Just make it the default rule to have unlimited vassal Republics and Theocracies, not capped at 10%.
The first and most important reason, is that you can still expand republics and theocracies above the 10% cap by adding vassals to existing theocracies and republics. This makes it possible to expand them anyway, just tricky, gimpy and annoying to do so.
Secondly, neither of these vassal types are overpowered.
Republics are fussy and difficult to manage, with their wrong opinion modifier, and the additional infidel / foreigner modifiers if you're clever enough to make them Muslim or Pagan for the 4x Patrician sons and the infidel tax, and their obstinate refusal to accept vassal revocations under any circumstances.
Vassal republics are good for:
- Taxes
- Ships
Vassal republics are not good for:
- Loyalty
- Managability
- Troops
So, it does not unbalance the game to make them unlimited. You do not want a lot of them, just enough to float the armies you raise from your feudal vassals, create trade zones to enrich your provinces, and pay you some taxes to offset levy focused obligations for the feudal vassals.
Similarly, Theocracies are good for:
- Loyalty
- Packing the College of Cardinals, and by extension the Papacy, with loyalists
- Getting a Pope with the desired competences and culture
- Using your loyal Pope and Prince-Bishop-Cardinals as electors in various elective schemes
- In extreme situations of realm management, making Theocracies into Powerful Vassals where Powerful Vassals cannot be avoided, and investing your preferred councilors into those Theocracies
Theocracies are not good for:
- Levies, as they may wind up having 100 relation with the Pope, disappearing your levies into the nether
- Taxes, particularly, as even if you control the Pope and the clergy tax is at 50%, they may love him, and pay 50% to him, which will trickle up at 25% to you, not much better than other vassal types
- Levies, furthermore, as a controlled Pope incentivizes tax-focused clergy obligations, so Theocracies will not supply you with much army, even if they prefer you over the Pope.
So, similarly, it does not unbalance the game to make them unlimited. At their maximum expression, you will want five Theocracies strategically positioned in a sort of "Bible Belt" to divide your realm cleanly in half, so that any revolt against your rule can be attacked before it joins forces with the other side, and solving your political issues with the Pope, given elector titles, and possibly councillors. However, the taxes and levies they render are mediocre and unreliable, and you do not want too many of these either.
Above all, since the mechanic regulating the 10% cap is persistently broken and game-able, the learning curve would be reduced by just throwing it out the window entirely, at no real cost to game balance. The weaknesses of these vassal types strongly discourages you from going crazy with them, and with Full Crown Authority, there is no logical reason why you should not be able to set up whatever sort of vassal states you prefer to have.
The first and most important reason, is that you can still expand republics and theocracies above the 10% cap by adding vassals to existing theocracies and republics. This makes it possible to expand them anyway, just tricky, gimpy and annoying to do so.
Secondly, neither of these vassal types are overpowered.
Republics are fussy and difficult to manage, with their wrong opinion modifier, and the additional infidel / foreigner modifiers if you're clever enough to make them Muslim or Pagan for the 4x Patrician sons and the infidel tax, and their obstinate refusal to accept vassal revocations under any circumstances.
Vassal republics are good for:
- Taxes
- Ships
Vassal republics are not good for:
- Loyalty
- Managability
- Troops
So, it does not unbalance the game to make them unlimited. You do not want a lot of them, just enough to float the armies you raise from your feudal vassals, create trade zones to enrich your provinces, and pay you some taxes to offset levy focused obligations for the feudal vassals.
Similarly, Theocracies are good for:
- Loyalty
- Packing the College of Cardinals, and by extension the Papacy, with loyalists
- Getting a Pope with the desired competences and culture
- Using your loyal Pope and Prince-Bishop-Cardinals as electors in various elective schemes
- In extreme situations of realm management, making Theocracies into Powerful Vassals where Powerful Vassals cannot be avoided, and investing your preferred councilors into those Theocracies
Theocracies are not good for:
- Levies, as they may wind up having 100 relation with the Pope, disappearing your levies into the nether
- Taxes, particularly, as even if you control the Pope and the clergy tax is at 50%, they may love him, and pay 50% to him, which will trickle up at 25% to you, not much better than other vassal types
- Levies, furthermore, as a controlled Pope incentivizes tax-focused clergy obligations, so Theocracies will not supply you with much army, even if they prefer you over the Pope.
So, similarly, it does not unbalance the game to make them unlimited. At their maximum expression, you will want five Theocracies strategically positioned in a sort of "Bible Belt" to divide your realm cleanly in half, so that any revolt against your rule can be attacked before it joins forces with the other side, and solving your political issues with the Pope, given elector titles, and possibly councillors. However, the taxes and levies they render are mediocre and unreliable, and you do not want too many of these either.
Above all, since the mechanic regulating the 10% cap is persistently broken and game-able, the learning curve would be reduced by just throwing it out the window entirely, at no real cost to game balance. The weaknesses of these vassal types strongly discourages you from going crazy with them, and with Full Crown Authority, there is no logical reason why you should not be able to set up whatever sort of vassal states you prefer to have.
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