Revolution? How to handle it on rebels' side?

[kemor]

Evening,

Anyone ever sided with the rebels during a revolution? I'm having huge problems with it.

The whole process seems very weak as, as soon as I sided with the rebels, my main country became AI owned while I was given 5 low units somewhere in the region.

Now, my capital, Paris, is housed by not only 2000+ of my ancient top shock troops (was trying to calm things down, to no avail) but there is also 2 full stacks of French allied Prussians right next to it.

At first, I tried to head to a French region with less troops (Turin, only couple militia) and try to take it to mount an army but I realized that my partisans couldn't leave the country!

Then I proceeded south, away from Paris, burning everything, in hope that I would rally more troops but after 4 years, nothing.

Also, it seems that the now AI controlled France just doesn't do anything, ever. It doesn't move troops against me, it doesn't upgrade buildings, just sit there.


In a test save, I tried to march on Paris, see if the Prussian would help me or the old French kingdom, they sided with the enemy, resulting in a massacre, me with my 500 militia troops against more than 6000 thousands super trained and experienced soldiers. Paris is also heavily fortified and the Prussian got shock cavalry troops so that's not really helping me with my 1 canon and 1 unit of bodyguard

Is there any way to boost your troops as partisans or I'm totally screwed?

[jaklei]

You could reload to the part just before the revolution and then move out all troops into the countryside. They will then side with the revolutioné

[Gobmech]

Yes, a majority of troops stationed outside cities in the capital province will join the revolution, so just park all your spare troops and get all your good troops out of Paris so it gets manned by Flintlockers.

[kemor]

Alright, i'll try that since despite my best efforts, there is currently no way for me to do this. Good thing I kept a save just before the revolution, in case.

Cheers for details.

[HMD Temeraire]

Just curious what did you do that caused the revolution? I am playing as france too on very hard and I don't want it to happen to me.

[Gobmech]

Revolutions are hard to avoid once you're far enough down the social research tech tree. Additionally, if you exempt newly-conquered territories from taxes to make sure the population is happy, you may have to raise taxes elsewhere. So watch out that you don't overextend yourself and conquer more territory than you can keep control of.

[kemor]

Didn't do anything specific, just reached a point where even full stacks of troops in Paris and lowest taxes couldn't cope. I think colleges are really revolution boosters and since I had two in France, that sped things up. As said, research and upgrade also matters a lot.

I don't mind much but wanted to have it happen more around the 1780's

[Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh]

I have 3 schools in France and 1 in Wurtemburg. I'll probably get some in the new World sooner or later.

I really want the revolution. And thanks for the idea of putting troops in the countryside. For my Prussian revolution, I just made my army leave the region.

Now I have a choice, as I really love Absolute monarchies and their flag, but its the French Revolution! ... :S

[TheBlobThing]

Leave a regiment or 2 in the capital or you won't get the proletarian satisfaction of massacring the royal guard!

[Resurrection]

In my experience with Austria, I have researched almost half of tech-tree and most of philosophy by 1730 (not hard with 7 research places). I conquered only 4 provinces, 2 from Poland as they attacked me and 2 from Ottoman's as they did nothing and had no troops in Balkans. Then Hungary started rebelling (around 1725) and it soon spread out everywhere because social discontent was raising too fast (as my research was fast apparently). It really looked like the state will fall apart...

And then I figured out what is the best solution

1. First make save
2. Move your troops if you have there any outside the Capital region.
3. Deconstruct settlement defences in there if there are any present (you need field battle later)
4. Get taxes to highest possible and exert every province except Capital from taxation.
5. End turn.

And voila, the situation is perfect. Only capital rebelled, which is the revolution. You side with rebels and random small stack appear. Then you simply attack the settlement immidiately as there are noone but default militia and either autocalc or fight them yourself. The revolution is succesful almost before it even started and your empire is perfectly intact and happy. Never had single strike since then and I am almost always at highest taxation (my revolution was in 1730 and I am now in 1760).

