Public Opinion

[vplus]

I love the new Ideology system in BNW, I think it really captures an important element of more recent history. However, if you play your cards right, then your population is always Content with you, and nothing different really happens. Despite playing many BNW games, I've never had the "courage" to let my public opinion drop to lower levels to see what happens. Can anyone tell me what it's like having an empire of Dissidents, Civil Resistance or Revolutionary Wave?

I've heard that effectively barbarian units spawn inside your territory - I think I've seen this happen to the AI. I've also heard that whole cities start to defect - and though I've seen many AIs in Revolutionary Waves, I've never seen a city flip. All that happens as far as I can tell is that the Civ changes its Ideology.

Thanks v much!

 

[EK834]

I love the new Ideology system in BNW, I think it really captures an important element of more recent history. However, if you play your cards right, then your population is always Content with you, and nothing different really happens. Despite playing many BNW games, I've never had the "courage" to let my public opinion drop to lower levels to see what happens. Can anyone tell me what it's like having an empire of Dissidents, Civil Resistance or Revolutionary Wave?

I've heard that effectively barbarian units spawn inside your territory - I think I've seen this happen to the AI. I've also heard that whole cities start to defect - and though I've seen many AIs in Revolutionary Waves, I've never seen a city flip. All that happens as far as I can tell is that the Civ changes its Ideology.

Thanks v much!

So far I haven't seen any AI city flip either, though it's common enough with other players. I'm not sure what makes an AI decide to let it happen, though I guess it might calculate beforehand if losing a city will lower its unhappiness and revert to Dissidents from RV? I guess whether they can rush build/buy enough happiness buildings to pull out of RV or if switching is the only solution left could also be a factor. In my last game after 6 civs were forced to switch only Rome held on to the end (a bitter one, as he went for a top civ to a lower third one in the process).

An additional related question: if a civ switch ideology, does it keep or lose the benefits of the tenets it had picked in his first one?

 

[Aaron90495]

An additional related question: if a civ switch ideology, does it keep or lose the benefits of the tenets it had picked in his first one?

It loses them. If I remember correctly from my games, though, the social policy cost DOES go down proportionately to how many policies you forfeited.

To the OP: having an empire that isn't Content leads to a lot of unhappiness; the exact amount can range from 10 to as much as 50 or so, and it depends on your Tourism/Culture versus the Tourism/Culture of opposing ideologies.

 

[EK834]

It loses them. If I remember correctly from my games, though, the social policy cost DOES go down proportionately to how many policies you forfeited.

To the OP: having an empire that isn't Content leads to a lot of unhappiness; the exact amount can range from 10 to as much as 50 or so, and it depends on your Tourism/Culture versus the Tourism/Culture of opposing ideologies.

Thanks. I guess it could explain why in one game Suleiman held on to Order despite his steady -15 global unhappiness (he was at -36 for a few turns after World Ideology was voted, but got that back over -20 pretty fast, then it went below and in RV again as he conquered cities but he never switched) . He was after a SV (he beelined to get Appollo Program) and he played very wide and suddenly got a fairly fast increase in beakers (he managed to close a 10% gap in literacy and take the lead). I guess he had factories in most of his cities, and preferred the unhappiness to losing the workers' faculties.

 

[mscibor]

An additional related question: if a civ switch ideology, does it keep or lose the benefits of the tenets it had picked in his first one?

In my recent game I switched ideology. I had Freedom with 5 policies (I was first one to take Freedom, so it was 2 free policies + 3 earned policies), after switch to Order I lost all 5 Freedom policies and immediately get 3 to choose for new ideology. It seems that in total count I lost only bonus policies for early adopter.

 

[parts]

In my recent game I switched ideology. I had Freedom with 5 policies (I was first one to take Freedom, so it was 2 free policies + 3 earned policies), after switch to Order I lost all 5 Freedom policies and immediately get 3 to choose for new ideology. It seems that in total count I lost only bonus policies for early adopter.

I believe it's a flat -2.