What does Monarch popularity do?

[Seabody]

My Queen has just maxed her popularity (and completed the relevant achievement!).
What benefit does this have to her?
(Please have something to do with annexing territories!)

[Frozenoj]

I'm really not sure, to be honest. I know that how popular you are changes where the green/red bar for the village is when you vote/propose edicts... but I'm not sure what effect that has on the game.

[Seabody]

I read somewhere it just increases sims bowing to you. I hope that's wrong - I'm annexing territories now and I hope it has something to do with that!

[Shihuacao]

It has nothing to do with annexing territories.

[Carl]

This is a good question. I wondered that myself and I'm a little disappointed to hear it might only be the bowing. Most of the time, we're not playing the Monarch anyway! It would be interesting if someone discovered it got the Village on your side more often when passing Edicts, but that would have limited use in itself. I myself didn't notice any such thing, but it was often easy to sway the adviser to vote my way. So we could get that popularity through edicts or paying money for people's little projects when they come for an audience, but it serves no real purpose.

[samoht04]

My Monarchs often end up with Maxed Popularity with the Village but I am a good monarch you know.  I don't know if it is to do with Monarch Popularity.

[Seabody]

Mine got maxed popularity from holding court while my Spy was trying to eavesdrop on a Prince's Bodyguard (I think it's the Effenmont annex quest.)

[Chuckles_82]

Popularity increases when you grant the people something they like while holding court. Eg, they like you more if you sponsor the kingball match, if you lend them the money for their 'groceries'. Other ones need a little more discretion. Choose Galamand for best Kingball player to increase popularity, and when the person complains about their neighbour's vulgar shrubbery, choose 'fire seems bad...'. When they want to go whale hunting, choose 'Your Whale is Fail'. You get a message after each one, so you can see if your popularity goes up. Once it goes up enough, you will be 'universally adored', then shortly after that it will max out.

[_alphaBeta_]

My Queen has just maxed her popularity (and completed the relevant achievement!).
What benefit does this have to her?
(Please have something to do with annexing territories!)

Where are you seeing something that tells you what the popularity even is?

Question remains: What game aspect does it actually affect? Is it referring to the loyalty of the village? LTR value with people? Social interactions?

[Figwit]

There is an award you can get for maximum popularity.

I am interested to see what it affects as well.  I always have a benevolent monarch anyway but it does get difficult.  In my present game my monarch is quite poor.  I dread the petitions as they will drain even more of his money.  All my other heroes seem to be gaining money but not him.

[Chuckles_82]

Hi Figwit, I find that by granting any request under $50 simoles, or even $100 is sufficient to gradually increase the monarch's popularity. You can work on decree spree at the same time this way Of course, granting them all would probably make it go up faster (bar a few - if you refuse the whale hunt, your popularity goes up, and of course, refuse the request for money to build a room that drowns out screams... most of them make sense which are good).

[Figwit]

I haven't seen the one that drowns out screams.  How funny. 

I usually agree to the whale hunt.

Most times I grant all the petitions but this Ambition I am going have to keep a rein on the purse strings.  My monarch really is very poor.  I can't seem to get him any money.  How embarrassing that he is poorer than his subjects.

[Chuckles_82]

Bear meat and other meat from hunting sells fairly well. If you get the daily responsibility to hunt a bear, head off to the forest fresh and well fed, and add it to the queue 8 times (will only work before you complete the responsibility, so you have to do them all at once). Plus, for every time your people petition for a kingball match, rather than sponsoring it, charge admission, and you will GET $1000. Once you have maxed your popularity, you can take the money from the peasant when they find it on the farm too. Other ideas are, when you play another hero who makes LOTS of money, like the blacksmith or merchant, you drag and drop expensive items into their inventory and then sell them when you play the monarch again. That way it is VERY easy to make money. Plus, stretching quests out as long as you can and hunting and stuff in between helps get plenty of money. My monarch had close on 100k after only a few quests.

The one with the guy who wants to torture people (not the witch one), choose the button that says 'riiiight...' and the monarch suggests bringing up the ideas with the constable. They then say that they might have to have the constable over for dinner...

[Figwit]

Thanks Chuckles.  Lots of good ideas there.  I am such a hoarder that I never thinking of selling the meat.  I do share it out though with my other sims - the ones that can't hunt.  How do you know when you have maxed your popularity?

[Chuckles_82]

When you are close to maxing your popularity, you will have just passed a decree that made your popularity go up. It says this on the tab at the side, and it will say 'your pulblic now universally adore you' or something like that. Then shortly after, if you keep it positive, you will get the achievement as soon as you max popularity. There is no bar like for the priests, as far as I know, but if there were it would go something like this:

|---univerally loathe you | sweeping unpopularity | dislike you | like you | quite popular | soaring approval | universally adore you ---|

I'm not sure if that's exactly right, but it works like the smiley system basically. I'll update it later if neeed be, as I'm currently playing my monarch.

Edit: Even though it costs a lot, if you sponsor the game, instead of charging admission, your popularity 'massively increases'. I went from only just 'quite popular' to maxed by doing this. I don't know if it works out cheaper than granting them in dribs and drabs, but once you have the achievement you can go back to taking their money and not granting any of them. Until we find out if there is  use for popularity other than not having to listen to the sims booing you - but then, that gives you a good excuse to send them to the pit