Diplomatic Relations alternative implementation brainstorm

[Gemberkoekje]

Hello,

This is not something which is bad, per say, in EU4 right now, it's just something I was thinking about, and I wondered what everyone thought about it.

Right now all countries have a per-country diplomatic relation, and by default you can have at maximum 4 diplomatic relations.

I've always felt this as restrictive. Especially with protectorates, alliances, vassals and personal unions, your diplo slots fill up rather quickly, independent whether it's a one province minor or a huge country.

So my idea is to change the Diplomatic Relations 'per-country' mechanic to a Diplomatic Relation score, with a default of, say, 400. Basically, instead of a country counting as 1 country, it'll count as however many base tax the country has. (Also, maybe there can be modifiers, maybe protectorates count for 50% etc.) This way, if you ally France, you won't really have much extra space for anything else, but it also means you can ally a whole bunch of smaller countries and band together, or have a bunch of smaller vassals instead of a mandatory big one, due to the relationship slots.

Again, just a brainstorm, and obviously this would need to be balanced, but I think it'd make for a more interesting game.

So please, brainstorm with me

 

[ahyangyi]

How can Denmark keep the PU over Sweden and Norway in 1444? I guess in your system the two PUs will take way over 400 "diplomacy values"...

 

[Seraphithan]

I think the limit to relations could be tweaked but basing it on base tax seems overly complicated, rather I would split relations into minor and major relations. Major relations being alliances, vassals, PUs and everything else being a minor relation. This way asking your neighbour for military access doesn't cost you upkeep just because you're allied to 4 people. Not having to compete with alliances and stuff would also make some of the more fringe treaties like transfer trade power more appealing.

 

[Gemberkoekje]

How can Denmark keep the PU over Sweden and Norway in 1444? I guess in your system the two PUs will take way over 400 "diplomacy values"...

Isn't it reasonable that this huge personal union would cost Denmark Diplo points?

but basing it on base tax seems overly complicated

Well, I just love brainstorming over these things, so it might very well be overly complicated, but it would add a dynamic extra layer of strategy to the game: Will you ally with a single big entity, or with a lot of small ones?

 

[Seraphithan]

Will you ally with a single big entity, or with a lot of small ones?

As many big ones as possible. Unless the war is absolutely one sided in my favour the big ones can weather setbacks much better than the small ones. Lets say I could choose between one nation with 50 provinces and 50 OPMs. With the 50 OPMs each lost siege kicks an ally out. Even if the enemy doesn't get a chance to finish sieges, the OPMs will have sky rocketing WE and quickly run into manpower issues (assuming a tough war).