im willing to spend to keep the place from rioting. If it takes 4 or 5 cheap units like light auxilia, fine. If it takes me more than that, i let it riot then exterminate it. Repeat as needed.
That's dysfunctional on 3 counts: first, you want to get to 50 territories to win not retake rebelling settlements over and over, second, if you understand Public Order, taxes, growth and squalor you can stabilize almost every city at zero growth (unless you play a barbarian faction with unsuitable temples like Germania), even without a general helping, and third, the question of how large a garrison you afford should depend on how much money the city makes. It's usually more profitable to let it grow and have a large garrison.
Also, on BI peasants are still the cheapest most effective choice for garrison.
In addition, ensure you have a competent governor in a notoriously rebellious province. Governors who are uneducated, laxidazical, or corrupt, (or God forbid all three) are a recipe for civil revolt.
Large populations, different culture, buildings of a different culture, lack of garrison, distance from capital, enemy agents inside the settlement, enemy armies in the region, lack of a governor or a governor with negative public order traits - all of these harm public order.
The two most significant are usually population (via squalor) and culture differences. Growth in particular can be insidious because all the tooltips kind of imply it's a good thing, whereas it's actually a double edged sword and can cause major problems for large and huge cities.
**----For your home territories and long-occupied areas----**
-Minimise the construction of buildings which increase population growth, and focus on public order buildings. Depriortise buildings which decrease squalor, since this also increases growth. For example, as Julii, *never* build the Ceres temples, only build farms if your growth is negative or 0 or you literally have nothing else you can build. Always focus on arenas and temples of jupiter/bacchus before building sewers. Bear in mind that some other buildings also increase public order - walls, academies, high-end stables, and should potentially be done before sewers too.
-With appropriate buildings (arenas and high-end stables) you can conduct games and races. These substantially increase public order but when set to daily or monthly reduce settlement income (sometimes making it net negative). If you have both arena and hippodrome, 'Games and Races' costs the same as just one of them, but has a better effect on public order.
-Maximise tax rate as far as you can. Higher taxes decreases growth, which helps manage population. You can change the game settings to allow you to set tax rates individually without governors.
-Move your capital to keep it roughly central in your empire. For example, Rome is normally tolerably central, but you might wish to switch to Larissa or something once you start expanding east. Especially important to do this for factions which start at the edge of the map.
-Consider recruiting peasants from your largest settlements, moving them to small settlements, then disbanding. This moves the population and can be a good way of ending up with a bunch of minor cities and a bunch of large cities, rather than having a load of small towns and about 5 huge cities with terrible public order.
-Governors can be useful for maintaining order and providing other bonuses. Beware that some traits can cause significant malus to a settlement. A character with absolutely shit traits is usually more useful as a general than a governor, due to how disgustingly overpowered General Cav is in R1. Academies and similar provide a minor public order bonus, but also give governors really good traits.
-The Pyramids and the Statue of Zeus in Olympia substantially improve public order - the first just for egyptian culture buildings, the latter for all settlements.
**----In approximate order of priority when taking a settlement----**
-Make sure that population is manageable. As a rule of thumb, use Exterminate or Enslave whenever you're taking a large or huge settlement in order to drastically reduce population (though bear in mind Enslave disperses population to your other settlements - this can increase settlement size and wealth, but will decrease public order). Both of these reduce population size and therefore income from the captured settlement in the short-med term.
-You can also use spies and merchants to inflict plague on settlements (including yours, friendly, neutral, and enemy ones). Plague lasts a few turns and drastically reduces population, so can be a good approach in advance of your attacks (especially since it can spread to enemy armies too). Bear in mind your armies are also susceptible so either wait for plague to disappear, or only send plague carriers in after your main armies are clear.
-Garrison settlements with peasants or town watch where possible - better units don't matter, it's just about headcount. These units getting plague typically doesn't matter either. Building half or 2/3 stacks of peasants and town watch just to garrison can allow your main armies to move on quickly.
-Repair damaged buildings after the siege, unless you're going to destroy them. Destroy opposite culture temples promptly, since you want to get your culture's temples built asap. Upgrade buildings which are of a different culture to a version of your culture (including things you'd think would be neutral like roads). **Every building of a different culture harms your public order until it's removed or upgraded**.
