Strategy Guides/Saffron Fields

Strategy 1 By Anonymous

Tips: since there are only 8 remote zones and only 3 of them are mountainous, insurgents are most likely to spawn there. Try to block them there and destroy them at a good point of the game.

Also wait for Inflation to go down gradually over time before buying too many things (Buy more = more inflation) Inflation increases cost of all stuff.

If more than 2 insurgents spawn from nowhere, Restart (You may try destroy them though)

1. Start a game of Saffron Fields with Normal Difficulty
2. Start in ANY CITY NEXT TO RIVER
3. Fund Service discussions, Water Supplies, School Regeneration, Medical Supplies and Core Healthcare.
4. You will get some money after. fund Development Discussions and Livestock Development.
5. Fund Infrastructure Discussions, Electricity 1 and Telecoms 1 ASAP
6. District Representatives, PR Media Office and Outreach Office should also be funded.
7. Now you will have some stability and insurgents should be noticed. You NEED to go for a lot of Military stuff now.
8. Get Deploy Coalition Soldiers 1 and Deploy National Solders 1.
9. While the troops are training, get Garrisons and Surveillance Drones and Airstrikes
10. Use the Coalition Soldiers to stop them from going into Urban areas. (Stay in zones NEXT TO THEM instead of attacking, This stops insurgents from going further.)
11. Get Deploy Coalition Soldiers 2 and at this time or before, your national solders should be ready. DEPLOY THEM ALSO
12. Get anti-corruption 1 to 4 ASAP (Or even earlier)
13. once you get 3 to 4 solders, start attacking by putting troops in insurgent areas. Use the remaining troops to block their escape routes as mentioned above.
14. Repeat step 13 and destroy the insurgents in the mountains. If the Peace Deal event happens, Threaten them until the chance of them refusing to talk goes under 30%.
15. When the peace deal goes, keep funding Civilian Initiatives and anything that increases support level and Reputation.
16. If a peace deal popup appears, always do threatening unless objection rate goes over 50%.
17. when the peace deal is done, accept it for a instant win or refuse it for more Reputation (if it is under 70)
18. Done you Won!

Please edit if you found any problems and thank you for reading. 5 stars should be easily got also.

Strategy 2 By TheBolter1

This strategy works for all difficulties with the Civil Servant. However, you should familiarize yourself with encircling the insurgents before trying Brutal and Mega-Brutal.

Advisors: Doctor, Celebrity, Chef, Tribal Elder, Investigative Reporter, and Censor.

1. Start your campaign in the largest city (Southwest of the map)
2. Fund District Representatives, Efficient Purchasing, Service Discussion, School Regeneration, Literacy Movement, and Region Census, in that order, to minimize inflation.
3. Wait for $20+, and fund Medical Supplies, Infrastructure Discussions, and Highway 1.
4. Fund Core Healthcare when inflation drops below 5%.
5. Fund PR & media office 1, and Anti-Corruption 1. Now save up money and wait for the insurgency to start.
6. When the "insurgency rumored" pop-screen appears, do not start funding military initiatives. Instead, go to the Operations Screen to see the local concerns. Do this every in-game-year. If you see a concern with over 50% decrease in support or a concern appearing in more than 3 zones, the strategy becomes somewhat more complex. Refer the last section.
7. After softening the concerns, buy 1 coalition soldier (blue), Interpreters and Guides, and 1 national soldier (green) if your corruption impact on support is below 5%.
8. Deploy 1 coalition to the zone with insurgents, if it is not one of the mountainous zones. If it is, then wait for the insurgents to attack first.
9. Once Coalition 1 is in combat, deploy Coalition 2, as well as Human Terrain System if you have the money. Deploy it next to the first one.
10. Buy Anti-Corruption 2, and National 1 if you have not done so. By this point your HQ zone should be stable (non-MB).
11. Take a close look at the remote zones. If you see vague ? marks on the map, send the second coalition soldier there, if it is not an insurgency zone. The insurgency camp will be revealed.
12. Fund Local militias, and Anti-Corruption 3.
13. Keep delaying the insurgents with your 2 coalition forces. Once the insurgents start attacking 2 zones at once, buy coalition 3, and pull your soldiers back. Use the 3 soldiers to form a blockade that extends from the central river to the edge of the map. This way we can create a stalemate, to buy time for zones to stabilize and nationals to train.
14. Repeat step 6.
15. When your first national is close to being trained, buy Garrisons. Immediately build it once the Garrison pop-up appears. Deploy your National behind the blockade line. Then buy all initiatives that stem from Interpreters and Guides.
16. Buy Anti-Corruption 4, and National 2.
17. Wait. If you reached this far, then it's only a matter of time and care before you win.
18. When the coalition soldiers want to withdraw, pick "Long extension" for the first and second event, "Short Extension" if the unit is fighting, and Send home otherwise.
19. Buy National 3, Police forces, followed by Corruption Purge 1, once National 2 is finished training.
20. Repeat Step 6.
21. If the "Foreign Enemy Supports Insurgents" event appears, buy Foreign Relations Office (under the "Government" tab), and pick "Subtle Pressure". The chance of success will increase over time.
22. Buy National Travel Logistics, national 4, followed by both of the arms upgrades.
23. Throughout steps 15-22, gradually replace coalition soldiers with Nationals, in the blockade.
24. Once all the zones behind the blockade line are stable, buy Airstrikes, Rapid rotation 1, Heavy ordnance, drones, and Rapid drone rotation if you have the money.
25. Any contacts with the insurgency leader before this point should be rejected, unless the reject option has chances of "significant" or "catastrophic" reduction in support level.
26. Start striking at the insurgents. Use the extra national unit to push, and keep the blockade. Stabilize the newly captured zones before continuing.
27. If the insurgency contact event appears, reject, unless the chance of failure of "try to talk" is smaller than 5%.
28. (MB only) As you continue, there will be a pop-up saying that "the insurgents have launched a desperate attack on (zone name)." When this happens, buy the remaining 2 coalitions, and chase the insurgents behind your lines towards the blockade line, where you can use the garrisons and extra national unit to encircle and destroy them. If they are weak (<3 strength), then ignore them as your police and militia forces will get rid of them.
29. For the peace talks, always pick the option that increases your reputation. When it is complete, check the amount of insurgents left ("Operations" tab). If there are fewer than 10, sign the treaty. Otherwise, pick the second option. Tip: If you don't care about stars, you can agree regardless and claim your victory.
30. Once the treaty is signed, buy Outreach offices, Universal Justice, and Democratic Transitions, to increase reputation. Now you can enjoy your 5 stars.

Thank you for reading, and don't hesitate to put in clarifications or ask questions in the comments.

--Countering Concerns:

• If the concern is a service one(water, healthcare): If you have never funded an initiative in that line, fund the first 2. Otherwise, fund the entire line.
• If the concern is "lack of jobs", which is the most common kind, fund Development discussions, followed by Bank for urban zones, and Livestock for rural zones. Ignore if the concern comes from a remote zone.
• If the concern is Telecoms, Electricity, Roads (MB only) or Security (MB only), fund the level 1 initiative in that line. If that's not sufficient to silence the concern, fund the level 2 one.