I'm not really sure what "depth" from CK2 is missing here. I do largely the same things in both games, but in CK3 I have the addition of hooks, secrets, vassal contracts, and other improvements. Could people elaborate a little on the deep grand strategy plays they were making in CK2 that cannot be replicated in 3? Was there some massively nuanced grand strategy going on in CK2 that I just bypassed somehow?
Here are a few flaws I will admit for CK3:
- It's too easy to get claims, which dilutes the importance of planning out marriages. "Meritocracy" as an early perk in the stewardship tree is far too simple a way to claim your liege's title.
- Dread itself works well in my opinion, but it's far too easy to reach 100 dread without needing a plan or the right kind of character. As a result as long as you can find enough peasants to put on the chopping block your vassals will probably never rebel
Most of these aren't "streamlining" issues, in my opinion, but rather certain tools being too easy. I think a mechanic like "meritocracy" could have a place in the game - it just needs to be really, really hard to pull off. Here's how I would adjust it:
- Move it to end of the stewardship tree
- Increase the difficulty of the claim title plot so that it is only possible against extremely inept lieges, or with exceptionally talented characters
- Maybe add some contextual requirements as well, such as requiring that your character have some manner of family connection with the liege's family
Dread would be even simpler to fix - it just needs to be harder to obtain. For starters I would make dread gain very small for actions taken against non-vassals. No way you should be able to hit 100 dread every time you get 5 nobody prisoners from sieging down a county.