About taxes, cities and subjects.

[Leonello d'Este]

First, the taxes. In the game, taxes are made up of the income generated by the buildings in our holdings, increased or reduced by various modifiers, and by the taxes of our vassals. As CK3 is not a management or purely strategic game, this mechanism is more than enough. But a little too limiting.
In this respect, I propose to allow the choice of the level of taxation for the People, which is the same throughout our kingdom, not just in our personal holdings. This will affect not only the income in the royal coffers, but also our popularity and the happiness of the subjects. And consequently, the stability of the kingdom - low taxes, happy peasants, high taxes, torches and pitchforks.

Now, the subjects. In CK3, there are cities everywhere, but there is no trace of the population. Of each county we know the degree of development, levies, the control exercised by our authority and popular opinion, but the people are lacking. Are there more populated counties than others? No one knows.

Here, then, is the suggestion: introduce the population. And, to make sense of this new parameter, I propose that the number of inhabitants of a county affects not only taxes and levies, but also determines the number of buildable slots in cities.

Each county will have a population between 1 and 10. From 1 to 4, there will be three slots available, like now. Starting from 4, and up to 6, a new slot will be unlocked. From 6 to 8 another will be unlocked, and from 8 to 10 the last one will be unlocked for a total of 6 total slots for each city. At the same time, new types of standard structures could be introduced, which do not depend on the type of terrain: three or four types of artisan guilds (e.g. spinners, goldsmiths, masons or merchants), a ghetto for Jews or other religious minorities, brothels, taverns and inns, warehouses for goods, markets...

The increase in population will also have other consequences on the gameplay. The presence of large cities could attract many more guests, and more useful guests, than smaller centers. Big cities are more dynamic but also more dangerous, so there may be events related to occasions such as trade shows and tournaments and others involving issues such as crime, public health or urban unrest.

 

[Arko]

To some extent, county development = population, at last it affects taxes and levies like you described.
It could however probably become more impactful, for it not being as un-noticable as it is today.
There's a mod unlocking buildings levels based on development, this is a good start. Unlocking new slots and buildings chains could be nice too.
So there's maybe no need for an additional specific population value when it can be built upon something pre-existing.

 

[Leonello d'Este]

The point of this suggestion of mine also consists in diversifying the game from a "geopolitical" point of view, if we want to call it that.

Let's look at History. The Romans conquered Ptolemaic Egypt because it was one of the richest and most powerful countries in the world at the time, thanks to its extraordinary agricultural yield - Egyptian grain was the petroleum of that era. England, France and Spain have fought over control of Flanders for decades, because the region was of capital importance for the European textile industry, as well as the ideal geographical position to trade with Scandinavia and southern Europe. Not to mention the beginning of the colonial era following the discovery of new lands to exploit.

Now, back to the game. Is there a reason for me to conquer county A instead of county B? Sure, I need some specific counties in order to create a higher rank title, but what else? Anything. The fact that natural elements such as rivers, mountain ranges or mountain passes are not heavily exploited militarily is already a defect, in my opinion. But the fact that no counties are richer and more profitable than others to own makes the military side of the game almost irrelevant. Each county is developable in almost the same way. So there's no reason to want one in particular. And consequently expanding my kingdom east rather than west doesn't really matter. There is no real military and/or economic advantage to controlling any region.