Rush Building Under Despotism

[Sauron07]

I've been reading many of the excellent strategy threads on this site and I must say it has been extremely educational.

One topic I haven't seen a discussion on, however, is the impact rush building under despotism has on the happiness of your remaining citizens. As has been pointed out in several other posts(vel, ect.) rush building under despotism can be an excellent way to develop your infrastructure quickly as it only costs population points rather than hard(er) earned cash. I also know that this makes the remaining citizens less happy but, as I have not had time to do any testing of late, I am curious if anyone has examined exactly how unhappy and for how long the unhappiness lasts if you repeatedly rush build under despotism.

Any thoughts, comments or diatribes would be appreciated.

[rah]

If you're rush building a temple, they should become more happy.

That is the improvement I find myself rushing the most in Desp.

RAH

[Arrian]

It's never hurt me, honestly. I've been playing on Regent, so keep that in mind. I use the rushbuild feature to put down temples in all my cities early on. Beyond that, I'm usually in a different form of gov't. In a recent game as the Iroquois, however, I went on an early rampage and captured lots of cities, and stayed in Despotism longer than I normally would (at least it felt that way). I not only rushbuilt temples, but Cathedrals as well, in the larger cities, so I'd have decent culture while my hordes of mounted warriors charged about the continent. I had no disorder problems, probably because 1) I rushbuilt happiness improvements; and 2) Rushbuilding reduces the population, thus reducing any "overpopulation" unhappiness a city might have.

I think you would run into more trouble if the rushbuilding was done for units and such, and you ignored temples. But to be honest, I use it constantly early in the game and have NEVER had a civil disorder problem result.

-Arrian

[Velociryx]

I think the reason it's not much of an issue is because people are rushing infrastructure and consistently keeping your population at 1-2. At that pop, with a token guard (police), at least one luxury item, and a temple, you're pretty well guaranteed at least a content, if not a happy camper....

-=Vel=-

[Sauron07]

Thanks for the feedback. You have seconded the general conclusion I had come to on the topic, namely that if you keep the population low and build temples in those cities, it is not a problem.

The scenerio I am now envisioning is if during the mid-late game you switch from another government type to despotism in order to wage a war and decide to rush build military units in order to mobilize quicker. It seems as if it could give you a major edge in producing mass units quickly, especially from cities on the edges of you empire where corruption is the most rampant. Under these circumstances however, I am not yet sure that the unhappiness effect will be more significant - time will tell.

This could be a new war waging strat - I think it needs a name, vel. I recommend "The Draft" - Despotic Rapid Acquisition of Forces Tactic.

[David Weldon]

C'mon, you actually recommend a name that isn't an acronym!?

How about: Fast Unit Creation Tactic.

[Out4Blood]

In my Deity games, I never usually go to anything but Despotism until 1) I have dominated the map, or 2) Have communism

I just rush build units and keep cities small and capture AI cities, make them give out techs. Randomturn has a great post on this strategy, too. If your pop is 2-3, the negative impact from hurrying is negligible (i.e., I have not seen any impact). At that low pop, I can hurry a swordsman almost every other turn.

[Xin Yu]

Choose an expansionist civ. Build a city, set science to zero, then build a scout, a warrior and a scout. Rush granary as soon as you can. Then start building a settler. Put down another city 2 squares away from your capital and give it to another civ for some tech/cash/communication. Rush a temple. Wait for the city to come back to you. Sell the city again.