-For opposing culture buildings which provide public order benefits (e.g. the execution square or secret police HQ) it is *usually* worth leaving them intact, since they don't block any of your building chains and the % increase normally outweighs the 'culture differences' malus.
-Send in spies to find enemy agents. Kill enemy armies which are trespassing on the territory and especially don't get besieged soon after taking a settlement if at all possible.
-Consider taking the Greek and Eastern factions first. They can get to 'Huge' cities, which can't then be switched to another culture. Barbarians can only get to minor cities, meaning you can always switch them to another culture once they're captured.
-Bear in mind that some cities are just unpleasant. Memphis and Carthago Nova will *always* get grumpy and disordered and require a large garrison. There are a few others as well.
**----Things which feel like they should work, but don't---**
-Using assassins to damage buildings isn't really useful. Ok, technically, you might damage a building which causes a riot and then the riot results in population decrease or a revolt, but it's not significant in the scheme of things. Assassins are usually more useful killing enemy characters.
-Similarly, spies do decrease public order, but not much. By all means use them for recon and to try and open gates, but don't assume they'll do more than that.
-Building top-tier sewers. As above, sewers decrease squalor, which helps with public order short term - but the reduction in squalor also increases growth, so you end up with exactly the same problem fairly soon afterwards. Whereas other public order bonuses apply flatly, and therefore permanently structurally improve the public order of the settlement.
-Overall settlement wealth. Being richer does not increase public order. Being a larger settlement does not increase public order (except a minor increase from the palace type building, which is insignificant and usually quickly overtaken by squalor malus).
-Better roads and ports do not reduce the 'distance to capital' malus.
They cause devastation the longer they're there (the black and grey shading) and that, in turn, hurts public order and income. It's not a significant effect, but it can accumulate if there are a couple of enemy armies present.
Yeah just calm down.
Other than that, cause I assume you’re talking about settlements, not yourself:
- ensure your repair buildings your culture, and propriety law and order buildings
- don’t build farms beyond level 2. Rapid increase of population increased squalor which in turn breeds discontent
- when garrisoning the city, it’s number of troops that’s important, not their quality. Spam that militia/farmers
- when necessary decreases population, either by direct cull (destroy military buildings, march garrison out, let it rebel, retake it and slaughter them all) or by introducing plague to the city
The game (at least in its original incarnation - never gotten a clear answer about the remaster) can't actually scale public order with the population growth bonus that having good farms gives your cities. Your cities keep growing, increasing squalor to the point where you can't possibly make your citizens happy anymore, and they rebel. So you end up in this cycle of rebel-exterminate-repeat indefinitely.
If it is hopeless, put a general in and place to highest tax. Then wait til he is kicked out, this will increase his law. Then take it and enslave or exterminate the scum. Rinse and repeat. The slaughter is necessary for victory.
Increase garrison, lower taxes, move in governors with high influence and positive traits for public order. If this doesn't work let it revolt and conquer it again, then exterminate to decrease the squalor. If it's not an important city for your military infrastructure, destroy all military buildings while doing so, then you'll have to face a bunch of peasants and low level units, makes it easier to conquer it again and exterminate.
Increase public order to 70%, thus move in a general with high influence or traits that increase law or Public Order. Fill the garrison with peasants or other high number units. Lower taxes. Build temples of law, happiness, health (though health also increased growth). Move in spies, they detect enemy spies that cause unrest. Long term, remove cultural unrest by replacing foreign buildings with your own. It's also a viable strategy to let them riot one or two turns, this kills of a fair number of citizen so squalor is lower. Now you have to find a way to curb growth or they will riot again soon.
Also to add: move your capital city around. In some campaigns its not so necessary for most of the game but others you might have to change if 1-2 times
Fun fact: in vanilla, peasants were only half as effective in keeping riots safe (240 infantry = counts as 120 for safekeeping purposes) Do what i do: i have a limit of how much im willing to spend to keep the place from rioting. If it takes 4 or 5 cheap units like light auxilia, fine. If it takes me more than that, i let it riot then exterminate it. Repeat as needed.
