Few question from MTW fan ...

[Jxrc]

Squalor is generally lessened by prevention of the population getting to such higher proportions. Growth buildings probably should be destroyed to help the population growth go down and, although you can build farms, which are indestructible, it may be wise to observe the farming base rate as shown on the advanced settlement details scroll. That base rate is a massive contributor to growth and adding to it with something which cannot later be removed could be quite devastating.

Since the growth increase generated by "health" facilities (city plumbing and the like) is probably compensated by a reduction in squalor, I suppose that only temples that give growth bonus should be destroyed (and replaced) after they have served their purpose (Tanit and Ceres AFAIK) ? Or is there any kind of builing I am missing ?

If your struggling with the distance to capital penalty, if you haven't tried it already, you do have the ability to move your capital. Simply go to the settlement details scroll and, among the buttons in the bottom left hand corner, select the option to move your capital to that settlement. If you make the capital as central as possible, this allows you to keep everybody as happy as possible.

The thing is that I run into problem when my captial Carthage was pretty much in the middle of my kingdom that stretched from Spain to Jerusalem and I still got the maximum penalty (80% ?) form loads of cities so that any move closer to one edge would create havoc at the other end. Been building temple of Baal everwhere, upgrading facilities buit by previous owner and police HQ but it seems not to be enough. In another campgain as the Julii, I took everthing in Northern Europe, a big chunk of Spain and small pieces of Russia without trouble and even moving my initial capital so that it seems to me that "distance between capital" is actually measured on the basis of the distance between point A and B rather than on the number of provinces between those. Makes senses but quite a penalty for faction involved in "huge desert provinces" warfare (Scipii, Carthage, etc). Pehaps building huge armies and being broke all the time is the solution to both the squalor and 50,000 denarii problems ...