Certain things work the way they do because of EU IV game mechanics. At some point, there needs to be a compromise between historical accuracy and play-ability.
In some ways, Cores were more realistic in EU III, as it made sense that the British owning, saying, a random Japanese province, might take 50 years to core, and not 18 months.
Why was this changed in EU IV? Because, well, overextension! You can't suffer overextension for 50 years in EU IV, it would never be worth it. Basically, play-ability > historical accuracy.
Still, I think Coring can be improved by making 2 changes -
1) Overextension changed to be "Acceptable".
OE right now is a "temporary condition" in EU IV, ie, I conquered some stuff, and then I have OE for 18 months until I can core it, or 0 months as I immediately vassal feed it, or subject nation release. Given the laundry list of negative modifiers, all nations have 0 OE for the entire game, except for a few years after a victorious war.
But really, if OE is meant to model the difficulty in absorbing new provinces, we already have 15 years of nationalism. If it's meant to punish players who don't core, we already have the -75% in income and -X% in manpower.
Over extension as a mechanism is not really covering the huge, globe spanning empires it's supposed to cover!
If it is meant to model the over extension of huge empires, ie the British Empire as it spanned across the entire globe, or the Ottoman Empire, well.....a 300 province British Empire in EU IV currently will have 0 OE. ZERO. Just took all of Japan? Woah, we are super over extended, my King....give me 32 months, though, and I'll make them all proud to be British! Is that really realistic?
Overextension's penalties should be massively reduced, to a tiny tax income and very slight unrest penalties (much less than currently). It shouldn't affect WE, relations, or any of the other negatives. Any large expanding Empire basically should ALWAYS be over extended, and it should be ok - the benefits of expansion should outweigh the slight penalties.
2) Coring changes to take culture group into consideration
I loved that in EU 3, cores actually MEANT something. Hey, this land, we have HISTORICAL claims on it. The people there FELT like citizens of (insert country here). They've been part of Russia for so long, they are Russian even if they are ethnically Tartar. It is CORE to our country, our King, or some other right to the land. You can't just fabricate a core (I feel like in EU IV, I fabricate claims in 1 year, and then I "fabricate" cores in 2-3 years. There's no other explanation for how magically fast Coring is). Unrelated lands need to be owned for a long time to really become "core". The British might sack Beijing and/or seize shanghai for a few years, but that doesn't make it core. Own Hong Kong for 50 years though, and people start acknowledging your right to that land. Currently in EU IV, everybody can core anything, immediately, and in less than 3 years! 50 years -> 18 months! Napoleon would have been really glad that Italy was considered core France, forever (or at least 50 years), because he managed to hold it for a few years.
Proposed NEW CORING SYSTEM:
Same culture - exactly the same as now, pay MP (maybe even with 50% discount, it is same culture after all!), get core in 18 months.
Same culture group, or accepted culture - should be slightly harder than now, but mostly still the same. Pay MP, get core in 3 years.
bordering provinces not of the same culture group: historically countries often "resettled" the land. For example, all of the land of the Golden Horde became majority Russian. Colonial nations "resettled" the native lands and made them American/Portuguese etc. Castile drove out all the Muslims in Grandada, and turned it Castillian, Catholic.
Bordering province, not in culture group, not accepted culture - Pay the MP cost for coring AND cultural conversion. Wait the time it takes currently to do both. When it completes, you get a core, but also the culture changes to your primary culture, with your primary religion. If the culture is not one you can currently covert (due a nation existing), +50% the MP cost and time.
All others - CANNOT core. Need to wait 50 years, and suffer OE in the meantime. Of course, OE penalties should be very, very minor under 100% OE. OE should be changed so that most countries should play with 25-150% OE for most of the game and be perfectly fine. 50% OE should be like -1 stability. So Britain might be 150% OE, and it would slightly suck, like -3 stability, but still be perfectly playable - in fact a rapidly expanding British Empire might be 150% OE for most of the game.
So to summary the rule changes -
Coring is now different depending on culture:
You can core same culture at 50% reduced MP cost. Otherwise, the same.
You can core same culture group, or accepted cultures the same way as currently. No change from today.
You can core bordering provinces by "resettling" the land. This costs culture conversion + coring cost in both MP and time. +50% time if culture conversion is not normally possible.
You CANNOT otherwise core non-culture group, non-accepted cultures. Wait 50 years, auto core after that.
In the same way, if you WANTED, you can wait 50 years to core any province for free. It probably isn't worth it, but that is an option, as even if the King/administration never tried to "Russafy or "Britishfy" some random place, administering it for 50 years would basically core it.
Overextension changes:
OE is normal, and expanding empires will always be overextended. Every 50% OE is like -1 stability.
Thanks for reading!
I hope you think this would be a good change. No more British cores in Japanese provinces 30 months after conquest! Spain can't just core half of Turkey 2 years after taking it in some lucky war. I mean, that's like Turks and former Japanese citizens lining up to sign up for their Occupier's army, 2 short years after being annexed!
