"Bella Gerant Alii" - A Balance Improvement Mod for CK II

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-edit I went through the changelogs and found the addition of Council Shuffling and PMM (hence the greying out to avoid confusion). Question though: is PMM fully implemented, or is just the playability of pagans/muslims added?

Only playablity of pagans and muslims (and zarathostrians).

This commonly results in enormous losses and makes fighting the AI increasingly trivial for an intelligent player the longer the game lasts
I'm not sure how to address the problem apart from either reverting attrition (undesirable) or changing the AI (difficult). But I think it's worth looking at.

First of all, attrition is already lowered a lot, so a stack of 10.000 men should only suffer losses around 200-300 men per tick. It adds up, but is far less severe than vanilla.
I already tried to increase supply limit via techs, but maybe further increase is in order.

 

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Notepad++ has a great "compare" feature.
I use it whenever a new patch comes out and it works quite well.

 

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Probably related to the event driven rebel events from Pdox.
I will have a look at the issue.

 

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I think that's not an issue with seniority, but rather a general issue. I played a game with seniority, but did not notice an above-average plotting ratio.
My guess is you have a dynsty where potential heirs dislike each other and go for each others throat.

Guess I will add this to my to-do list: Make AI a bit less likely to start kill plots if it likes the target.

 

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Hm, maybe I should add a small gold requirement for kill plots?

And:
Yes, crusades are terrible, but I doubt that there is anything I can do. Well, at least with the more limited holy war CB, the AI seems a bit more keen to dogpile the target. :>

 

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It`s event 80100 in rebel_events.txt. It has mtth 5 years but if province has different religion group, it becomes about 1 month.

Thanks, will receive a fix tomorrow.

 

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Something is wrong with the mod - all the accented characters (like in "évreux") disappear whenever I load it (v 2.0b).

EDIT: Oh and weird characters appear next to the decision choices - like: ??>>Click on this or that<<??

Screens please.

 

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Just found out that my Legitimized Bastards will have a -50 penalty on you... for being Legimitized Bastards.
You'd think that the ungrateful brats would be glad that I recognize them as my own, don't you think.

Guess that's a but with the vanilla decision. Added to the to-do list.

Is it possible to link it to crown authority? This is an excellent suggestion, but I'm not certain it's doable. The only trace of modding the demesne size is in "defines.lua", or am I mistaken?

I would love to change demesne size, but the only way to do so is, unfortunately, to remove the stewardship bonus. Otherwise, I don't see any useable modifier or code to change the demesne size limit, not even the base.
And I can't use the gavelkind bonus command since it is a defines modifier, not a static one.

I have to say that, although I like the vast majority of changes in this mod, recent introduction of "open" inheritance is almost game-breaking form me, especially since it became the default law which applies to a huge number of counts and dukes.

As said, that was not intended, rather an automatic change to the "by default" use of a succession law. And it is, as stated, just a testrun to add more options to the succession laws.
I agree that it is quite powerful for small realms, but I have played a longer game with the kingdom of Ireland being formed and I can tell you: Give one ducal title to a family member that isn't a heir and you are in for a succession crisis on every ruler change. One time I had to fight all other four Irish dukes (I held the duchy of Ulster myself) together during a succession war. Not exactly a walk in the park, even with fully upgraded holdings.
So I think open succession is not as powerful as it looks like. You basicially cannot give too much land to your family members, so you forgo a +20 "same dynasty" opinion bonus on your vassals, plus a safe grip over your kingdom. I guess I will need to tweak the modifiers a bit to make it less powerful for counts and dukes (maybe a add vassal opinion penalty), but apart from that, it seems fine.

As for the setup, that will need a change, but I simply do not know (and have not the time) to look up succession laws for each and every county or duchy. In addition, it does not help that some people claim that primogeniture should be available late in the game since it was not the commin law during this timeframe and others claim it was used regulary even around 1066.

I *think* you need either a border with your demense or at least limited crown authority. That or your install's bugged.

Only a border, but adding a CA requirement sounds kinda neat. Maybe I will add that.

