PPV, Ground troops & unrest

[Rich.h (OP)]

In my current game many of my colonies are suffering from a lack of ppv and so are generating unrest. These colonies already have small groups of garrison battalions on site which then reduce the unrest to zero. However when I design ships for system protection etc I try to take into account the ppv value and it seems like I either need masses of vessels or ones with huge weapon systems to be effective.

Is the unrest a genuine form of unrest or can it be compared to a town or city that does not have adequate police/fire protection and thus suffers? In this same vein are my garrison battalions reducing unrest by enforcing martial law etc or are they doing so by being an effective police force and making citizens feel safe?

I have considered a pdc but the problem again becomes weapon systems etc. How do folks here go about resolving the demand vs supply of ppv value for planets?

[Barkhorn]

The unrest is genuine unrest.  PPV doesn't matter until around 10 million population.  I find the best way to provide PPV is to just build some dirt cheap PDC's, armed with a bunch of ICBM silos.  PPV doesn't care if the silo's work, only that they're there, so the PDC can be nothing but a ton of ICBM's, no fire control, no magazines.

Kinda gamey I guess, but really PPV doesn't make much sense anyways.  Only your frontier colonies or border worlds should care about PPV.

[JacenHan]

Depending on how you RP, it could be any one of those things. I think of it as genuine unrest, as in "My planet is not well protected against aliens/space pirates/various things out to get me". Of course, the average citizen isn't well-versed in military tactics, so a PDC with weaponry, but no fire controls or active sensors provides PPV.

Took too long writing this and someone replied before me. Oh well.

[Barkhorn]

I find it very hard to believe the unrest is due to lack of police, as if that was the case, you'd need PPV as soon as you had people on the planet.  I live in a really small town, about 2000 people, and even we have police.  So a single cryostasis chamber load of 10,000 colonists should also require police, if PPV actually is just traditional police.

Another advantage about cheap PDC's is that they are so easy to build and maintain.  You can easily get 100 PPV in a single prefab PDC component, which can be built basically instantly by a single construction factory or brigade.  In fact, a good cargo ship could probably even carry the minerals you need to assemble it.

[Theodidactus]

you can interpret it as a more structural unrest. Manufacturing doesn't go where the poobah orders because the poobah's starships are very far away. So it's not anarchy, it's corrupt or disobedient governors.  Of course, this isn't right given the term (unless you want to put it in quotes..."protection" points). Interpreting it this was gave me the inspiration for my current campaign.

[Sharp]

It's sort of silly that it works for the whole system. A single ICBM base on the moon which can only hit it's own population (if any) can be enough PPV to settle like 50 million on Mars and other colonies. It's a hard task to get it to work in a realistic manner.

I would like it so it takes into account overall general military force and history as well but does depend on your government type so maybe some expansionist empire might be ok with low PPV in their home system because they have strong forces in the bordering systems, the more enemy activity closer to the heart of the empire the more PPV requirements go up and if there is a stealthy strike or huge loss in nearby system then PPV requirement goes crazy high as citizens demand immediate protection from the perceived threat.