In some ways, Cores were more realistic in EU III, as it made sense that the British owning, saying, a random Japanese province, might take 50 years to core, and not 18 months.
Why was this changed in EU IV? Because, well, overextension! You can't suffer overextension for 50 years in EU IV, it would never be worth it. Basically, play-ability > historical accuracy.
Still, I think Coring can be improved by making 2 changes -
1) Overextension changed to be "Acceptable".
OE right now is a "temporary condition" in EU IV, ie, I conquered some stuff, and then I have OE for 18 months until I can core it, or 0 months as I immediately vassal feed it, or subject nation release. Given the laundry list of negative modifiers, all nations have 0 OE for the entire game, except for a few years after a victorious war.
But really, if OE is meant to model the difficulty in absorbing new provinces, we already have 15 years of nationalism. If it's meant to punish players who don't core, we already have the -75% in income and -X% in manpower.
Over extension as a mechanism is not really covering the huge, globe spanning empires it's supposed to cover!
If it is meant to model the over extension of huge empires, ie the British Empire as it spanned across the entire globe, or the Ottoman Empire, well.....a 300 province British Empire in EU IV currently will have 0 OE. ZERO. Just took all of Japan? Woah, we are super over extended, my King....give me 32 months, though, and I'll make them all proud to be British! Is that really realistic?
Overextension's penalties should be massively reduced, to a tiny tax income and very slight unrest penalties (much less than currently). It shouldn't affect WE, relations, or any of the other negatives. Any large expanding Empire basically should ALWAYS be over extended, and it should be ok - the benefits of expansion should outweigh the slight penalties.
2) Coring changes to take culture group into consideration
I loved that in EU 3, cores actually MEANT something. Hey, this land, we have HISTORICAL claims on it. The people there FELT like citizens of (insert country here). They've been part of Russia for so long, they are Russian even if they are ethnically Tartar. It is CORE to our country, our King, or some other right to the land. You can't just fabricate a core (I feel like in EU IV, I fabricate claims in 1 year, and then I "fabricate" cores in 2-3 years. There's no other explanation for how magically fast Coring is). Unrelated lands need to be owned for a long time to really become "core". The British might sack Beijing and/or seize shanghai for a few years, but that doesn't make it core. Own Hong Kong for 50 years though, and people start acknowledging your right to that land. Currently in EU IV, everybody can core anything, immediately, and in less than 3 years! 50 years -> 18 months! Napoleon would have been really glad that Italy was considered core France, forever (or at least 50 years), because he managed to hold it for a few years.
Proposed NEW CORING SYSTEM:
Same culture - exactly the same as now, pay MP (maybe even with 50% discount, it is same culture after all!), get core in 18 months.
Same culture group, or accepted culture - should be slightly harder than now, but mostly still the same. Pay MP, get core in 3 years.
bordering provinces not of the same culture group: historically countries often "resettled" the land. For example, all of the land of the Golden Horde became majority Russian. Colonial nations "resettled" the native lands and made them American/Portuguese etc. Castile drove out all the Muslims in Grandada, and turned it Castillian, Catholic.
Bordering province, not in culture group, not accepted culture - Pay the MP cost for coring AND cultural conversion. Wait the time it takes currently to do both. When it completes, you get a core, but also the culture changes to your primary culture, with your primary religion. If the culture is not one you can currently covert (due a nation existing), +50% the MP cost and time.
All others - CANNOT core. Need to wait 50 years, and suffer OE in the meantime. Of course, OE penalties should be very, very minor under 100% OE. OE should be changed so that most countries should play with 25-150% OE for most of the game and be perfectly fine. 50% OE should be like -1 stability. So Britain might be 150% OE, and it would slightly suck, like -3 stability, but still be perfectly playable - in fact a rapidly expanding British Empire might be 150% OE for most of the game.
So to summary the rule changes -
Coring is now different depending on culture:
You can core same culture at 50% reduced MP cost. Otherwise, the same.
You can core same culture group, or accepted cultures the same way as currently. No change from today.
You can core bordering provinces by "resettling" the land. This costs culture conversion + coring cost in both MP and time. +50% time if culture conversion is not normally possible.
You CANNOT otherwise core non-culture group, non-accepted cultures. Wait 50 years, auto core after that.
In the same way, if you WANTED, you can wait 50 years to core any province for free. It probably isn't worth it, but that is an option, as even if the King/administration never tried to "Russafy or "Britishfy" some random place, administering it for 50 years would basically core it.
Overextension changes:
OE is normal, and expanding empires will always be overextended. Every 50% OE is like -1 stability.
Thanks for reading!
I hope you think this would be a good change. No more British cores in Japanese provinces 30 months after conquest! Spain can't just core half of Turkey 2 years after taking it in some lucky war. I mean, that's like Turks and former Japanese citizens lining up to sign up for their Occupier's army, 2 short years after being annexed!
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