Happiness and War Weariness

2:26 Civilization 3 citizens are happy, content, unhappy or resisting, and a city falls into civil disorder when its unhappy citizens outnumber its happy ones (content citizens, resistors and specialists do not count), per the Complete manual (pp. 137, 151). A city in disorder builds nothing and pays no taxes. The first few citizens of every city are born content, how many depending on the difficulty level, and every one after them is born unhappy unless something appeases him: luxury resources and the luxury rate, Temples, Colosseums, Cathedrals and several Wonders, Entertainers, and, under Despotism, Monarchy and Communism, soldiers acting as military police. Under a Republic or Democracy, war adds its own unhappiness, war weariness, which the manual says took the place of Civilization 2's Senate.

Quick facts

Source: Complete manual, pp. 86, 133, 146-151; 2001 manual, pp. 118, 127-130; Prima's official strategy guide, pp. 15, 41.

Why citizens become unhappy

3:41 City size is the first cause. "The first few citizens in every city are 'born' content", Prima explains, and "after that, all of your citizens are automatically unhappy unless they're appeased"; the higher the difficulty, the sooner it bites (Prima, p. 36). Prima also notes that the number of cities you own no longer causes unhappiness as it did in earlier Civilization games; in Civ 3 sprawl is punished by corruption instead.

Source: Prima's official strategy guide, Table 2-3, p. 15 (base game). The Complete manual names the fourth level Monarch and adds Demigod and Sid in Conquests; it says difficulty sets how discontented citizens are but prints no numbers (pp. 30-31). See Difficulty Levels.

Other causes come from war and conquest. War weariness affects Republics and Democracies; citizens of a captured city who keep the nationality of a nation you are fighting are likely to be unhappy; and each draft of a citizen into the army makes one citizen unhappy for 20 turns (Complete manual, pp. 148-149; civ3.com FAQ, archived, Mar 2002).

Civil disorder

A city in civil disorder stops working. The Complete manual (p. 149) says such cities "completely suspend production" and sometimes destroy city improvements, and a Nuclear Plant in a rioting city may melt down. Prima adds that no taxes or science are produced while it lasts, which can tip your budget into the red, and that several turns of disorder can bring down a Democracy into Anarchy (Prima, pp. 37-38).

Order returns the turn after the balance is fixed. The manual's remedies are to turn citizens into Entertainers, connect the city to a luxury resource, raise the luxury rate on the Domestic Advisor's screen, or station military police where the government allows it (Complete manual, pp. 150-151). Prima adds rush-buying a Temple or other happiness building, which ends disorder at once if you can pay for it (Prima, pp. 38, 41).

Civilization 4 dropped riots. Soren Johnson wrote in its manual's afterword that "City riots were the first to go": angry citizens there simply refuse to work, to spare players from checking every city every turn (Civilization 4 manual, pp. 176-177).

Luxuries and the luxury rate

12:38 Luxury resources make citizens happy. Civ 3 has eight in the base game, Incense, Dye, Wine, Fur, Spice, Silk, Diamonds (Gems) and Ivory, and each one connected to a city by your trade network makes one content citizen happy, or one unhappy citizen content (Complete manual, p. 86). A road from the luxury to one city, and roads on to your other cities, share it with all of them, and a luxury you lack can be bought from another civilization for 20 turns at a time; see Resources and Trade.

9:57 The Marketplace multiplies luxuries. With one, the first and second luxuries a city receives each make one happy face, the third and fourth two each, the fifth and sixth three each, and the seventh and eighth four each, per Prima's Table 7-2 (p. 128). Prima's advice is that the Marketplace "obviously works best in cities with lots of luxuries".

3:23 The luxury rate turns commerce into happiness. On the Domestic Advisor's screen, the share of commerce you give to entertainment moves in 10% steps, and a note shows how many happy faces it buys (2001 manual, p. 124). Prima calls it "one of the most effective ways to prevent unhappiness", at the cost of money and science (Prima, pp. 38-39).

Buildings, wonders and military police

Happiness buildings work every turn in their own city. These improvements and Wonders change happiness, per Prima's Table 4-1 (p. 41) and the Complete manual's wonder chart (pp. 132-133):

The full costs are on City Improvements and Wonders.

9:58 Military police are soldiers stationed in a city. Under Despotism up to two units, under Monarchy three and under Communism four can each make one unhappy citizen content, as long as each has an attack of at least 1; Republics and Democracies cannot use them (2001 manual, pp. 118, 127-130). Prima calls this "ideal for inducing happiness early in the game", but warns that if your garrisons are what keep the peace, "all unhappiness will break loose" when you switch to a government without martial law (Prima, p. 40). See Governments.

