A difficulty I'm having with influence...

Hello. I've been playing the game enough to get the feel of it, but a recent problem has me frustrated - namely, the influence necessary to take planets.

I've taken planets before with influence successfully, so I thought the same would hold true in a large game I've been playing for a couple days now. It did, until I encountered a Dominion of Korx and an Altarian planet (That's two planets) close enough together that a single influence starbase would overlap both of them.

As you would expect, I built one in that fortuitous place, and upgraded it heavily. Soon, both planets had the little red skull-and-crossbones symbol that meant they would fall under my domain, as well as being within my 'boarder' of influence. So I waited.

...And I waited...

...And I'm still waiting.

I upgraded that station so much that, according to my intel, I had nine times the culture score than their worlds - taking a world with influence should only take four times as much, correct? It's been many, many turns since the red skull and crossbones appeared, and neither nation has built any counter-influence structures in the area. I'm at war with the Korx and allied with the Altians, yet neither planet defects.

In fact, in that time, I somehow managed to convert a Korx planet I couldn't even see! I've researched to the end of the Influence tech and built every influence boosting upgrade on my station (Which definetly overlaps both worlds). I've tried looking in the manual for an explination, but have found none, so I have come here.

Tell me, is it simply a matter of time that I'm underestimating? A few more turns to turn them? Is there perhaps some sort of Influence related glitch I was unaware of? I'm using a custom race with influence bonuses as one of their racial abilites, as well, if that's any help. Any explination about this situation would be appreciated, thank you.
5,877 views 12 replies
Reply #1 Top
From what I've seen in other threads once the influence ratio is above 4.00 on a planet and the skull icon appears there will be a "roll" to flip the planet every turn. I've also seen speculation that the happiness and maybe morale? of a planet can affect this roll as well.

I've personally never had too much luck flipping planets due to influence. I've won influence victories without flipping planets and just by having >80% of the map within my borders.
Reply #2 Top
My thanks, if random chance plays any role in this situation then the problem is explained! (I have legendarily poor luck when rolling for things - when playing Risk on the PS2, the game console at the end of the game reported I had the statistically lowest rolling average ever!)
Reply #3 Top
i just have a problem keeping my appoval up it is like i can't stop it from going down and then i have to put down my tax rate to keep it up and as always my home planetends up at 40% and i can'tget it up. help.
Reply #4 Top
Approval is different than influence. Lower your tax rate or build entertainment buildings on your planet to increase approval.
Reply #5 Top
Or gather moral resources, or, almost always the problem, remove all the farms you're building. Or build an appropriate ratio of farms to entertainment.

Or, if you're good with research, pop down the entertainment tree. It gives straight bonuses, plus the upgraded buildings.
Reply #6 Top
Dolash- There's something else to consider... Do the planets have the re-education building on them? The one that keeps a planet from revolting? That'll do it, I beleive.
Reply #7 Top
From the beta patch notes:

+ Planets on the verge of defecting are more likely to defect.

So it would seem to be a "random event" as suspected. Which is rather annoying.

I had a similar situation as the O.P., only my cultural ratio was 24 or 25 to 1. The way those numbers make sense to me, is that there are 24 or 25 citizens who consider themselves to really be part of my empire for every citizen that feels loyalty to the flag there. And this went on for ~50 turns before I grew frustrated and just declared war to take it.... at which point those very same citizens took up arms and fought against me.

Doesn't make much sense to me. There should be a hard ratio, something along the lines of 10:1, at which point you flat-out always get the bloody world to flip.
Reply #8 Top
Is there not a building one can have that prevents defections? Might that be causing it?
Reply #9 Top
Re-education centers prevent that planet from revolting, but I'm pretty sure that each civ can only have one...
Reply #10 Top
propaganda spending do anything ? Though at some point even 25:1 seems absurd that the government can keep a hold of their people.
Reply #11 Top
Approval is different than influence. Lower your tax rate or build entertainment buildings on your planet to increase approval.


So what then is the difference between "approval" and "happiness"?

I wondered if entertainment improvements were meant for squares with bonuses to approval
Reply #12 Top
Having played a heavily cultural strategy before and after the 1.1 Beta, I can tell you that deffections happen much more often in the new patch.