Republic or Dictatorship?

[Freebot]

So I got sick of the Senate requiring total victory before allowing me to negotiate peace (you really want me to occupy the entire Selecuid Empire when the point of the war is to take a single strategic province? are you mad?) and imposing obscure rules to promote talented individuals to legate. However, switching to Dictatorship is a complete disaster that results in civil war within a year. Its hard to find 9 councilmen that support your heir and the process of switching leaves you with 20 tyranny. I guess it doesn't help that my would be dictator is 72 years old with only daughters.

Is there any way to pop up his heir's popularity fast? Or is it feasible to simply surrender to a rebellion and secure a more popular and stable dynasty? Just how do you successfully transition to a dictatorship without a complete disaster?

Maybe the republic isn't so bad after all.

 

[unmerged(139882)]

So I got sick of the Senate requiring total victory before allowing me to negotiate peace (you really want me to occupy the entire Selecuid Empire when the point of the war is to take a single strategic province? are you mad?) and imposing obscure rules to promote talented individuals to legate. However, switching to Dictatorship is a complete disaster that results in civil war within a year. Its hard to find 9 councilmen that support your heir and the process of switching leaves you with 20 tyranny. I guess it doesn't help that my would be dictator is 72 years old with only daughters.

Is there any way to pop up his heir's popularity fast? Or is it feasible to simply surrender to a rebellion and secure a more popular and stable dynasty? Just how do you successfully transition to a dictatorship without a complete disaster?

Maybe the republic isn't so bad after all.

The Dictatorship is why I totally love this game. It is so realistic. Honestly, just go through with it and roleplay your character... It is the most fun you will ever have, even if it does go to a civil war, I promise you.

The civil wars are very realistic, as the Aristocracy would not just give up their rights to vote in a leader to represent them... .Hehehe.

 

[Cheexsta]

An old dictator is actually a really good thing! When your ruler dies, your Tyranny value is halved, and with the default succession laws you will find that your heir should be fairly decent if you have no sons. Think of it as being like a legal adoption, like what Caesar did with Octavian

As for having councillors accept your heir, just bribe them. If their loyalty is high enough they'll accept your heir pretty quickly. To avoid other civil wars, remove generals from their positions before declaring dictatorship, so they don't try to make a dash for glory when you remove them afterwards. To get your tyranny value up to the prerequisite 10, you can imprison/exile any character who has too many loyal cohorts, thus killing two birds with one stone.

I've just declared a dictatorship in my latest Epigoni Rome game after a disasterous war with Macedonia that the Senate wouldn't allow me to end (and, to top it all off, Carthage attacked me over Gibraltar and I only had 12,000 men to defend it against 3-4 times as many Carthaginians). So far it's been lots of fun

 

[Sheltonious]

If I remember correctly losing a civil war does not end your game. I'm pretty sure in one of my MP campaigns a player lost his civil war and was given control of the country he just lost. Pretty sure.

Even when you did lose, a clever use of save games can solve the problem. Wait until your almost finished then save, reload as another nation...watch from afar and once the rebs win reload as the Victor. The reason why I say load as another nation as opposed to the soon to be victorious rebs is when you load as arebel faction, for Rome anyway, when you win you still have the rebel flag in singleplayer.

This is nothing more than a cosmetic issue but it always irked me. It's a bit gamey but if your doing an AAR, or roleplaying then it can be fun. Great source for propaganda.

 

[JDMS]

I always switch to Dictatorship as soon as I'm able to. The Senate annoys me, and trying to manage the Councilors is much more fun.

 

[Achab]

Losing a CW is not game over, it has some negative aspects but it can help you to end with quite capable ruler.

The fastest way to boost your ruler popularity is to win just any battle ... against barbies, rebels, pierats ... and hold a triumph. The triumph cost can be high sometimes though, as its derived from the pigstabbibg cost. Be sure to have good ministre of interior to cut the cost down.

 

[Freebot]

It became a lot easier after I had the bright idea of putting my dictator and his heir in charge of armies in northern Italy where barbarians constantly attack. The battles alone are a constant supply of popularity. On the flip side, I could do this with my consuls and maybe keep the Senate more reasonable via high popularity. So now we're down to comparing the merits of Republic and Dictatorship. Kind of hard to nail down the pros and cons of each. Republics seem to get a lot more laws but dictatorships seem to have more government positions that give various bonuses.