Research: what causes rebels to appear?

[williamsiddell]

I haven't checked further back than this page because there's every chance settings have changed over the years.

Apart from having read it somewhere, experience suggests it's true: If a city's population is boosted via enslaves elsewhere, then there is a significantly higher risk of rebels. I find that rebels rarely (if at all) appear in long stable provinces. Plus I've read elsewhere that unrest increases the likelihood.

[Vincent Butler]

I know it's an old thread, but I want to continue on the fort line. Does the number of units in the fort make any difference? I have also had an army wipe out a rebel army, then two turns later another one was back in the same spot. Wiped them out, then saw another one near same place around three or four turns later. Wiped them out, no more problems. Of course, it could have been a rebel army moved from somewhere else, though the first two were identical.

What I do is hire Scythian Mercenaries (Bedouin Archers work too, but are slower, I think), and just send them around to wipe out rebels. I may or may not have a general, if I get one who is not much good I may use him there, and he gets better, but the general is optional. Something I am doing in the east, I had some armies of elephants who I was using to restock the ones in my main armies. My pace of advance is a bit slow at the moment in Turkey and Africa, so I decided to hit some rebels with them. They work very nicely, and better than the Bedouin Archers because the Bedouins are more vulnerable to return archer fire. Also, no worries in melee combat with War Ellies. I added a Militia Cav unit to run down routing enemies, keeping them away from the main fighting. The missiles of the War Ellies can dispatch of any hoplites the rebels have.