Nomad Agitation... Why?

[Despotism]

So the nomad agitation mechanic confuses me. I'm not sure why it was added, but from a gameplay standpoint it doesn't make sense to me. The nomad government type is easily the most powerful in the game by a longshot, with great succession, powerful armies (Their hordes can usually take on twice the amount of soldiers from other nations), the tribal call to arms mechanics that allows for massive vassal swarms (who also use horde armies by the way), as well as no end of powerful casus belli.

So my question is, why then, is this mechanic in place that makes it even harder to conquer and defeat nomads? This may just be part of the overall problem that nomads need a rework in general, but I still think nomad agitation should be given another look by the developers.

Granted, it is somewhat trivial to overcome at the kingdom and empire tier, but it takes an investment of time and money to deal with, and if you are a vassal, the death of your liege will result in that investment being lost. So, I'm not saying that this mechanic is too challenging to overcome, I am simply saying I believe it is unnecessary and it can make dealing with nomads (one of the most frustrating opponents you will face) even more obnoxious.

 

[Keizer Harm]

It was added to keep Byzantium from expanding into Ukraine. The empty steppe territory that nomads cherish is generally worthless for a settled ruler who prefers castles and farmlands. The AI needed the incentive to keep out of it until there's nowhere else to conquer.

 

[Despotism]

It was added to keep Byzantium from expanding into Ukraine. The empty steppe territory that nomads cherish is generally worthless for a settled ruler who prefers castles and farmlands. The AI needed the incentive to keep out of it until there's nowhere else to conquer.

That makes sense, but I do wish you were at least given claims for land you lose this way. I was just playing as the Gothic Strategos of Cherson trying to form Crimea, and I was able to win a holy war only for the Basileus to die before I could convert any of the tribal holdings to a castle.

I guess I want a more reliable trigger for this, maybe after a certain number of years it will break away instead of when the top liege dies.

 

[GoldenSilver]

I think the greatest challenge to feudalization is having nomad lands in your realm. If you feudalize the nomad agitation won't be suppressed by the 2 upgrades on holding anymore and then you need around 500 gold to build a castle or city on each of the counties that have agitation. The fact that usually these nomad counties have no tech means they can't upgrade tribe to Stone Hillfort IV either.

It's a big problem if you don't have enough money to build the stuff before feudalizing so you need to deal with that before it if you don't want to lose the lands. If you don't have any previously nomad lands in your realm then you're good to go.

It has become so annoying (because mostly I like to play as tribal and feudalize later) that I started to turn horse lords off and conquer tribes instead, at least this way I don't have to spend so much to build those castles afterwards.