Oppression

Government and Governance

GalCiv2 had a very rough allusion to oppression in that certain Government Types could raise more in taxes at the expense of requiring higher approval levels to stay in power. I think it'd be interesting to see this taken a step further, and allow rulers in Elemental to have varying levels of oppression on their people. Higher or lower oppression have different costs/benefits:

Oppression:
Pros:
Lower chance of rebellion
Can cut off trade to other kingdomes
Can conscript troops more quickly and more cheaply
More black market activity

Cons:
When rebellions happen, they're worse
Other kingdoms/empires won't like you as much, especially if they have low oppression
More black market activitiy

As always, thoughts and comments are welcome.

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wait, both pro and con are 'more black market activity' so... ; yeah.

I vote that less oppression means less black market activity, because more would be out in the open.

Master of magic had a tax system that would effect how happy people were with you, I figured there would be something similar rating happiness that would factor in by oppression (people can be oppressed and still be happy)

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True, but it would be nice to see a slightly more complex mechanism than the one we had in GalCiv II where you simply had happiness, population growth and taxes; I really like how Ynglaur's suggestions enrich this aspect.

Another thing is to consider oppression in captured areas, which could work in a similar way as Centurion or Master of Magic as you mentioned it: some people are more resistent to oppression or will revolt faster. Or something a bit akin to Alpha Centauri, if we continue down the path of similarities: oppression is only possible if you have a sufficient force of troops on site.

Or how about a militaristic government type that allows for a high level of oppression (and conscripts of course Ynglaur) but it will cause a rebellion in areas where you lose a battle? Makes for a more riskier playstyle.

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I think a factor to include with the oppression vs. revolt is how many generations have been oppressed. If it goes from free country to iron curtain in 1 generation, there IS going to be talk of revolt. However, if over the course of many generations 'big brother' slowly closes his fist, then there won't be a sudden backlash of revolts, especially of there is strict oppression of free-trade with non oppressed peoples or new ideas that would bring thoughts of non-oppressed kingdoms.

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I like Noctilucus' idea of oppression by geography a lot. Oppress some peoples, and coddle others.

I figured black markets can thrive at either extreme. Under very oppressive regimes, there's a strong incentive to avoid The Man. In very open regimes, there's lax oversight. It's probably lousy economic theory, though...

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Landisaurus: that could be slightly harder to implement though; I like how it goes against GalCiv II's mechanic where morale would slowly decrease over time (in case you were in debt or too long at war).

Ynglaur: so the conclusion is that the black market always thrives? I think that's pretty much consistent with reality

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