Now I want to make it very clear from the outset that, on the whole, I like Legacy of Rome and the changes in 1.07. The faction system is generally a lot more sensible, and I really like the emergent strategies that rise out of the use of retinues. That said, there's a couple of oddities cropping up, some of which I don't think are entirely intended. Some of these may be bugs, some of these may be oversights, and some of these might just be me not understanding what I'm seeing, but hopefully there'll be more of the former than the latter. If anyone can think of anything they can add to the list, that'd be great. Note that this isn't intended to be a bug list as such, more a list of strange behavior which doesn't seem to make sense.
- Byzantine Emperors and Kings are tyrants.
I'm not entirely sure why, but almost every Byzantine Emperor in my current game eventually goes mad and racks up -80 (!) in Tyranny at some point in their reign. The same often, but not always, applies to kings in the Empire as well. This is hilarious, of course, and one could argue that it "accurately" and "historically" represents how people go mad with power, but it is very odd all the same and leads to needless civil wars. I haven't been able to pin down what exactly is causing this tyranny, but my current best guess is some kind of AI logic hiccup to do with blinding or castration - I've noticed the Byzantine AI almost always blinds or castrates their prisoners even when it might not be the wisest course of action (and to be honest, it usually isn't.) That said, I've experimented a bit with blinding and castration myself and haven't noticed any tyranny gains, so I seem to be missing something.
- Byzantine AI loves blinding and castration
Blinding and castration can, in theory, have its uses. However, if you castrate a great lord who owns about half of the realm who already has a heir, all you've managed to accomplish is to make said great lord very, very, very angry at you - and by castrating him you've let him out of jail, free to plot revenge. Similarly, while blinding can reduce stats, it also doesn't really change the arithmetic of power much, and serves mainly to seriously annoy powerful rebel lords. Despite this, the AI seems to blind or castrate almost anyone they can get their hands on. It's like the AI sees that there is a decision available wherein he blinds or castrates his prisoners, and is compelled to pick one as soon as he can.
- Mongols don't disintegrate
Nobody ever revolts in the Mongol Hordes. I've talked about this in another thread, but I strongly suspect this has to do with the new faction system. Essentially, vassals in a faction compare the strength of their faction to the strength of their liege when deciding whether or not to revolt. The thing is, the Khans have 200k free Mongol warriors ready to smash anyone stupid enough to revolt - so nobody is stupid enough to revolt. Given that the aforementioned 200k free Mongol warriors incidentally make the Mongols practically unstoppable, this creates something of a problem as the Mongols become invincible against both external and internal threats.
- Everybody is Mongolian
Slightly relatedly, practically every province east of the Holy Roman Empire is listed as "Mongol" culture now, after about eighty years of Mongol rule. This doesn't quite seem to be working the way it should. Also, this is purely a portraiture issue, but since lords tend to marry within their realm and since Mongols tend to replace most of the lords they conquer, the few surviving Russian lords in the Golden Horde all look like pure-bred steppe horsemen, even though they retain their Russian culture.
- Baronies everywhere
I'm not quite sure if this is actually a new issue or not, but there seems to be a lot of high lords who hold baronies - I've seen a few emirs in particular who hold nothing BUT baronies in their demesne. For that matter, there are some rather odd issues with counties transferring over while the baronies remain with the original lord, or the like. This tends to lead to some really screwed up wars and very confusing maps of territory ("Huh? Whaddya mean I've lost -20% in warscore? Wait, I OWN those baronies? But they're in enemy territory already!")
- AI hiccups with enemy territory occupied by neutral parties
I'm not sure if this is an isolated incident or not, but there happened to be a situation where my son, the Despot of Greece, was waging a holy war on an Emir for Jerusalem. The trick is, Jerusalem was at that point fully occupied by some other Islamic ruler who couldn't quite finish off the war. My son's reaction was to raise all his levies and just sit there on Jerusalem, sucking up attrition and making his vassals increasingly furious while accomplishing absolutely nothing. Fairly certain that shouldn't be happening.
