Rebellion
Rebellions are when groups of angered subject peoples aggressively rise up against the ruling authority to forcefully make demands to said authority, usually for more autonomy or complete freedom. Rebellions are primarily caused by unrest, although they can also be triggered by certain events. Rebellions may be combated by increasing province autonomy to reduce unrest, reducing unrest through other means, using harsh treatment, or just simply gathering the troops and using brute military force to slay the rebels once they rise up.
Unrest[edit | edit source]
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 1.23. |
Each province has a number called unrest denoting how discontent the people of that province are with their current situation and how likely they are to instigate an uprising.
Factors[edit | edit source]
Unrest is controlled by many factors. Some are specific to a province (local unrest), while others affect unrest in every province in the country (national unrest). The total unrest in a province is the sum of its own local unrest and the country's national unrest.
National unrest factors include:
Stability: +2 per point of negative stability, and −1 per point of positive stability.
Legitimacy: scales linearly from +2 to −2 as legitimacy varies from 0 to 100.
Republican tradition: scales linearly from 0 to −2 as republican tradition varies from 0 to 100.
Horde unity: scales linearly from +2 to −2 as horde unity varies from 0 to 100.
Religious unity: scales linearly from +3 to 0 as religious unity varies from 0% to 100%. (Religious unity above 100% doesn't reduce unrest.)
Overextension: +0.05 for each percent of overextension, e.g. +5 at 100% overextension
War exhaustion: +1 per point.- Ruler: with
‘Just’ personality: −2 - Advisor: a
Theologian will reduce unrest by −2. - Government reforms:
English Monarchy, Russian Principality, Elective Monarchy, 
Authoritarianism, / Parliamentarism and States General with the Statists in power all give −1 national unrest, and Prussian Monarchy gives −2 national unrest. - Religion:
Animism and 
Totemism give a fixed −1 national unrest
Local unrest factors include:
Tolerance: +1.25 per point of negative tolerance and −1 per point of positive tolerance towards the local religion. The maximum bonus from tolerance of heretics or heathens is −3.
Orthodox countries get an additional unrest reduction in true-faith provinces depending on their Patriarch Authority (linear scale from 0 to −3 as authority varies from 0 to 100).
catholic countries get an additional −2 unrest in catholic provinces while the 
Golden bull “Dei Gratia Rex” is active (only with 
Emperor).
Missionary: An active missionary increases unrest by +6. This applies even if the missionary is not making any progress due to occupation of the province or lack of conversion strength.
Culture: provinces with cultures that are neither accepted nor part of the same group as the nation's primary culture get +2, or +1.5 in a republic.- National Defense: When fighting a defensive war, provinces with cultures that are part of the same group as the nation's primary culture get −5
Separatism: +15 for newly acquired provinces without a core, decays by −0.5 at the turn of each calendar year, effectively lasting 30 years. Modifiers to "Years of separatism" modify this by 0.5 per point. Provinces obtained by diplomatic annexation don't get separatism since they are automatically given cores, but bought and seized provinces do. Colonies also don't get separatism, unless they were colonized by expelling minorities. Provinces conquered from primitives by non-primitives are also separatism-free, making them an even more attractive conquest target.
Friendly troops: −0.25 per friendly regiment at 100% maintenance, up to a maximum of −5 with 20+ troops. The effect scales with maintenance level (down to zero at minimum maintenance).
Local autonomy: manually changing local autonomy adds a province modifier lasting 30 years: "Increased Local Autonomy" decreases unrest by −10, while "Decreased Local Autonomy" increases unrest by +10.- Recent Uprising: −100 unrest for 10 years. For all provinces associated with the recently active rebels.
Many ideas and policies reduce unrest:
|
Traditions | Ideas | Bonuses | Policies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| −2 |
|
|
— |
|
| −1 |
|
|
|
|
Finally, many events and decisions affect unrest. Here are some of the most important decisions with long-lasting effects:
- The Catholic decision Statute in Restraint of Appeals gives −1 national unrest.
- The Christian decision Advancement of Religion Act gives +1 national unrest.
- The Muslim decision Denouncement of Sect Practices gives −1 national unrest (until the ruler dies).
- The Muslim decision Establish an Ibadat Khana gives −1 national unrest.
- The Hindu decision Support the Advaita Movement gives −1 national unrest.
- The Pagan decision Encourage Divination gives −1 national unrest.
Also worth considering are ideas that increase tolerance towards the religion of troublesome provinces or religious unity. Before conquering a province that you don't have a core on, consider ideas that reduce years of separatism. Also consider promoting its culture, which may require bonuses to 
maximum promoted cultures. Reduced 
stability cost and 
cost of reducing war exhaustion can make it easier to recover from bad situations. Finally, for an aggressively expansionist country, reduced 
core creation cost can help deal with overextension.
Some events that have not been updated to use the current modifiers system give so-called base unrest. This decays at the rate of −1 per year.
