The situation in Mongolia at game start is, at best, imperfectly represented. Historically, the situation at the time was that there had been, on and off, a centralization of the Mongols under what was known as the Northern Yuan Dynasty. This was a powerful force from the overthrow of the Yuan by the Ming until the mid-14th century and then again from about 1470 until the mid-1600s when the region was conquered by the Manchu Later Jin. In the period from about 1360 to about 1470 the polity was in a period of regional and ethnic conflict, but from looking at the game's map in 1444 you wouldn't be able to guess that any unified nation was supposed to exist there. At the time the game is looking at, Chagatai (AKA Moghulistan) had repeatedly been defeated, though not conquered, by the Four Oirats under the leadership of Esen Taishi, as Oirat is in game. Esen had also managed to conquer Mongolia, which is represented as a puppet under him, but he also conquered Kara Del and even got the allegiance of the Buryats and the Jurchens, going on to defeat and capture the Ming emperor Yongzing in battle.
While this large empire would be a force to be reckoned with if all of Esen's conquests were represented as puppets, and probably more than a little broken, I think there should be game mechanics in Mongolia to at least represent the leadership of the Northern Yuan. It would be as follows:
Mongolia, Chagatai, Kara Del, Buryatia, Korchin, and all three Jurchen tribes are tributaries of Oirat at game start. There is a special panel (a la Mandate of Heaven or HRE) showing who is the current lord of the Mongols, having claimed the emperorship of the Northern Yuan. This would initially of course be Esen Taishi.
- Subjects of the Northern Yuan Emperor could claim the emperorship using a special CB. It would be them and their allies (those allies who were also subjects of the Northern Yuan would be forced to join, like in Claim Emperorship in Japan) against the Emperor and their allies.
- There would be a mechanic called Imperial Legitimacy, sort of like Mandate, which would be increased by winning battles and having loyal tributaries and decreased if tributaries were disloyal or very large.
- A nation could instead declare independence from the Northern Yuan, as the Jurchens did, but instead of having to fight the emperor's allies, they would have to fight all remaining tributaries that were not their allies.
- Ming would not lose mandate from not having the emperor of the Northern Yuan as a tributary, but they would lose extra mandate from losing battles against them and their subjects, so they would have an incentive to leave the mongols to themselves.
- A nation declaring independence from Northern Yuan would then get an Incorporate CB on all states remaining within the Empire, which would allow them to make all of the Northern Yuan's tributaries and the Emperor vassals of theirs in one single war, mirroring the formation of the Later Jin. This would make Manchu more powerful when taking on Ming.
- The Emperor could incorporate subjects at a cost of Imperial Legitimacy that scaled with development. If the Empire was united under one flag, you could form Northern Yuan, giving claims on all of China and triggering the Unguarded Nomadic Frontier disaster in Ming. Alternatively, you could instead spend Legitimacy to make your vassals better (more force limit contribution, income, etc.). A fully reformed and centralized Northern Yuan that was not united would also trigger Unguarded Nomadic Frontier.
- Finally, the Nomadic tech group would be improved to grant a second upgrade to cavs before mil tech 10. As it is, you can't have an edge over Ming unless you attack before they have mil tech 6, which creates an ahistorical rush to form Qing.
- Northern Yuan would then of course form Yuan when it conquered Beijing.
What do you guys think? I am kind of spitballing here, but I think making the Mongol tribes more resistant to Ming would be a good thing. Usually they are curbstomped by Ming very quickly and nothing impressive ever happens in that region. Also, forming Yuan is kind of unstructured compared to forming Qing, which this could fix. Finally, it adds historical accuracy and immersion, which I am always a fan of.
While this large empire would be a force to be reckoned with if all of Esen's conquests were represented as puppets, and probably more than a little broken, I think there should be game mechanics in Mongolia to at least represent the leadership of the Northern Yuan. It would be as follows:
Mongolia, Chagatai, Kara Del, Buryatia, Korchin, and all three Jurchen tribes are tributaries of Oirat at game start. There is a special panel (a la Mandate of Heaven or HRE) showing who is the current lord of the Mongols, having claimed the emperorship of the Northern Yuan. This would initially of course be Esen Taishi.
- Subjects of the Northern Yuan Emperor could claim the emperorship using a special CB. It would be them and their allies (those allies who were also subjects of the Northern Yuan would be forced to join, like in Claim Emperorship in Japan) against the Emperor and their allies.
- There would be a mechanic called Imperial Legitimacy, sort of like Mandate, which would be increased by winning battles and having loyal tributaries and decreased if tributaries were disloyal or very large.
- A nation could instead declare independence from the Northern Yuan, as the Jurchens did, but instead of having to fight the emperor's allies, they would have to fight all remaining tributaries that were not their allies.
- Ming would not lose mandate from not having the emperor of the Northern Yuan as a tributary, but they would lose extra mandate from losing battles against them and their subjects, so they would have an incentive to leave the mongols to themselves.
- A nation declaring independence from Northern Yuan would then get an Incorporate CB on all states remaining within the Empire, which would allow them to make all of the Northern Yuan's tributaries and the Emperor vassals of theirs in one single war, mirroring the formation of the Later Jin. This would make Manchu more powerful when taking on Ming.
- The Emperor could incorporate subjects at a cost of Imperial Legitimacy that scaled with development. If the Empire was united under one flag, you could form Northern Yuan, giving claims on all of China and triggering the Unguarded Nomadic Frontier disaster in Ming. Alternatively, you could instead spend Legitimacy to make your vassals better (more force limit contribution, income, etc.). A fully reformed and centralized Northern Yuan that was not united would also trigger Unguarded Nomadic Frontier.
- Finally, the Nomadic tech group would be improved to grant a second upgrade to cavs before mil tech 10. As it is, you can't have an edge over Ming unless you attack before they have mil tech 6, which creates an ahistorical rush to form Qing.
- Northern Yuan would then of course form Yuan when it conquered Beijing.
What do you guys think? I am kind of spitballing here, but I think making the Mongol tribes more resistant to Ming would be a good thing. Usually they are curbstomped by Ming very quickly and nothing impressive ever happens in that region. Also, forming Yuan is kind of unstructured compared to forming Qing, which this could fix. Finally, it adds historical accuracy and immersion, which I am always a fan of.
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