Since the new DLC will be out in a month or two, I figured now's a good time to discuss the Nomadic government type in terms of gameplay in order to improve it and balance it and -- most of all -- force it to actually play by the rules of the game. I'm not really looking for a total overhaul, but more a shift of numbers to make them more interesting to play as and against.
1. Double opinions.
In the Nomadic government type, there's an opinion called Clan Sentiment. This encompasses availability of grazing space, feuds, blood pacts, etc. It also includes Prestige as a modifier. Yet in the general opinion (the one all government types use), there is also a modifier for Prestige. This means that Prestige counts twice for Nomads, making the usual +20 modifier for 2000 Prestige effectively into a +40 modifier. The end result is that only at the beginning of a Khan's rule do other clans ever really have less than +100 opinion of the leading Khan.
I would argue that only Clan Sentiment should matter when deciding to usurp Khanates or join the Khan in wars or not. And regardless, the double prestige buff needs to be eliminated.
2. Pillaging.
Pillaging represents are nearly endless supply of gold as it is now. A single province with, say, an upgraded barony, church, and city that could be raided for 200 gold is able to be pillaged for more than 5x that much, all in relative safety without using any standing army. The increase in revolt risk is pointless since the revolts tend to be pitifully weak, especially as the province is pillaged more and the development of the buildings deteriorates. Finally, when the province it totally pillaged, all that stacked revolt risk that would take 20 years or so to fade away is no longer an issue -- when no holdings remain, there can be no rebellion whatsoever.
Suggested changes:
Reduce gold from pillaging upgraded baronies, churches, etc. from 50 to 20 gold. Tribal buildings and such can stay at 10 gold. Pillaging generates way too much money. A single subjugation of a large kingdom can easily yield 10K+ gold. There is nothing else in the game that compares to that and it breaks the economic function of the game when rulers have infinite money, especially with almost zero risk. A petty Khan can generate income in a way that makes a grand Doge look like a serf. Yes, pillaging was a source of income for Khans. Many of them became rich from it. They can still be rich -- but they shouldn't have endless wealth 20 years into the campaign.
Secondly, alter the rebellion risk from pillaging so that it increases at twice the rate it does now but has half the half-life. It's too easy to have pillaged a province down to almost nothing before a revolt happens, and by then the revolts are so weak they become nothing but prestige farms.
3. Vassal opinions and levy modifiers.
Simply put, vassal opinion should determine levy size. The current mechanic that forces even -100 opinion vassals to provide max levy (80%) is broken. It makes rebellions of even the largest subjugated empires incredibly weak and rare. They can be defeated or dissuaded from rebelling just by the size of the levies they give to the Khan! Oh, and if you're tired of trouncing them? Just revoke titles -- it doesn't matter, since there's no effect from it. Levies should follow opinion modifiers just like every other government type.
4. Subjugation CB.
This functions like the Prepared Invasion CB, yet for some reason doesn't allow neighbors to assist in defense and it has no limitation on existing size of the realm and has no prestige cost. Yet the other Nomad CB, Subordination, has a cost and allows nearby same-faith rulers to defend against it. It's inconsistent, and more importantly since it disallows neighbors from assisting in the defense it makes conquering even the largest empires way too easy. Nearby neighbors need to be able to provide assistance and -- at least for consistency -- it should have a Prestige cost.
5. Head Khans can hold too much land.
The demesne limit from other governments is replaced by a land-sharing mechanic with Nomadic government. I like the way this works, but the numbers are way off. In the beginning, having one or two more provinces than fellow Khans will anger them. Yet when many provinces are held, Khans seem to no longer really care about the head Khan holding too much land compared to them. Combined with the double prestige counter, this means Khans will never try to usurp your title. It's a cool mechanic that sadly most players will never see after the first 10-20 years. There needs to be more equality in land held and a more restrictive limit based on population size. This is wrong:
https://imgur.com/iLwwtfv
6. Reinforcement speed and manpower.
These need to be cut by half or more. Both manpower and troops reinforce too fast. Fighting with and against endless stacks of light cavalry and horse archers that are always using the best tactics due to their uniformity would be like fighting the HRE if its troops consisted entirely of Knights Templar. I don't mind that cavalry is the only unit, mind you -- I just mind the numbers. It's very odd to have thousands of horses killed in a battle and they magically come back a month later.
