Unrest

[QuintusSertorius]

As a matter of course, you should have at least one spy in every settlement. Even moreso those bordering enemy territory, or those desired by certain factions.

[artaxerxes]

Well, it happens to ME and I can tell you, it AINT awesome

[woirble]

One potential cause of a major sudden increase in unrest that I noticed playing as Seleukia was a bad trait that a governor can get. I don't remember the exact name but it was "Worships other gods", or something to that effect, and it causes a massive increase in unrest.

[Conqueror]

artaxerxes: You can check the happiness status of all your provinces easily without moving the camera view all over the map. Right-click on the "city" tab of the bottom-screen GUI and it will open a scroll showing all settlements of your faction. You can quickly scroll down to check whether or not there are any red faces (they are pretty easy to spot).

[artaxerxes]

Uh I'll remember that :)

[bovi]

You can also sort by happiness level, so you don't have to scan through the list.

[Cambyses]

Unrest itself should remain the steady once youve held a territory for a few years. The only reason it would go up is governor's traits and enemy spies. Quintus' suggestion of a spy in every town is a great idea if you can afford to do it.

On the other hand public order is affected by a whole host of things, most of which im sure you are well aware of. But in my experience suddenly changing to riots tends to be caused by.
1. Changing tax levels
2. Garrison size
3. Moving the capital
4. Population growth over time = more squalor
5. Knocking down that annoying wonderous temple which was giving you a culture penalty...
6. The governor dying / unable to return to the settlement in a single turn after fighting some rebels

[konny]

One potential cause of a major sudden increase in unrest that I noticed playing as Seleukia was a bad trait that a governor can get. I don't remember the exact name but it was "Worships other gods", or something to that effect, and it causes a massive increase in unrest.

When he is worshiper of another god than the primary deity of that settlement he can get the "unhappy people" trait in several leves. To get rid of that you might let him build the next level of the local deity and hope he starts worshipping it, tear down the existing temple and erect one the governor likes or send him to another settlement with the "right" faith and replace him with a governor who either worships the local god or is not biased towards any godness.