Should work for anyone imho. I would call it "directed revolution" :-)

[♔GrinningManiac♔]

I'm wondering, because I want to try and spark a revolution at some point, but saaaay I went with the rebels, would my beloved generals go with the crown, me, or pick random sides?












(Space above is a cheap way of making this post larger and more noticable...sorry, it's late, and I'm bored)

[Resurrection]

I'm wondering, because I want to try and spark a revolution at some point, but saaaay I went with the rebels, would my beloved generals go with the crown, me, or pick random sides?

(...)

(Space above is a cheap way of making this post larger and more noticable...sorry, it's late, and I'm bored)

As said above. If in capital region, they MAY go with rebels OR crown. If outside they go with crown always. Therefore imho best solution is what I have described ad there is no risk of fighting own units or so (in fact, it's the safest revolution you can udertake if revolution can be safe in the first place)...

[kemor]

Yea, thing is, I really tried to quell the rebellion for some time but just couldn't cope with the reform hungry people, even with almost no taxes and more than 2000 troops in the city.

I thought LOOOOOONG and hard about the side I wanted to take (literally stopped playing and went for a walk!) but I'm really glad I made a save because otherwise, I'd have been completely doomed.
I'm now trying to keep the "logical" forces in Paris but have my eastern army and the young general in command go with the rebels (brought them back just at France's limits) but even then, I keep getting wiped after an insane battle against the Paris armies AND the 2 full Prussian stacks.

No matter what I do I WILL have to deal with the Prussians so that's at least 3 stacks (full stack paris militia + 2 Prussians) which make revolution REALLY rough!!

Since each battle/try takes like 2 hours (I play every single battle apart from sea battles, even skirmishes), this is taking some time!

[iksterminator]

Does it have same happyness effect on the provinces aquired after the revolution?

[SilEighty]

I read a great "How to manufacture your own revolution" post somewhere, and although some of you may have read it, it bears repeating because this early in the game's life, not everyone has read everything, everywhere. I will attempt to re-write that post, although I may be forgetting a few things:

Despite smacking of Illuminati conspiracy, you can subvert your nation's glorious revolutionary ideals to suit your own narrow-minded, warmongering purposes!

How, you ask? It's easy!

So, you've reached a point where unrest is becoming a problem. "Stop-gap" measures like Coaching Inns and lots of troops are no longer enough (and you can't afford more combat troops sitting around in cities, anyway). Lowering taxes isn't really cutting it, and you've become afraid to build any improvement that industrializes, or research technologies that increase "call for reform".

Sounds like revolution time!

If possible, gather up a bit of excess money. Cancel the build orders for that ship of the line navy you don't really need, but you were building anyway because they look totally sweet.

Try to decrease the intensity of your wars. Peace if possible, but knowing that it often isn't, at least roll up some of the fronts so you aren't facing active enemy armies threatening to raid your sheep at any time.

First, ask yourself: do you want a Constitutional Monarchy, or a Republic? If that's not obvious, think about it this way: 300 years from now, do you want your country to have a pointless Royal Family innundating tabloids with stories of sordid affairs, or do you want a whorehouse Congress, massive entitlements to special interest groups, and corrupt political parties? I jest! Seriously, though, I have no idea what the difference is.

Pick the one with the best anagram.

Constitutional Monarchy:
A Chic Limo Snort Tony Nut

Republic:
Club Pier

Hmm, "Club Pier" sounds pretty fancy, and I'm not sure I want to snort anybody's nuts, let alone "Tony". I recommend Republic.

For Republic, anger your lower classes. However, if you picked Con-Monarchy, you'll want to anger your Nobility.

To accomplish this, in your capital city, remove all troops (this is important) and distribute them elsewhere. Remove tax exemption. On the Policy screen, increase the tax on the group you want to rebel.

Then, review your empire, and try to exempt as many other regions as possible to minimize the rebellion. It should be possible to basically localize the revolt just in your capital city.