- Claimants should really be faction leaders
This one's more of a suggestion, but when a claimant joins a faction trying to put him on the throne, he really ought to automatically become faction leader. Just makes sense.
- Byzantine Emperors and Kings are tyrants.
I'm not entirely sure why, but almost every Byzantine Emperor in my current game eventually goes mad and racks up -80 (!) in Tyranny at some point in their reign. The same often, but not always, applies to kings in the Empire as well. This is hilarious, of course, and one could argue that it "accurately" and "historically" represents how people go mad with power, but it is very odd all the same and leads to needless civil wars. I haven't been able to pin down what exactly is causing this tyranny, but my current best guess is some kind of AI logic hiccup to do with blinding or castration - I've noticed the Byzantine AI almost always blinds or castrates their prisoners even when it might not be the wisest course of action (and to be honest, it usually isn't.) That said, I've experimented a bit with blinding and castration myself and haven't noticed any tyranny gains, so I seem to be missing something.
- Byzantine AI loves blinding and castration
Blinding and castration can, in theory, have its uses. However, if you castrate a great lord who owns about half of the realm who already has a heir, all you've managed to accomplish is to make said great lord very, very, very angry at you - and by castrating him you've let him out of jail, free to plot revenge. Similarly, while blinding can reduce stats, it also doesn't really change the arithmetic of power much, and serves mainly to seriously annoy powerful rebel lords. Despite this, the AI seems to blind or castrate almost anyone they can get their hands on. It's like the AI sees that there is a decision available wherein he blinds or castrates his prisoners, and is compelled to pick one as soon as he can.
- Mongols don't disintegrate
Nobody ever revolts in the Mongol Hordes. I've talked about this in another thread, but I strongly suspect this has to do with the new faction system. Essentially, vassals in a faction compare the strength of their faction to the strength of their liege when deciding whether or not to revolt. The thing is, the Khans have 200k free Mongol warriors ready to smash anyone stupid enough to revolt - so nobody is stupid enough to revolt. Given that the aforementioned 200k free Mongol warriors incidentally make the Mongols practically unstoppable, this creates something of a problem as the Mongols become invincible against both external and internal threats.
- Everybody is Mongolian
Slightly relatedly, practically every province east of the Holy Roman Empire is listed as "Mongol" culture now, after about eighty years of Mongol rule. This doesn't quite seem to be working the way it should. Also, this is purely a portraiture issue, but since lords tend to marry within their realm and since Mongols tend to replace most of the lords they conquer, the few surviving Russian lords in the Golden Horde all look like pure-bred steppe horsemen, even though they retain their Russian culture.
- Baronies everywhere
I'm not quite sure if this is actually a new issue or not, but there seems to be a lot of high lords who hold baronies - I've seen a few emirs in particular who hold nothing BUT baronies in their demesne. For that matter, there are some rather odd issues with counties transferring over while the baronies remain with the original lord, or the like. This tends to lead to some really screwed up wars and very confusing maps of territory ("Huh? Whaddya mean I've lost -20% in warscore? Wait, I OWN those baronies? But they're in enemy territory already!")
- AI hiccups with enemy territory occupied by neutral parties
I'm not sure if this is an isolated incident or not, but there happened to be a situation where my son, the Despot of Greece, was waging a holy war on an Emir for Jerusalem. The trick is, Jerusalem was at that point fully occupied by some other Islamic ruler who couldn't quite finish off the war. My son's reaction was to raise all his levies and just sit there on Jerusalem, sucking up attrition and making his vassals increasingly furious while accomplishing absolutely nothing. Fairly certain that shouldn't be happening.
- Claimants should really be faction leaders
This one's more of a suggestion, but when a claimant joins a faction trying to put him on the throne, he really ought to automatically become faction leader. Just makes sense.
