militantism - giving up on the game :o(

[articon]

Hi,

Started playing the game again after a year break from it. I am now playing France and there has gone 8 years. The economy is doing good and colonization is going well as well. But the contentment and militantism in France, or with other words national provinces is out of control I have used all the reforms (F1 options as well as F6 options), and its still crazy and keeps getting worse. My production is going down, but still doing good on giving all products to the national markets. Census tax is at 0% while the taxes has also been reduced, but contentment and militantism is still increasing. I have set the game level to the easiest to take a slow and easy start back to the game, but I am already loosing my motivation to the game due to these unknown reasons for all the trouble.

So anyone here who can help me out, before permanent give this game up? Its really annoying me.

[loki100]

Well historically the French were pretty rebellious in the period 1848-71 (& beyond ) so its reflecting that reality.

You've not mentioned but are you satisfying all their needs - esp for food and common goods - and a reasonable proportion of luxuries. The search for the latter may drive your imperial goals and always remember they like a range of items as well as volume.

Military Police and, to a lesser extent, cavalry help if deployed in the most antsy of your provinces - its slow but I can guarentee it does work (in fact is sometimes the only solution if things are very dire).

I actually don't think 'easy' is a good setting for this game. You need a strong world economy, to buy from and sell to and I suspect a hampered AI may fail to cope. Maybe best to set it on normal, you can always shift if you get into a nasty war and want some help.

But France is rebellious and that is part of its challenge in this game.

My S-P AAR has a lot of posts on the post-Italian unification period when I, quite historically, had real problems with integrating the rest of Italy (ungrateful wretches), that does give some idea how I, slowly, got on top of the problem. But, with France, if you think the 1850s are rough, wait for the dynamics that try to force you into the Franco-Prussian war.

[vaalen]

I agree with Loki. France is very rebellious. The British, for example, are far less militant. You might try playing them. I have had little trouble keeping militancy way down as Britain, but I am providing one hundred percent of all needs for all classes, which causes contentment to rise steadily.

I would also advise against playing on any level but normal, as the game seems balanced for that.

My only other question is whether you have the latest patch installed, 1.04d. It makes the militancy much easier to manage.

[Random]

I have France in 1874 and militancy is not a major problem but requires monitoring.

In the F6 screen I sort by militancy level and check every turn. When most or all have at least one level I will enact one of the social reform options that recur annually and this will generally keep the masses off the streets for a couple of months. Usually by the time all have been expended its late January and new options have been generated.

Once militancy gets out of control, reigning it in takes many years. Keep contentment high, provide lots of wine, rum and luxuries; low taxes doesn't seem to matter but do not confuse contentment with militancy, they are different and need different responses although low contentment seems to go hand in hand with raging militancy.

Cavalry has a reasonable police value when you run out of gendarmes but it often takes quite some time for the effects to kick in. Have found that aiming for a total police presence > 10 or 12 can put a damper on demonstration and strikes after a few months, sometimes sooner.

The F6 screen is your friend, check it every turn and use the sorting to catch small domestic problems before they become crisis'. And above all be patient, in PON these things take time.

-C

[Pocus]

One thing that may sound obvious to veterans players but is probably not, is that your anti-militancy options, aka social reforms, must be used to their best. i.e don't use them when their profit is not maximum... if you spend them too fast, too early, while militancy is still low, with many regions without problems, then you are wasting them.

Try to garrison with police units (and others mounted units) the most problematic regions, and if things go out of control, or when you believe a reform will be used to its full potential, spend one. This is very 'real politik' oriented, you are clearly not issuing reforms for the welfare of the mass here, but it works (and it may be historical, only give people what they ask when you can't do otherwise! ).

[loki100]

One thing that may sound obvious to veterans players but is probably not, is that your anti-militancy options, aka social reforms, must be used to their best. i.e don't use them when their profit is not maximum... if you spend them too fast, too early, while militancy is still low, with many regions without problems, then you are wasting them.

well I would normally hesitate to argue with Pocus - I definitely agree that you should store these and play as you need - but with one exception. The Education card has a secondary advantage of adding 1% point to your education levels and for that reason I tend to play it when its available rather than store for need.

[Jim-NC]

Also, the contentment level only changes every couple of months. So if a region is striking, it will remain on strike for a while (even if you place police/cavalry in the region). Depending on where you currently are, it make take months or years to get the contentment problem under control.