Happiness...driving me to dispair

[gravey101]

I agree with what you say, but the term natural decrease makes me wary. Is it a double negative? I.e. if the natural decrease is the amount that is taken away from the happiness level each turn then a negative natural decrease will raise the hapiness score and thus lower the happiness level. Who knows? That was the only explanation I could give to why starting planets went to indifferent with nothing apparantly happening.

[gravey101]

heh heh

you were just ahead of me there!

:-)

[geoschmo]

Yep, I tested it. Made the natural decrease a positive number and homeworlds stays happy for about 8 turns and then goes jubilant. Dang, no wonder it's been so confusing trying to figure this happiness stuff out.

Geoschmo

[Q]

Originally posted by geoschmo:
Yep, I tested it. Made the natural decrease a positive number and homeworlds stays happy for about 8 turns and then goes jubilant. Dang, no wonder it's been so confusing trying to figure this happiness stuff out.

Geoschmo

Very interesting Geoschmo. Thank you for this explanation.
Did you test what happens if the colony starts angry? Because the negative natural decrease lowers as far as I observed the happiness level only to indifferent and I have the impression, that if you start at angry then it will improve the happiness until again indifferent is reached. But I might be completely wrong about this. However if you use your test model with a positive natural decrease the happiness should go to riot when you start at angry if I am right.
And have you any idea what the "Natural Decrease for Other Races" does??

[geoschmo]

I don't know of any way to start a race at angry. But regardless of starting point the change in happiness should always go one direction, either up or down. As far as I know it's a number between 0 and 100, and things that make it go up alwyas make it go up and things that make it go down always make it go down.

The natural decrease for other races is, I have always been told, supposed to be the natural progression for any populations you have that are not of your own. They are on your planet, but they are group of captured, or traded for people. I was always under the impression they got agry over time and your own pop got happy, but I am not so sure about that now. I need to test that some.

Geoschmo

[gravey101]

I've always wondered what

Res Mod - %

means ?

[geoschmo]

That is the modifier to resource production for that range of happiness.

[gravey101]

ah yes, of course it is. Thanks.

[Q]

It is not necessary that you have a new colony that is angry to test the effect. Just make any colony angry, remove all causes for the anger, don't do anything to improve the happiness and see what happens.
I modified some happiness types and gave them rather high (negative) values for the natural decrease (up to -60).
The effect was that I had most colonies in the indifferent state, but not angry or rioting as you would expect if the effect was the same all over the entire happiness scale.
What you say about the "Natural Decrease for Other Races" makes sense. Apparently the value of 20 is too small to give a clear effect, or my empire management is so good that it compensates more than enough: I have always many foreign races in my empire and they are jubiliant all the time! But as you said if we test it with higher values (and/or negative values) we should see the effect.

[tbontob]

The consensus appears to be that climate does not affect happiness.

If that is so... then why when I improve the climate of a planet, the people are much happier?

I think climate has at least 2 effects:
1) Population growth
2) Happiness, which in turn affects production (but not construction).

What do you guys think?