Something that came to my mind in connection with two problems:
The latter has been crossing my mind ever since one of the devs remarked that they use the de iure division of the world to give players a sense of what to do, this being the reason to cover the entire map in empires (even at the cost of fantasy).
Still, there exists a good system that could be ported from the core Europa Universalis: the mission system you know from EU2 (and possibly EU1) and EU3. It can be toggled on and off, and it essentially comprises a set of starting goals and later goals for each major country.
For example: recover territory, fortify the border, get an alliance, build something specific etc.
In CK2 this could be used to motivate players to:
And so on and so forth.
The system could include rewards such as
For tougher and more high-profile, game-changing missions perhaps something like getting another go at changing the crown laws (e.g. LCA to HCA in one rule) — especially if you got that mission from your vassals to begin with.
A mission from your liege, something that could notably help put some more meat on vassal-liege relations, could lead to a minor title, a council position, marriage to a royal relative, maybe a normal title.
Yet other missions could result in something more complex:
And more. These are just examples.
An important thing here is that both tasks and rewards shouldn't all be too generic, as in there should be some generic ones for the meat & potatoes but also some more nuance for flavour. And that missions should allow you to do some things you can't normally do (e.g. like the Saxon claim in CM). The give and take could improve the flavour of relations with your liege, vassals, subjects, religious head, family and more (e.g. merchants will pay for a port once you get a guild hall up and a proper court or the new bishopric example I gave above).
- Not having or seeing things to do
- Lack of a sense of direction in general
The latter has been crossing my mind ever since one of the devs remarked that they use the de iure division of the world to give players a sense of what to do, this being the reason to cover the entire map in empires (even at the cost of fantasy).
Still, there exists a good system that could be ported from the core Europa Universalis: the mission system you know from EU2 (and possibly EU1) and EU3. It can be toggled on and off, and it essentially comprises a set of starting goals and later goals for each major country.
For example: recover territory, fortify the border, get an alliance, build something specific etc.
In CK2 this could be used to motivate players to:
- pursue certain claims
- complete their de iure areas
- reform their broader nations/realms (e.g. if the de iure liege title is not held)
- recruit retinues
- build an income base
- improve the number and quality of demesne troops
- get out of gavelkind
- get allies
- join crusades
- get new markets by building posts in specific places (as patricians)
- marry landed females and expand the holdings
- ensure dynastic survival (e.g. through procuring an heir, matrimarrying your daughter to someone etc.
- ensure realm peace by getting MCA
- ensure realm integrity by getting HCA
- prevent vassals from involving parts of the realm in outside wars by getting ACA
- take steps to get feudal as a tribal
- implement more Roman-style administration as HRE (or some other empire)
- actually make use of grand hunts, feats, summer festivals etc.
- actually pay back loans
- expel orders or let them back
- centralize or decentralize ('liege, we need a strong demesne'/'liege we need to respect the customs of the realm')
And so on and so forth.
The system could include rewards such as
- amounts of prestige or piety or gold
- a nickname, a trait, a modifier of the kind that shows in red or green (e.g. True Christian Knight)
- small stat increase (like in the Improve ambitions)
- tech points (or some other form of tech progress)
For tougher and more high-profile, game-changing missions perhaps something like getting another go at changing the crown laws (e.g. LCA to HCA in one rule) — especially if you got that mission from your vassals to begin with.
A mission from your liege, something that could notably help put some more meat on vassal-liege relations, could lead to a minor title, a council position, marriage to a royal relative, maybe a normal title.
Yet other missions could result in something more complex:
- event troops, retinues
- alliance without marriage
- discount on mercenaries or military orders
- a military order joining your war free of cost
- patrician from somewhere building a post in your capital
- discount on title creation
- discount on building construction
- some marriage that would otherwise not be possible
- some really good councillor (e.g. build a bishopric, the Pope will cover half the cost and send in a very talented bishop that you're supposed to use to convert pagans)
- empire at <80% of the counties
- title usurpation at exactly 50%, or from someone of a different religion who still holds land in the title
- title destruction without opinion maluses
- law enacted despite not fully meeting the requirements
- building erected despite not fully meeting the requirements
- feudal reverting to tribal, if you want to
- republic going feudal (or the core republic remaining a vassal republic where your newly conquered kingdom/empire becomes feudal and belongs to your dynasty)
- becoming a patrician if you're a non-patrician vassal in a republic
- a titular/custom duchy being created just so you can establish a merchant republic (your own title or vassal)
- someone specific becoming your vassal (e.g. an Italian republic asks you to embargo or destroy another republic for trading with Muslims, and bends knee when you do that)
And more. These are just examples.
An important thing here is that both tasks and rewards shouldn't all be too generic, as in there should be some generic ones for the meat & potatoes but also some more nuance for flavour. And that missions should allow you to do some things you can't normally do (e.g. like the Saxon claim in CM). The give and take could improve the flavour of relations with your liege, vassals, subjects, religious head, family and more (e.g. merchants will pay for a port once you get a guild hall up and a proper court or the new bishopric example I gave above).
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