How do I keep my people happy?.....no, really !

from Stardock Forums
Call me a freak but I would like to see my guys above 75 happyness all the time ...and I try, oh how I try !....I build virtually every thing that will boost that and keep the taxes at 20-25% and do virtually every hing I can...the problem is that I like to play verrrrry long games, and to delay the final strike on the enemy...so I end up with class 15 planets having a few zillion people sitting one on top of eachother...wich I guess can be a bit uncomfortable....so...I ask, besides lowering taxes and building nice stuff, is there another way of keeping'em smiling ?
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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
"Call me a freak but I would like to see my guys above 75 happyness all the time"

It won't happen. It's as simple as that. The game mechanics are deliberately set up to work AGAINST this. The happier you make your people, the more your population will rise, forcing your happiness down towards 55-58. You can have happiness that high, but it will be transitory, until your pop surges again. The approval rating of real governments is never that high (most modern governments hover somewhere between 40-60), and the game is designed to emulate that.

Asking to have happiness greater than 75 constantly is like asking a baseball player to hit better than .500 on a season. It's not going to happen, and it shouldn't happen.

- Ash

~SDC~
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
awww....it's a damn shame...it should be possible...I even moved the tax slider to zero for a few years and lived off trading techs...it was a nice experiment tho...research/social 50/50 and military zero, and i just kept selling research projects to my allies for cool cash, and everyone was so happy, until everyone realized they don't need me anymore and started beating me into non-existence...really sad...
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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Well it would be nice to feel like you're making your citizens happy if that's the kind of leader you want to role-play, but it seems like in the game morale doesn't really equal happiness, it equals population. I wish the two factors weren't so tightly entwined. If China can control it's population, how hard would it be for an advanced society to avoid growing to the point were people start rioting. I like to play long games too, or at least while I'm getting used to a game, and that doesn't seem to be something stardock wants us to do, because no matter what you do or research, eventually if you play long enough all your planets will have crappy morale, and might even revolt (I haven't played for that long yet). I can't say I care much for that model myself.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
I just want to conquer 99% of the map and then just hang around for a few thousands of years, building a ridiculous number of spacestations, trading with allies, etc...before killing the last enemy in an attempt wich would look like smashing a tiny bug with a 55 tons steam-roller

since the "continue game after winning" isn't available LOL