Reducing unrest[edit | edit source]
The main system for reducing unrest is local autonomy. Raising a province's local autonomy will give it −10 unrest for 30 years. Raising stability, lowering war exhaustion, hiring a Theologian advisor, moving (well-maintained) troops to the affected provinces, and changing culture (if it's not already accepted) also help. Longer term, changing religion will also help (assuming tolerance of the true faith is higher than tolerance of heretics and heathens, which it almost always is), but the presence of a missionary increases unrest in the short term. See Land warfare#Rebel suppression.
Additional effects[edit | edit source]
In addition to the chance to increase the chance of uprising, each percent unrest has the following local effects:[1]
|
+10% | Local regiment recruit speed |
|
+10% | Local ship build speed |
|
-2% | Local Tax modifier |
Separatism[edit | edit source]
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 1.25. |
A newly acquired non-core province will gain 30 Years of separatism, except in the cases already mentioned above. Each year of separatism corresponds to a 
+0.5 "Separatism" local unrest modifier, which decays by the same amount each year, so the base unrest from separatism is +15 and it will be completely gone in 30 years.
The number of years of separatism gained on conquest of a non-core province can be reduced with some ideas and policies:
|
Traditions | Ideas | Bonuses | Policies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| −10 | — |
|
— | — |
| −5 |
|
|
|
|
| −3 | — |
|
— | — |
If separatist rebels win a siege, they will extend separatism by 10 years (and thus raise the "Separatism" local unrest modifier by +5) and will spawn a core of the primary nation of that province's culture if it does not exist there already. Total years of separatism is capped at 40 years, equivalent to +20 in the province.
It is not possible to change the culture of a province that has a Separatism unrest modifier of any size on it.
The 
Steppe Nomads, Great Mongol State, and 
Tribal Federation government reforms have a −5 Years of separatism effect.
There is Bohemian mission and Croatian mission both giving -5 years of separatism and also Manchurian mission giving -2 years of separatism.
It is possible to have 0 years of separatism immediately after conquering a province with Humanist idea 4 (−10), the Humanist-Offensive policy active (−5), a leader with the conqueror personality (−5), a government with separatism reduction (−5) and a national idea that reduces separatism (−5). Custom nations can also be given a -10 separatism reduction in their national ideas, which eliminates the need for a tribal or nomadic government.
Forming a nation will remove all separatism in provinces owned at the time of formation as soon as they are cored (instantly if they already are cores, or if the formation itself grants cores - the only formation that currently does so is that of 
Manchu). Diplomatically annexing a vassal or personal union, whether the usual way or through a decision (such as forming the 
Commonwealth or 
Spain diplomatically) will also remove all separatism in the former subject's provinces.
Rebel factions[edit | edit source]
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 1.25. |
Each province will be associated with exactly one rebel faction, however one rebel faction can spawn rebels in multiple provinces if an uprising occurs. All active rebel factions can be seen on the Stability and Expansion government tab, along with their numbers and their current progress towards an armed uprising. This information can also be enabled in the outline. A rebel faction is associated with a set of demands, which can be seen by clicking the "Handle them!" button. When unrest reaches a critical point and an uprising is triggered, the first stack of rebels will spawn in the highest development province that is associated with the rebel faction in question, followed by additional stacks in other associated provinces, until all rebels have spawned.
Common rebel factions[edit | edit source]
The most common types of rebel factions are 
peasant rebels, 
separatists, 
religious zealots, 
particularists, 
noble rebels, and 
pretender rebels.
- Peasant rebels want lowered taxes in the form of higher provincial autonomy.
- Separatist rebels want to join an existing nation with their culture, or declare independence and form a new nation entirely. If left unattended they will automatically revert to the separatists' core after a number of years.
- They tend to stay in provinces of their own culture and cores, and will not negotiate when you are at war.
- Religious zealots want to convert the country to their religion. They will convert provinces they occupy unless they are protected by a fort. Most, but not all zealots have the demand to change the state religion and most of these require that their religion is dominant. The dominant religion is the religion with the highest development in the country. They are most likely to come from provinces with an active missionary.
- Particularists are similar to peasants in that they want higher provincial autonomy and will raise autonomy on occupied provinces. They spawn in provinces with an accepted culture and no separatism. Accepting their demands will cost -20 prestige and increase autonomy on each affected province by 30%.
- Noble rebels are one of the stronger rebel type as they tend to have advanced units such as cavalry, and later on even artillery, making fighting them more costly than other types like the particularists or peasantry. They also demand more autonomy and will raise autonomy on occupied provinces.
- Pretender rebels want to install their leader to the throne and replace the current ruler (sometimes beneficial if their stats are significantly better than the current ruler). They are particularly dangerous for countries that are the senior member of a
personal union if they spawn in a junior partner. If pretender rebels enforce their demand on a junior partner, the personal union will end. Unlike most other rebel types, pretender rebels don't disband after losing a battle. They have to be stackwiped by the same rules which apply to enemy armies.
