This sounds like a way to just chop off even more off of the gameplay than there currently is. I agree with the idea of SOI by the state rather than this. This...seems like the more desperate solution for a problem found with the SOI system itself rather than how China actually was. Say, if a country is larger than 4 states and uncivilized or larger than two states and civilized, then it has to be influenced state by state. Players routinely critique the AI for making strange choices when it comes to V2 and expansion/management. You wish to delegate even more power to an AI that's incapable of suppressing a small rebellion in their own country or even creating proper armies? I can assure you that playing China just became a non-option for me in this case if I have to rely on an AI to manage part of the country I'm playing.
EDIT: Perhaps this system is more appropriate for places like British India, the Dutch East Indies, and Australia, which were not governed from London and were essentially self-managed. But the problem with that is, by giving away control, you lose out on income and taxes. Will a percentage of a substate's income be given to the state, or will it essentially be like an even more inflexible dominion?
EDIT: Perhaps this system is more appropriate for places like British India, the Dutch East Indies, and Australia, which were not governed from London and were essentially self-managed. But the problem with that is, by giving away control, you lose out on income and taxes. Will a percentage of a substate's income be given to the state, or will it essentially be like an even more inflexible dominion?