I firmly believe that anyone who unironically believes in monarchy should be required to play several rounds of Crusader Kings. While I wasnt exactly a monarchist before I played that game, it ruined any belief that monarchy is a good idea.
Because I cant tell you how many times I got the fabled Philosopher-King, the man who has all of the required intelligence, charisma, and expertise to be a good monarch. I have all of these plans to give my realm a new Golden Age of a better life for my peasants, a superior army to defend the realm, new great works to show off the engineering might of my scholars, and perhaps if I have the time go conquer one of my old rivals.
.......Then my conniving brother goes and tries to fight a war with someone I planned to be an ally with because he is trying to steal some power from anyone, so now I have to go help him or else lose part of my realm, and while I am at it cross that nation off from the "potential ally" list. Then I come back to find out that one of my vassals was in debt to the Jews so he committed a pogrom and forced them out, and God Damn it! I needed them for my economic plans, you idiot! So I do what I can to invite them back in, but now I have the Pope breathing down my neck for helping them, but he says he will look the other way if I go on Crusade. So I go to do it and get some heat off of me, and I am doing reasonably well due to my skilled commanders (at least I chose them well), then I get word that my god damn bastard of a brother is trying to steal my throne! So I have to go back and kill him for good this time because I am tired of his shit. Then now I have a peasant revolt from them demanding a tax lien, and no! I cant give it to you even though I want to, because if I did it right now my vassals would think I am a weak ass bitch.
But somehow, I finally manage to put out all of the fires. It took most of my life though. I can finally start on putting in to place all of the things I wanted. Even give the peasants that tax lien under a situation more favorable to me. And as I am reaching the end of my life, I can die content that even though I didnt get everything I wanted, I at least set it down the right path, and all my son has to do is not screw it up.
........then it turns out my son is a god damn midwit who screws it all up by not being enough of a gigabrain to understand the things I was doing or wanted to do because he was too busy playing court politics while I was actually doing things, and now it all dies on the vine or gets done much later, and now we are back to square one. FML.
Then I come back to find out that one of my vassals was in debt to the Jews so he committed a pogrom and forced them out, and God Damn it!
The game implemented my hypothesis, neat.
Yeah, I've said this before but, long story short, Tropico cured me of any Leftism I could have had. I intentionally tried to play as "the perfect communist" and realized that my welfare state had ballooned out of control so the only answer to prevent a revolution was to create a secret police state, arrest all the lumberjacks and farmers who weren't making me enough money, and deport them to Miami.
I racked my brain thinking of amicable solutions to the insane cost of my welfare state, and I was slowly depleting my country of all it's gold and oil. I couldn't even fill the jewelry factories and oil rigs because soooo many tropicans wanted a cushy life being an over-paid farmer, waitress, or brothel girl. The welfare state was so large I couldn't even afford an army to protect me (I actually had to compromise and eliminate my 0% inequality so that my personal guard could still have people working in it)
There were only 3 options
Create a secret police state and mass arrest everyone who was going to be fired, then deport them to Miami
Create a secret police state and assassinate everyone who didn't like getting fired
Fire the workers and replace them with a massive military build up, balkanize the society between the militarists & loyalists, then watch the country spiral into Civil War as people began to rebel, and hope that I could kill them all with the military.
There were no even half-way decent options. No matter what, if I wanted to maintain "equality", I had to depopulate my way out of it.
I went from thinking Leftism "was a bad idea" to Leftism is "innately evil". The more you succeed in being a communist, the more likely you will have no other choice but to do unspeakable evil to maintain it.
Then now I have a peasant revolt from them demanding a tax lien, and no! I cant give it to you even though I want to, because if I did it right now my vassals would think I am a weak ass bitch.
It's funny. My military democracies always worked, but always upset the intellectual leftist class. Everyone would be happy, prosperous, the Island is growing, and I have a military that's strong enough to keep the Soviets & Americans at bay, even if they try to scare me with their battleships (NGL, I got real fuckin nervous. All I did was say that I couldn't send you all those bananas because it was a waste of my money! Calm the fuck down, Senator!)
