@JoeBlade:
I give the explanation of Rebel Sentiment mechanics another try ... see below. If the explanation is not able to bring light into your problem, please describe your situation and your actions more detailed, e.g. how many overall colonists, how many cities, RS in cities, bell-production in cities, global RS, ...
I think the main problems in understanding Rebel-Sentiment might be
- the decay which is quickly slowing down the build-up of Rebel-Sentiment if your population is huge compared with your bell production and
- the influence of lowered Bell-Production-Bonus on maximal Rebel Sentiment Points a city can contribute.
I once calculated an
example for a Size-3-City with 3 Elder Statesmen on marathon which I will use to explain the mechanics of Rebel Sentiment (RS). The city consists of just 3 Elder Statesmen which produce 36 bells in the beginning at 0% RS and 45 bells later after reaching 100% RS due to RS-production-bonus. (Base production = 3 x 6 bells, + 100% newspaper bonus + 50% RS-bonus.) All other colonists were considered to be stationed outside the city to not spoil the RS-production-bonus.
After a few turns of Bell-Production, the decay significantly slows down the accumulation of RS-Points in the city and increases the number of turns of continous bell production to support another colonist at 100%.
turn 000 : 000 RSP
turn 004 : 115 RSP (+4 turns)
turn 008 : 226 RSP (+4)
turn 011 : 307 RSP (+3)
turn 015 : 409 RSP (+4)
turn 020 : 518 RSP (+5)
turn 025 : 610 RSP (+5)
turn 031 : 703 RSP (+6)
turn 039 : 800 RSP (+8)
turn 051 : 903 RSP (+12)
turn 070 : 1.001 RSP (+19)
turn 126 : 1.096 RSP (= Max)
After 70 turns of bell production, the city contributes around 1.000 points to global RS, after 126 turns it reaches its maximum of 1.096 RSP. The city must continue full production of bells to hold this value otherwise RSP will decay very quickly with a rate of -3.33% per turn (on marathon).
Let's assume that this city is the only city, it is turn 70 and the city has accumulated 1.000 RSP. ... We now start to put colonists back into the city ...
The
RS in City is calculated by dividing the city's accumulated RSP by the population of the city.
City's RSP = 1.000
Pop = 3..10 : 100 %
Pop = 11 : 90%
Pop = 12 : 83%
Pop = 15 : ca. 66%
Pop = 20 : ca. 50%
Important note :
Since a city-population of 11 or more in the example is lowering the city's RS to less then 100%, it is also lowering Bell-Production-Bonus which will lower the maximum value of RSP the city can accumulate. Theoretical value is Bells produced * 25, but practical value is lowered due to rounding down in calculations. So there is a significant difference between the following situations :
- 1. a city of size 3 is producing 1.000 RSP and then the city's population is increased to 20 colonists (= 50% RS) and
- 2. a city of size 20 tries to produce 1.000 RSP and gets stuck on 48%.
(In my simulation, a city with base-Bell-Production of 36 and population of 20 from start could only reach 48%, not 50% due to rounding losses in Bell Production.)
pop = 10, RSP-Max = 1096, RS = 100%
pop = 11, RSP-Max =1071, RS = 97%
pop = 12, RSP-Max =1046, RS = 87%
pop = 15, RSP-Max =996, RS = 66%
pop = 20, RSP-Max =971, RS = 48%
[All values calculated with City's Starting Population = pop (=10..20)]
->
To maximize the RS-effect of the city, it should permanently produce Bells at 100% RS to get the full production bonus. So after the initial process to gain 100% RS for the 3 Elder Statesmen, new colonists should only be added to the city as long as the RS is not dropping below 100%.
The
Global RS is calculated by dividing the sum of all city's accumulated RSP by the total population (including soldiers, etc). Since we assume only one city with 1.000 RSP and continous Bell-Production at 100% RS :
Global RSP = 1.000
total Pop = 3..10 : 100 %
total Pop = 11 : 90%
total Pop = 12 : 83%
total Pop = 15 : 66%
total Pop = 20 : 50%
So a city with 3 Elder Statesmen and 100% RS in city and 1.000 RSP accumulated might support a total population of 19-20 colonists and still reach 50% global RS. As long as the city does not loose the 100% City-RS, it doesn't matter if colonists are inside or outside the city ...
Hint :
If you are permanently stuck at 48% global RS, your calculation is too tight. Try the following :
- reduce city-population to match 100%-City-RS by placing population outside as colonists, soldiers, etc,
- build new cities with just 3 colonists producing bells and maybe 1 farmer to feed them.