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Feel free to add more and discuss. I'll add more issues as I remember/find them. The goal of this is to make Nomads more fun to play with and against and to increase the character of their government type.
1. Double opinions.
In the Nomadic government type, there's an opinion called Clan Sentiment. This encompasses availability of grazing space, feuds, blood pacts, etc. It also includes Prestige as a modifier. Yet in the general opinion (the one all government types use), there is also a modifier for Prestige. This means that Prestige counts twice for Nomads, making the usual +20 modifier for 2000 Prestige effectively into a +40 modifier. The end result is that only at the beginning of a Khan's rule do other clans ever really have less than +100 opinion of the leading Khan.
I would argue that only Clan Sentiment should matter when deciding to usurp Khanates or join the Khan in wars or not. And regardless, the double prestige buff needs to be eliminated.
2. Pillaging.
Pillaging represents are nearly endless supply of gold as it is now. A single province with, say, an upgraded barony, church, and city that could be raided for 200 gold is able to be pillaged for more than 5x that much, all in relative safety without using any standing army. The increase in revolt risk is pointless since the revolts tend to be pitifully weak, especially as the province is pillaged more and the development of the buildings deteriorates. Finally, when the province it totally pillaged, all that stacked revolt risk that would take 20 years or so to fade away is no longer an issue -- when no holdings remain, there can be no rebellion whatsoever.
Suggested changes:
Reduce gold from pillaging upgraded baronies, churches, etc. from 50 to 20 gold. Tribal buildings and such can stay at 10 gold. Pillaging generates way too much money. A single subjugation of a large kingdom can easily yield 10K+ gold. There is nothing else in the game that compares to that and it breaks the economic function of the game when rulers have infinite money, especially with almost zero risk. A petty Khan can generate income in a way that makes a grand Doge look like a serf. Yes, pillaging was a source of income for Khans. Many of them became rich from it. They can still be rich -- but they shouldn't have endless wealth 20 years into the campaign.
Secondly, alter the rebellion risk from pillaging so that it increases at twice the rate it does now but has half the half-life. It's too easy to have pillaged a province down to almost nothing before a revolt happens, and by then the revolts are so weak they become nothing but prestige farms.
3. Vassal opinions and levy modifiers.
Simply put, vassal opinion should determine levy size. The current mechanic that forces even -100 opinion vassals to provide max levy (80%) is broken. It makes rebellions of even the largest subjugated empires incredibly weak and rare. They can be defeated or dissuaded from rebelling just by the size of the levies they give to the Khan! Oh, and if you're tired of trouncing them? Just revoke titles -- it doesn't matter, since there's no effect from it. Levies should follow opinion modifiers just like every other government type.
4. Subjugation CB.
This functions like the Prepared Invasion CB, yet for some reason doesn't allow neighbors to assist in defense and it has no limitation on existing size of the realm and has no prestige cost. Yet the other Nomad CB, Subordination, has a cost and allows nearby same-faith rulers to defend against it. It's inconsistent, and more importantly since it disallows neighbors from assisting in the defense it makes conquering even the largest empires way too easy. Nearby neighbors need to be able to provide assistance and -- at least for consistency -- it should have a Prestige cost.
5. Head Khans can hold too much land.
The demesne limit from other governments is replaced by a land-sharing mechanic with Nomadic government. I like the way this works, but the numbers are way off. In the beginning, having one or two more provinces than fellow Khans will anger them. Yet when many provinces are held, Khans seem to no longer really care about the head Khan holding too much land compared to them. Combined with the double prestige counter, this means Khans will never try to usurp your title. It's a cool mechanic that sadly most players will never see after the first 10-20 years. There needs to be more equality in land held and a more restrictive limit based on population size. This is wrong:
https://imgur.com/iLwwtfv
6. Reinforcement speed and manpower.
These need to be cut by half or more. Both manpower and troops reinforce too fast. Fighting with and against endless stacks of light cavalry and horse archers that are always using the best tactics due to their uniformity would be like fighting the HRE if its troops consisted entirely of Knights Templar. I don't mind that cavalry is the only unit, mind you -- I just mind the numbers. It's very odd to have thousands of horses killed in a battle and they magically come back a month later.
----------------------------------------
Feel free to add more and discuss. I'll add more issues as I remember/find them. The goal of this is to make Nomads more fun to play with and against and to increase the character of their government type.
Last edited:
- 11
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