Project Balance

[Meneth]

Hey, Meneth. I just wanted to let you know I finally hosted a modified altaic.txt file for people wanting to use our mods side-by-side, several months after you originally gave me a green light. Just in case you needed to know, it's been linked in my thread, and only modifies that file and includes your 00_cultures.txt dummy file.

Awesome. I'll link it in the OP.

 

[Meneth]

Good changes all around, especially Iceland. I ended up correcting the AI's instant vassal of Norway issue by making Iceland have its own Icelandic culture. The foreigner malus was enough to deter the fealty 10 days in.

My only complaint is how you drew Suðisland. It seems kind of... odd to me. When I was practicing modding the map (and failing, water provinces are tough...), this is how I ended up dividing Iceland:

I went a step further and created Norðisland, then split it into Norðisland Vestra and Eystra. (I went off this for borders) But my suggestion would be to put Suðisland (bright red) where I have it (more in Vestisland instead of Austisland), then leave Vestisland with the rest and Austisland as is. Just my two cents.

I don't claim to be an Iceland expert, I just like playing on little remote islands.

To my knowledge there wasn't much settlement in Iceland at the time except on the southern coast, which would leave the three northern provinces there with essentially no population. Would be great to be proven wrong though so I can implement some better borders

 

[Meneth]

Hmm. It looks like this might be the most historical way to divide Iceland:

 

[Meneth]

This is what Iceland will look like in 3.0.1:

Each province has one holding, with the possibility of creating one more. The western starting holdings are cities, while the eastern ones are castles.

 

[Meneth]

I noticed Free Infidel Revocation has a higher penalty than Allow Revocation.

To me, that just seems kind of odd. Should people be slightly more upset because infidels have less rights? I'm sure infidels would be upset, but if you're a Catholic ruler, shouldn't your Catholic vassals be more supporting for getting titles out of heathen hands and into good Catholic hands?

Well, it is still a denial of their Feudal rights, and as such Feudal lords don't like it. The clergy on the other hand rather enjoys it (a +10 bonus), while infidels absolutely hate it. Though it seems those modifiers somehow didn't make it in...

 

[Meneth]

Project Balance 3.0.1 Released!

Download here, or from the OP.
If anyone has any quick questions, feedback, or similar, feel free to come to the CKII Modding IRC Channel.
Save-game compatible, though some changes may not apply to ongoing campaigns.
If you don't want the new demesne laws, you can download a mini-mod that disables them from the OP.

• When pushing others' claims the war declaration restrictions are now upon your alliances, not the claimant's
• The event that changes a ruler's culture and his/her children to the provincial culture will now only affect children of the ruler's dynasty
• The events that change character culture now take on average 25% longer to happen
• The event killing off useless courtiers will no longer kill married courtiers
• The plots to reduce the new crown authority laws now use the icon of the vanilla plot rather than the icon for "Amass Wealth"
• Fixed some missing localisation for the new laws introduced in 3.0
• Added a decision letting you request a dejure title from your liege (vanilla has a similar event, but it is rather rare). The AI can only make the request if it is greedy, envious, or ambitious. The decision can only be taken once per character
• Reduced the size of the Norwegian starting force, as it had become overly large due to the law changes in 3.0
• Fixed the localisation for dying of gonorrhea (used to say "of syphilis")
• Fixed the opinion bonus for clergy not being applied when enacting Free Infidel Revokation.

Prestige:

• Reduced the prestige for having baron vassals by 25%
• Halved the prestige for having counts, dukes, and kings as vassals
• Reduced the prestige for holding a county, duchy, or kingdom by 25%
• Increased the prestige cost of revoking titles by 50%
• Newborns now get half as much prestige from their dynasty

I've saved the map changes (Iceland and Nice) for 3.1, as they break saves.

 

[Meneth]

I'm currently working on improving the Baltics. This is what it currently looks like.
Do note that the provinces are far from finished, so far I've only made sure they're all within the area outlines.

The areas, from left to right, are Mecklenburg, Pommerania, Prussia, Lithuania, and Estonia.
The three western areas are not likely to gain more counties than shown here, except perhaps another near Lubeck. Pommerania and Prussia will each be a duchy, while Mecklemburg will be split between Lubeck, Mecklenburg, and Brandenburg.
Both Lithuania and Estonia will likely get a few more counties, and will each likely have 2 or 3 duchies within them.

 

[Meneth]

are the sub mods compatible with each other?

Most of them should be, but I cannot guarantee it. If you're wondering about any specific combination, just ask.

 

[Meneth]

I doubt that combination will work. There's a lot of overlap between the mods, especially DeT.

 

[Meneth]

The first post doesn't seem to have accurate information about what is going on in Ethiopia. Also, is there a Coptic Pope? Wikipedia has a pope list for the Coptic church. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Coptic_Orthodox_Popes_of_Alexandria

Check out the North African Expansion thread (linked in the OP) for info on what's been done in Ethiopia.
Yes, there's a Coptic Pope.

 

[Meneth]

Thanks. I'm currently playing Andalusia, and my culture building is camels (I assume because I'm in the Arab family). Is it possible to get the same culture building as the Iberians?

Only by adopting Iberian culture.

