How to increase public loyalty?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Hi Test112345,
Managing public order in R:TW is very hard - high taxes, unrest, squalor, cultural penalty and distance to capital are factors which great leaders could do without. Squalor is possibly the worst:

To prevent squalor, the best option is to simply prevent growth - as a wise fellow once said - "your war is not against squalor - it's against population growth". Population growth will always occur in even the least hygienic and well fed settlements, yet it can be slowed down by avoiding health and population boosting buildings, including farms. Sadly, though, since to get the best military units you require maxed up cities, so, in certain strategically important cities, this rule will have to be broken.

Unfortunately, your only resort against squalor, once you have it, is building heath buildings and similar happiness structures, as you have said. I do believe, however, that they do not actually resolve squalor and instead simply counter-act and, over time phase their good out by piling huge amounts of population upon your settlement creating a worse squalor issue. You could also upgrade the Governor's palace, yet that can make things worse in the long run too.

The best thing I find if the problem is too out of hand is abandoning the settlement, leaving it to revolt, and then returning to exterminate the populace. It reduces the population's numbers, yet also removes income within the settlement, so, if your desperate for cash, then you may wish to avoid this evil strategy.

May I also suggest that you try rebalancing the population. Simply train many units of peasants in your largest cities and disband them in your smaller ones. This migration moves men from the large city, that could do with less people in the populace, to a smaller one that requires the population to expand to the next level to gain better troops. If you have no small cities that require this boost, send the Peasants to their deaths - stick 'em on a boat and send them into pirate/enemy infested waters. They will soon be dead, leaving you with nothing to worry about!

Unrest is caused by recent conquest of a settlement, governor's traits and enemy spies stirring up trouble!

Sadly, resolving unrest caused by the settlement changing hands in unresolvable and cannot really be changed without the help on a unrest reducing governor - sorry.

However, checking out your characters can solve unrest. Does the governor have unrest causing traits in his selection? If he does then get your calculator out and add things up! For every happiness influencing point which is positive, such as influence/subtraction from squalor, add 5% onto your totals unless a percentage is given and then instead add that on. Then subtract everything negative taking away 5% per point of anything unless a percentage is given. If the governor's rating on your calculator turns out to be below 0 (causing more problems than he is resolving) then take him out and find somebody with a better rating. You can work them out using this system, and install them as governor of this realm. As a rule, it is best to install those with the highest ratings in the more rebellious settlements (often on your borders).

Enemy spies are the chief cause of unrest, causing +5% unrest per subterfuge point. Put your own spies in the settlement to track them down and get them executed for their evils, this may take a few turns, however, so it may not be useful if you need an emergency quick-fix.

Cultural penalty is caused by buildings of a different culture being in your settlement. For example, if the Romans were to capture a Greek settlement with many Greek buildings then this factor would run rampant. It causes a -5% penalty per building that is not your culture with a 20% penalty for the governor's building. It does, however, reach it's maximum capacity at 50%.

It can be removed through upgrading the buildings in the settlement to the next level, upgrading the governor's residence, and the city, to the next level and destroying buildings not of your culture, although it's best to do a balancing act here and thing about the positive effects of the building versus a -5% happiness penalty.

Distance to capital is possible the easiest resolved of all the factors in R:TW happiness! Simply move the capital closer to the dangerous settlements and they will be much happier! However, bear in mind that other settlements may become unhappier if the capital is moved away from them. It's best to browse around for a good place to locate your capital throughout a turn, making sure that everybody is satisfied with your choice of re-location.

On a final note, you should bear in mind, as well as prevention, that the cure can be equally effective. If you ever have problems the construction of a law or an increased happiness building can never go amiss. Law is much better since it also aids your finacial situation by reducing corruption, but in couter-acting rebellion problems, either will do.

Good luck with your public order problems, cheers!