The Problem:
Hordes are very unpleasant to play. You're either dirt poor because you raize your own provinces, or you have rapidly dropping horde unity and inferior stats because you have too much development. When playing a horde, all you can do is reform your government as fast as possible. Why can't it be fun to just stay a horde? I think that by allowing overland raiding and migration, being a horde can become fun.
The ability to raid provinces by land has been a long requested feature for hordes, and today, I am here to propose a system for its implementation:
Overland raiding:
Target:
- Must be at peace with the raider.
- Must not have a truce with the raider.
- Must neighbour raider by land.
- Must not have been raided (by the same raider) for at least ten years.
- Must not be an ally, subject or overlord of raider.
- Must be of a different religion.
- Raider gains -100 relations malus with target after raid.
- Target gains “Raided” Casus Belli on raider.
Raid:
- Initiated by diplomacy option “Declare Raid”.
- “Raid” lasts six months before being automatically called off.
- The raid is cancelled upon the raider going to war.
- A raid may one be declared once every ten years (per target).
Raiding Party:
- Must be a Horde.
- Utilizes “Raid Province” button in the unit menu (similar to "Raize Province" mechanic).
- Cannot bypass fortresses.
- Raider may be engaged/fought on the target’s home provinces.
- The target may NOT enter the raider's home provinces.
Provinces:
- Provinces give ducats and horde unity.
- May only be raided once every ten years.
- Gain devastation when raided.
The Effects:
- Hordes no longer have to choose between raizing their own provinces into poverty and plunging into uncontrollable instability by developing their provinces.
- This incentives fortifying your frontier and makes forts even more useful. A raid cannot be used to simply destroy a weaker nation's army because said army can always sit on a capital fort with impunity.
- Hordes will receive a nice buff, and will now pose a direct long term threat in the devastation they cause to their neighbours over a prolonged period of time. Hordes will be a legitimate concern for their neighbours and no longer just feeble, impoverished blob food.
The Facts:
- Slavery/Raiding was a prolific part of the economy of steppe nomads.
- The Crimean Khanate raided the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia, and Circassia for slaves very commonly, often taking in thousands of slaves in any given raid: ( https://books.google.com/books?id=DhnGDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA66&lpg=PA66&dq=kazakh+slave+raids+russia&source=bl&ots=-ru1Omdo1W&sig=c9RSkKhKePFvW4XdgTO5dv2IbEg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirqMK5j9DTAhVKxYMKHRCtC40Q6AEISzAF#v=onepage&q=kazakh slave raids russia&f=false)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean–Nogai_raids_into_East_Slavic_lands).
- The Kazakh Khanate and other Central Asian states raided the Russian frontier and caravans and sold captives into slavery in the Uzbek Khanates, where the slave trade was a huge market:
(https://books.google.com/books?id=kWXSgG28y4IC&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq=kazakh+slave+raids+russia&source=bl&ots=ZeyHfHQ88_&sig=F2rDqej4BdZXcE7im0MN84N1iHY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirqMK5j9DTAhVKxYMKHRCtC40Q6AEITjAG#v=onepage&q=kazakh slave raids russia&f=false)
(https://books.google.com/books?id=Ti51WfA68RYC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=kazakh+slave+raids+russia&source=bl&ots=CPjSvcxIxR&sig=oUbekFomjclfxkrLu1LY1uzh3do&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirqMK5j9DTAhVKxYMKHRCtC40Q6AEIVjAI#v=onepage&q=kazakh slave raids russia&f=false).
Migration:
In addition to the introduction of an overland raiding system, I believe that migration should be granted to hordes as well.
- OPM hordes may migrate in the same manner as Siberian clan councils and native councils.
- This would allow defeated hordes to escape the grasp of their enemies by migrating away (if they border un-colonized provinces), thereby extending the longevity of their existence (and adding some flavor to the game).
- Just imagine the fun, you're a small horde hopping across Siberia raiding everyone left and right, maybe spending a few years raiding Russia and then migrating back East and raiding China, and jumping between the two constantly. A true horde experience! Mischief!
The Facts:
- Seasonal migration was a staple of the pastoral lifestyle of steppe nomads
- In EU4’s timeframe, hordes migrated over vast distances to establish their states in faraway lands.
- Example: In the 1500’s, upon the defeat of the Nogay Khanate in Central Asia/Western Kazakhstan, a divergent group of Nogays migrated all the way to the shores of the Black Sea in the Kuban, Ukraine and Southern Moldavia to establish their own semi-independent khanates under the patronage of their Crimean (and Ottoman) overlords: (https://books.google.com/books?id=i5-CAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=lesser+nogai+horde&source=bl&ots=BxQMd9V_Ur&sig=NNJrjjWX2vLey1onpVB3VV7n8SA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwic7evW5q_LAhUil4MKHSApCuYQ6AEIPzAJ#v=onepage&q=lesser nogai horde&f=false)
(https://books.google.com/books?id=zMM7CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT43&lpg=PT43&dq=dobruja+horde&source=bl&ots=971d1-8xT-&sig=ZgtKpPDFJW4VdnAGhYTEnFdOIDc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjYx42-56_LAhUhuYMKHaEhBrUQ6AEIOTAG#v=onepage&q=dobruja horde&f=false).
- Another example: In the 1600’s, upon the rise of Dzungaria in Western Mongolia, a fleeing group of Oirats reached the Western shores of the Caspian Sea around Astrakhan and established the independent Kalmyk Khanate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmyk_Khanate).
