Effect of blue/yellow face

[arythm1a]

Hello and sorry if this question has been posted before, I was unable to find it if so. Obviously red face happiness means revolts happen, but what do the blue and yellow happiness levels do? And is there a bonus from keeping settlements at a green happiness level? Thanks in advance

[QuintusSertorius]

There's a whole host of trait and ancillary triggers relating to the happiness of a settlement. So while they may not revolt on blue or better, your FMs may get bad traits from ruling over people who don't like them.

[Paltmull]

There's a whole host of trait and ancillary triggers relating to the happiness of a settlement. So while they may not revolt on blue or better, your FMs may get bad traits from ruling over people who don't like them.

But having low taxes can cause the ruling FM to get bad traits too, right?

[Rad]

The local population... hic... turns a man to drinkin'... hic... especially... hic... what they call women... hic...

[Hellenikon]

They translate in M2TW vanilla as this, EB2 seems to use the same names
green face - happy
yellow face - content
blue face - disillusioned
red - potential for riots

Yellow and lower increases the chance of brigands spawning
Red makes riots possible in the settlement (but is not guaranteed, there are other factors), and after riots happen there is a chance at settlement revolt (again not guaranteed).

[Sar1n]

They translate in M2TW vanilla as this, EB2 seems to use the same names
Yellow and lower increases the chance of brigands spawning
Red makes riots possible in the settlement (but is not guaranteed, there are other factors), and after riots happen there is a chance at settlement revolt (again not guaranteed).

Riots happen when the public order is at 65% or lower. Red face is 75% and lower, which is why it can happen without riots. Rebellion requires three successive turns of riots, but I think that AI gets bonuses to that on higher difficulties, so they can have their towns riot longer.

[QuintusSertorius]

Riots happen when the public order is at 65% or lower. Red face is 75% and lower, which is why it can happen without riots. Rebellion requires three successive turns of riots, but I think that AI gets bonuses to that on higher difficulties, so they can have their towns riot longer.

There's definitely some sort of hardcoded order bonus for the AI, though I've no idea if it's difficulty-linked.

[Colos1987]

I thought it was the other way arounf, if taxes are high, FMs start getting traits like greedy, corrupt, etc...?

[QuintusSertorius]

But having low taxes can cause the ruling FM to get bad traits too, right?

I thought it was the other way arounf, if taxes are high, FMs start getting traits like greedy, corrupt, etc...?

Both are true, it depends on their traits.

[Jurand of Cracow]

Both are true, it depends on their traits.

Given that Stainless Steel is not a competitor for the EBII I dare to advertise my guide of the traits in that mod for inspiration.

[arythm1a]

So would you guys rbe commend going down to blue with taxes in the early game? I often find myself going deep into th negative as nations that start with large armies and few settlements nearby (like the aedui/aruerni/Taxila)

[Imperial Pudding Head]

IIRC if we're talking about traits some bad ones that pop up to my head were..
- bad taxman, this normally happens when you have low tax on a town/city with a green face
- Letting riots or revolts happen will cause the governor to get strict/harsh ruler/disciplinarian traits, it may also cause the governor to get harsh justice line of traits
- There's also a whole host of bad traits (corrupt, embezzler, gourmand) that you can get from having more than 50k on your treasury

Mind you all of these points are from the vanilla game, the team may have changed or even removed some of these traits

So would you guys rbe commend going down to blue with taxes in the early game? I often find myself going deep into th negative as nations that start with large armies and few settlements nearby (like the aedui/aruerni/Taxila)

It depends on your growth rate more than the happiness rating. Because setting taxes high might do you some good early on but it will be like shooting yourself in the foot later as you miss out on gains on tax from a larger population and income from buildings.
Personally I think single province factions you mentioned can't sustain their economy with just one town no matter how much they get through taxes, so your best bet early on would be to expand to at least 3-5 provinces