public order loophole

**Commander_Vimes** · February 05, 2007, 11:53 AM

help! my settlements kept getting sad so i put it on low tax rate and they got better then because it was a low tax rate people come flooding in now there angry because there are two many loads of them keep rebelling then i just let them so i can recaputre it and exterminate the populace anyone else got this problem and know what to do?

**Carach** · February 05, 2007, 12:01 PM

at some point u will need to stabilise the population - get all the order bonus buildings (from churches to brothels and their upgrades) - the city hall upgrades etc etc... and then eventually u can put the taxation to as high as possible, creating a 0% growth rate - the city population dont have to be all happy (hell the face could be blue) but as long as the population growth is 0 they wont rebel.

**Commander_Vimes** · February 05, 2007, 03:33 PM

k thanks

**MosMus** · February 07, 2007, 09:02 AM

That is how my English empire fell apart,,rebellion. This is a big problem especially when you play on a hard level. You have to make sure

1- taxes are reasanable
2-you might have to construct some buildings
3-make sure you have a decent garrison, general or family member is recommended
4-PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO SETTLEMENTS THAT HAVE JUST BEEN SACKED THEY TEND TO BE MORE REBELLIOUS

**AdmiringtheEnemyeh?** · February 07, 2007, 05:14 PM

I ALWAYS exterminate cities i know will be trouble. You get half the flourins, but the population is imediateley brought under your control and you can get to work building public order buildings. Remember, award happy cities through expensive economic projects (printing presses, cathedreals, irrigation ect) This will make those "happy cities" profit you so much more.

**Trajan** · February 07, 2007, 05:29 PM

In my current English campaign, the only cities that bring me trouble are the non-catholic ones so every time I conquer one of those cities, I exterminate the majority of the population. Like the poster above noted, this brings the city under your control. There's also a fear bonus that helps a lot. Exterminating a city doesn't guarantee you that the settlement will remain loyal to the end but it provides you a head start in getting the city on the right track.

**smitty** · February 07, 2007, 08:05 PM

Originally Posted by Commander_Vimes

help! my settlements kept getting sad so i put it on low tax rate and they got better then because it was a low tax rate people come flooding in now there angry because there are two many loads of them keep rebelling then i just let them so i can recaputre it and exterminate the populace anyone else got this problem and know what to do?

I play LTC, which seems to cap off population limits a lot earlier than vanilla, but the same idea applies. I would recommend building all of the public order buildings and then pumping up your tax rate. It's ok to suffer a -0.5 or even -1.0 as long as there is a yellow face is in your city. This maximizes tax income and begins the decrease in squalor from citizens by killing them off

. I'm playing as Sicily and Naples and Palermo have a lot of citizens, but I've built most of the public order buildings and they're slowly losing population but the citizens still have a green face.

Try that, or pray that the plague hits early. One trick is to find a city of yours or an enemy's that is plagued, send a spy there, get him infected, then go around infecting your towns to control population. A little bit on the evil side of things, but wonderfully effective.

**Commander_Vimes** · February 08, 2007, 02:43 AM

Originally Posted by smitty

Try that, or pray that the plague hits early. One trick is to find a city of yours or an enemy's that is plagued, send a spy there, get him infected, then go around infecting your towns to control population. A little bit on the evil side of things, but wonderfully effective.

I haven't yet reached the plague does anyone know what time it comes at i like the plagueing your own cities sneaky oh and i always exterminate any city that is not my religon and they are usually fine anyway

**AdmiringtheEnemyeh?** · February 23, 2007, 12:44 AM

I didnt know the plague was such a "benifit", so i guess it would be pointless to infect your enemies as well?

**~~sabaku_no_gaara~~** · February 23, 2007, 07:11 AM

another problem is spies! yes spies, usually if a city goes in the red and rebels eventually it probably has an enemy spy in it!

I used to exterminate like a bloodthirsty madman, and as soon as I saw a red face i took the garisson out, raised taxed let them rebel, took it back and exterminated! Then I noticed one day that I had a happy city, an Egypt had a spy who tried to infiltrate (sometimes you see them try, it think when you have a spy in your city) after the try the city went blue faced (it was green before) and I din't get the agent caught message wich means he succesfully infiltrated, I lowered taxes, helped only 1 turn, held races, aswell helped 2 turns maybe 3, built expensive happy/order buildings (takes long time, but the city allways went in the red, trained 2 extra spies and an assasin, enemy spy got kicked out, tried to infiltrate again and died, and my city was in the green again.

Since then I keep spies in all my settlements, and I have a lot less public order problems, and I catch a lot of enemy spies throughout my empire, especially your allies like to use spies against you it seems.
The good thing about this is that it keeps my generals from getting bad traits (low taxes give him bad taxing traits, having races gives him the gambler trait brothels give the adultress anciliary etc...)