Rome: Total War Remastered brings back the glory of one of the most beloved strategy games in PC gaming history, but with updated visuals and a modernized interface. However, some core mechanics remain as challenging as ever none more frustrating or misunderstood than squalor. In this remastered version, squalor continues to be a persistent issue that can cripple your empire from within if not managed properly. It affects public order, causes unrest, and can even lead to rebellions. Understanding how squalor works, what causes it, and how to control it is essential for long-term success in your Rome: Total War Remastered campaigns.
What Is Squalor in Rome: Total War Remastered?
Squalor represents the negative effects of overpopulation and urban decay within your cities. It is one of the factors that influence public order, alongside things like taxation, garrison size, culture, and entertainment buildings. If squalor rises unchecked, it can tip a city into disorder or rebellion, costing you valuable income and forcing you to divert military resources to restore control.
Unlike simple unrest, squalor cannot be easily fixed with a single solution. It builds gradually and often gets worse the more prosperous and populated a city becomes. This makes it a unique challenge: how do you grow your cities and economy without making them unmanageable due to squalor?
How Squalor Works Mechanically
In Rome: Total War Remastered, squalor is mainly driven by population size. Each city has a threshold where squalor starts to significantly impact public order. As the population grows, squalor increases proportionally. It’s represented as a percentage penalty to happiness, and it can eventually become the dominant source of unhappiness in a settlement.
The main formula for squalor includes:
- Base squalor from buildings and population size
- Squalor modifiers from governors, traits, or effects
- Mitigating effects from buildings that improve sanitation or city planning
The more people you have, the more squalor your city produces. This can seem counterintuitive shouldn’t a growing city be a good thing? In the game’s logic, rapid population growth strains infrastructure, and unless you balance that with development and management, it leads to decay.
Buildings That Reduce Squalor
Controlling squalor in Rome: Total War Remastered involves building the right infrastructure to counterbalance population growth. Several buildings help reduce squalor directly or indirectly:
- Sewers, Aqueducts, and Public Baths These are the primary anti-squalor buildings. As you upgrade your city, each level provides increasing sanitation bonuses.
- Temples Some temples provide happiness and squalor-reducing effects. Choosing the right temple based on faction and location matters.
- Governors’ Buildings Structures like forums and governors’ villas provide administration bonuses, which help manage unrest, including squalor.
Balancing economic and military structures with sanitation buildings is critical. Many players fall into the trap of focusing too heavily on income-generating buildings, only to see their cities collapse from within due to poor public health.
Population Control Methods
Because squalor is tightly tied to population size, one effective strategy is to limit how fast your cities grow. You don’t always want to max out farms and health buildings early, as these rapidly boost population. Instead, a more measured approach can save you trouble down the line.
Strategies for managing population growth include:
- Limit farming upgrades Higher-level farms significantly boost population growth, which increases squalor. Upgrade only when necessary.
- Avoid building health bonuses early Buildings like herbalists or health shrines boost growth, which sounds good but makes squalor rise faster if not balanced.
- Use extermination or enslavement When conquering large cities, choosing to exterminate or enslave drastically lowers population and resets squalor temporarily.
It’s counterintuitive, but in Rome: Total War Remastered, a smaller, manageable city is often more valuable than a massive, chaotic metropolis. Sustainable growth is better than rapid expansion followed by collapse.
The Role of Governors and Traits
Governors play an essential role in managing squalor and public order. Assigning the right character to govern a city can make a huge difference in whether it prospers or declines.
Important traits and retinues to look for include:
- Administrator Reduces squalor and improves management efficiency.
- Public Order bonuses Traits that boost happiness can offset squalor’s effects.
- Tax management skills Lower taxes reduce unrest, giving more room to handle squalor-driven penalties.
Characters with poor traits can worsen squalor problems. For example, a corrupt or lazy governor might increase disorder or fail to manage public projects effectively. Always check your governor’s profile before assigning them to high-risk cities.
Taxation and Happiness Balance
Tax rate settings have a direct impact on public order. High taxes make the population unhappy, which adds to squalor-induced unrest. In cities with already high squalor, lowering taxes can provide temporary relief while you build sanitation structures or wait for other solutions to take effect.
It’s a balancing act between maximizing income and keeping order. Often, it’s better to accept lower income for a time than to risk revolt and military intervention in your own cities.
When to Let a City Revolt
Sometimes, no matter what you do, a city with massive squalor is beyond saving. In such cases, letting it revolt might be the best strategic option. Once the rebels take over, you can recapture it with a fresh start.
This method comes with risks and costs, such as population loss and damaged buildings, but it can reset squalor and restore order. Make sure to garrison nearby forces ready to retake the settlement when the time comes.
Long-Term Strategy and Planning
Winning in Rome: Total War Remastered requires planning beyond military conquest. Squalor is a slow-burning threat that can undo years of growth if ignored. To maintain a stable empire, you must:
- Invest in anti-squalor infrastructure early and consistently
- Balance city upgrades with population control
- Assign competent governors with positive management traits
- Respond quickly to unrest with tactical tax adjustments and garrisons
Every city in your empire should be developed with a long-term vision. Focus not just on immediate gains but on sustainability. Squalor punishes short-sighted expansion, making it a constant strategic consideration throughout the game.
Squalor in Rome: Total War Remastered may not be as flashy as large-scale battles or diplomatic maneuvering, but it’s one of the most important mechanics to master. It forces you to think like a true ruler managing people, infrastructure, and resources carefully over time. By understanding how squalor develops and implementing smart, sustainable policies, you can keep your empire stable and prosperous. The most successful Roman generals were not only warriors, but also engineers and administrators. In this way, managing squalor is not just a game mechanic it’s part of the true spirit of ruling an empire.