- They will never negotiate and need to take the capital to force their change
Different tags will have their own separatist factions based on culture, and each different religion its own religious faction.
All faction types[edit | edit source]
A rebel faction will have the culture and religion of the provinces in which it appears.
Most types of rebels:
- will stay within their home country
- will disband instead of retreating, so their armies only need to be defeated once
- will have leaders
- will disband after enforcing demands
Some types of rebels (usually separatists) want to become part of a different country. These have a "defection target" which is another country, which may or may not exist. If the rebels win, they and the provinces they occupy will defect to the target country.
Many types of rebels are made more likely by various country or province modifiers granted by events.
| Icon | Name | Composition | Factors | Occupation effects | Demands | Defect | Area | Notes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Peasants |  90% |
 10% |
 0% |
 80% |
Base: 2
|
+10% |
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Particularist rebels | 70% |
30% |
0% |
75% |
Base: 2
|
+10% |
|
No |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Separatist rebels |
60% |
30% |
10% |
 100% |
Base: 10
|
In provinces of rebels' culture:
|
|
5 years |
Provinces with target country's cores |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Revolutionary rebels |
60% |
30% |
10% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
If all of the following conditions are fulfilled:
then the revolution is spread to the province |
|
No | Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Noble rebels |
60% |
40% |
0% |
100% |
Base: 1
|
|
|
No |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Heretic rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
100% |
Is a
|
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Pretender rebels |
50% |
40% |
10% |
125% |
Base: 1
|
None |
|
No | Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Ronin rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
100% |
Only for
|
None |
|
No | Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Ikko-ikki rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
80% |
Base: 1
|
None |
|
No | Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Lollard heretics |
70% |
30% |
0% |
100% |
Base: 1
|
+10% |
|
10 years |
Catholic provinces |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Polish Magnate rebels |
50% |
40% |
10% |
120% |
Base: 1
|
|
|
No |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Catholic rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Protestant rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Reformed rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Orthodox rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Coptic rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Anglican rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Sunni rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Shia rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Ibadi rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Theravada rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Vajrayana rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Mahayana rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Confucian rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Shinto rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Hindu rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Sikh rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Animist rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Fetishist rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Totemist rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Nahuatl rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Mayan rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Inti rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Tengri rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Norse rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Alcheringa rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Jewish rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Zoroastrian rebels |
70% |
30% |
0% |
110% |
Base: 1
|
Unless the province is
|
|
10 years |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Cossack rebels |
60% |
40% |
0% |
95% |
Base: 14
|
|
Create an independent Cossacks nation. |
No |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Tribal rebels |
60% |
40% |
0% |
95% |
Base: 14
|
|
|
No |
Nation |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rebel faction progress[edit | edit source]
Each month a rebel faction has a chance to make progress towards a full-scale rebellion. The monthly chance that a rebel faction's progress will increase by 10% depends on the sum of positive unrest in all provinces associated with that faction and the country's level of Overextension; maxing out at 75% progress chance. Rebel monthly progress chance, positive unrest in all provinces associated with that faction and expected time until rebellion can be found in the tooltips for that faction's progress in the Stability and Expansion tab, and the Outliner. If the faction's progress reaches 100%, it will go into open rebellion and spawn troops in some of the provinces that had positive unrest.
The formula for the monthly percent chance of faction progress given X total unrest is:
- X - X2/100 (if X < 75)
- X/4 (if 75 < X < 300)
- Maximum of 75%, display is rounded down to the first decimal.
- Yes, the chance of progress for unrest between 50 and 100 is LESS THAN the chance at 50 and 100 unrest, with a low point of 18.75% at 75 unrest.
- If a country has more than 100.0% Overextension, then this base chance is multiplied by (1 + Overextension/50), still capped at 75%.
| Total Unrest | 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 100 | 100-300 | 300+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progress Chance | 0% | 9% | 16% | 21% | 24% | 25% | 24% | 21% | 20% | 22.5% | 25% | Unrest/4 % | 75% |
| Mean months until 10% progress |
N/A | 11.1 | 6.3 | 4.8 | 4.2 | 4 | 4.2 | 4.8 | 5 | 4.4 | 4 | 1/Progress Chance |
1.3 |
| Progress Chance at 101% Overextension |
0% | 27.2% | 48.3% | 63.4% | 72.5% | 75% | 72.5% | 63.4% | 60.4% | 68.0% | 75% | 75% | 75% |
If none of the provinces supporting a rebel faction has positive unrest, its accumulated progress will begin to decay by 10% per month thereafter. If it reaches 0%, the rebel faction will cease activity. If unrest is then increased for any reason, the faction will resume gaining progress towards rebellion.
It is possible to reduce a rebel faction's progress to 0 at any time by accepting their demands. This will also remove any rebel troops that faction has spawned. The demands are generally quite unpleasant, however, and impart various other penalties as well, so this is usually a very undesirable option unless the rebels have already rebelled, are on the verge of doing so or they have overwhelming numbers.
