The following suggestions are explicitly directed towards reducing mid-late game tedium.
1. Factions and the Coffers
I've run dozens of ironman games and the winning strategy seems always the same towards dealing with internal stability.
1. Stack bonuses that make your vassals like you more
2. Horde enough money for mercenaries
3. Wait until a sufficiently large number inevitably decide to hate you because XYZ reasons (desires duchy, desires kingdom, ambitious, etc).
4. I will not be blackmailed!
5. Double the size of your army by hiring mercenaries
6. Crush the revolt and shuffle around all their titles to people who like you better through revocations
OR, in between the faction wars:
1. Wait until they are caught plotting something
2. Imprison (preferably with low chance of catching them)
3. To arms!
4. Steal the titles from the traitor when they're in my dungeon, shuffle to people who like you better
AND, throughout: Keep an increasing number of vassals safe in my dungeons.
Even if you aren't a tyrant in any meaningful sense there comes a point in the sheer size of your empire that this cycle repeats itself over and over and becomes extremely gratuitous. I've had a game where I had half of Europe in my pocket but spent every 10 years fighting a faction war that I would inevitably win anyways- because mercenaries.
I think this could be solved through a variety of methods, but one that would be very easy to implement, be straightforward in it's in-game logic, and realistic in terms of historical foundations would be to have faction leaders take into account not only the levy size but also the wealth of their liege compared to the wealth of those in the faction. This would allow AIs to account for the three mercenary bands their liege may pull out of thin air- to discern that if a liege is obscenely wealthy they make a harder target than one that is close to broke.
I could be wrong but right now as far as I can tell the factions fire based on the character of the faction leader and the ratio of faction to liege levies.
Accounting for allies/tributaries may make the AI feel smarter in this regard as well.
2. Hostages
Having the family members of one's vassals within one's control was as far as I know an extremely common tool of medieval politics. In this sense CK2 seems entirely lacking. I could have every relative of a vassal in my prison, ready to be executed upon my whim, and as far as I know this would have no bearing on their willingness to take arms against me. What's up with that?
Firmly requesting that the sons of a vassal train as a squire/page in my court and thus putting them in my court under a form of quasi-house arrest, or even outright throwing them in my dungeons should definitely be a prime means of maintaining the subservience, if not loyalty, of my vassals. Particularly with consideration to whether or not they will start or join a faction. Only the most fanatical would risk the lives of their sons or daughters for a rebellion.
Furthermore- the lives of the direct family of rebels should be forfeit, or at least come with a reduced tyranny penalty for executing if they do decide to revolt. Exacting collective dynastic punishment is a common medieval theme.
Implementing this could come in the form of creating a "request hostage" and/or a "take hostage" button that places them in a form of light 'house arrest'- in the court but not allowed to simply leave. Busting hostages out and other mischief should surely follow. Historically hostages often came to the victor in conflicts, so perhaps you could exchange a rebellious vassal in your prison for his sons/daughters as hostages.
Having a small icon that appears in the corner of the portrait of characters that are taken hostage (about the same size as the jail icon on imprisoned children) would let players distinguish which characters in their court are hostages. Including a filter in the character search would be good as well.
I think this feature could also replace the one where you demand a vassal's child is taught to become a part of their lieges cultural group. Instead any child taken hostage could have a large chance of adopting the culture of the court they are held in.
Hostages that inherit a title could pop an event once they are an adult allowing you to either allow them to take leave to their holdings or to imprison them and thus incur tyranny penalties.
3. Fear
I think that if a ruler wins a major faction war and executes all of those involved outright in horrible manners it should create a more lasting impression on the country and be a stronger deterrent than winning a faction war currently is. In Medieval Total War 2 you had a choice between 'dread'- gained through cruel/merciless actions, and 'chivalry'- gained through merciful/just actions. CK2 has traits that are akin to this, but just and kind are by far the best pick for ruling large empires... which is kind of counterintuitive given the common characteristics of the hereditary rulers of titanic empires. Furthermore, gaining these traits are quite the luck of the draw. The only thing traits such as cruel, or impaler, grant you is a morale damage for battle, but I think this fails to represent the more passive effect of the crippling fear a character like Genghis Khan or Ivan the Terrible should inspire.
