Actually, I think the mechanism for City Plumbing that adds to squalor, and hence unrest, is that it gives such a big boost to population growth. When I play any faction that gets advanced plumbing, I only build the next level when I absolutely have to. I've had plenty of occasions where a city reaches ZPG with only the basic sewer in place...hence no need to take it any further.
Extermination should be a last resort based on circumstances, faction, and sometimes which city. Exterminating indeed costs you money over the long haul---less people>>>less taxes. Exterminating is very bad for cities with under 24k for those factions that can achieve that level (or if the city hasn't reached 6k for barbarian cultures), if that city doesn't yet have the max level governing structure. Having said that, there are several cities that are almost always extermination cases at any level over 12k...Carthage, Jerusalem, Tarsus, Patavium, Alexandria, Memphis, to name several. All of those are "fast growers" so you regain population rather quickly, and you are buying time to put enough of your own structures into place to deal with the built-in 30% unrest. Many players have big problems with Carthage and the Nile cities, but I can get them to ZPG virtually every time with varying factions. I've found the biggest headaches are: #1 Tarsus; #2 Patavium; #3 Corduba; #4 Jerusalem. I simply HATE managing those cities
It can be done without further extermination other than initially, but man is it work
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