give the city to a neighboring faction and then next turn they will have no garrison
next turn move your army in and exterminate the populace
do this with all your factions but one for some good cash. every now and then a little cleansing and genocide helps

@Bobtan:
Why not to exterminate for cash

that doesn't work with 1.3 because they wont accept gifts

Add money with the city. Or demand map info or something with the city.

if the city has a very low growth rate (e.x. 1% or .5%) just put the taxes on very high. you will get alot more money, and the population will start to decrease!

if your desprate, infect it with plague.(by moving a infected person into the city)

I always have a favorite spy or two that I use to spread plague throughout Greece whenever the wealthy cities get to 30k+ population....

Another thing you can try is to make unit after unit, if you have the cash to burn, it should make your population go down depending on how many soldiers are in each unit i've done that to some of my cities and it's worked ok.

Also by doing that if you don't need those extra soldiers there you can send them off to some of your other cities that are lagging behind, disband them and those cities will gain population

You probably already realize this, but preventative measures to reduce future population growth in cities is to also not build farming upgrades or temples that boost population growth.

Just my two bits...

not building farm upgrades reduces your income though...

And will likely get your governor a 'bad farmer' trait

True, but the income can be made up a bit in taking over the right settlements with income boosts and the bad farmer trait will allow the city to stop growing - exactly what and3r5 asked in the post.

I realize it reduces income by a lot, but it's simply one of several ways to control population growth, for better for for worse!

Keep on gaming!

I prefer the 'incite civil revolt and plunder town' way.. Much more income :-p

i'm curious as to why you might want to lower the population in your city?? i can't think of a reason to really do it. and in all my campaign games i've only ever done it once. anyways the reason would make me better able to answer the post.

In defense of the person who posted this thread, I can see one instance where a population decrease would be nice. For example, if you are the Brutii and Croton has grown to where every possible building has been built and you governor who has a lot of mgt/infl is 60 year old. The city's happiness percentage sits at 70% - no rioting but on the verge. Every time you move only one cavalry unit out of the city and into a boat, the percent changes to 65% and you will have rioting. You are soon planning to take on the Senate and Roman allies.

In this case, you may want to get the population lower if possible. I am only guessing, but I could see it in that situation. Just playing "Devil's Advocate." LOL

Quote:

In short, there is no game-provided way to simply have your governor kill, say, 20% of your population... similar to the 75% option when you take the city. Likewise, you cannot enslave at will.

In this game, you have to "game" it as people have posted about... abandon, give away, lose to rebels/enemy... then retake & enslave/kill. Or make lots of units, esp. the Peasants... and maybe move the population to other cities by moving the peasants & disbanding them.

If you can reduce growth, or influence negative growth... that's an option too. If your temple gives a growth bonus, destroy it and rebuild another type.

EDIT: Fixed typos & reword paragraph 1 more simply.

[This message has been edited by Wartrain (edited 01-24-2006 @ 02:44 PM).]

it's hard to have good public order when the population is like 45000-50000

I guess that's when it pays to be a little less benevolent to your cities...

Its the end game that always cause me problems...finance crash and i cant seem to be able to keep population happy. I must say that leaving a city to rebel to recapture it is tempting.

To keep a high level of satisfaction, i must have a lot of garrison unit...that cost a lot of cash...that force me to keep taxe very high...that make population unhappy !

Is there an easier way ? I buy these games used and i dont have the manual...am i missing a lot of useful thing ? I'm playing RTW for at least a year and i've read all that i can on the internet.

Well, Melgarth, you ain't missin' nuttin! (lol) The manual, though many people refer to it here in the forums, is about worthless. One day searching and browsing through RTW Heaven's posts is worth more than the manual EVER will be. The manual is really just an overly simplified "guide" that really has limited value.

I recommend searching for previous threads on any questions you may have and adding new posts whenever you can't find answers. Everyone here is great at helping.

In short, I find that either the "leave the city, then exterminate the rebels" strategy or going on an aggressive campaign of expansion where you take a settlement every couple of turns can do much to alleviate the problem with shrinking finances while also getting you closer to final victory.

But stagnation (not expanding continually) leads to bankruptcy!