In general, I very much like the new Conclave mechanics. But after playing it quite a few dozen hours now, I have some comments, notes, and suggestions. If there is a more appropriate forum in which I should post this, please let me know.
1. The new alliance mechanic - auto-join wars - is nowhere near as nice as the previous 'request' mechanic, with it's optionality, opinion hits for asking, huge opinion hits for refusing, etc. In fact, I'd say that refusing to honor an alliance should result in a global opinion hit just a bit under 'truce-breaker'. But there should be a reason to not always ask, and the *option* of refusing - just as there is an option to break a truce, however bad an idea that may be in practice.
1a. If an alliance breaks in the middle of a war, then the ex-allies should be removed from the war.
1b. There should be a difference between offensive and defensive wars. If an ally gets attacked, I should be asked to join automatically, and suffer a huge malus if I refuse - oathbreaker level. However, if an ally goes and attacks someone, I should be able to refuse the join his war with much less penalty, if any. Alliances should primarily be shields, and only be usable as swords if my ally really likes me.
1c. There should be a way to dissolve non-aggression pacts, presumably with wide-scale malus, equivalent to breaking a truce.
2. It's really annoying that some characters can never be invited to court, as they are always 'away' from their home courts. This is almost certainly a bug of some sort.
3. It's likewise really annoying that neither party in a matrilineal marriage can be invited to court, as wives can apparently *never* be invited, and neither can matrilineally-married husbands. I think the primary spouse in any marriage should be invitable.
4. I think there's too much a piety gain/loss for letting courtiers join holy orders or not. 100 pity is really large just for granting permission; so large, in fact, that's it's become my primary source of piety (I keep a very large court). The person asking should get some piety for asking, even more for joining (say 100), but the liege who grants/refuses the request should get like +/-25 at most.
5. Holy order members should not be able to be invited out of the order. I often have a situation where I let a courtier join, he hates his new lord, so i invite him back, and then he asks to go again in a few years - at which point i get another piety gain from the same character, and the cycle repeats. I think that once a person joins a holy order, they should not be allowed to be invited back out of it, as it's taking a holy orders, same as becoming a bishop or monk.
6. WoL opinion modifiers are now overpowered. While Conclave halved most opinion modifiers, it did not seem to touch the ones from WoL - most obviously, the huge plusses for seducers. E.g. the +50 for Master Seducer used to be in line with other modifiers, but is now way too much - especially since it applies to queens of other realms.
7. OTOH, I very much like that it's now way easier to invite characters to court. It used to be that if they had over 14 opinion of their liege, they would never leave. Now, it's much more balanced and playable, especially since I can use a favor. Good change! (Except, of course, that my +50 for master seducer makes some things way too easy.)
8. I should be able to revoke a viceroyalty without the same 'all other vassals also hate me' opinion penalty that I would get from revoking a feudal title. Sure, they guy I revoked it from will hate me, but the whole point of a viceroyalty is that it's an office held at the ruler's pleasure, not a life-long position.
9. I very much like the new council mechanics. Good job! However, I'm noticing that by buying favors, rather than trading them, I can pretty much keep my council in my pocket forever. This is not a bad thing, though.
10. I'd like it it if had some idea ahead of time how much my threat will increase before I start a war. I very much like the new threat and defensive pact mechanics. However, I was totally floored when my threat increase for taking a infidel duchy in a holy way was greater that the increase I got for conquering The Kingdom of Castille, which held half of Iberia! I assume this was because I started with way more threat before the second conquest. Still it would have been nice to have a heads up ahead of time, telling me that taking a little duchy would give me +50 threat!
11. As I have noted in the request forum, I'd like some indication if a realm has implemented the 'Controlled Realm Inheritance' law, which negates the strategy of granting titles to heirs so that I get more land when they inherit. A simple '(Controlled)' text after the inheritance law when I click on a realm's shield would be great!
12. I'd like to be able to search for multiple traits in the character search bar. I like the new system for raising kids. However, because guardian traits *do* affect the traits of a kid, albeit in more limited ways, I find I'm spending more time than I'd like looking for guardians with the proper traits. The search bar in the character panel allows me to search for one trait, but not two or more. It would be really, really nice if there were some way of search for multiple texts in the search bar, e.g. using '&' to separate multiple search keys.
Addendum 3/1: Ignore this. As @Zooboss pointed out in the response, this can already be done, by just entering in full words separated by spaces. I was unaware of this, obviously, and am keeping this note here to alert others to the functionality.
13. I'd like to be able to set a 5yo kid's guardian at the same time I set the kid's focus. It's really annoying that I get notified that a kid needs a focus at age 5, but can't set the kid's guardian until age 6. Yes, I can see that guardians won't *affect* anything until age 6, but I should be able to *set* a guardian at the same time I set the focus. As it stands, it's a real nuisance that I have to go to the character panel every six months or so to set guardians for kids turning age 6.
14. I'd like to get top-of-screen 'needs focus' popup icons for every kid in my court, not just kids of my family. As it stands, I have to look at every 6 yo and 12 yo kid in my court at least once a year, to set the foci and guardians of kids not in my family. I have noted this in the bug reports forum, but I mention it here in case this misfeature was intentional.
And finally, last but not least:
15. Thank you thank you thank you for allowing me to pass a series of laws leading to full status of women in my realm, WITHOUT forcing me to to become Cathar to do so! Well done!
Again, thank you for a great DLC!