Hordes are very unpleasant to play. You're either dirt poor because you raize your own provinces, or you have rapidly dropping horde unity and inferior stats because you have too much development. When playing a horde, all you can do is reform your government as fast as possible. Why can't it be fun to just stay a horde? I think that by allowing overland raiding and migration, being a horde can become fun.
The ability to raid provinces by land has been a long requested feature for hordes, and today, I am here to propose a system for its implementation:
Overland raiding:
Target:
- Must be at peace with the raider.
- Must not have a truce with the raider.
- Must neighbour raider by land.
- Must not have been raided (by the same raider) for at least ten years.
- Must not be an ally, subject or overlord of raider.
- Must be of a different religion.
- Raider gains -100 relations malus with target after raid.
- Target gains “Raided” Casus Belli on raider.
Raid:
- Initiated by diplomacy option “Declare Raid”.
- “Raid” lasts six months before being automatically called off.
- The raid is cancelled upon the raider going to war.
- A raid may one be declared once every ten years (per target).
Raiding Party:
- Must be a Horde.
- Utilizes “Raid Province” button in the unit menu (similar to "Raize Province" mechanic).
- Cannot bypass fortresses.
- Raider may be engaged/fought on the target’s home provinces.
- The target may NOT enter the raider's home provinces.
Provinces:
- Provinces give ducats and horde unity.
- May only be raided once every ten years.
- Gain devastation when raided.
The Effects:
- Hordes no longer have to choose between raizing their own provinces into poverty and plunging into uncontrollable instability by developing their provinces.
- This incentives fortifying your frontier and makes forts even more useful. A raid cannot be used to simply destroy a weaker nation's army because said army can always sit on a capital fort with impunity.
- Hordes will receive a nice buff, and will now pose a direct long term threat in the devastation they cause to their neighbours over a prolonged period of time. Hordes will be a legitimate concern for their neighbours and no longer just feeble, impoverished blob food.
The Facts:
- Slavery/Raiding was a prolific part of the economy of steppe nomads.
- The Crimean Khanate raided the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia, and Circassia for slaves very commonly, often taking in thousands of slaves in any given raid: ( https://books.google.com/books?id=DhnGDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA66&lpg=PA66&dq=kazakh+slave+raids+russia&source=bl&ots=-ru1Omdo1W&sig=c9RSkKhKePFvW4XdgTO5dv2IbEg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirqMK5j9DTAhVKxYMKHRCtC40Q6AEISzAF#v=onepage&q=kazakh slave raids russia&f=false)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean–Nogai_raids_into_East_Slavic_lands).
- The Kazakh Khanate and other Central Asian states raided the Russian frontier and caravans and sold captives into slavery in the Uzbek Khanates, where the slave trade was a huge market:
(https://books.google.com/books?id=kWXSgG28y4IC&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq=kazakh+slave+raids+russia&source=bl&ots=ZeyHfHQ88_&sig=F2rDqej4BdZXcE7im0MN84N1iHY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirqMK5j9DTAhVKxYMKHRCtC40Q6AEITjAG#v=onepage&q=kazakh slave raids russia&f=false)
(https://books.google.com/books?id=Ti51WfA68RYC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=kazakh+slave+raids+russia&source=bl&ots=CPjSvcxIxR&sig=oUbekFomjclfxkrLu1LY1uzh3do&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirqMK5j9DTAhVKxYMKHRCtC40Q6AEIVjAI#v=onepage&q=kazakh slave raids russia&f=false).
Migration:
In addition to the introduction of an overland raiding system, I believe that migration should be granted to hordes as well.
- OPM hordes may migrate in the same manner as Siberian clan councils and native councils.
- This would allow defeated hordes to escape the grasp of their enemies by migrating away (if they border un-colonized provinces), thereby extending the longevity of their existence (and adding some flavor to the game).
- Just imagine the fun, you're a small horde hopping across Siberia raiding everyone left and right, maybe spending a few years raiding Russia and then migrating back East and raiding China, and jumping between the two constantly. A true horde experience! Mischief!
The Facts:
- Seasonal migration was a staple of the pastoral lifestyle of steppe nomads
- In EU4’s timeframe, hordes migrated over vast distances to establish their states in faraway lands.
- Example: In the 1500’s, upon the defeat of the Nogay Khanate in Central Asia/Western Kazakhstan, a divergent group of Nogays migrated all the way to the shores of the Black Sea in the Kuban, Ukraine and Southern Moldavia to establish their own semi-independent khanates under the patronage of their Crimean (and Ottoman) overlords: (https://books.google.com/books?id=i5-CAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=lesser+nogai+horde&source=bl&ots=BxQMd9V_Ur&sig=NNJrjjWX2vLey1onpVB3VV7n8SA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwic7evW5q_LAhUil4MKHSApCuYQ6AEIPzAJ#v=onepage&q=lesser nogai horde&f=false)
(https://books.google.com/books?id=zMM7CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT43&lpg=PT43&dq=dobruja+horde&source=bl&ots=971d1-8xT-&sig=ZgtKpPDFJW4VdnAGhYTEnFdOIDc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjYx42-56_LAhUhuYMKHaEhBrUQ6AEIOTAG#v=onepage&q=dobruja horde&f=false).
- Another example: In the 1600’s, upon the rise of Dzungaria in Western Mongolia, a fleeing group of Oirats reached the Western shores of the Caspian Sea around Astrakhan and established the independent Kalmyk Khanate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmyk_Khanate).
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