Balance - Nomads too weak in HIP?

[Rustam_NB]

Started as Bukhara at 867 AD , now it is 1127 and I am Persian empire blob.
I barely remember to see ANY THREAT from the nomads. In fact, they were pathetic the whole time.
I did not expand into northern steppes. I managed to kill spawned Seljuks and Ghaznevids.
In my vanilla games in Central Asia it was impossible hard to stay against nomads. Qarluks, Qipchaqs, etc - they were always ruining everything I managed to build. It was quite historically accurate depiction of the region.
Now they always have smallest horde possible (below 1k) and they're not invading anyone.
Is it same for anyone else? Am I missed something, like, i shouldn't expect them to be strong before the certain date?

 

[Farbolo]

Bless them with the "Lucky Ruler" option and see your nemesis arise.
But yeah, apart from that I also experienced the nomads to rarely pose a threat.

 

[Ese Khan]

Nomads in EMF+SWMH have been difficult to balance due to several differences from vanilla:

1. You have to balance them versus feudal and tribal realms.
2. Most nomadic realms are huge in vanilla CK2 starts. Many aren't in SWMH.
3. Due to there being many small initial nomadic realms in SWMH, "optimal" province count for the Khagan (which affects clan sentiment depending on the number of provinces you own) is lower than in vanilla, which leads to somewhat weaker Khagans (though, converseley, vassal Khans become stronger)
4. Human players fare better against AI nomadic realms than non-nomadic AI realms do. You still see AI feudal and tribal realms struggle against equally-sized AI nomadic realms (see Rus realms in most start dates before the 1100s)

Generally speaking, nomadic realms are weaker than they were, say, 3 years ago. The Avars in 867, for example, typically overpowered Bulgaria then, but not so often anymore. In any case, balance is a hard thing to achieve because, once you touch something, you need to take care of other things that end up getting affected.

 

[Rustam_NB]

Thank you for such complete explanation. it is clear for me now.
I will definitely try "lucky ruler" to fix this.
I also hope that mongols will change the game completely and help their fellow-nomads to gather strength.
It is a good thing to have changing periods of strong/weak nomads.

 

[Farbolo]

The Mongols are definitely a wrecking ball by themselves already. If you "lucky ruler" them, expect some serious awe and destruction.
In one of my playthroughs, they conquered everything on a western axis from the Russian kingdoms, the ERE and the Levante except Egypt. Just before fracturing, the adapted Bogomilism, which was only extant in the ERE till then, and became its super-spreader - guaranteeing religious strife over the whole eastern half of the map and eventually creating a new religious and cultural superpower.
I even saw the ethnic Greek kingdom of Sicily take over Mongolian culture.
So "lucky ruler" them and there is a chance, the Mongols usher in an age of "Mongolianism" comparable to Alexander's "Hellenism" from Bactria to Egypt.