 

[Meneth]

I might have to mod the culture buildings then. I think the Arab building is severely underpowered, considering it has strictly less going for it than the Iberian's, and looks terrible compared to say the Persian/Altaic building. Perhaps 5 knights, 20 light cavalry, and 15 horse archers? Actually, looking at it, several other buildings are also terrible compared to their competitors, but have the same cost to build. The South Slavic building, for example. Currently, the Arab has no advantage over the stables.

I'll note cultural building balance down. Might get around to it eventually.

 

[Meneth]

Right, so I'm working on improving the Baltics. Thanks to Crackd's help, this is well under way.
This is how it currently looks. Do note that ownership has not been coded yet.

If you've got any ideas as to how it could be further improved, do share them.

 

[Meneth]

Independent realms in the Baltics are now done:

 

[Meneth]

Anyhow, out of curiosity, what features are you planning for the next version of the mod? It seems like you're making quite a number of map changes.

Yeah, the focus of the next version will be map changes in the Baltic (plus some more minor changes in Iceland and elsewhere). Beyond that I've made some more minor changes, fixing a few issues, and such. Beyond that, not much has changed at this point in development.
More might be changed by the time I release 3.1, but I currently don't have anything specific in mind. Suggestions however would be welcome.

The current changelog for 3.1:

• Ensured that the checksum should be the same for everyone as long as they're not running any other mods
• Fixed culture conversion via ports not working correctly
• Provincial culture conversion now happens twice as fast if the province doesn't neighbor any provinces of the same culture
• Redrew the borders of Nice
• Redrew the provinces of Iceland. Now there are four based on the historical subdivisions of Iceland
• Tweaked the color of Denmark
• Redrew the Baltics, adding a total of 30 new provinces
• Merged Polotsk and Vitebsk
• Rebalanced the Tribal Raid CB: The victor will now get 30 gold plus two years worth of income (was 5 years of income)

 

[Meneth]

I'm not hugely aware of how economics works in the game, but with eight slots does that not mean that Iceland combined would be more powerful than any single territory in the game (seven holding maximum)? Unless I'm misunderstanding, that doesn't feel right. Iceland never got to the level to challenge Venice, Alexandria or Constantinople in real life and nor would anyone argue that was remotely possible.

I'd say four provinces if you must (every province in the game could be subdivided ad infinitum along historical lines and I'd argue that Iceland hasn't the political or economic impact to justify it, nor the population), but surely no empty holding because otherwise you're creating a potential superpower where there was no potential superpower.

Eight max holdings is not very much. That's similar to the Norwegian minor islands (7 holdings across the three provinces Faereyar, Shetland, and Orkney). Iceland was to my knowledge not poorer than those minor islands.
Getting those eight holdings to anywhere near the level of Venice for example, would take an absolutely immense amount of money, which Iceland has no real way to earn.

 

[Meneth]

Mecklenburg is now for the most part finished. Provinces, positions, history, etc. is all done, the only thing that remains is CoAs.
The defacto duchy of Mecklenburg is divided into three parts for balance reasons: the duke in the north west holding four provinces, and two counts in the south and east holding five provinces between them. This, combined with a moderate weakening of the Warrior Cult building, means that Mecklenburg currently has an army of ~4000 men in 1066.
The three southern provinces in Mecklenburg are dejure a part of Brandenburg, and can thus relatively easily be taken by the HRE.
Lubeck is now a dejure duchy consisting of two provinces, and is dejure a part of the HRE.
Below is an image of what Mecklenburg will look like in 3.1 in 1066.

 

[Meneth]

I think key things in the treatment of Iceland should include the fact it had no centre (ie, it was pretty much ungovernable except through locals hence its long independence).

Iceland had a parliament that convened every year...

I still don't understand how you can consider four holdings "strong". Starting in 1066 the duke of Iceland can only field a meager 592 soldiers. The only factions they could possibly beat in war, are single-county rulers.

 

[Meneth]

Holdings are a tricky thing. Really the devil in the code for this game that we could almost do without.

I think that in terms of provinces (a better measure of territory), that there could be 3 or four provinces in Iceland. With sufficient wealth, an outsider (or a nice inheritance) could transform the island or at least part of it. There is no governmental type per se (not much government at all ), but there should be to my understanding something approaching a constitutional monarchy or crowned republic as a stretch, with low governmental control. You don't need villages to have a working state, but it ain't feudalism by any stretch.

I'd make Iceland entirely a republic if only Republics were properly fleshed out, and playable. I'll make them one once the inevitable Republic DLC comes.

 

[Meneth]

Not a permanent building or settlement at the parliament though, just a field with some rough sheds they met at once a year for sports and judicial rulings.

I think four is strong because it's more defensible and more potential than the island really should have for pure historical purposes.

You're original discussion on Iceland seemed led by historical concerns so I was just offering my thoughts where I disagreed on the accuracy. I play games like CK II for fun though, not historical accuracy as in the end it's what is fun to play than what is 'real' that should always win. If you think they should have extra provinces and empty holdings because it will be more fun then I agree, but I disagree if you think it makes it more historical.

Not trying to be difficult, just helpful! It's a really good mod.

I see what you mean, but it seems to me that you see holdings/provinces as quite a bit more powerful than they actually are
Historically Iceland was divided into four administrative regions, like it will be in 3.1. Any other division would not make nearly as much sense.