First, and most importantly,
any character sent to China will be permanently disinherited, so don’t send people you might have a need of in the future.
Unlike in vanilla, there is no cooldown on the player sending Tributes of a given kind, but the opinion gain from sending a particular kind of Tribute does not stack, and the AI needs to wait at least five years before sending the same Tribute again, though different AI characters can still send tributes during this time.
If the Emperor of China dislikes you (or a person you seek to send to China as a Tribute), he can refuse the offer without a penalty (aside from negative opinion), and the player can also refuse at a cost if they are the Emperor of China. There will be a way to check for this dislike in the release version, but I haven’t coded it yet (because it is trivial to do and I have focused on more complicated stuff).
Tribute – Send Gift
The Emperor of China’s greed, as well as how much money he currently has, affects the amount of Grace you gain from sending gold, with a wealthier or less greedy Emperor being less likely to award a large amount of Grace.
Could have been better, could have been worse.
Tribute – Become Tributary
If you are within two sea zones of China or its tributaries and either aren’t an emperor or are a nomad, you can offer to become a
permanent tributary of China in exchange for some Grace upfront and some monthly Grace. However, if you hold land that the Emperor of China wants, he will refuse your offer to become a tributary (though this might change in the future). Also, be aware that Chinese tributaries can fight one another without the Emperor of China getting involved, so don’t count on him protecting you against other tributaries.
Tribute – Supply Horses
This Tribute has been changed a bit from vanilla, and instead of having a lowered manpower regain you pay 300 manpower to give the Emperor of China a stack of non-reinforcing event troops (150 HA, 100 LC, 50 HC).
Tribute – Offer Eunuch for Grace
The most important bit first:
The character being offered as a eunuch will be castrated when the decision is taken, as opposed to only if the offer is accepted, which is likely to make him a tad unhappy with you regardless of whether the offer is turned down or not, and his close relatives (unless they also are
your close relatives) and dynasty members will be upset as well, so be certain that you can stand that penalty.
Secondly, the Emperor of China can decide to pass the eunuch on to a vassal instead of keeping him at court, which is more likely to happen if the eunuch is less good. This gives you a smaller amount of Grace and makes your character upset with the Emperor of China, though to a lesser extent than outright refusal.
Tribute – Offer Concubine
To be able to send a concubine, the ruler of China must either be an adult male who isn’t homosexual, incapable, a eunuch, celibate, imprisoned, or inaccessible, or the heir to China must live up to those conditions and be unlanded and at court.
Aside from refusing the concubine (which only is done if the ruler of China hates the sender or the concubine), the concubine can be kept (if the ruler of China lives up to the conditions above), given to the heir (again if the conditions are fulfilled), or given to a random adult male non-baron vassal vassal that the receiver doesn’t hate, and low quality concubines are more likely to be passed on to vassals. The Grace reward for a concubine given to the heir to the Dragon Throne is the same as for a concubine that the Emperor of China keeps for himself.
I intended for my daughter to be an Imperial
consort, not the consort of some random guy!
In addition to your own female relatives, you can also send unmarried female relatives of emperors and kings that have ended up in your court, and we might also add the ability to send prisoners as concubines, though this might upset their relatives.
Tribute – Offer Commander
China must be a primary participant in a war that is more serious than a peasant revolt for you to send commanders, and you can only send female commanders if the Emperor of China has increased SoW to max (which the AI doesn’t do). The Emperor of China can pass the commander on to a vassal, which gives the sender less Grace, and this is more likely to happen if you send a poor commander.
Tribute – Offer Physician
This Tribute now requires Reaper’s Due. Approximately 20 % of China’s provinces must have a disease present to be able to send a physician, or a flat 30 provinces if the realm size of China is greater than 400. The Emperor of China can pass the physician on to a vassal, which gives the sender less Grace, and this is more likely to happen if you send a poor physician.
Tribute – Send Relief
This tribute now requires Reaper’s Due. Approximately 10 % of China’s provinces must be depopulated to be able to send relief, or a flat 15 provinces if the realm size of China is greater than 400. The Emperor of China has a greater chance of lowering the depopulation of his provinces while the relief is being sent, which is increased by the realm size of the sender.
Tribute – Offer Artefact
The Emperor of China can decide to give the artefact being sent to a vassal instead of keeping it, which gives you less Grace. Other than that, it works mostly as in vanilla, though Tier 2 and 3 artefacts are appreciated a bit more and the Emperor of China doesn’t mind getting Hermetic artefacts if he is a member of the Hermetic Society.
Perform Kowtow
This event chain is being expanded slightly at the moment to involve the Emperor of China a bit more, and in the future other characters in China might also occasionally get involved. However, be aware that going to China if someone there dislikes you, particularly the Emperor, is not necessarily going to be a good idea…