Spotlight - Social unrest

The Spotlight series will continue today with another new mechanic in the upcoming Imperiums: Rome vs Carthage DLC we call Social unrest. This will introduce a new multi-turn event into the game, offering a more realistic setting for social upheavals.

Powerful men often tend to ignore the aches and pains of the plebs. They fight their great wars, changing the world order and the history of millions, but have no time to care about the petty troubles of the lower classes. But the masses are a powerful force and a small spark of unrest can easily ignite a fire that could burn even the greatest of kings.

A wise ruler should keep his subjects happy, or at least content. Small spends here and there to improve roads or urban infrastructure, stationing military close to border towns to provide safety, after all, not that much that is needed to maintain order. What if the rebelling voices do start to rise from the crowds? Call in your army immediately, make whatever promises required to appease the local citizenry and suppress any revolt before it can gain momentum.

As always, Pavel will provide more detailed description of the new mechanic.

Originally posted by Pavel
The existing mechanic managing the occurrences of social unrest was based on triggering one-turn events that were activated when a number of predefined conditions were met in at least one city. The following rebellion always left behind damages (large or small) to be repaired later. In certain cases it could even trigger a civil war, which would lead to the division of the country and the rise of a new faction. In any case, social unrest always meant troubles.

There were several flaws:
The player was not forewarned directly. Although he received regular reports, the outbreak of social unrest happened suddenly, seemingly out of the blue.

There were no tools the player could actively use to further prevent the spread of the rebellion to other places. He could take some precautions in the form of city improvements but these only lowered the risk of social revolt, they didn’t prevent it totally. Also the player could not check that the measures put in place were actually working (if they did, the revolt simply didn´t occur).

The event itself had no development, no interaction with the player. He only had to deal with its destructive effects as a sort of punishment for ignoring the decreasing morale in his cities.

All these flaws were considered when designing the new mechanic. It will still make life hard for the player who ignores the wishes of his people but it will be more immersive and much more fun.

Rebellion can occur in one or more centers, usually the least happy cities in the whole country and it can spread from there to other parts of the empire in the following turns. The actions of the player will directly influence the way the revolt spreads or is halted. In this sense, it will add another tactical layer to the game instead of just tedious damage repairs. No more rebelling masses ruining what they can in one turn and disappearing in the next. So what are the rules of the new mechanic?

Revolts cannot be predicted with certainty, but they can be expected based on the situation in the cities and in this sense they can also be prevented by the remedial actions of the player. The major factors that contribute to the outbreak of a revolt are:
Local happiness in the cities is the key to social order. You can prevent any signs of unrest by keeping local happiness at least at 100% and if this is not possible garrison units should be kept in the most unhappy cities.

Equally important is to pay attention to any damages to the infrastructure. Leaving cities damaged without repair for a longer period of time leads to low morale and unhappiness. Repairing cities should be always made a priority.

Regional centers tend to be more rebellious and you should keep these cities happier than any other.

The same applies to former capitals.

Building the Civil service improvement in cities where the signs of revolt are strongest is an important preventive measure against outbreaks of unrest.

Calling a city council (state decision) is a part of crisis management that can be used to suppress unrest in cities where the Civil service improvement hasn’t been built yet, but only in cases when the rebellion has already started to spread to other centers. Once activated, it increases happiness and it will simulate the effects of the Civil service improvement for several turns. On the other hand, it completely stops production in the affected cities (production on surrounding tiles remains intact) and as usual certain resources are necessary for activation.

Declaring martial law (state decision) is also an effective measure but it can create secondary problems so it should only be used in times of extreme need.

The spreading of unrest happens organically from one city to another. All the above-mentioned factors that affect the occurrence of unrest also apply to the way it spreads. There are however additional factors that should be taken into account:
When the revolt reaches a city that is already very unhappy, the rebellious moods get even stronger.

As the revolt spreads to more cities, its force diminishes. There is one important exception as described above with a city with already angered population. This could have the opposite effect and the rebellion can get a new breath of life.

The chances of revolt spreading to other cities is also related to the distance between the cities and how accessible the terrain between them is.

Loyalty and General Morale of rebelling cities decreases every turn.

Garrisons in rebelling cities are not immune to the mood in the city and their Morale is also negatively affected every turn. Therefore, if you use garrisons to suppress unrest, it is good to replace them with fresh men after a while.

If the revolt reaches a certain threshold, it can cause a decrease in the population in the rebelling cities and damages to infrastructure that will need extensive repairs.

Activating the City council state decision can greatly diminish the force of the revolt and its capacity to spread to other cities (this state decision is only available in cities without a Civil service improvement).

Declaring martial law will have the same effect.

Theoretically, unrest can spread beyond your borders, however, this is rather an exceptional case. If it happens, these two rebellions will be independent movements not affecting each other.

Unrest can have destructive effects, causing great damages to the cities and infrastructure and in the worst case it can even result in splitting the country in two. It is therefore important to prevent its outbreak and in cases where it occurs to act swiftly and with force, as any procrastination can only worsen the situation.

As a newcomer to the throne, you will have to deal with many pressing issues at home and abroad in setting a new course for your country. You can easily forget or perhaps not see as important the small signs of discontent among your subjects, but take the reports from within your country seriously. There is only a thin line between grumpy talk in a local inn and turning pitchforks and tools into weapons.

Will you succeed in leaving behind a legacy worthy of one of the most beloved kings in history?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839160/Imperiums_Rome_vs_Carthage/

Yours,
Kube Games team.