Squalor

[Xehh II]

I'm about half-way through my game and now castles have become useless, so i've changed most of my castles into cities but i've got this problem called squalor, it's ruined me, every single on of my cities is rebelling. My question is how do I stop squalor?

[HoreTore]

Simple answer, you can't.

Squalor is linked with the population level, up to a maximum of 80% squalor.

The only thing you can do, is boost happiness. Build town halls, barracks, etc etc. Anything that gives a law, health or happiness bonus. Also, make sure you have a good governor. For every point of dread or chivalry you have, you get 5% public order. Dread is the best if your problem is squalor, since chivalry also adds to population growth, which in turn gives more squalor.

Also check their traits. Specifically for traits giving bonuses or penalties to public order. You can have a 5-chivalry governor, but due to some bad traits, he reduces public order...or the opposite.

Oh, and remember to turn down taxes and keep enemy spies out of your settlements(by placing your own in the settlement).

[Spajus]

Short term solution has to be garrisoning.

If you're at an advanced point in the game, you probably have very high populations.

First thing to do - get a garrison (either build them in the city, or move them in from a nearby army). Set the tax rate to very low.

Secondly, look for any upgrades you can make to your walls - walls dictate the size of your city (large, huge, small etc). Concurrently, the size of your city compared to the population determines the level of squalour.

Thirdly - concentrate on building the quickest buildings for adding happiness.

[HoreTore]

Garrisons tend not to be the answer to squalor. The reason is, that in a big city, say 35 000 pop, even a full stack army wont give you more than 10-20%.... It can be the last drop, but don't count on it...

[gardibolt]

Happiness buildings are really the key, and you have to plan ahead. Once you start having public order problems, it's too late to be building them. But if you've built all of the public order buildings available, and have a reasonable sized garrison, a couple spies to keep out saboteurs and malcontents, and sufficient priests to keep religious problems down, then squalor shouldn't matter too much.

[vonsch]

Or just weed out the worst of the malcontents. Pull out, let it rebel, conquer it. Exterminate the scum!

(But use a non-chivalrous general!)