Just playing a 250 turn game with Spain. On Standard Fractal Emperor. Just noting that happiness with Authority Spain was a lot kinder to me this game. I think one of the reasons is because I got ahead early game, which means my yields are above the curve, ergo less unhappiness.
I was good all the way to industrial, and then saw another big drop in happiness at that point, so I think we need something right in that spot, as I'm seeing that drop pretty consistently in the games I'm playing.