-- Galen
Addendum 3/1 - 16. After discussion in this thread, I am also of the opinion that the -40 opinion modifier for a powerful vassal wanting a council seat is excessive. I think scaling it back to -20 or -25, the same as wanting a higher title or a de jure county, would be both more realistic and more playable.
1. The new alliance mechanic - auto-join wars - is nowhere near as nice as the previous 'request' mechanic, with it's optionality, opinion hits for asking, huge opinion hits for refusing, etc. In fact, I'd say that refusing to honor an alliance should result in a global opinion hit just a bit under 'truce-breaker'. But there should be a reason to not always ask, and the *option* of refusing - just as there is an option to break a truce, however bad an idea that may be in practice.
1a. If an alliance breaks in the middle of a war, then the ex-allies should be removed from the war.
1b. There should be a difference between offensive and defensive wars. If an ally gets attacked, I should be asked to join automatically, and suffer a huge malus if I refuse - oathbreaker level. However, if an ally goes and attacks someone, I should be able to refuse the join his war with much less penalty, if any. Alliances should primarily be shields, and only be usable as swords if my ally really likes me.
1c. There should be a way to dissolve non-aggression pacts, presumably with wide-scale malus, equivalent to breaking a truce.
2. It's really annoying that some characters can never be invited to court, as they are always 'away' from their home courts. This is almost certainly a bug of some sort.
3. It's likewise really annoying that neither party in a matrilineal marriage can be invited to court, as wives can apparently *never* be invited, and neither can matrilineally-married husbands. I think the primary spouse in any marriage should be invitable.
4. I think there's too much a piety gain/loss for letting courtiers join holy orders or not. 100 pity is really large just for granting permission; so large, in fact, that's it's become my primary source of piety (I keep a very large court). The person asking should get some piety for asking, even more for joining (say 100), but the liege who grants/refuses the request should get like +/-25 at most.
5. Holy order members should not be able to be invited out of the order. I often have a situation where I let a courtier join, he hates his new lord, so i invite him back, and then he asks to go again in a few years - at which point i get another piety gain from the same character, and the cycle repeats. I think that once a person joins a holy order, they should not be allowed to be invited back out of it, as it's taking a holy orders, same as becoming a bishop or monk.
6. WoL opinion modifiers are now overpowered. While Conclave halved most opinion modifiers, it did not seem to touch the ones from WoL - most obviously, the huge plusses for seducers. E.g. the +50 for Master Seducer used to be in line with other modifiers, but is now way too much - especially since it applies to queens of other realms.
7. OTOH, I very much like that it's now way easier to invite characters to court. It used to be that if they had over 14 opinion of their liege, they would never leave. Now, it's much more balanced and playable, especially since I can use a favor. Good change! (Except, of course, that my +50 for master seducer makes some things way too easy.)
8. I should be able to revoke a viceroyalty without the same 'all other vassals also hate me' opinion penalty that I would get from revoking a feudal title. Sure, they guy I revoked it from will hate me, but the whole point of a viceroyalty is that it's an office held at the ruler's pleasure, not a life-long position.
9. I very much like the new council mechanics. Good job! However, I'm noticing that by buying favors, rather than trading them, I can pretty much keep my council in my pocket forever. This is not a bad thing, though.
10. I'd like it it if had some idea ahead of time how much my threat will increase before I start a war. I very much like the new threat and defensive pact mechanics. However, I was totally floored when my threat increase for taking a infidel duchy in a holy way was greater that the increase I got for conquering The Kingdom of Castille, which held half of Iberia! I assume this was because I started with way more threat before the second conquest. Still it would have been nice to have a heads up ahead of time, telling me that taking a little duchy would give me +50 threat!
11. As I have noted in the request forum, I'd like some indication if a realm has implemented the 'Controlled Realm Inheritance' law, which negates the strategy of granting titles to heirs so that I get more land when they inherit. A simple '(Controlled)' text after the inheritance law when I click on a realm's shield would be great!
Addendum 3/1: Ignore this. As @Zooboss pointed out in the response, this can already be done, by just entering in full words separated by spaces. I was unaware of this, obviously, and am keeping this note here to alert others to the functionality.
13. I'd like to be able to set a 5yo kid's guardian at the same time I set the kid's focus. It's really annoying that I get notified that a kid needs a focus at age 5, but can't set the kid's guardian until age 6. Yes, I can see that guardians won't *affect* anything until age 6, but I should be able to *set* a guardian at the same time I set the focus. As it stands, it's a real nuisance that I have to go to the character panel every six months or so to set guardians for kids turning age 6.
14. I'd like to get top-of-screen 'needs focus' popup icons for every kid in my court, not just kids of my family. As it stands, I have to look at every 6 yo and 12 yo kid in my court at least once a year, to set the foci and guardians of kids not in my family. I have noted this in the bug reports forum, but I mention it here in case this misfeature was intentional.
And finally, last but not least:
15. Thank you thank you thank you for allowing me to pass a series of laws leading to full status of women in my realm, WITHOUT forcing me to to become Cathar to do so! Well done!
Again, thank you for a great DLC!
-- Galen
Addendum 3/1 - 16. After discussion in this thread, I am also of the opinion that the -40 opinion modifier for a powerful vassal wanting a council seat is excessive. I think scaling it back to -20 or -25, the same as wanting a higher title or a de jure county, would be both more realistic and more playable.
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