really?

[Kamiyama01]

I created a custom game where I played as Liir against the hivers. I made a cease fire with them, and focused on researching technology while I built up my forces.

I started making fleets of dreadnaughts and all the people on my planets started killing themselves off by the millions, and then my fleets turned against me.

This is gay. Is there a setting to turn this off? Its not even realistic. Building a powerful military increases your ability to control a people, not weaken it. I could understand them overthrowing me if I had no military, that would just make more sense.

Its just frustrating to finally get that far in the game, research all those techs, save all this money, build all these ships, and then my people commit self-inflicted genocide... Come on, really?

[Darkice-of-doom]

the thing u talking about sound like AI rebelion and it some time happen after u reseach artificial intelligence

and if u have a bad econemy u ppl will get mad also and if u dont have any more space on the planet that can all so cause tha problem u need to keep ur ppl happy

[Runt]

Yeah, it's either Via Damasco (AI Rebellion) or the Puppet Master. You'd be acutely aware of the Puppet Master if it was the direct cause, so it must be an AI Rebellion. They can occur while you're researching any of the AI technologies or when you first make contact with another rogue AI. All ships with AI command sections will immediately be taken over by the AI, several planets will turn against you, and all bonuses granted by the AI will be removed.

Researching AI Virus will stop the rebellion, but you won't get the bonuses back or be able to build AI command sections again unless you research AI Slaves as well. Any time you research AI technologies, it's well worth researching AI Virus/Slaves in short order to crush any rebellions before they start. Whether or not you rolled it is another question.

The AI and Bio-weapon technologies both always have a chance of going horribly wrong for you due the potential of the techs to give you a solid edge over your opponents. It provides something to consider before simply researching it, or at the very least take precautions to limit any damage such as not using AI command sections extensively until you have AI Slaves (I think that prevent rebellions from ever occurring, but I'm not 100% sure), or limiting space travel to prevent the spread of any plagues while researching bio-weapons.

The Puppet Master can indirectly cause your AI to rebel as well, as if it's not defeated over a planet, it will convert it to a rogue AI. That AI can then go on to cause rebellions.

Low Morale can cause civilian populations to rebel, but I don't believe they take any ships with them. It's still well worth keeping an eye on your colonies' morale, since the last thing you need in the middle of a war is planets trying to break away.

As for realism, yes it is realistic for colonies to try and break away. Having a powerful military doesn't increase your ability to control people, especially when it's those same people in control of those warships. Without the support of the people, sooner or later whoever is in charge will be replaced, one way or another. Never throughout history has a military force been able to maintain absolute control over any people, and to quote Star Wars, "The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers." People tend to like enough military presence that they feel safe from external threats, but not so much that they feel oppressed.

That said, you don't represent a military dictator anyway, just whoever happens to be in charge at the time, be it a council, Emperor or a commander of the fleet. So you simply can't control your people by military means (unless you count murdering everyone on a break away colony as controlling them). Nor does the amount of military you have play any part about the people's feelings, just your performance both as an administrator and as a commander. Keep a surplus in the bank account and win battles, and they'll like you. Remain in deficit or lose colonies and fleets, and morale will plummet and worlds will begin to think that they're better off on their own.