The Bismarckian Social Reforms

[unmerged(116276)]

So, I was happily playing as Prussia. I unified Germany via the three hurrahs, and then invaded Austria and took all their land with Germans in (except for Vienna). So, things were looking pretty nice. Was preparing to invade Russia to make my totoal domination complete. Was rank 1 in prestige, military, and industry. Then...

In 1881, an event fired called "The Bismarckian Social Reforms". This fantastic event gave me the option of losing 500k money, along with having to pay 600 money in social reforms each day, or having the militancy and consciousness of all my workers POP's increase by three. The first option would bankrupt me, and the second option...well, just isn't worth thinking about- it would be like the Liberal Revolution all over again, except never ending!

Where do I find this event in the files? It shall take a visit to the recycle bin!

 

[Foxbyte]

the option of losing 500k money, along with having to pay 600 money in social reforms each day, or having the militancy and consciousness of all my workers POP's increase by three.

Uh, wow. When that event fired after I formed germany, it only cost me 50k and then maybe 20 pounds a day afterwards.

The event is located in \Victoria\db\events\Germany.txt, event 3004, if you're using just Victoria.

 

[OHgamer]

did you install the hotfixes for Revolutions, HoIWarrior14. See my sig. They fix known moddable file issues and errors from Revolutions that have appeared since release.

IIRC that was one of the things fixed, lowering the cost of the Bismarckian Reforms to 50K

(And as of VIP:R 0.2, they've been replaced with 3 separate events to represent the three major reforms Bismarck undertook).

 

[unmerged(116276)]

No, I was just using basic Victoria: Revolutions. 50k sounds more reasonable. In fact, that's what I thought it was, until I looked more closely and it said 500000.

I have the National Party in power, which means I have to have the social reforms slider at least 1/3rd of the way along, which even at the lowest setting would impose around -250 money a day, but of course setting it to the lowest will increase consciousness which isn't really something I want happening.

I'll download the hotfix, though will that help with my current game? I have a previous save before the Bismarck reforms fired. Can you still play games that were started before the hotfix download?

If not, I suppose I'll have to cheat to get back 450k money and then switch to a party that allows me to revoke all the social reforms. Will mean +1 militancy increase though, but better that than +3 I suppose.

 

[Jingles]

Yes, back in the day that event was quite a game-breaker for me. Alternatively, you could always just get rid of the reforms as soon as the event enacts them, but that will cost you even more money up front. Though in the long run you would probably save.

 

[unmerged(48056)]

No, I was just using basic Victoria: Revolutions. 50k sounds more reasonable. In fact, that's what I thought it was, until I looked more closely and it said 500000.

I have the National Party in power, which means I have to have the social reforms slider at least 1/3rd of the way along, which even at the lowest setting would impose around -250 money a day, but of course setting it to the lowest will increase consciousness which isn't really something I want happening.

I'll download the hotfix, though will that help with my current game? I have a previous save before the Bismarck reforms fired. Can you still play games that were started before the hotfix download?

If not, I suppose I'll have to cheat to get back 450k money and then switch to a party that allows me to revoke all the social reforms. Will mean +1 militancy increase though, but better that than +3 I suppose.

Militancy and Consciousness should never be a problem for a Reactionary Empire.
You should have more than enough manpower (and guns) to garrison every province with a brigade-sized division. There is the military presence bonus (-.2, real handy when its combined with the political party bonus and low taxation) and a dug in brigade will take care of any rebellions with ease.

 

[unmerged(116276)]

Well yes I suppose that is an option (I've already done the army maintance 0 for a day, then max the next day thing). Though that would require a lot of divisions in the long run, expecially given I plan to conquer Russia next. They took a beating in the Crimean war and are open for the taking. I want the Ukraine and Belarus (Britain took the Baltics) and garrisoning those post-war will be a pain with everyone on +3 militancy. I've been trying to keep my people happy all game as well, with taxes never going above 33%, and this would be ruined by that event. I think I'd sooner just pay the 500k and get rid of the reforms, but as Jingles said, that's going to cost a lot of money, and will take several years to pay off.

 

[Jingles]

I don't have that problem as reactionaries, especially that late in the game when I'm bleeding through my ears with manpower and have a brigade in every single province. Rebellions cease being a problem when the military presence grants a -0.20 militancy bonus and a 80/100 dug in brigade will take care of almost every revolt.

Yes, but you probably lose a lot of population, as even with a -0.20 effect the militancy of certain POPs is still increasing, which will cause rebellions and emigration. Plus, good lord that military occupation must me expensive. What happens when you have to go to war?