It is also possible to check the country's subject's rebellion progress by ticking the box next to the current national unrest on the rebellion's page.
Harsh treatment[edit | edit source]
Rebel progress can be reduced at a fixed rate of -30% through harsh treatment, at the cost of 
military power. Harsh treatment simply means using arrests, torture, executions and other forms of violent means to deal with the rebels and discourage anyone from joining and/or supporting them. This action will cost a base of between 50 to 200 points, scaling with the total development in provinces with negative unrest supporting a particular faction. The faction's progress must be at least 30% for harsh treatment to be available.
Making use of the harsh treatment action will produce 
absolutism (once the mechanic is unlocked). This is a powerful method to quickly gain absolutism during that age while reducing headaches from rebels. The cost of using Harsh Treatment can be significantly reduced through the Age of Splendor ability Harsher Treatment -50% (requires Mandate of Heaven), and a few mission trees have a Harsh Treatment discount -25% that can be "saved" for use during the Age of Absolutism. Combining these two elements can gain +1 absolutism from as little as 8 military points if the rebel faction it is used on is small.
The cost of harsh treatment can be reduced by the following:
Age of Absolutism ability 
Harsher Treatment: -50% (
Mandate of Heaven)
Hussite nations with the "Regular Defenestration" aspect: -33%- Orthodox nations with the "Icon of Eleusa" commissioned: -25% (
Third Rome) - Fraternité Ideals (tier 3) government reform: -25% (
revolutionary countries) - Fraternité Ideals (tier 2) government reform: -25% (revolutionary countries)
A Dynastic Order (tier 6) government reform: -20%- Pirate King (tier 5) government reform: -20% (
Pirate Republics)
|
Traditions | Ideas | Bonuses | Policies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| −50% |
|
— | — | — |
| −25% | — | — | — |
|
| −20% |
|
|
— | — |
| −15% | — |
|
— | — |
It is generally best to use harsh treatment as a temporary measure to forestall a rebellion to allow one to buy time to deal with the underlying unrest issue that is causing the rebel problem rather than using harsh treatment as a means of preventing all rebellions, as the military point cost can add up quickly, making it very costly over time. If the source of unrest is ticking down over time (such as the unrest caused by separatism), or will be removed at a known point in the near future (such as a missionary finishing converting a province), harsh treatment can prevent a future revolt by delaying the progress long enough for the underlying unrest problem to disappear. If the unrest will not or cannot be removed in a reasonable amount of time, it may be preferable to just let the rebels rise up and simply have your troops slay them if there are no other pressing threats to the nation. However, if you have enough modifiers that reduce the cost of harsh treatment, (and reductions in other maluses like separatism), then it becomes possible to combine harsh treatment with stationing troops and on the problem provinces to completely prevent a rebellion.
Provoke revolt[edit | edit source]
|
|
Available only with the Emperor DLC enabled. |
The provoke revolt ability allows that if rebels that have advanced to 50% they may be provoked into rising up immediately, however, provoking rebels causes them to appear 50% stronger than they would have usually. Rebels may only be provoked while at peace.
Active revolts[edit | edit source]
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 1.25. |
When a faction's progress reaches 100%, it will go into open rebellion and an uprising will be triggered which will spawn a stack of rebel troops in some of the provinces supporting it in order to attempt to enforce its demands. Most of the time they spawn in the highest dev province of that rebel faction which has positive unrest. But there is a random element to it and they can spawn in provinces which have more than 2/3 or the development of the highest dev province. If the province in which they spawn doesn't have enough supply limit for all the rebels, they will be split up into multiple stacks. All provinces associated with that faction which have positive unrest, even those that did not spawn troops, will get the modifier “Recent Uprising”[11] for 10 years[12], giving:
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Please help with verifying or updating this table. It was last verified for version 1.33. |
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−100 | Local unrest |
Rebels can also spawn via events. If this happens, they will immediately get troops on the map, regardless of what their prior faction progress was (if any) and the uprising will not have any effect on the existing progress. They function just like any other rebels.
One special case that can be encountered are 
pretender rebels. These can spawn not only via event(s) but also have a chance to when an heir with a weak claim succeeds to the throne in a monarchy, or if the monarchy's drops low enough. Otherwise, they only ever rarely exist as a faction gathering progress from unrest. If these rebels control the capital city for 36 months, they will install a new ruler, whose stats can be seen in the "Stability and Expansion" tab.
When a country annexes another in war, any and all remaining armies of the annexed country will become 
separatist rebels.[13]
Rebel spawn strength[edit | edit source]
The number of rebel regiments that will be spawned from an uprising depends on the total development of their associated faction's provinces and the military technology of the nation they spawned in. (Exception: If the rebels are separatists and the nation they want to join still exists, that nation's technology level is used for all calculations.) It is possible to see the current size of a rebellion by hovering over the rebellion progress, including how much each province is contributing to the rebellion. The exact calculation is[14]
![{\displaystyle {{\text{number of regiments}}=round\left[\left(5+0.1\cdot {\text{total development}}\right)\cdot (1+0.03\cdot {\text{technology level}})\cdot {\text{rebellion size}}\right]}}](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/png/3f2e36401ecb0d72d24f8eb75359c2d1e916ae68)
Rebel stacks have spawn size 1 unless they are spawned by an event that sets a larger size. The number of rebel artillery spawned is increased by 10% of the base at technology 11 and another 5% of the base at technology 16[15]. The numbers of infantry and cavalry is reduced accordingly.