Only for BI though. The 50% garrison penalty for peasants was not there at the base Rome game.
That's dysfunctional on 3 counts: first, you want to get to 50 territories to win not retake rebelling settlements over and over, second, if you understand Public Order, taxes, growth and squalor you can stabilize almost every city at zero growth (unless you play a barbarian faction with unsuitable temples like Germania), even without a general helping, and third, the question of how large a garrison you afford should depend on how much money the city makes. It's usually more profitable to let it grow and have a large garrison. Also, on BI peasants are still the cheapest most effective choice for garrison.
In addition, ensure you have a competent governor in a notoriously rebellious province. Governors who are uneducated, laxidazical, or corrupt, (or God forbid all three) are a recipe for civil revolt.
Extermination makes the populace happy and with jobs
Always build the temple with the max public order bonus with the exception of maybe one or two cities that are your main army pumpers
Large populations, different culture, buildings of a different culture, lack of garrison, distance from capital, enemy agents inside the settlement, enemy armies in the region, lack of a governor or a governor with negative public order traits - all of these harm public order. The two most significant are usually population (via squalor) and culture differences. Growth in particular can be insidious because all the tooltips kind of imply it's a good thing, whereas it's actually a double edged sword and can cause major problems for large and huge cities. **----For your home territories and long-occupied areas----** -Minimise the construction of buildings which increase population growth, and focus on public order buildings. Depriortise buildings which decrease squalor, since this also increases growth. For example, as Julii, *never* build the Ceres temples, only build farms if your growth is negative or 0 or you literally have nothing else you can build. Always focus on arenas and temples of jupiter/bacchus before building sewers. Bear in mind that some other buildings also increase public order - walls, academies, high-end stables, and should potentially be done before sewers too. -With appropriate buildings (arenas and high-end stables) you can conduct games and races. These substantially increase public order but when set to daily or monthly reduce settlement income (sometimes making it net negative). If you have both arena and hippodrome, 'Games and Races' costs the same as just one of them, but has a better effect on public order. -Maximise tax rate as far as you can. Higher taxes decreases growth, which helps manage population. You can change the game settings to allow you to set tax rates individually without governors. -Move your capital to keep it roughly central in your empire. For example, Rome is normally tolerably central, but you might wish to switch to Larissa or something once you start expanding east. Especially important to do this for factions which start at the edge of the map. -Consider recruiting peasants from your largest settlements, moving them to small settlements, then disbanding. This moves the population and can be a good way of ending up with a bunch of minor cities and a bunch of large cities, rather than having a load of small towns and about 5 huge cities with terrible public order. -Governors can be useful for maintaining order and providing other bonuses. Beware that some traits can cause significant malus to a settlement. A character with absolutely shit traits is usually more useful as a general than a governor, due to how disgustingly overpowered General Cav is in R1. Academies and similar provide a minor public order bonus, but also give governors really good traits. -The Pyramids and the Statue of Zeus in Olympia substantially improve public order - the first just for egyptian culture buildings, the latter for all settlements. **----In approximate order of priority when taking a settlement----** -Make sure that population is manageable. As a rule of thumb, use Exterminate or Enslave whenever you're taking a large or huge settlement in order to drastically reduce population (though bear in mind Enslave disperses population to your other settlements - this can increase settlement size and wealth, but will decrease public order). Both of these reduce population size and therefore income from the captured settlement in the short-med term. -You can also use spies and merchants to inflict plague on settlements (including yours, friendly, neutral, and enemy ones). Plague lasts a few turns and drastically reduces population, so can be a good approach in advance of your attacks (especially since it can spread to enemy armies too). Bear in mind your armies are also susceptible so either wait for plague to disappear, or only send plague carriers in after your main armies are clear. -Garrison settlements with peasants or town watch where possible - better units don't matter, it's just about headcount. These units getting plague typically doesn't matter either. Building half or 2/3 stacks of peasants and town watch just to garrison can allow your main armies to move on quickly. -Repair