All colonies have a value called “liberty desire”. This is a value that tends to go up over the course of a game. Different types of events , refusing the colony the right to name their own governor or increasing tariffs are some of the things that will have an effect on liberty desire. Tariffs are the most important one, since managing tariffs is a big part of the colonial game now. They remain the primary way you earn direct income from your colonies. A colony starts with a certain tariff value, but by using administrative power, you can push up the tariff rate – increasing the profitability of your colony. This also increases liberty desire. So, in the Conquest of Paradise expansion it’s up to you how much you want to squeeze your colonials, but you might have to struggle to keep them even if you treat them fairly.
As liberty desire increases your hold over your colony becomes more uncertain. When liberty desire tops 50% your colony may declare war on you. The higher liberty desire gets, the more the colony manpower increases and its maintenance costs decreases. So, the longer the game runs, and the more you squeeze the colonials the stronger they get. They will get better at spreading your empire across their own continent but that power might be turned against you.
When colony decides to break free, this triggers a liberation war. The colony will be practically independent and, of course, at war with you. To win, they need to force you to recognize their independence. Quite often this can feel like a rather one sided struggle; a world spanning empire against a few colonials. To help even things out a bit, we took inspiration from history where French aid was essential in helping the USA become independent. One of the new features for all countries is a diplomatic option called support independence. This is basically a contingent alliance that lets the colony (or vassal or other subject for that matter) call on the supporter when the liberation war begins. This allows nations to conspire with other nation’s subjects to aid them in breaking free.
Should you, as the overlord, win the war though, you get to keep your tariff value and liberty desire gets cut to more manageable level. Liberty desire will slowly increase towards the tariff value but you will have bought yourself some time where you can continue to manage your empire in peace.
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