What's with this Squalor?? Help!

[zbeck008]

Ok, someone help me learn the tactic to build a city past level two without CRAZY levels of squalor! It seems to me that I spend the vast majority of my building slots just cranking up food and temples to keep order, this leaves me with never enough slots for advanced military or industry....what is the technique here to move into high level buildings without also having to keep an army in them just to keep order?
I'm eighty turns into my roman campaign and am at the point to move poo ast level two but I don't know how this economy works...help! Also, is there a mod that lowers squalor for advanced buildings? Thanks...

[AngryTitusPullo]

Don't build military buildings on every settlement. leave it for the capitol/major settlement only.

[zbeck008]

Don't build military buildings on every settlement. leave it for the capitol/major settlement only.

Doesn't this make it so you can only raise an army in one settlement though?

[Tsarsies]

as your empire grows and expands you can dedicate another provincial capital to military focus (For upgrading and recruitment it affects the entire province anyway). Every single settlement i own i have temples constructed (the one that grants the highest public order bonus - at its highest level it grants +16 to public order), Another building slot is dedicated to farming, and another to city centre (More public order here). If it is a port settlement i construct fishing villages. (Only using the military ports as a military focus yet again). Every settlement more or less has no variety and most building chains dont get explored because the public order penalty is far to high (unless you lower taxes and dont construct level 3+ towns/castles everywhere - only in provinces you wish to use to dominate the area - I tend to dismantle these buildings when my empire grows further, leaving the centre of my empire as farmland and temples). You can also remove individual provinces from the tax system (but you wont gain any surplus food that province gains)... Then, you should be able to build the other building trees in one or two settlements across your empire. You also have the technology tree that can grant you food bonuses and public order bonuses. As your imperium grows you can field more armies and fleets. Use these to garrison your unhappy settlements/ports until they are under control. Military presence can grant +20 to public order. Hire Agents that grant public order bonuses and have them accompany generals, they can greatly boost public order (even assassins). Agents tend to be more useful to me as characters to boost public order then to actually assassinate or spy... Perhaps in a multiplayer game they would be more useful as intended, but in the solo campaign you can keep them in your armies and they grant some good bonuses to settlements (and they level up very fast that way also).

You should also use the provincial edicts in the provinces that need them...

There is a lot of micro-management i find in rome II. If you expand too fast your empire will experience revolts everywhere. You have to be wise as to where you construct specific buildings to gain access to unique units while still maintaining order and a food surplus across ur empire. Controlling entire provinces is the key. As u are then able to use the minor settlements to boost public order and food in the province while using the capital to focus on military OR industry OR instead focusing on food surplus for your more 'important' provinces. Public order is province wide, as is the effects of miltary buildings. If u have a stable in one, you can recruit horses in another settlement in the same province. So you dont need mass numbers of military buildings everywhere.

Settlements in my opinion do not have enough variety in how you construct buildings, but provinces as a whole do.

As for mods, i dont know, i havent looked at any yet, i want to experience the game for how it is before modding it. If anything needs modding or improving, it would be the AI (its not very intelligent). I just experienced the civil war as the Iceni (Britannia) and they had more units then me at the time but just spread them out. If they stayed united they could have held the capital... I was able to destroy half their forces just by sallying out with the garrisoned force every settlement has (levy spearmen and slingers - they had noble riders and druidic nobles)... So the AI needs some work...