No crime, no corruption, strong military, strong & diverse economy, a free press, and an educated public, and all of the sudden the intellectuals are crying that we have "low democratic expectations" and then they start to get angry and protest.
"Fine! Fuck you! Early elections!" ... a few months later... "No shit, I won. I have a 70% approval rate, now go back to your fucking colleges you god damned snowflakes."
It's always that group of people just under your position of power trying to start shit, even if there's absolutely nothing wrong.
........then it turns out my son is a god damn midwit who screws it all up by not being enough of a gigabrain to understand the things I was doing or wanted to do because he was too busy playing court politics while I was actually doing things, and now it all dies on the vine or gets done much later, and now we are back to square one. FML.
"Oh he's retarded! ... Wait! Scotland! Come back!"
Not directly, but it is something you can do with a combination. One of your decisions you can make as king is to take out a loan with the Jews, where they will give you 300 gold, but you are expected to pay back 350 gold, and you suffer severe penalties with the Catholic church, your vassals, and can cause economic issues for you.
Another decision you can do (at any given time) is to expel the Jews, which will give you a certain amount of gold right off the bat, triple the income to your kingdoms coffers (the implication being that money no longer going to the Jews is now going to your realm), and gets rid of any debt you have with them. But it causes your king to take a hit to their prestige, gives them the Arbitrary trait (causes problems with your vassals due to being viewed as unjust and unreasonable), causes diplomatic issues with nearby nations, causes a drop in economic growth in your region (about 10% less), and causes occasional events that your region can lose technology until you reverse the decision. (minimum of 20 years before you can reverse).
But hey, if you are absolutely drowning in debt and the Church is on your back, you may have to take....drastic measures. And while Paradox AI is not perfect, its a least smart enough to consider that deal. Personally, when I am playing, I try to make sure I have enough gold reserves that being 300 gold down is no big deal.
[Tropico hijinks]
I too am a massive fan of Tropico, and I share your distain for the god damn hippies of my island. Usually, end up building the same sort of thing as you, though I do usually include a social security system so that the unemployed, retired, and students arent totally destitute.
...of course, I make up for it by saying that you have to pay for your damn lunch and your damn healthcare, but hey. At least the island is so built up that I have more jobs than people. So whats your excuse Hippie?
I firmly believe that anyone who unironically believes in monarchy should be required to play several rounds of Crusader Kings. While I wasnt exactly a monarchist before I played that game, it ruined any belief that monarchy is a good idea.
Because I cant tell you how many times I got the fabled Philosopher-King, the man who has all of the required intelligence, charisma, and expertise to be a good monarch. I have all of these plans to give my realm a new Golden Age of a better life for my peasants, a superior army to defend the realm, new great works to show off the engineering might of my scholars, and perhaps if I have the time go conquer one of my old rivals.
.......Then my conniving brother goes and tries to fight a war with someone I planned to be an ally with because he is trying to steal some power from anyone, so now I have to go help him or else lose part of my realm, and while I am at it cross that nation off from the "potential ally" list. Then I come back to find out that one of my vassals was in debt to the Jews so he committed a pogrom and forced them out, and God Damn it! I needed them for my economic plans, you idiot! So I do what I can to invite them back in, but now I have the Pope breathing down my neck for helping them, but he says he will look the other way if I go on Crusade. So I go to do it and get some heat off of me, and I am doing reasonably well due to my skilled commanders (at least I chose them well), then I get word that my god damn bastard of a brother is trying to steal my throne! So I have to go back and kill him for good this time because I am tired of his shit. Then now I have a peasant revolt from them demanding a tax lien, and no! I cant give it to you even though I want to, because if I did it right now my vassals would think I am a weak ass bitch.
