High and Low ~ Squalor!

[Ruprecht]

I have enjoyed many campaigns in Rome, i am yet to have a perfect one but that doesen't stop me from trying.


A major problem i have with RomeTW is the near impossible task of controlling Squalor in settlements regardless if you have built every possible Municipal/recreational structure, the Squalor inevitably goes out of control it is at some points very frustrating. I cannot afford to nor have the resources to have an adept governor in 60+ cities to control it.


I find this mechanic to be flawed as it is not an issue in the Medieval series. I try to refrain from cheating but am forced to use the Console to remove population to reduce Squalor and this is how i've been getting by.


I have searched high and low for a Tweak or Mini-mod that fixes the squalor rate but i coulden't find anything. So if you know of something that helps with this i would appreciate it very much.

[NotYetRegistered]

Let them revolt, besiege the city, starve it and then exterminate it. Best way to get rid of squalor, imo.

[... where did it run?]

1. Let them revolt
2. Exterminate the city
3 ...
4 PROFIT !!!

[Delta21]

1. Build sewers and health buildings. And if that doesn't work:
2. Let them revolt but keep your garrison in the city
3. After several turns your soldiers would have killed enough of them so they will chill down OR they may rebel.
4. Capture the rebelled town and Enslave it, while having 1 governor in the province with your lowest population(no other governors in the other cities)...and half of that city's population will go into the one with the governor inside thus solving 2 problems in one hit. The enslavement should give you an insta-boost to your economy and the slave trade that follows from the other province/provinces will give you even more of an economic boost.
I usually don't worry about squalor and build at least the sewers.

[Ruprecht]

Let them revolt, besiege the city, starve it and then exterminate it. Best way to get rid of squalor, imo.

1. Let them revolt
2. Exterminate the city
3 ...
4 PROFIT !!!

This method i know very well but i don't like to use it and sometimes its not a viable solution as occasionally said City is actually trying to build Population for next upgrade.

I'm looking for direct fix to how squalor is calculated and generated. I was hopeful that it is possible to change some values around in the game files for the desired or similar effect.


Thank you both for the replies.

[dra3z]

if the city u want 2 decrease squalor in has all the hygiene upgrades and u want population then ur pretty much screwed, when upgrading from a large town to a city or sumthin like that the squalor levels go up. cant be helped without cheats.

[|Sith|Galvanized Iron]

Flood the city with peasants and move your capital to be in the centre of your empire

[Ruprecht]

if the city u want 2 decrease squalor in has all the hygiene upgrades and u want population then ur pretty much screwed, when upgrading from a large town to a city or sumthin like that the squalor levels go up. cant be helped without cheats.

It staggers me that after all this time the Developers don't think of this to be an issue and no attempts have been made on their part to patch this up.

Although intended to add more realism to the game the exaggerated magnitude of the effect seems incredibly unrealistic and almost game-breaking.

I'm guessing the Squalor mechanic is hard-coded, since i coulden't find any information on game file tweaks which just me up the wall.

Do you know of any console commands or tweaks to increase the effect of Squalor reducing buildings? The only workaround i know is Add_population "cityname" -XXXX. If there is any commands that reduce Squalor directly from a City, i would kill for them.

Flood the city with peasants and move your capital to be in the centre of your empire

Thank you, but i have already exhausted all obvious avenues limited to game play. I have finished Rome many times, i would just love to play it once without the annoyance of spending half the campaign frigging around with console commands and garrisons.

[Delta21]

Honestly squalor never caused me any real problems no matter how bad it got. Stop being such a woos and play the game, you will find a solution eventually and it's not like every city of yours rebels.

[Ruprecht]

Honestly squalor never caused me any real problems no matter how bad it got. Stop being such a woos and play the game, you will find a solution eventually and it's not like every city of yours rebels.

Thats great that Squalor is not an issue for you, however i perceive it as a design flaw and an hindrance to game play.

I'm simply looking for a solution.

[|Sith|Galvanized Iron]

Well I always exterminate all cities after I conquer them, after that 2 or 3 units is enough to keep it calm, but if you don't want to do that you can wait until the city expands to the next level, after that the city will become your culture and much more loyal.

[Fireright]

I'm with the OP Ruprecht on this one. That squalor garbage in Rome is way too overdone in whats supposed to be a military game. I wish I could find a tweak or file fix too.

[Wavemanmav]

I have enjoyed many campaigns in Rome, i am yet to have a perfect one but that doesen't stop me from trying.


A major problem i have with RomeTW is the near impossible task of controlling Squalor in settlements regardless if you have built every possible Municipal/recreational structure, the Squalor inevitably goes out of control it is at some points very frustrating. I cannot afford to nor have the resources to have an adept governor in 60+ cities to control it.


I find this mechanic to be flawed as it is not an issue in the Medieval series. I try to refrain from cheating but am forced to use the Console to remove population to reduce Squalor and this is how i've been getting by.


I have searched high and low for a Tweak or Mini-mod that fixes the squalor rate but i coulden't find anything. So if you know of something that helps with this i would appreciate it very much.

Squalor is a constant problem in RTW. I do not know if this is a design defect or intentional. One preventative measure is to avoid building population increasing buildings. You may also want to keep your taxes as high as possible to stunt population growth. Try to keep your pop low otherwise you will end up having to quell revolts as othes have mentioned.

[Fireright]

Indeed Waverman, I'm leaning toward the belief that all that squalor nonsense is a serious design flaw in an otherwise fine game.

Med2 has the balance abought right and is way less hassle than all that squalor guff in Rome, where I should get the feeling I'm a military commander and all that, instead of a public health inspector or sanitation officer

Let's face it..everywhere in Roman times was a s----hole so everyone wouldve been used to living in cesspit towns.

[Plant]

Don't bother reducing squalor in cities with high population. In fact, unless if your city is growing, don't bother reducing squalor, ever. It's virtually pointless to improve a city's population after a certain size (24 000 I think). If you already have buildings which reduces Squalor, you should sell off those buildings.

[Arbitrary Crusader]

Thats great that Squalor is not an issue for you, however i perceive it as a design flaw and an hindrance to game play.

I'm simply looking for a solution.

Mod it(By modding the public order, I don't think you can mod squalor.)

[|Sith|Galvanized Iron]

I forgot to mention the number 1 way of reducing squalor, capture the Golden Statue of Zeus in Corinth and you will only see rebellions in the most distant provinces.

[Ruprecht]

Mod it(By modding the public order, I don't think you can mod squalor.)

Hmm, i was under the impression this was also hard-coded. Is it possible to increase the Squalor reducing effects of any buildings, or do you mean you can actually change the Public order system directly ?

At any rate i'll have a poke around in the game files and see if there's anything related to it.




Cheers.

[Arbitrary Crusader]

Hmm, i was under the impression this was also hard-coded. Is it possible to increase the Squalor reducing effects of any buildings, or do you mean you can actually change the Public order system directly ?

At any rate i'll have a poke around in the game files and see if there's anything related to it.




Cheers.

I don't think you can, change the squalor, but you can change the public order,and happiness in export_descr_buildings file.

[Ruprecht]

I don't think you can, change the squalor, but you can change the public order,and happiness in export_descr_buildings file.

Freakin awesome!!!


All you have to do is add any desired effect in the respective building Capability list.


I did a test with Wooden wall and added population_health_bonus bonus 4 in the Capability list and its works flawlessly!!

This does of course add an unwanted Population bonus as well, it will take some time to tweak all the municipal buildings to balance it all out.


Now i can go through and give buildings properly balanced effects, maybe after i've had some sleep.


Thank you to all for your feedback.