Some say you can do this in any city, but I've never tried that.

You'll likely be running a deficit now, so hopefully you have some cash on hand. If not, no problem! You can't go negative anymore, and no units will be disbanded. You simply can't build anything new or heal your units.

Your capital will issue a letter (Nobility) or go on strike (Lower classes). Then, they'll riot, damaging a building. Eventually, they'll rebel, and a little enemy army will appear.

Ignore it! Don't kill it; just let it take over a farm (or whatever) and sit tight. You will kill it AFTER this revolution is over.

Next, and possibly several turns after that first enemy rebel army appeared, you'll get a message about a revolution. This is your big moment!

If you want a new government, pick rebels.

You'll LOSE CONTROL of your empire, and gain control of one stupid little army of militia, and maybe one cannon. Immediately take that crappy army, and attack your capital. If you've followed instructions, your capital is empty, and controlled by an equally small group of tards.

Defeat them using your tactical brilliance.

Voila! Your flag changes, your government and ministers change, and you regain control of your empire, under the new flag of whatever government you chose.

Go back into your policy screen and re-adjust your taxes for profits once again.

Kill the original non-faction rebels at your leisure. They serve no purpose.

Congratulations, you've manipulated the Age of Enlightenment!






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I will add a Q&A section, just for fun:

Q: I followed your instructions but I never got to control the rebels! Why?
A: You probably attacked and killed the first little rebel army that appears. That's not the revolution. Keep the chaos going for a few more turns until the real thing happens.

Q: I am facing an entire army of line infantry in my capital; this is impossible! What should I do?
A: You forgot to move your armies out of the province. If you can, reload the last turn's save game and run that army out of the province, quick. If you cannot, and are facing the end of your game, pick Side with the government, kill the rebels, try to stabilize your empire, and try again later.

Q: My whole empire collapsed after this debacle, and I blame YOU!
A: You didn't localize the rebellion. Use the Policy screen to preview the wholescale effect of your tax changes intended to inflame the population group of choice (Nobility for Con-Mon, Lower classes for Republic), and make sure all other provinces are green, yellow, or grey, meaning exempt. Ideally, the whole thing takes place only at your capital.

Q: Seriously, what's the difference between the governments?
A: Apologies; I really don't know right now what the practical differences are. I got this game on Steam and don't have a manual, and haven't played enough as a Con-Mon to know yet. Sorry!

[Jayzilla]

Kill the original non-faction rebels at your leisure. They serve no purpose.

The sad thing is this is how it works IRL!



:p rep'd for funny post. ( I do love those big Ship of the Line navies~!)

[Relo]

Does it have same happyness effect on the provinces aquired after the revolution?

Yup. I noticed a huge happiness increase in both the lower and upper classes some cities hit the twenties. *Note: Played with Austria. Oh and for some reason I did not regain all my regions such as I lost Hungary and Croatia (but I took them later .)

[Starvosk]

PLaying as Ottomans, I have managed to finish the GC with Absolute Monarchy.

The trick is to manipulate your ministers every so often to get the best ones, building lots of coffee shops/madrassas and oh, not putting two schools in the same region. (That is pretty much the killer). You usually want schools in regions with lots of villages so you can build coffee shops.

[MyKingforahorse]

PLaying as Ottomans, I have managed to finish the GC with Absolute Monarchy.

The trick is to manipulate your ministers every so often to get the best ones, building lots of coffee shops/madrassas and oh, not putting two schools in the same region. (That is pretty much the killer). You usually want schools in regions with lots of villages so you can build coffee shops.

I've yet to experience a revolution in my Spanish campaign at the moment either, 1750 and my public opinion is through the roof.

I think you are correct that it requires a balance act between specific buildings.

[The Kahn]

I've been wondering, how do you actually side with the rebels? whenever one of my provinces rebels, it just spawns a rebel army and then i attack it and destroy it.