Britannia and England are the same color in independent realm mode. Not so cool if you form Britannia without owning England yet.
So what's this Burden of a Crown for once you're an emperor? I was somewhat ok with the Weight of a Crown thing but -10 general opinion? I'd like to know the logic behind that. Though I guess I can just go remove it.

Britannia has a darker shade of red, so it's not the same color.
The "Weight Of a Crown" and "Burden Of a Crown" modifiers are used to nerf the vastly overpowered kings and emperors and simulate the increasing required effort to govern a kingdom or a large empire. You can interpret this in multiple ways, like increased administration and bureaucracy requirements, geographical limitations (you cannot be everywhere in a kingdom at the same time, limiting influence and authority) and domestic scheming of the the other powers within your realm.

I sort of agree with Open Succession causing problems... While playing Ryazan, Rostov inherited all of novgorod, galicia, kiev and polotsk because of open succession. Even tho said duchies had legitimate male heirs, because the Rus duchies are all related, they ended up being inherited by the same duke. I suppose he was the "most powerful".

The vassals also seems to HATE open succession. I had 3 civil wars in 15 years in the start due to plots to change to elective succession. In the end I had no choice but to agree as it was taking it's toll and preventing me from doing anything but fighting civil wars. So in the future I'll most likely just get rid of it asap.

Did the newly formed great duchy stay together? I guess it would fall apart within the next succession due to multiple succession criss wars.
And vassals should not have any special hate for open succession. The only thing that might influence them is the lack of the gavelkind vassal bonus, but I highly doubt that this is the key here.
I remember I changed the plot requirements so they are now allowed to plot for elective even with low CA, maybe that's what you experience here, but it should not be different under any other succession law.
Nevertheless, added a "check elective plot" to my list.

Is the opinion modifier for granting a ward broken? In 200 years of game time I haven't received a single bonus for sending a child to be educated by one of my vassals...

Yes, but that's hardcoded, so I can't fix it.

 

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...No. Maybe you tickled the hue shader or something so it's technically not the same RGB values but it's the same color. Granted the vanilla game is horrible when it comes to the map colors so no surprises here.

e_greatbritain = {

	color={ 225 10 10 }
	color2={ 99 137 153 }
	capital = 32 # Middlesex
	
k_england = {
	color={ 225 20 15 }
	color2={ 255 255 255 }
	capital = 32 # Middlesex

Okay, it's not that much. x)

I'll take the tax cut I guess but -10 opinion from the Pope? Other emperors? Kings outside my realm? Some random mayor in Sweden likes me a little less because I'm an emperor now? I realize you lack available modifiers to make it that specific so you're working with what's available but sometimes if you can't do something right the answer is to not do it at all rather than blunt force something.

In that case, I'd rather see a slightly overnerfed emperor than one that isn't nerfed at all.
Anyway, I just had an idea regarding that issue: Create special succession laws for kingdoms and empires that have increased vassal opinion penalties. Will require an event to apply them properly, but might resolve the issue.

 

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Just occurred to me, is there a "Peace of God" event? I haven't seen one. If not, would it be possible to mod in?

If you care to elaborate - maybe?

 

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That would also be a great idea

Better empire construction/handling would indeed be nice. I am currently testing a what-if scenario that turns all empires into tituluar titles.

 

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small idea i think would be good for the mod..how about you make it more likely for those with crusader trait to come to the court of the king of jerusalem, or other crusader kingdoms, would this be easy to implement?

Hardcoded, thus it is impossible to mod the AI behaviour. Only thing I could do is script special events for each kingdom holder.

I'm sorry, I know that this isn't really the place, but what is the difference between regular and titular empires?

Titular titles have no de-jure territory, so they might (?) not bestow their crown laws their vassals. In addition, the AI will be less keen to become a vassal peacefully (since it is not de-jure part of the empire).

Could you change Armenian and Syrian's (Antioch, Tortosa) provinces and characters religion from orthodox to monophysit ?ThisI will be more historically accurate and maybe this will lower ERE power, a bit ...

Sources and a screen with all provinces marked and I might consider it.

