Elections

[Mr. Wonderful]

So I'm playing as Rome. How do elections exactly work? I know the Senate and all but Im talking about Consuls specifically. Is there an area where I can see all of the people running or something? Sometimes, none of the party leaders win and it's just some random person who was in that winning faction.

[Ericus1]

Their details are on the hover overs on the government page in the candidate section. And generally, it's just whichever character has the highest popularity/prominence.

Honestly, it's mostly pointless. I pretty much ignored it my entire 1st campaign. You have too few mechanisms to work with it, they cost too much of your precious political influence, random events are going to massively swing things no matter what you do, and there'll just be a new guy in another 4 years anyways.

[Sadaurkar]

@ericus1
you dont have to spend PI to influence elections. it's possible to manipulate each factions influence just by doing actions that require senate approval. example: executing people raises populist support

i'd argue it's worth it so you can decide what faction bonus you want. or at the very least keep the populists out of power. the discount on empowerment bonuses is also good, as the religious faction empowerment gives you a whopping +33% to conversion speed.

@pringles
there's no way to see a full list of eligible candidates, but you can see the top candidates by hovering over the sundial icon next to the current highest candidates in the government screen.

candidacy support is determined by prominence, popularity and faction influence in the senate. so if there's someone you don't want to be candidate, you can smear their reputation or limit their factions influence. the inverse is also true, if there's a candidate you want in power, pump his popularity and prominence by making a general and win battles.

sometimes the party leaders aren't candidates because they're either ineligible to run (have been consul within last 10 years) or their popularity is too low.

all in all it's pretty complex. hope this helped :)

[Ericus1]

And the very moment a random event doesn't consistently come along and completely undo everything I just did, I'll care.

I'd rather spend my gold, tyranny, and PI in more productive ways.

[vivas]

Originally posted by Ericus1:

And the very moment a random event doesn't consistently come along and completely undo everything I just did, I'll care.

I'd rather spend my gold, tyranny, and PI in more productive ways.

True to a certain extend but if i can influence having a ruler with 10 military or a zero one from another faction i make sure to invest, heavily if i plan a war soon.

[Rooter]

Originally posted by Transatlantic Slave Trade:

@ericus1
you dont have to spend PI to influence elections. it's possible to manipulate each factions influence just by doing actions that require senate approval. example: executing people raises populist support

i'd argue it's worth it so you can decide what faction bonus you want. or at the very least keep the populists out of power. the discount on empowerment bonuses is also good, as the religious faction empowerment gives you a whopping +33% to conversion speed.

@pringles
there's no way to see a full list of eligible candidates, but you can see the top candidates by hovering over the sundial icon next to the current highest candidates in the government screen.

candidacy support is determined by prominence, popularity and faction influence in the senate. so if there's someone you don't want to be candidate, you can smear their reputation or limit their factions influence. the inverse is also true, if there's a candidate you want in power, pump his popularity and prominence by making a general and win battles.

sometimes the party leaders aren't candidates because they're either ineligible to run (have been consul within last 10 years) or their popularity is too low.

all in all it's pretty complex. hope this helped :)

Is it worth the effort, I have been playing monarchies?
I just fix stats via marriage.

[Sadaurkar]

republics have a bunch of advantages over monarchies even if you ignore the senate mechanics. they get access to -50% fabricate claim cost, -10% AE impact and +33% religious conversion speed right at the start of the game, which is super useful for turbo expanding. later on they can get the marian reform which gives a huge boost to manpower & discipline.

if you do manipulate the senate, then every 4 years you get to choose between: +20% tax income, +10% morale, +10% commerce income, or +10% omen power. pretty damn useful

that's not to say monarchies are bad, they're good in their own way. for example they have -1 national unrest, and can get +10% enslavement efficiency or +5% discipline right at the start of the game.