Handling foreign population

[Boriak]

I play with Carthage so most of the provinces I conquer are either Western cilivized or Barbarian. Same with Baktria which can only conquer Eastern Civilized cities. There are probably others but I didn't play them yet.

How does one effectively handle foreign population? I built an Eastern Colony in a couple of Iberian provinces in my Carthage campaign to convert the Barbarians there. In all provinces that I did this the happines rating was very low for a few turns but then matters stabilized. But one particular province rebelled on me on two occasions. After the first rebellion I transfered half of the population to other provinces, so the town had only about 1500 people. I had enough troops in the town for 80% public order you get from the military presence. Despite the taxes set to Low the town rebelled again. This time the rebel army that had spawned was stronger than before and defeated most of my puny army that I used as a garrison. Not that I don't enjoy an occasional challenge such as this: the Carthaginian campaign is by far the best I played. But at some point I will need Iberia pacified to continue with my conquest of Rome, Greece and Asia Minor.

So. What do I do to keep my population content and profitable? Tell me your experience on this matter.

[Diomede]

To aid with the immigration, train some diplomats. Each is worth +5% immigration, same with generals/family members. Attacking Carthage I often have 2-3 barbarian diplomats in the same province.

[Boriak]

That's a great idea. I saw that diplomats have the Immigration effect but never thought to use it like that. Thanks a million.

[silentsam74]

Even so, sometimes its still difficult. So, the occasional extermination of a city is required. I don't like to do that but sometimes I have no choice. I had a Bactrian campaign in which Patala rebelled back to the Eastern Kingdoms twice after the initial conquest. I ended up exterminating the population three times before I could finally restore order to the settlement.

[Boriak]

But that means the population of your cities is very small. Meaning little income and a small population pool to hire military units.

[silentsam74]

Yes. Its an extreme solution to an extreme problem. I wouldn't do it to every conquered settlement. In certain situations it is a invaluable tool when one troublesome settlement threatens to set your campaign back several years.

[gaius_caesar]

But that means the population of your cities is very small. Meaning little income and a small population pool to hire military units.

actually, If a particular city has a small population, chances are that they would have high income. The reason is that armed forces upkeep is charged on a city based on it's population.

Example, Suppose I have Athens and Crete. The former has 400 Citizens and the latter has like 3000. Most might think that Crete is more profitable because it is basically a Port City or a Trading Post. However, If you had 1 full stack, It would be Crete who would bear the upkeep rather than Athens.. so a city that just got exterminated will have more Income so don't worry about Exterminating. Only problem would be that it might not have enough men to defend it.

[magraev]

To answer the above question: If you enslave an eastern civ. city that doesn't mean that you get more eastern civ. population in all cities recieving slaves, so don't worry about that.

The problem with using diplomats is, that they are quite expensive. Try timing your culture change, so you can change one city at a time, using the same team of diplomats to do it. Some family-members can give up to 10% too, so use that. I usually convert at minor city size. You can build a +10 your culture building first, and then the colony, while your diplomats and family-members try to bring the city to about 50% your culture (no more - or you'll get more unrest until the colony is built). Make sure you have a solid garrison before trying to convert.