Unfortunately for small countries, it is quite possible that a single uprising can spawn a rebel army with more regiments than their entire 
land force limit would permit them to have if they have annexed a significant number of provinces.
The morale of the rebels is
This is unaffected by national morale modifiers. Strangely, your national discipline modifiers are applied to rebels - so be careful when fighting your own rebels with attached troops from your subjects.
Rebel troop behavior and effects[edit | edit source]
Rebel stacks are hostile towards everything except for other rebel stacks of the same type. This means that they will attack anything that comes into contact with them, including even other rebels if they are of a different faction.
Rebel stacks will siege the provinces they spawn in until they surrender, idle several months in the province, then move on to another province and repeat the process. Non-separatist rebels may eventually siege arbitrary provinces that are not actually associated with their faction, especially once all their faction's provinces have already been occupied. The province will then change its rebel type to the sieging faction. This is usually beneficial in some cases because it can prevent separatist uprisings, but if all provinces of a rebel faction are occupied by different rebel factions, the rebels' progress percentage is instantly added to that of one of the occupying factions, which will cause an immediate uprising (even in the middle of the month) if the sum is 100% or more. This means that one uprising can subsequently trigger additional uprisings, escalating the situation.
If a province occupied by rebels is in a friendly zone of control, they will always move to a fort that protects that province next, else the province selection appears to be fairly random. This is an exception to the rule that separatists may not siege non-associated provinces.
If a province occupied by rebels is not in a friendly zone of control, or the rebels have successfully sieged a fort in a province, there are immediate effects depending on the rebel type:
- Peasant, particularist, Lollard, noble, or pretender rebels: Province gains +10 autonomy.
- Separatist rebels: +10 years of separatism (effective +5 unrest), unless the rebels had already occupied that province. They will also give their nation a core on the province, if it doesn't have one already.
- Religious rebels of a heretic or heathen religion, and the province did not follow the rebels' religion: Instant conversion to the rebels' religion, as well as −40% manpower, −33% tax income and +2 unrest for 2 years ("Forced Conversion" modifier). Active missionaries are also ejected and their progress is removed; usually, missionary progress is merely frozen until a province is unsieged. This makes religious rebels quite dangerous, but they can also be used as a tool for converting your country to another religion.
- Religious rebels of the state religion: −15% manpower and −15% tax income for 2 years ("Religious Violence" modifier). Notably, they do not convert provinces that do not follow the state religion.
- Heretic (not religious!) rebels: -40% manpower, −33% tax income, +2 unrest and +5 local autonomy for 2 years. Catholicism will gain +0.1% reform desire.
If an army starts to unsiege a province occupied by rebels, rebel stacks of the occupying faction may move to attack it. Otherwise, all stacks will stay mostly static after all applicable provinces have been sieged until the rebels break the country and their demands are enforced.
Siege specifics:
- Rebels don't get more than +1 from besieging Artillery bonus.
- They don't have siege ability.
Enforced demands[edit | edit source]
To enforce their demands non-separatist rebels must occupy the capital for 
2 years[16]. An army which is in the process of unsieging the capital does not delay nor prevent this.
Separatist rebels enforce their demands differently: If separatist rebels occupy a province, they will start a 5-year timer. If the province is not retaken in that time, that province will defect, or if the target country no longer exists, all the provinces associated with the separatist faction will declare independence and form a new nation, even if they are occupied by another rebel faction. An army which is in the process of unsieging a province does prevent this province from defecting individually, but if a country declares independence, because another province has reached its timer, it will take this province as well despite the siege.
There is an automatic warning when rebels are close to enforcing demands, but it will not trigger if foreign separatists (separatist rebels spawned in another country) have sieged a province in your country. There is also a progress meter below each rebel type, but it is not very accurate.
Since retaking a province from rebels resets its occupation timer, it is not actually necessary to immediately defeat the rebels if it is currently inconvenient (or not possible) to do so, or if you are hoping for allies or enemies to deal with them for you. It is, however, recommended to take care of separatists quickly, both to prevent provinces from defecting and to prevent them from adding more long-lasting unrest.
Break to rebels[edit | edit source]
Rebels break the country if all of the following conditions are fulfilled on a month tick:
- Rebels occupy more than half of the provinces (these can be multiple rebel factions)
- Rebels occupy at least one fort or the capital
- The country is at peace
The progress towards this is shown with the "rebels break country" meter in the "stability and expansion" tab.
