Destabilization

[twisted_jackal]

I've been trying to destabalize the Torians, so I gathered up the tribute, slid up taxes, slid down spending.
I've fully maxed the destabilization amount, gone over max I mean, to over $2000 a turn to disturb these skin flakes. their popularity is at 100%, and I've been waiting a while to see an improvement, but the 100 hasnt budged. Should I just wait it out? and then eventuallly see the Torians fall to the I-League, or am I totally waisting my hard ....errr "earned" cash and should really just be building constructors and avatars and combat transports and take on the world (which might be suicidal)

Thanks so much for any responses
twisted_jackal

[LDiCesare]

Destabilization is more complex, as the ai will fight it.
When you destabilize them, morale is lowered so they do as you would: lower taxes, build social improvements, etc. Thus you should expect a decrease in their econ rather than their morale.

[MichaeltheGreat]

It's cheaper to kill or to assimilate than to destabilize.

A lot of this depends on the density of habitable planets, but if you've got set them as common or abundant, if you conquer one star system in a quadrant with three or four inhabited systems, then pour in constructors and build a couple of starbases with maxed out cultural improvements, then the other systems should defect to you fairly quickly.

If you have good influence advantages, you can roll up an enemy one sector at a time with little or no actual fighting - just get a foothold in, crank cultural improvements and influence techs, and watch the enemy fold up.

In one game I'm finishing off, on a huge Galaxy I found five cultural resources, but only one military and two econ, no morale and (until recently) no research. Everyone else has military advantages if they're close the the same tech, and the Yor and Altarians are slightly ahead on tech. In a war against the Torians and Drengin, I knocked off one Drengin system by conquest, had lots of constructors on the way, and in 24 turns since my first conquest, I've had 11 sytems defect, and the entire Torian empire is about to go. I went from third in population to having more than the rest combined.

I didn't spend anything on destabilization, I just cranked my research to zero and military to 75% and cranked out constructors across the board, to set up starbases in my newly acquired sectors. This works even without having all the cultural techs, and without putting in ridiculous numbers of starbases - I never do more than two per sector.

[twisted_jackal]

Thanks fopr the advice, thats what I'll try, even though I usually turn cultural victory off, I'll try it that way.

[Harry Seldon]

If you have cultural turned off you'll just win by conquest when all the planets flip to you. I still turn mine off sometimes just to play a little longer.