Stopping city revolts

[8-bit]

Whenever I lead my general and army out of the city to complete a mission the happiness in the city falls and it revolts. How can I stop this from continually happening?

[Varainger]

Destroy or replace old cultural buildings with buildings of your culture. Keep one to four or five city guards or whatever they are called. Obviously build temples and amusement buildings if you can afford them. Kill any rebel troops in the province. Leave one good general in the city who has good traits regarding city unrest/lawness/happyness or who has good ..errr...advisors or what their name was. Sorry, currently not playing.

[rincewind]

You can also try some... morally reprehensible tactics.

Let them revolt. Take the city. Kill everybody.
If you find a city with a plague. Put an agent there. Let him be infected. Put him in the revolting city. Profit.
Make lots of peasant units, send them against the most heavily fortified and guarded enemy position.

[Brotherscompany]

Try out to do the temples that also give you law bonus, that is an extra

[8-bit]

Thanks, some nice advice there. :)

[CHE]

I never exterminate. 

Here is how I keep cities happy:

I select huge unit size before I start a campaign. (I choose Normal campaign difficulty - keeping people happy is difficult enough on this level.)

I recruit units in cities where the people are becoming unhappy (this keeps population down, which results in a happier population).

I bring town watch type units to guard newly conquered cities.

In cities with happiness problems, I build every building that reduces squalor, increases happiness and educates family members in that city (e.g. academies).

I nurture particular characters to keep problem cities happy, transferring appropriate followers/retinue (who increase happiness, sanitation, health and management) from other characters to these special governors. I use these expert governors to govern large, newly conquered cities.

I change a problem city into the new capital, or move the capital close to the problem cities.

When I conquer a city that has happiness problems, I immediately hire mercenaries and train new units with high numbers of soldiers per unit (especially cheap town watch types) in that city, which reduces population (more because the units are huge size), and keeps people happy (higher numbers of soldiers makes for more happiness - unit strength seems irrelevant). This way, my conquering army (or some of it) is freed up from garrison duties, and can fight battles outside the city.

If the city is still unhappy, or if I don't want to keep the local temple for troop-training reasons, then I destroy foreign temples (and other buildings that increase local culture), and replace them with my own temples (and other buildings).

Playing this way, I have experienced very few riots (in 1-3 cities, perhaps?) - and I don't think they ever kicked my army out of a city - I stopped the riots in 1 or 2 turns, if I remember correctly. I don't mind that - makes the game interesting.

[8-bit]

That's great info. Thanks.

[CHE]

Originally posted by 8-bit:

That's great info. Thanks.

[CT-27-5555]

Exterminate/ enslave everyone in the settlement you took control.(more money this way)

train ONLY peasants as garrison- minimum upkeep, maximum security(garrison acts as unit quantity not quality, therefore everything is a "waste' if any other type of units aren't going to battle.

others have said it: build your own cultural buildings, and other buildings that increase public order & happiness.

Taxes. Set taxes that the settlement still gives some profit, and maintains positive public order(example: very high> public order 70%, high >p.o. 95%) people are happy

[Monid]

Don't forget that ennemy spies significantly lower the public order if they manage to sneak into a city. I always have a spy of my own in every of my border cities for counter-intelligence purposes.

[CHE]

Originally posted by Monid:

Don't forget that ennemy spies significantly lower the public order if they manage to sneak into a city. I always have a spy of my own in every of my border cities for counter-intelligence purposes.