But somehow, I finally manage to put out all of the fires. It took most of my life though. I can finally start on putting in to place all of the things I wanted. Even give the peasants that tax lien under a situation more favorable to me. And as I am reaching the end of my life, I can die content that even though I didnt get everything I wanted, I at least set it down the right path, and all my son has to do is not screw it up.
........then it turns out my son is a god damn midwit who screws it all up by not being enough of a gigabrain to understand the things I was doing or wanted to do because he was too busy playing court politics while I was actually doing things, and now it all dies on the vine or gets done much later, and now we are back to square one. FML.
The game implemented my hypothesis, neat.
Yeah, I've said this before but, long story short, Tropico cured me of any Leftism I could have had. I intentionally tried to play as "the perfect communist" and realized that my welfare state had ballooned out of control so the only answer to prevent a revolution was to create a secret police state, arrest all the lumberjacks and farmers who weren't making me enough money, and deport them to Miami.
I racked my brain thinking of amicable solutions to the insane cost of my welfare state, and I was slowly depleting my country of all it's gold and oil. I couldn't even fill the jewelry factories and oil rigs because soooo many tropicans wanted a cushy life being an over-paid farmer, waitress, or brothel girl. The welfare state was so large I couldn't even afford an army to protect me (I actually had to compromise and eliminate my 0% inequality so that my personal guard could still have people working in it)
There were only 3 options
There were no even half-way decent options. No matter what, if I wanted to maintain "equality", I had to depopulate my way out of it.
I went from thinking Leftism "was a bad idea" to Leftism is "innately evil". The more you succeed in being a communist, the more likely you will have no other choice but to do unspeakable evil to maintain it.
It's funny. My military democracies always worked, but always upset the intellectual leftist class. Everyone would be happy, prosperous, the Island is growing, and I have a military that's strong enough to keep the Soviets & Americans at bay, even if they try to scare me with their battleships (NGL, I got real fuckin nervous. All I did was say that I couldn't send you all those bananas because it was a waste of my money! Calm the fuck down, Senator!)
No crime, no corruption, strong military, strong & diverse economy, a free press, and an educated public, and all of the sudden the intellectuals are crying that we have "low democratic expectations" and then they start to get angry and protest.
"Fine! Fuck you! Early elections!" ... a few months later... "No shit, I won. I have a 70% approval rate, now go back to your fucking colleges you god damned snowflakes."
It's always that group of people just under your position of power trying to start shit, even if there's absolutely nothing wrong.
"Oh he's retarded! ... Wait! Scotland! Come back!"
Not directly, but it is something you can do with a combination. One of your decisions you can make as king is to take out a loan with the Jews, where they will give you 300 gold, but you are expected to pay back 350 gold, and you suffer severe penalties with the Catholic church, your vassals, and can cause economic issues for you.
Another decision you can do (at any given time) is to expel the Jews, which will give you a certain amount of gold right off the bat, triple the income to your kingdoms coffers (the implication being that money no longer going to the Jews is now going to your realm), and gets rid of any debt you have with them. But it causes your king to take a hit to their prestige, gives them the Arbitrary trait (causes problems with your vassals due to being viewed as unjust and unreasonable), causes diplomatic issues with nearby nations, causes a drop in economic growth in your region (about 10% less), and causes occasional events that your region can lose technology until you reverse the decision. (minimum of 20 years before you can reverse).
But hey, if you are absolutely drowning in debt and the Church is on your back, you may have to take....drastic measures. And while Paradox AI is not perfect, its a least smart enough to consider that deal. Personally, when I am playing, I try to make sure I have enough gold reserves that being 300 gold down is no big deal.
I too am a massive fan of Tropico, and I share your distain for the god damn hippies of my island. Usually, end up building the same sort of thing as you, though I do usually include a social security system so that the unemployed, retired, and students arent totally destitute.
...of course, I make up for it by saying that you have to pay for your damn lunch and your damn healthcare, but hey. At least the island is so built up that I have more jobs than people. So whats your excuse Hippie?