Anyone remember when Brittany survived all the way through to the end game at least 50% of the time and usually finished the game with its initial 4 provinces plus a small handful of colonies? Thanks to the complete lack of regard for the the complete lack of balance that is Superfrance (which takes a nation that certainly was powerful in real history and cranks that power up to 11 and then again up to 15) it just never survives to accomplish that anymore. It went from a state with a bit of potential to maintain its independence into a Granada a few patches ago. One of the nations like Provence, Granada, Byzantium, etc that pretty much just exists to be eaten and has little to no chance to actually maintain independence.
I just realized that it's been a very very very long time since I saw Brittany do anything interesting, probably since before Art of War. I wonder what changed.
Personally I suspect that the death of Brittany as a valid state has a lot to do with the focus the devs have put into maintaining the great European powers (other than England of course since obviously who cares about buffing England) as relevant and powerful and likely to remain so until the end of the game. The casualties are obviously the secondary powers that eventually do get absorbed, like Scotland, the Irish minors, Brittany and Granada, who do fall to the great powers but certainly not in the first 15 years of the game like happens frequently in EUIV. States that maintained their freedom for centuries of in game time are out of the game almost as soon as you start the clock.
Not sure what to do about it really, and I do think it's important to have some super weak states lying around that are playable for players who like a big challenge, but I do think that little states like Brittany should have better ways to stave off outright invasion of the big nations around them. For example, Korea frequently stayed independent by offering tribute to whoever was the bully on the block, usually China. That really isn't an option in game, there is no way to be a tributary state other than becoming a vassal, and the two don't really go hand in hand at all. So Korea gets eaten half the time unless it can expand against the Jurchens or unless Ming collapses (which is a whole nother issue). Maybe a tribute mechanic and a way to really placate AI nations should be in the game. I'll leave that to the Devs to sort out. But the demise of the bit power states in EUIV is real, they used to be a lot more viable than they are now.
I just realized that it's been a very very very long time since I saw Brittany do anything interesting, probably since before Art of War. I wonder what changed.
Personally I suspect that the death of Brittany as a valid state has a lot to do with the focus the devs have put into maintaining the great European powers (other than England of course since obviously who cares about buffing England) as relevant and powerful and likely to remain so until the end of the game. The casualties are obviously the secondary powers that eventually do get absorbed, like Scotland, the Irish minors, Brittany and Granada, who do fall to the great powers but certainly not in the first 15 years of the game like happens frequently in EUIV. States that maintained their freedom for centuries of in game time are out of the game almost as soon as you start the clock.
Not sure what to do about it really, and I do think it's important to have some super weak states lying around that are playable for players who like a big challenge, but I do think that little states like Brittany should have better ways to stave off outright invasion of the big nations around them. For example, Korea frequently stayed independent by offering tribute to whoever was the bully on the block, usually China. That really isn't an option in game, there is no way to be a tributary state other than becoming a vassal, and the two don't really go hand in hand at all. So Korea gets eaten half the time unless it can expand against the Jurchens or unless Ming collapses (which is a whole nother issue). Maybe a tribute mechanic and a way to really placate AI nations should be in the game. I'll leave that to the Devs to sort out. But the demise of the bit power states in EUIV is real, they used to be a lot more viable than they are now.
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