When the country breaks to rebels, the following happens:
- All active rebel factions enforce their demands
- war exhaustion is set to 0
- stability is set to 0
- Most active disasters end[17]
Support for rebels[edit | edit source]
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 1.25. |
A diplomat can support existing rebel factions in other nations, increasing the chance they rebel. This is a covert action that can be performed by any country with 
administrative technology at least 3 (in 1444 this includes countries in all technology groups except for West African, Central African, and primitives). The effectiveness of supporting rebels can be increased by a number of ideas and policies.
Ideas and policies which increase rebel support efficiency:
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Traditions | Ideas | Bonuses | Policies |
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| +100% | — | — |
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| +50% | — |
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— |
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| +25% |
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— | — |
| +20% | — |
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— | — |
There is a Dithmarscher mission giving +30% Rebel support efficiency and Albanian mission giving +25% Rebel support efficiency
If there is more than one rebel group in the targeted country, then the funding country must choose which group to support. A country can only support one rebel faction in each target country.
Supporting rebels requires a spy network size of at least 60. It also requires a one-time monetary cost proportional to the size of the rebellious faction. Upon confirming the action, the supported rebel faction will get a base +10% per month increase to their chance of making progress towards an uprising for the next 5 years. Rebel support efficiency ideas modify this base chance; for example a country with +50% rebel support efficiency would increase the supported faction's chance of making progress by +15% per month. This does not actually change unrest in the affected country but rather directly affects the monthly progress chance, making it difficult to counter except by using harsh treatment. The percentage listed next to the name of the rebels is actually the sum of unrest for that faction, divided by 100. (So e.g. "0.10%" actually means 10 total unrest. At low values, you can multiply this value by ~100x to get their current approximate progress chance.)
Once an uprising occurs, supported rebels will behave like allied units of their sponsoring country, even if the sponsorship only began after the rebels spawned - but they are still hostile to the sponsor's allies and subjects. Any rebels that manage to declare independence while under foreign support will receive a relationship bonus towards the supporting country. If allied rebels cannot complete their objectives because the province they are trying to occupy is controlled by an ally, they will wander the countryside instead and siege random provinces while attacking anything they come into contact with.
Declaring war in support of rebels[edit | edit source]
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Available only with the Art of War DLC enabled. |
With the Art of War DLC, once the rebels have spawned, the supporting country receives the "Support Rebels" casus belli, allowing them to declare war to enforce the supported rebels' demands. The war will be called an Intervention War, and the war goal is to take the target country's capital. The war can continue on even if all the spawned rebels are slain, and provinces can be taken from them. The declaring country must accumulate 50% warscore to enforce the rebels' demands, and the player may get a call for peace if the opponent is already willing to agree with it.
Supported separatist rebels that break free (through an intervention war or otherwise) get an alliance and +200 opinion modifier with the country that supported them, if any are present.
Achievements[edit | edit source]
Strategy[edit | edit source]
The below is one of many player suggested strategies for Rebellion. Bear in mind, due to the dynamic nature of the game, it may unfold differently for other players.The most effective way to deal with rebels is to combat the root of the problem: keep unrest low by keeping stability high, do not let war exhaustion get out of hand, station troops (up to 20 regiments) in the province, and use appropriate decisions, advisors, etc.
To reduce unrest the most obvious is to make sure one's stability is high, preferably +2 or +3. This additional stability above 1 is costly in admin points unless one is lucky enough to gain a decision or event to do so cheaply or for free. An often overlooked, but very powerful and cheap modifier at provincial level, is to ensure a high 'Tolerance of the True Faith'. For example, if this tolerance is +8 it would completely offset 8 unrest, compare this to only gaining 1 to 3 from positive stability. It therefore makes sense to quickly convert newly acquired provinces and ensure they benefit from this tolerance modifier.
Overextension and war exhaustion also add up quickly to cause unrest in a province. Try to never exceed 99% overextension as additional penalties apply beyond that point. Any modifier to reduce war exhaustion is one of the most powerful in game, for example (i) being the Defender of the Faith (tier 2, 4 or 5), (ii) the 6th idea from Innovative Ideas, (iii) the 'Professional Diplomatic Corps' policy from Diplomatic & Quality or (iv) the 'Preparation Act' policy from Humanist & Defensive.
For dealing with newly conquered provinces, there are two main choices with local autonomy, raising it or lowering it. Each comes with its own positives and negatives:
- Lowering local autonomy immediately increases the amount of money and manpower a province provides, but this will add +10 unrest to the province for the next 30 years. Typically, this will trigger two rebellions over the 30-year time period taking into account the 10-year periods of −100 unrest from the Recent Uprising modifier after a rebellion happens. Sometimes it may not be possible to lower autonomy in a province if it is already at its minimum autonomy floor.
- Raising local autonomy immediately reduces the amount of money and manpower a province provides, but the −10 unrest it gives for 30 years will usually keep unrest low enough to prevent rebellions, barring additional sources of unrest (such as an active missionary, Dutch nationalism, etc.). Local autonomy normally ticks down over time (especially while at peace), so the value lost by raising local autonomy will be regained slowly over time. Separatism from a newly conquered province ticks down over a similar 30-year period, so its effects will mostly be gone by the time the effects of raising autonomy wear off.
