even though the map shows it snowing everywhere, we get thunderstorms to knock down 30 popularity?? 30 popularity??? I think 30 is a bit extreme since most players have popularity less than 40 on average especially if it goes on for days at a time. I wake up in the morning and all my villages are empty of peasants because my popularity is all in the red...that is ridiculous...liking this game less and less everyday.

it shouldn't be a problem if you mange your villages better for example :

+24 popularity from X4 ale
+70 popularity from feeding your peasants 5 types of food on X4
+30 from popularity buildings

This way you can even tax your peasants during thunderstorm to get gold

that would be good if I had all that research done already, but I am a Viscount with no tokens and no crowns and no cards, so that makes me low level....there are still many lower level players on this server because it is not that old yet...therefore I do not think it is fair to have Thunderstorms in the winter and if there are, they should not affect popularity more than an AI does.