In this regard I think a minor tweak would do. There should be a temporary revolt risk reduction as there is now to winning a rebellion or uprising, but there should also be a smaller reduction that lasts until the death of the ruler that put down said rebellion/uprising. However I am sure there are countless events and choices one could implement for those that want to be feared rather than loved.
4. Holding Upgrades
I probably should have put this one first. When you're sitting on six or more holdings, upgrading them is one of the most boring exercises in the game. My emotional connection to these holdings usually doesn't extend outside of my primary county. Beyond that it's a numbers game that I know I have to play in order to raise my levy count and income to match the AI. I always choose the same options- walls/ level one, then two castle towns/, then random troop buildings. This formula seems to always work, and it's just a matter of clicking on castle after castle after castle to keep them upgrading until they hit the barriers of the current tech level.
And God is it boring.
Please let us assign this job to the steward. I don't even care if he bungles it up or rips me off from time to time- that would be far preferable to the current status quo.
I would have a pool of money that is similar to the one that the great houses in republics use to fund election campaigns. The steward would then spend the money to upgrade your holdings according to the same strategy the AI would use if it were their own holdings. If they disliked you or were greedy they could skim off the top. If lazy they could be slow about doing it. If incompetent they could squander the money. You could even have an event where they upgrade the building of a town/church/barony under your county on accident. You could have them focus on raising income versus raising levy count, or even focus on investing in hospitals.
By all means allow the player to choose to micromanage their own holdings, because usually that's fun when it's at the scale of 1-4. Beyond that, however, it's nothing but a chore I do so I can keep playing the game.
1. Factions and the Coffers
I've run dozens of ironman games and the winning strategy seems always the same towards dealing with internal stability.
1. Stack bonuses that make your vassals like you more
2. Horde enough money for mercenaries
3. Wait until a sufficiently large number inevitably decide to hate you because XYZ reasons (desires duchy, desires kingdom, ambitious, etc).
4. I will not be blackmailed!
5. Double the size of your army by hiring mercenaries
6. Crush the revolt and shuffle around all their titles to people who like you better through revocations
OR, in between the faction wars:
1. Wait until they are caught plotting something
2. Imprison (preferably with low chance of catching them)
3. To arms!
4. Steal the titles from the traitor when they're in my dungeon, shuffle to people who like you better
AND, throughout: Keep an increasing number of vassals safe in my dungeons.
Even if you aren't a tyrant in any meaningful sense there comes a point in the sheer size of your empire that this cycle repeats itself over and over and becomes extremely gratuitous. I've had a game where I had half of Europe in my pocket but spent every 10 years fighting a faction war that I would inevitably win anyways- because mercenaries.
I think this could be solved through a variety of methods, but one that would be very easy to implement, be straightforward in it's in-game logic, and realistic in terms of historical foundations would be to have faction leaders take into account not only the levy size but also the wealth of their liege compared to the wealth of those in the faction. This would allow AIs to account for the three mercenary bands their liege may pull out of thin air- to discern that if a liege is obscenely wealthy they make a harder target than one that is close to broke.
I could be wrong but right now as far as I can tell the factions fire based on the character of the faction leader and the ratio of faction to liege levies.
Accounting for allies/tributaries may make the AI feel smarter in this regard as well.
2. Hostages
Having the family members of one's vassals within one's control was as far as I know an extremely common tool of medieval politics. In this sense CK2 seems entirely lacking. I could have every relative of a vassal in my prison, ready to be executed upon my whim, and as far as I know this would have no bearing on their willingness to take arms against me. What's up with that?