 

[Jingles]

Well yes I suppose that is an option (I've already done the army maintance 0 for a day, then max the next day thing). Though that would require a lot of divisions in the long run, expecially given I plan to conquer Russia next. They took a beating in the Crimean war and are open for the taking. I want the Ukraine and Belarus (Britain took the Baltics) and garrisoning those post-war will be a pain with everyone on +3 militancy. I've been trying to keep my people happy all game as well, with taxes never going above 33%, and this would be ruined by that event. I think I'd sooner just pay the 500k and get rid of the reforms, but as Jingles said, that's going to cost a lot of money, and will take several years to pay off.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think it will cost 500,000 pounds to manually remove the social reforms. I think 500,000 was just the cost that was in the Bismarckian Social Reform event. Technically, removing them yourself could cost more or less, depending on your population.

 

[unmerged(116276)]

The event itself costs 500000 pounds (which is bad enough!) and then you have to add whatever it's going to cost to remove the reforms, which I'd have to do as I can't afford to fund them.

 

[Jingles]

Exactly. So what I'm saying is instead of 500,000 to enact via event + 500,000 to remove, it will be 500,000 to enact via event + <500,000 to remove. So it is actually a positive thing. Does that make sense? It really is choosing the lesser of two evils.

 

[unmerged(116276)]

Well yes, it wouldn't cost 2x500000 to get back to the original point. But having to pay 500k still sucks! :rofl:

Ohwell I've downloaded the hotfix now and it won't happen next game I guess.

 

[Jingles]

Well yes, it wouldn't cost 2x500000 to get back to the original point. But having to pay 500k still sucks! :rofl:

Ohwell I've downloaded the hotfix now and it won't happen next game I guess.

That is a lot of money

Although I don't ever do it myself, to compensate for the absurd costs the event has caused, you could always hit F12 and type in money until you get enough to compensate. I rarely recommend cheating, but in this case you really got screwed.

And yes, it won't happen next time

 

[unmerged(116276)]

Double posted by accident.

 

[unmerged(116276)]

Ack, now here's the next problem. The National Party doesn't allow the revocation of social reforms, so to get that I have to switch to the Liberal Party. But...they don't allow the maximum tariffs, so I have to switch back to the National Party after I've revoked the social reforms anyway. This means I'm getting +2 militancy for my POP's in total!

I guess it's time for plan B then- military occupation!

 

[Jingles]

If you are a constitutional monarchy or monarchy, you could just switch quickly to a party that allows you to get rid of the social reforms. You could save money because you can do it immediately.

Another option would be to immediately call an election and get the party that allows you to revoke the social reforms, and then call another election to get the party you want back in power.

No matter what it's a pain, but I think it's preferable to military occupation.

 

[unmerged(116276)]

I'm a monarchy, and while I can easily switch to a party that allows social reforms to be revoked, that increases the populations militancy by 1, and then switching back also increases militancy by 1. I'm afraid I don't have the knowledge of theg game yet to figure how how to get my people to vote for the party I want in power as I've only played as dictatorships so far.

 

[Jingles]

Ah, I understand, politics and ideology can be a bit difficult to understand in the game.

Have you researched the culture tech State and Government yet? Because after you do, an event comes up that allows you to have your POPs vote based on issues instead of the game default of voting according to ideology yet.

If you haven't researched the tech yet, then you can easily manipulate the election by looking at the overall ideology of your POPs under the population section after you click the crown in the upper left. If you want liberals, promote lots of craftsmen or other default liberal POPs, if you want conservatives, get more farmers or soldiers or other default POPs.

You are playing Victoria:Revolutions right? Not VIP:R? Because I think with the latest version of VIP:R your POPs start out voting according to issue.

 

[Dark Scipio]

I think if you play Prussia/Germany well, even 500K of money are not a game breaker. I had to pay it (and kept the reforms) and needed a lot of time to repay my depts, but it was not impossible or a game breaker.

Perhaps Germany would be to easy without it.

 

[unmerged(116276)]

Don't get me wrong I can pay the 500k, I just can't pay the 500k AND pay for the social reforms.

I don't really see how any country can afford to pay for social reforms. Even three of them at "good" status cost 600 money fully funded- more than Germany will ever be making in profit, and I suspect most other countries in the world.

I'm making about 200 money a day, so 200x30= 6000 a month. Over a year that's 72000, so it's going to take 7 years to pay off the debt- which makes for a pretty boring 7 years!

Jingles- I don't have the VIP mod, and yes, I've already researched "Stae and Government". Been the n00b I was who didn't understand Politics and Ideology, I think I picked "vote on ideology". So I'll need to promote POP's. With that said- can I afford to have 9 months of paying £250 a day for social reforms. I think I'll reload the save, select "no" to the reforms, then put the military in every province. I'll set taxes to 0% and 7 years of that will probably work out better than 7 years of paying off massive debts.