The influence system is at current very abstract, it's just numbers, and it's hard to see what the rationalization behind it is. It could definitely be made more accessible - for example, if the influence process consisted of political actions that a GP performs in the influenced country, instead of just being a game of dumping numbers into a country and crossing an arbitrary thresholds before another GP does, it would be more fun and also more accessible.
Instead of having to raise influence from 0 to 50 to get to "Cordial", you would need to build f.ex. a consulate, establish a religious mission, get the government to sign a trade concession, or establish a military mission that puts officers from your army close to their generals. To go from "cordial" to "friendly", you would need to get exclusive trade deals, get extraterritorial rights for your consulates, acquire legations in their cities, or install your missionaries permanently at their court. I.e. you would need to do those things that the Great Powers really did in history, to acquire "influence" in a far away country!
To finally sphere a country would be an act that requires you to have
Instead of performing abstract missions against other GPs that just change some numbers, you would be able to order underhand or direct actions against their establishments if you want to push them out of a counrty: Slander their missionaries, incite pogroms against their traders, play intrigues to get their emissaries removed from their court, push the government to revoke their trading concessions etc. Some of these actions could have a random aspect to them, or lead to consequences such as giving the offended GP an opportunity to retaliate, enact counter-actions ("ask the government to allow us to protect our embassies"). You could have a choice between "small" actions and "big" actions, where the "big" actions would be those that risk wars or similar stuff. Inciting riots against an enemy embassy could lead to massacres of the other GP's consuls, which would give them CBs against the country. (Or even against you!!)
There could be alternative approaches to establishing a SOI over a country: You could have a choice between
Playing as Russia, wanting to expand your influence to Japan, you would f.ex. check the screen for Japan, and see that the USA already has a trade mission there. You deduct that they are focusing on the "commerce route", i.e. build and expand commerce establishments and eventually SOI Japan by monopolizing their trade.
Now you could either follow the same strategy. But the USA, being a liberal democracy, would have very good modifiers for anything related to commerce, and you're Russia which sucks at everything related to commerce. So you would go, hey, my commerce and industry suck, but I have the world's biggest military and I can get their general staff in my pocket faster than the Americans can monopolize their trade. And if they try to get their lvl2 establishment in the religious route, I will play my "Orthodox Far East Missionaries Card" and slander the US missionaries at reduced influence point cost.
Of course you would need some way to automate these actions, i.e. choose a general approach and then let an AI function handle the placement of those establishments. You would still need a red-to-green progress bar to quickly see which nation has the most influence in your target nation. You could set your AI agent to notify you when another GP reaches 90% on that progress bar, or when they perform hostile actions against you.
The fun thing in this idea is that the different GPs could be good at different approaches to spherization:
What do you think? Would this make the influence game more fun?
Could it create a connection between the influence game, and the other aspects? (War, peace, economy, trade)
Could it be balanced so as not to be micro hell, but still allow the player to choose and pursue strategies, and entertain him when something happens, rather than annoy him?
Finally can this be done in a mod or would it require an expansion?
Instead of having to raise influence from 0 to 50 to get to "Cordial", you would need to build f.ex. a consulate, establish a religious mission, get the government to sign a trade concession, or establish a military mission that puts officers from your army close to their generals. To go from "cordial" to "friendly", you would need to get exclusive trade deals, get extraterritorial rights for your consulates, acquire legations in their cities, or install your missionaries permanently at their court. I.e. you would need to do those things that the Great Powers really did in history, to acquire "influence" in a far away country!
To finally sphere a country would be an act that requires you to have
Instead of performing abstract missions against other GPs that just change some numbers, you would be able to order underhand or direct actions against their establishments if you want to push them out of a counrty: Slander their missionaries, incite pogroms against their traders, play intrigues to get their emissaries removed from their court, push the government to revoke their trading concessions etc. Some of these actions could have a random aspect to them, or lead to consequences such as giving the offended GP an opportunity to retaliate, enact counter-actions ("ask the government to allow us to protect our embassies"). You could have a choice between "small" actions and "big" actions, where the "big" actions would be those that risk wars or similar stuff. Inciting riots against an enemy embassy could lead to massacres of the other GP's consuls, which would give them CBs against the country. (Or even against you!!)
There could be alternative approaches to establishing a SOI over a country: You could have a choice between
- a commercial route (trade missions -> exclusive concessions -> trade monopoly),
- a cultural-diplomatic route (religious mission/diplomatic mission -> permanent missionaries at their court -> Turning your mission into the official state church),
- a military-diplomatic route (military mission -> officer exchange program -> Training their entire general staff)
Playing as Russia, wanting to expand your influence to Japan, you would f.ex. check the screen for Japan, and see that the USA already has a trade mission there. You deduct that they are focusing on the "commerce route", i.e. build and expand commerce establishments and eventually SOI Japan by monopolizing their trade.
Now you could either follow the same strategy. But the USA, being a liberal democracy, would have very good modifiers for anything related to commerce, and you're Russia which sucks at everything related to commerce. So you would go, hey, my commerce and industry suck, but I have the world's biggest military and I can get their general staff in my pocket faster than the Americans can monopolize their trade. And if they try to get their lvl2 establishment in the religious route, I will play my "Orthodox Far East Missionaries Card" and slander the US missionaries at reduced influence point cost.
Of course you would need some way to automate these actions, i.e. choose a general approach and then let an AI function handle the placement of those establishments. You would still need a red-to-green progress bar to quickly see which nation has the most influence in your target nation. You could set your AI agent to notify you when another GP reaches 90% on that progress bar, or when they perform hostile actions against you.
The fun thing in this idea is that the different GPs could be good at different approaches to spherization:
- The UK and USA would be excellent at commercial approaches.
- France and Italy would have bonuses on cultural or religious approaches.
- Russia and Prussia would be good at military missions.
- Constitutional countries could have extra options, they could send constitutional lawyers who help the locals write a constitution, and gain influence in the process. (I'm thinking of you, Japan!! Your copied your constitution from Prussia!!)
- Moralist countries could have extra bonuses on religious establishments.
- Atheist countries could not use cultural-religious options.
What do you think? Would this make the influence game more fun?
Could it create a connection between the influence game, and the other aspects? (War, peace, economy, trade)
Could it be balanced so as not to be micro hell, but still allow the player to choose and pursue strategies, and entertain him when something happens, rather than annoy him?
Finally can this be done in a mod or would it require an expansion?
