The main purposes of the Diplomatic Relations limit are to (a) prevent the player from spamming alliances & royal marriages, and (b) limit the size of alliance webs. It accomplishes these goals. Both the player and the AI must choose their allies and marriages carefully. But...
The system as it is currently setup has a number of disadvantages:
1) Certain types of diplomatic arrangements become basically useless because all types compete for the same slots. The best example is Transfer Trade Power. While in theory the ability to do this is a great addition to the game (both among allies and as a war demand), in practice it rarely (if ever) makes sense, because it means either foregoing an alliance or losing Dip points.
2) Military Access agreements must be micromanaged. It basically never makes sense to have a standing Mil Access agreement, because again that means foregoing an alliance or losing Dip MP. As a result, players must play a game of diplomat ping-pong to request - and then shortly after cancel - military access when moving troops around. Annoying.
3) It encourages painting the map and discourages keeping vassals. Every vassal, however small, requires a slot. In practice, this means that (with a few exceptions) all vassals get annexed. Under this system, vassalization becomes nothing more than an option on whether to spend ADM or DIP: Do I spend ADM now to core, or do I spend DIP in a few years to annex? The player is forced to paint the map. This is both unhistorical and bad for gameplay. A game with strong powers that compete to extend their influence over smaller satellite states (as typically happened in real life) is a more interesting game than one where they simply fight to outblob each other.
The Proposed Solution:
Barring implementation of fractional MPs (i.e. military access would take 0.25 slots instead of 1.0 slots), I am proposing the introduction of Minor Diplomatic Relations slots to create a two-tiered system for DipRel.
- - - In addition to the current DipRel slots (I'll call them "Major" DipRel), nations would also have "Minor" DipRel slots. (Say 2 Minor DipRel at game start.)
- - - Alliances and Royal Marriages would still count as "Major" relationships. Large vassals (those over the development limit for vassalization) would also take a Major DR slot. Thus, all the advantages of the DipRel system are preserved. Alliances and marriages are limited, and players are limited in the number of vassals they can feed to monstrous size.
- - - All other relationships - mil access, trade transfer, small vassals, etc. - would occupy a Minor DipRel slot. This reduces many of the disadvantages of the current system. It might now make sense to have a standing military access agreement (less micromanagement) or actually use Transfer Trade Power. It now also makes sense to keep vassals (even smaller ones) on a more permanent basis. Fewer blobs + more nuance = better games.
- - - Going over either limit, Major or Minor, would still reduce Dip MP. That said, extra Major slots could be used for Minor Relationships.
Additional Minor DipRel slots could be obtained through Ideas, National Ideas, Policies, etc. But specifically I propose that the Kingdom government level grant +1 MinorDipRel slot and the Empire government level grant an additional +1 Minor slot. This allows large nations greater diplomatic reach (which is both good for gameplay and true to life) without giving them more allies or marriages (which would be bad for gameplay).
Interested in hearing opinions and, hopefully, seeing these changes or something similar implemented in the future.
The system as it is currently setup has a number of disadvantages:
1) Certain types of diplomatic arrangements become basically useless because all types compete for the same slots. The best example is Transfer Trade Power. While in theory the ability to do this is a great addition to the game (both among allies and as a war demand), in practice it rarely (if ever) makes sense, because it means either foregoing an alliance or losing Dip points.
2) Military Access agreements must be micromanaged. It basically never makes sense to have a standing Mil Access agreement, because again that means foregoing an alliance or losing Dip MP. As a result, players must play a game of diplomat ping-pong to request - and then shortly after cancel - military access when moving troops around. Annoying.
3) It encourages painting the map and discourages keeping vassals. Every vassal, however small, requires a slot. In practice, this means that (with a few exceptions) all vassals get annexed. Under this system, vassalization becomes nothing more than an option on whether to spend ADM or DIP: Do I spend ADM now to core, or do I spend DIP in a few years to annex? The player is forced to paint the map. This is both unhistorical and bad for gameplay. A game with strong powers that compete to extend their influence over smaller satellite states (as typically happened in real life) is a more interesting game than one where they simply fight to outblob each other.
The Proposed Solution:
Barring implementation of fractional MPs (i.e. military access would take 0.25 slots instead of 1.0 slots), I am proposing the introduction of Minor Diplomatic Relations slots to create a two-tiered system for DipRel.
- - - In addition to the current DipRel slots (I'll call them "Major" DipRel), nations would also have "Minor" DipRel slots. (Say 2 Minor DipRel at game start.)
- - - Alliances and Royal Marriages would still count as "Major" relationships. Large vassals (those over the development limit for vassalization) would also take a Major DR slot. Thus, all the advantages of the DipRel system are preserved. Alliances and marriages are limited, and players are limited in the number of vassals they can feed to monstrous size.
- - - All other relationships - mil access, trade transfer, small vassals, etc. - would occupy a Minor DipRel slot. This reduces many of the disadvantages of the current system. It might now make sense to have a standing military access agreement (less micromanagement) or actually use Transfer Trade Power. It now also makes sense to keep vassals (even smaller ones) on a more permanent basis. Fewer blobs + more nuance = better games.
- - - Going over either limit, Major or Minor, would still reduce Dip MP. That said, extra Major slots could be used for Minor Relationships.
Additional Minor DipRel slots could be obtained through Ideas, National Ideas, Policies, etc. But specifically I propose that the Kingdom government level grant +1 MinorDipRel slot and the Empire government level grant an additional +1 Minor slot. This allows large nations greater diplomatic reach (which is both good for gameplay and true to life) without giving them more allies or marriages (which would be bad for gameplay).
Interested in hearing opinions and, hopefully, seeing these changes or something similar implemented in the future.
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