 

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Is there a CK2 blank map available to highlight the monophysite provinces ?

Afaik not.

Added with low priority.

 

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Version 2.1 is up.
Now with adapted content fromt he "Rise of Empires" mod and some re-excommunication protection.

Plans for 2.1b:
- Overhaul for combat_tactics.txt
- Restore gavelkind succession where it is historical accurate.

For the latter, I would need your help to create a list.

edit:
I removed the "delte gfx folder" thingy - with 1.03b, the mod should work fine without deleting the flags.

It is too easy to amass money. How about reducing the income you get from buildings and reducing the stewardship bonus both to income and deseme size.

Would it be possible to create an event where the pope ask for the territory you gain from a crusade? He would be much worse at protecting it than the HRE and much less likely to conquer the whole arab world. You could get a piety reward for giving it up.

One of the reasons it is so easy to steamroll the pagans is because they doesnt help each other enough against the player. Is it possible to increase the chance for religious assistance? Poland got crushed everytime they tried invading in my game but for some reason they never attack the player.

(1) I increased army upkeep cost - you should now run a much tighter budged while at war.
(2) I doubt that that would be the right way. Rather create independened kingdom (or empire) crusdare states.
(3) No, I can only offer the AI a CB - usage is determined by hardcoded factors.

 

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If I understand correctly, the "Rise Of Empires" Mod will turn created empires into de-jure ones.


But I guess that's now what you meant.

 

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Also, historically going on crusade as a penance lifted excommunications, so using the Crusade CB after being excommunicated should lift it up - although some penalty in Prestige and Piety should come with it. After all, you are forced to go on crusade.

There is already an event chain in for that, and it triggers rather quickly once you are excommunicated.

 

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The rulers of the Shia Caliphate are Sunni in this mod. Do I just change them from setup_sunni to setup_shia in the files?

Edit: Just noticed that all muslims are Sunni so I'm guessing that there is no setup_shia.

I just checked: SOME characters are shiite, but there is indeed a problem with the history database.
I will upload a hotfix.

eh ? what penalties ?

Prestige. Does not apply under gavelkind.

And yes, the Sunni (Christian) thingy is part of the sneaky fix:
(1) Add new christian subreligions.
(2) Assign these subreligions to all ruler history files.
(3) Change their religion to the original ones after the game starts via event.
(4) ?
(5) Profit!

edit:
2.1b is up.

 

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Brilliant solution Gaga. Thanks for explaining how it works.

Not my idea, though.

The offensive war penalty probably shouldn't be received if using a Crusader CB. Thoughts?

Yes, I although thought about that. Certain CB should not bestow an offensive war penalty (tyranny wars as another example).

 

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@Gaga: Well done! That was very quick.

Anytime, anywhere - GAGA is there!

 

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What's the easiest way to remove all the science-fiction kingdoms/empires? It's hard enough to do nation building with the initial setup without having to worry about a Francia empire that goes from Brittany to Abyssinia...
Which files should be edited and what should be taken out to keep all your balancing without all the silliness.

There are no longer any on-map de-jure empires since 2.1.

May I suggest, if possible, to implement a feature similar (or even the same feature) that WizCK2 uses - where when inviting a character to court, it gives you individual Decisions for the specific type of character you want (like say you an administrative noble, you would choose "Invite a Steward to Court") as opposed to the vanilla "Invite Noble to Court".

I will have a look at it and ask for his permission.

I wondered if you could implement some of the Plots from Wiz2k's mod like "increasing the demesne"? Maybe a bit tweaked, only 1 additional county shouldn't do it, maybe 2, this would be interesting (and maybe lead to more small wars in the HRE if the AI would use it ) And mabe instead of a stewardship bonus a prestige bonus could be nicer... it would add to your high-score achieving it ^^

Increasing demesne sounds like an easy and cheesy way to expand. Added a check to the list, low-priority.

edit:
I just suffered a crash during my latest test game. While it might be an vanilla issue (I suffered a handful of CTDs with the unmodded game as well), please keep your eyes open and report any strange behaviour here.