Firmly requesting that the sons of a vassal train as a squire/page in my court and thus putting them in my court under a form of quasi-house arrest, or even outright throwing them in my dungeons should definitely be a prime means of maintaining the subservience, if not loyalty, of my vassals. Particularly with consideration to whether or not they will start or join a faction. Only the most fanatical would risk the lives of their sons or daughters for a rebellion.
Furthermore- the lives of the direct family of rebels should be forfeit, or at least come with a reduced tyranny penalty for executing if they do decide to revolt. Exacting collective dynastic punishment is a common medieval theme.
Implementing this could come in the form of creating a "request hostage" and/or a "take hostage" button that places them in a form of light 'house arrest'- in the court but not allowed to simply leave. Busting hostages out and other mischief should surely follow. Historically hostages often came to the victor in conflicts, so perhaps you could exchange a rebellious vassal in your prison for his sons/daughters as hostages.
Having a small icon that appears in the corner of the portrait of characters that are taken hostage (about the same size as the jail icon on imprisoned children) would let players distinguish which characters in their court are hostages. Including a filter in the character search would be good as well.
I think this feature could also replace the one where you demand a vassal's child is taught to become a part of their lieges cultural group. Instead any child taken hostage could have a large chance of adopting the culture of the court they are held in.
Hostages that inherit a title could pop an event once they are an adult allowing you to either allow them to take leave to their holdings or to imprison them and thus incur tyranny penalties.
3. Fear
I think that if a ruler wins a major faction war and executes all of those involved outright in horrible manners it should create a more lasting impression on the country and be a stronger deterrent than winning a faction war currently is. In Medieval Total War 2 you had a choice between 'dread'- gained through cruel/merciless actions, and 'chivalry'- gained through merciful/just actions. CK2 has traits that are akin to this, but just and kind are by far the best pick for ruling large empires... which is kind of counterintuitive given the common characteristics of the hereditary rulers of titanic empires. Furthermore, gaining these traits are quite the luck of the draw. The only thing traits such as cruel, or impaler, grant you is a morale damage for battle, but I think this fails to represent the more passive effect of the crippling fear a character like Genghis Khan or Ivan the Terrible should inspire.
In this regard I think a minor tweak would do. There should be a temporary revolt risk reduction as there is now to winning a rebellion or uprising, but there should also be a smaller reduction that lasts until the death of the ruler that put down said rebellion/uprising. However I am sure there are countless events and choices one could implement for those that want to be feared rather than loved.
4. Holding Upgrades
I probably should have put this one first. When you're sitting on six or more holdings, upgrading them is one of the most boring exercises in the game. My emotional connection to these holdings usually doesn't extend outside of my primary county. Beyond that it's a numbers game that I know I have to play in order to raise my levy count and income to match the AI. I always choose the same options- walls/ level one, then two castle towns/, then random troop buildings. This formula seems to always work, and it's just a matter of clicking on castle after castle after castle to keep them upgrading until they hit the barriers of the current tech level.
And God is it boring.
Please let us assign this job to the steward. I don't even care if he bungles it up or rips me off from time to time- that would be far preferable to the current status quo.
I would have a pool of money that is similar to the one that the great houses in republics use to fund election campaigns. The steward would then spend the money to upgrade your holdings according to the same strategy the AI would use if it were their own holdings. If they disliked you or were greedy they could skim off the top. If lazy they could be slow about doing it. If incompetent they could squander the money. You could even have an event where they upgrade the building of a town/church/barony under your county on accident. You could have them focus on raising income versus raising levy count, or even focus on investing in hospitals.
By all means allow the player to choose to micromanage their own holdings, because usually that's fun when it's at the scale of 1-4. Beyond that, however, it's nothing but a chore I do so I can keep playing the game.
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So lets say I disagree to OP suggestion and suggested another path not involving RP or Steward´s competence. Just aotomating your decision- doing abit.