A few other things I've noticed while reading through this and the wiki on Subject Empires-
-Vassal types still exist.
Not a surprise to most, I'm sure, but I'm honestly surprised they kept it. I can kind-of see the role of protectorates as a forced subsidy case- you get influence for science subsidies and a tech bonus to them- but the subsidiary/tributary/vassal distinction adds a lot of restrictions that weren't really covered by the dev diaries. I honestly thought they'd be completely removed in general.
Going from the wiki-
Tributaries and Subsidiaries are locked out of most forms of negotiation
unless made into special vassals. T/S must pay at LEAST 30% tribute, but can NOT be traded for subsidies (or tribute) in other levels.
-Tributaries are hard-locked from most contracts.
Nearly all the diplomacy options are locked from tributaries. So you can't leverage tribute for diplo-alignment or vice-versa.
-Integration is either guaranteed for free, or super-hard.
The Subjugation War Terms policy defines your initial diplomatic terms of agreement for subjects. The heaviest form includes the Integration clause, along with other overlord-favoring policies. This is a policy desired by the Authoritarian, Militarist, and Xenophobe factions.
(Xenophile, Egalitarian both
want Benevolent, but only Xenophile is unhappy with Oppressive.)
However,
propoposing the integration contract requires 275 influence. And has costs of -50 immediate loyalty, and -4 monthly loyalty.
Ergo- if you want to integrate someone, do it from the start.
-The difference between Restricted Voting and Limited Diplomacy isn't voting, but Federation/Community membership.
The two more 'restrictive' diplomacy options BOTH force the AI to abstain from voting (cannot vote independently), and do NOT let (or force) them to vote
with the Overlord.
Instead, the difference is whether the AI will join the community/federation over the overlord. This was a request by some people on the forum. You can pay a loyalty penalty (if the AI succeedes) to
prevent vassals from getting buffs.
-Expansion regulated is an influence tax to the Overlord for the early game.
This forces the a subject to pay another 50% of starbase influence to the Overlord. Of course, if you make a vassal when the galaxy is already filled, this does absolutely nothing. Again, you can pay loyalty penalties for the vassal to be weaker.
-Holding limits have an escalating loyalty penalty, and all contracts default at 1. 1 holding is -.4, 2 holdings is -1, 3 holdings is -2, 4 holdings is -4.
Any empire can get up to 2.5 influence from an Overlord Garrison (2) + aid agency (.5), the only two innate loyalty building buildings. This makes 3 the de facto max for 'stable' loyalty, but 1 building the best for maximizing loyalty (Overlord garrison + 3 armies) unless your special civic gives a +1 loyalty building. (Shared Burdens does for egalitarians... but loses ethic attraction for them, for some reason).
According to the wiki, the Overlord Surveilance resolution chain only buffs the holding limit by +1, not +2.
-Scholarium still as a % research rate building, up to 12% per building.
Marginally less busted if it renders all subjects into tributaries.
-The Ministry of Truth propagandists now provide +0.15 influence each, not +.5. So, together, .3, not 1, influence a vassal.