Entertainers are the quick fix. Any citizen taken off the land becomes an Entertainer and makes one happy face, but every one also takes a square's output from the city, and Prima reads more than one Entertainer per city for long as a sign "that something's wrong" (Prima, p. 39; see Cities).

War weariness

0:25 War weariness is unhappiness from war, and only Republics and Democracies feel it. "When you continually wage war, your citizenry eventually get tired of it", the 2001 manual (p. 125) says, and under these representative governments it "causes great unhappiness in your cities". Despotism, Monarchy and Communism are free of it.

12:00 Four things raise it most: stationing your units in a rival's territory, enemy troops in your territory, declaring war and fighting battles. A rival declaring war on you "actually decreases war weariness, perhaps because it relieves the prewar uncertainty and tension" (Complete manual, pp. 148-149). Prima adds that the longer the war lasts, the stronger the effect (Prima, p. 36). No source read prints the formula or how fast it fades after peace.

Democracy suffers more than the Republic. Prima's government table rates the Republic's war weariness low and Democracy's high (Prima, p. 56), and the 2001 manual warns that "if you remain at war for too long, your Democracy can fall into anarchy" (p. 131).

It replaced the Senate. In Civilization 2 a Senate could force peace on a Republic or Democracy; in Civ 3 you may declare war under any government, but Prima says the effects of war weariness "are so great that you'd better make sure you can win the war quickly" (Prima, p. 36; Complete manual, p. 65).

Two buildings fight it: the Police Station in its own city and the Universal Suffrage Wonder in all your cities (Complete manual, p. 133). Prima calls Police Stations "crucial if you're conducting a war under a Republic or a Democracy" (Prima, p. 102), though they need the Communism advance. War Guide covers timing a war around it.

We Love the King Day

A very happy city celebrates. To hold We Love the King Day, a city needs no unhappy citizens, at least as many happy citizens as content ones, and a population of at least six: the manual's example is that five happy and four content citizens celebrate, while ten happy, three content and one unhappy do not (Complete manual, p. 151).

The celebration lowers corruption and waste, makes the city less likely to defect to another civilization's culture, and makes enemy propaganda in it more likely to fail; its effects begin on the first full turn of the celebration and depend on your government (same page). Prima's 2001 guide describes it more loosely, as more than half the city happy and a "healthy production bonus" (Prima, p. 41); the Complete manual's conditions are the ones given above.

Frequently asked questions

What causes civil disorder in Civ 3? In Civilization 3, a city falls into civil disorder when its unhappy citizens outnumber its happy ones; content citizens, resistors and specialists are not counted, and the city produces nothing until the balance is restored.

How do you stop civil disorder in Civ 3? In Civilization 3, make Entertainers, connect a luxury resource, raise the luxury rate, rush-buy a Temple or other happiness building, or (under Despotism, Monarchy or Communism) station military units as police.

What is war weariness in Civ 3? War weariness is Civilization 3's unhappiness from long wars under a Republic or Democracy, raised by your units in enemy land, enemy units in yours, declaring war and fighting; a Democracy at war too long can fall into Anarchy.

How do you reduce war weariness in Civ 3? In Civilization 3, switch to Monarchy or Communism (which have none), build Police Stations, build the Universal Suffrage Wonder, keep wars short, or let the enemy declare war on you, which the manual says lowers war weariness.

How do you get We Love the King Day in Civ 3? In Civilization 3, a city celebrates when it has no unhappy citizens, at least as many happy as content citizens, and a size of 6 or more; the celebration lowers corruption and waste.

How many content citizens do you get in Civ 3? In Civilization 3's base game, each city has 4 content citizens on Chieftain, 3 on Warlord, 2 on the third and fourth levels and 1 on Emperor and Deity, per Prima's official guide; every citizen beyond that is born unhappy.

How much do luxuries help in Civ 3? In Civilization 3, each luxury resource connected to a city makes one content citizen happy, and a Marketplace raises that to as many as four happy faces each for the seventh and eighth luxuries, per Prima's official guide.

Sources

• Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete manual (Steam-hosted PDF), Atari and Firaxis Games, 2005
• Civilization III manual, First Edition (archive.org copy), Infogrames and Firaxis Games, Sep 2001
• Sid Meier's Civilization III: Prima's Official Strategy Guide (archive.org copy), Prima Games (David Ellis), 2001
• Civilization III FAQ: Combat (archived), Infogrames and Firaxis Games, Mar 2002
• Sid Meier's Civilization IV manual, "Afterwords by Soren Johnson", 2K Games and Firaxis Games, 2005
• Top 7 Mistakes That New Players Make In Civ 3, Suede, Aug 31, 2019 (video)
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