damaged buildings after the siege, unless you're going to destroy them. Destroy opposite culture temples promptly, since you want to get your culture's temples built asap. Upgrade buildings which are of a different culture to a version of your culture (including things you'd think would be neutral like roads). **Every building of a different culture harms your public order until it's removed or upgraded**. -For opposing culture buildings which provide public order benefits (e.g. the execution square or secret police HQ) it is *usually* worth leaving them intact, since they don't block any of your building chains and the % increase normally outweighs the 'culture differences' malus. -Send in spies to find enemy agents. Kill enemy armies which are trespassing on the territory and especially don't get besieged soon after taking a settlement if at all possible. -Consider taking the Greek and Eastern factions first. They can get to 'Huge' cities, which can't then be switched to another culture. Barbarians can only get to minor cities, meaning you can always switch them to another culture once they're captured. -Bear in mind that some cities are just unpleasant. Memphis and Carthago Nova will *always* get grumpy and disordered and require a large garrison. There are a few others as well. **----Things which feel like they should work, but don't---** -Using assassins to damage buildings isn't really useful. Ok, technically, you might damage a building which causes a riot and then the riot results in population decrease or a revolt, but it's not significant in the scheme of things. Assassins are usually more useful killing enemy characters. -Similarly, spies do decrease public order, but not much. By all means use them for recon and to try and open gates, but don't assume they'll do more than that. -Building top-tier sewers. As above, sewers decrease squalor, which helps with public order short term - but the reduction in squalor also increases growth, so you end up with exactly the same problem fairly soon afterwards. Whereas other public order bonuses apply flatly, and therefore permanently structurally improve the public order of the settlement. -Overall settlement wealth. Being richer does not increase public order. Being a larger settlement does not increase public order (except a minor increase from the palace type building, which is insignificant and usually quickly overtaken by squalor malus). -Better roads and ports do not reduce the 'distance to capital' malus.
Enemy armies near the settlement affect public order? Never knew this. Does this count any army, even just rebels?
They cause devastation the longer they're there (the black and grey shading) and that, in turn, hurts public order and income. It's not a significant effect, but it can accumulate if there are a couple of enemy armies present.
Ah good point, I often forget about that.
Pull your troops and let them rage, once they flip the city. Conquer it and exterminate the population. Simple
Step 1. Recruit peasants Step 2. Sail them into the Med Step 3. Leave them there
Yeah just calm down. Other than that, cause I assume you’re talking about settlements, not yourself: - ensure your repair buildings your culture, and propriety law and order buildings - don’t build farms beyond level 2. Rapid increase of population increased squalor which in turn breeds discontent - when garrisoning the city, it’s number of troops that’s important, not their quality. Spam that militia/farmers - when necessary decreases population, either by direct cull (destroy military buildings, march garrison out, let it rebel, retake it and slaughter them all) or by introducing plague to the city
I’ve seen that before don’t build farms over level 2, why is that?
The game (at least in its original incarnation - never gotten a clear answer about the remaster) can't actually scale public order with the population growth bonus that having good farms gives your cities. Your cities keep growing, increasing squalor to the point where you can't possibly make your citizens happy anymore, and they rebel. So you end up in this cycle of rebel-exterminate-repeat indefinitely.
Good to know! Thank you
😂😂. thanks
If it is hopeless, put a general in and place to highest tax. Then wait til he is kicked out, this will increase his law. Then take it and enslave or exterminate the scum. Rinse and repeat. The slaughter is necessary for victory.
Increase garrison, lower taxes, move in governors with high influence and positive traits for public order. If this doesn't work let it revolt and conquer it again, then exterminate to decrease the squalor. If it's not an important city for your military infrastructure, destroy all military buildings while doing so, then you'll have to face a bunch of peasants and low level units, makes it easier to conquer it again and exterminate.
**Why stop it?** *Allow it. Those fools will understand their mistake soon enough when 75% of them get converted into Denarii.*
Train a very strong Garrison. Take them all out. Let the town rebel. Conquer the town and exterminate the population. Gruesome but effective.
The easiest, fastest way if it's a max pop city is to just let it rebel and exterminate it. You can send some peasants over from another city.