A City with 5 Citizens, a Pagoda (+2 Happiness), Colosseum (+2 Happiness) and Circus (+2 Happiness) can only generate 5 Happiness. Cities may not create more Happiness than there are Citizens in a City. Happiness-generating buildings like the Circus, Pagoda, Colosseum, and Stadium generate what is known as Local Happiness. Regardless, taking on a new City through War, whether through conquest or a Peace Treaty, can instantly make a major impact on your Civilization's Happiness level.

Puppet Cities are not Occupied, though Cities you Raze do count as Occupied until they are completely burned down. Building a Courthouse will make the Unhappiness go back to that of a normal City. Citizens in Occupied Cities (any City acquired through Trade Deals or Peace Treaties that is Annexed without a Courthouse) will produce 1.33 Unhappiness per Citizen. Therefore, utilizing means of acquiring Happiness is essential to keep your Cities growing, as is stopping growth if you are about to experience Unhappiness. As it grows, it will produce more and more Unhappiness, +1 per new Citizen. So, founding a City will immediately produce 4 Unhappiness. Each City you found will produce 3 Unhappiness, and +1 per unit of Population. No one City ever experiences Unhappiness alone - the Unhappiness it generates adds to the Global total. Going into the negative by even one point results in Unhappiness penalties which are Empire-wide. Unhappiness is subtracted from the Happiness that your Civ produces.

This Guide's focus will be to first help you understand where Happiness/Unhappiness come from, then teach you all the different methods of acquiring Happiness and managing Unhappiness in order to avoid penalties and keep your Cities growing. Sink too far and Rebels may pop up in your lands, or, far worse, you could lose Cities to another Civilization once Ideologies are chosen. Having a negative Happiness score results in Unhappiness and greatly slowed City Growth, Production, and Combat Penalties for your Military. Happiness is an essential resource in Civ 5 which allows Cities to grow and Empires to enter Golden Ages. Civ 5 Happiness Guide Golden Ages & Managing Unhappiness in Your Empire Civ 5's Happiness allows Cities to grow and Empires to have Golden Ages

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