It is not always possible to go entirely without unrest, but there is often a choice as to where the unrest is. A classic divide and conquer strategy can be very beneficial: spreading the unrest between several different rebel factions will keep them all weaker individually and thus make each individual one easier to deal with. When lowering autonomy, choose provinces with weak factions and be careful not to lower the autonomy in all provinces of a faction at the same time in order to keep the unrest at a non-threatening level. One united rebel faction with 25 unrest is a serious problem; five different factions with 5 unrest each are manageable.
If a large rebel faction makes progress such that they are close to a revolt, using harsh treatment on them can be useful unless it is certain they can be handled militarily. Remember that the cost of harsh treatment is based on the unrest in the associated provinces, so let the faction progress tick up to 75% or more, then apply all possible short term measures to reduce unrest such as moving troops to those provinces or reducing war exhaustion, before finally applying harsh treatment up to 3 times while it's cheap.
If an uprising occurs and it cannot be crushed or contained, it is always possible to accept their demands; this will likely be painful in the short term, but can be a better choice than allowing them to continue wreaking havoc and possible trashing most of your country in the process, as it does allow you to begin rebuilding sooner.
Lowering Autonomy as a Strategy[edit | edit source]
If the situation can afford manpower and economic cost of fielding units and reinforcing them, it is worth considering to lower autonomy of newly conquered provinces or even provinces that received autonomy as a result of events. Lowering autonomy increases the income and manpower gained from the provinces as well as increasing the rate of reform points that may be gained. Thus it is highly desirable to have low autonomy even at the cost of unrest which may spawn heretics, seperatists and estate-rebels if the armies can be afforded to take them out.
The times where this strategy may be undesirable is if the unrest is difficult to handle - for instance if the province is a lone island; or if the cluster of provinces are far away from the coming war where armies should not be distracted and prolong the war.
Accepting Rebel Demands for Desirable benefits[edit | edit source]
There are instances where accepting rebels' demands may be desirable despite the cost. Depending on the type of rebels, the cost may vary but ultimately worth considering.
Switching religion[edit | edit source]
Religious rebels enable switching religion except to paganism. They can be "force spawned" by sending a missionary to the desired religion present in a province. Missionaries raises unrest, over time, if the province is not converted, the rebels may spawn. Missionaries will never convert the province if missionary maintenance is set to zero. Let the rebels siege down provinces, converting provinces in the process before accepting their demands. To change the religion of a country via rebels the desired religion has to be the religion with the most development in the country. Switching religion is desirable if doing so will result in significant increase in religious unity. It is also a strategy to switch to a religion which confers great benefits like the Eastern Orthodoxy.
Switching the Monarch via Pretender Rebellion[edit | edit source]
Pretender rebels wishes to change the ruler, which may be desirable if the monarch skills of the pretender is better than the current ruler and the cost of enforcing demand is tolerable (i.e heir and consort dies for example.). Note that pretender rebel ruler's stats in the tooltip are NOT accurate in many cases in many game versions.
Raising Absolutism via Autonomy-Hungry Rebels[edit | edit source]
Accepting rebels that raises autonomy in stated provinces is also a valid strategy at the beginning of the age of absolutism, enabling the action of reducing autonomy and gaining 1 absolutism per reduction.
Footnotes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ See in /Europa Universalis IV/common/static_modifiers/00_static_modifiers.txt (Static modifiers#Unrest).
- ↑ The Great Peasants' War starts with the event The Great Peasants' War and ends either with the conclusion of the imperial incident “The Fate of the Peasantry” or after 20 years with the fallback event End of the Great Peasants' War. During this time the flag great_peasants_war_flag is set which has an impact on some rebels, the The Peasants' War disaster and some casus belli.
- ↑ From the russian event The Great Uprising!
- ↑ Unless the government has any of the following reforms: Papacy, Steppe Horde, Celestial Empire, Iqta, Daimyo, Appanage, Shogunate, Colonial Government, Native Tribe, Revolutionary Republic or Revolutionary State. Additionally a Tribal Federation, Feudal Theocracy, or Mamluk Government will not adopt Parliamentarism.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 the first of the mentioned estate which exists in the country is used. If none of them exist, all existing estates gain crownland.
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 The gained crownland is scaled by the relative share of the development of the province compared to the total development of the country.
- ↑ Unless it has one of the following reforms: Steppe Horde, Celestial Empire, Iqta, Independent Daimyo, Russian principality, Daimyo, Appenage, Shogunate, Elective Monarchy, English Monarchy, Sultanate of Rûm, Eyalet Government, Barbary Eyalet Government, Feudal Theocracy, Mamluk Government.
