Post Patch: Happiness

[Trickster7135]

The following are nerfs to happiness in the new patch:

-1 happiness per city as base
-1 happiness per luxury resource
-1 happiness from collosseum
-1 happiness from theater
-1 happiness from stadium


The following are buffs to happiness in the new patch:

+1 happiness from Stone Works building, requires marble/stone in city
+4 happiness from Chichen Itza
+5 happiness added to Notre Dame, +10 total happiness
+x happiness from Eiffel Tower, x = 1/2 number of social policies
+1 happiness for every 10 population in a city from Landed Elite
+0.5 happiness added to Meritocracy, +1 total happiness per city connected by trade route
+1 happiness from Professional Army for each wall, castle, arsenal, and military base
+1 happiness from Organized Religion for each monument, temple, and monastery
+1 happiness from Humanism for each public school and observatory
+3 happiness from Police State for each courthouse
+1 happiness from Order per city

For most of the game, it seems that nearly all cities are getting at least -3 happiness nerf, from base city unhappiness increase, as well as the nerf to collosseum and theater. For someone who goes wide, that can be a real problem, especially with the nerfed luxuries. Currently, a 7 population city can remain happiness neutral from population, allowing the excess from luxuries to cover base city unhappiness and all room to grow/expand. After the patch, you're looking at 5 population cities being the standard, at lest at first.

Warmongers have always been the worst when it comes to happiness, and it seems this fact is finally being recognized. The social policy tree that give the most happiness is Honor (+5 happiness per city, 1 from garrison, 4 from buildings). Autocracy can give +3 happiness for the correct buildings. Piety can give +2 happiness per city, making Piety a possible in between social policy once you max out honor but haven't unlocked Autocracy. Rationalism will dependably give +2 happiness per city, and will be the better choice if you prefer a tech lead over more social policies.

Overall, it seems like the happiness changes are going to be a wash, the nerfs and buffs cancel each other out for the most part, but since so much happiness will depend on buildings, the biggest change is that it will slow down the rate of expansion. This is indirectly buffing tall empires as well, since they most certainly will be able to build all the buildings they need to at a decent rate.

 

[Furycrab]

There are a few ways you could go wide with as much if not more happiness then you would get now, the main hits in terms of happiness have been if you relied on theocracy and the luxuries.

They nerfed puppet empires, that's for sure, but they also buffed actual empires by quite a bit.

-50% less SP increase per city.
-Reduced later game hammer costs
-Nerfed % based increases but buffed/added base bonuses (buffing wide empires but hurting tall ones)
-Better happiness per maintenance ratios on most of the happy buildings (once again favoring having more cities rather than a few tall)

And practically all the bonus happy they added to favor wide a bit more than super tall.

I think the changes are way overblown, when the real kicker will be if the AI buffs. If anything is going to make people go down a difficulty level or two it's gonna be that... The line on AI with multiple priorities seems hellishly interesting/scary (If they start investing gold into other victory conditions when the first is likely not good... can be scary)

 

[roguepro92]

policy state, domination, instead of puppeting the world, annex it.

being a hardcore warmonger@heart i like this. i like this a lot!