- ↑ Unless government is Theocracy, Native or Tribal, or has one of the following reforms: Celestial Empire, Iqta, Independent Daimyo, Russian Principality, Daimyo, Appanage, Shogunate, Elective Monarchy, English Monarchy, (Modernized/Reorganized) Ottoman Government, Sultanate of Rûm, Eyalet Government, Barbary Eyalet Government, Kalmar Union, Unified Kalmar Monarchy, Feudal Theocracy, Mamluk Government.
- ↑ Unless the government is Papacy, Steppe Horde, Celestial Empire, Iqta, Independent Daimyo, Daimyo, Appanage, Shogunate, Colonial Government, Native
- ↑ Unless it has the native government type or one of the following reforms: Papacy, Steppe Horde, Celestial Empire, Iqta, Independent Daimyo, Russian principality, Daimyo, Appenage, Shogunate, Colonial government, Siberian Native Council, Elective Monarchy, English Monarchy, (Modernized/Reorganized) Ottoman Government, Sultanate of Rûm, Eyalet Government, Barbary Eyalet Government, Kalmar Union, Unified Kalmar Monarchy, Tribal Federation, Feudal Theocracy, Mamluk Government.
- ↑ See in /Europa Universalis IV/common/static_modifiers/00_static_modifiers.txt (Static modifiers#Local autonomy).
- ↑ See in /Europa Universalis IV/common/defines.lua.
- ↑ See in the patch notes of 1.14.
- ↑ the values in the calculation are from /Europa Universalis IV/common/defines.lua:
REVOLT_SIZE_DEVELOPMENT_MULTIPLIER = 0.1, -- Multiplied with the province's development REVOLT_SIZE_BASE = 5, REVOLT_TECH_IMPACT = 0.03, -- % each tech increases size of rebels by this percent. REVOLT_TECH_MORALE = 0.01, -- 1% per tech level
- ↑ The technologies are defined in REBEL_ARTILLERY_INCREASE_LEVEL_1_TECH and REBEL_ARTILLERY_INCREASE_LEVEL_2_TECH and the size increases are in REBEL_ARTILLERY_INCREASE_LEVEL_1_SIZE and REBEL_ARTILLERY_INCREASE_LEVEL_2_SIZE. The second number replaces the first and doesn't add to it.
- ↑ From /Europa Universalis IV/common/defines.lua:
YEARS_UNTIL_BROKEN = 2 -- _CDEF_YEARS_UNTIL_BROKEN_; Years until rebel held capital results in broken country.
- ↑ The following disasters are the exception and don't end when breaking to rebels, so some of them end when specific rebel types enforce their demands: Castilian Civil War, The Fall of Majapahit, Revolution, French Revolution, Infantes of Aragon, English Civil War, Internal Power Struggle, Janissary Coup, Eyalet Rebellion, Pasha Decadence, Plot of the Harem, Decline of Mali, War of the Roses
| Concepts | Corruption • Governing capacity • Overextension • Power projection • Rebellion • Regions • Stability • States and territories |
| Court | Advisors • Consort • Monarch power • National focus • Ruler • Ruler personalities |
| Estates and Factions | Factions • Estates (Base estates (Burghers • Clergy • Nobility) • Cossaks estates (Cossacks • Dhimmi • Tribes) • Dharma estates (Brahmins • Jains • Marathas • Rajputs • Vaishyas) • Domination estates (Janissaries • Eunuchs)) |
| Events and Missions | Decisions • Disasters • Events • List of decisions • Missions |
| Goverment | Absolutism • Culture • Government • Government rank • Modifiers • Policies |
| Province mechanics | Autonomy • Buildings • Canal • Capital • Core • Province |
| Religions | Christian denominations • Eastern denominations • Muslim denominations • Other denominations • Pagan denominations • Religion |
| Specific governments | Native council • Parliament • Steppe hordes |
| Colonisation | Exploration • Colonisation • Colonial nation • Tariffs • Trade company |
| Economy | Debase currency • Development • Economy • Privateering • Production • Raid coasts • Tax |
| Trade | Trade • Trade company • Trade goods • Trade nodes |
| Diplomacy | Diplomacy • Diplomatic feedback • Envoy • Espionage |
| Other | Defender of the Faith • Great power • Hegemon • Prestige • Regions |
| Political structures | Emperor of China • Holy Roman Empire • Papacy |
| Relations | Personal union • Relations • Subject nation |
| Ideas and Policies | Idea groups • National ideas • Policies |
| Ages and Institutions | Ages • Institutions |
| Innovativeness and Technology | Innovativeness • Technology |
| Declaring war | Alliance • Casus belli • Claim • Peace • War exhaustion • Warfare |
| Defense | Fort • Zone of control |
| Land warfare | Army • Condottieri • Discipline • Drilling • Land units • Land warfare • Manpower • Militarisation • Mercenaries • Professionalism |
| Naval warfare | Flagship • Naval blockade • Naval doctrine • Naval units • Naval warfare • Navy • Sailors |
| Other | Force limit • Military leader • Military tradition |
