Project Balance

[Meneth]

PB+SWMH seems to screw up and mismatch the CoAs for kingdoms and duchies, anyone else get this or am I doing something wrong

Have you tried deleting the flag cache?
My Documents\Paradox Interactive\Crusader Kings II\Balansegang_Some what more historic (NV)\gfx

 

[Meneth]

I've got a weird one. As the Byz emperor I'm trying to make peace with a rebelling duke. I have won the war with a one hundred percent score, but I cannot make peace. I can open the war info window. I can press offer peace, which, like normal opens the opponent's personal window. I even have the three usual options of Surrender, White Peace, and demand (sorry I can't remember the actual wording of the third one). But when I click send, nothing happens. Usually it says your offer is being sent, will be received in so many days that counts down. In this case nothing along these lines occurs.

I saved the game and went back in as the leader of the rebellion, but couldn't because he is now listed as a "rebel". And to make matters worse, when I try and reload it as the Byz Emp it results in CTD.

Okay wow this is getting weirder. I just re-started the game to take another look, and a count from "Westmoreland" has occupied the entire world!! He literally has occupied every single county on the map and everyone is his vassal.

Now that truly is one of the stranger bugs I've ever heard of. Pretty sure that isn't caused by PB though

 

[Meneth]

This?

Did you forget to link to something or some such?

 

[Meneth]

the folder Balansegang_Some what more historic (NV) isn't there

If you're using PB+SWMH it should be. If not, there's probably something wrong with your install.

 

[Meneth]

New version of SWMH is out. It should work fine with the current version of PB.

Might want to look at the declare war requirements for Orthodox rulers.

Playing as the Basileus, my heir managed to get himself to around -100 piety before my ruler died (I gave him the Barony of Blachernae after he was married as I was over the demesne limit so he must have hit some event as he ended up with Slothful and Content even though when he turned adult he had Ambitious).
After succession has happened I can't declare war on anyone as it requires 25 piety to do so and Orthodox rulers have nothing to help them get piety like Catholics do.
I guess I could Holy War to get piety but I would need +25 piety to declare war which at +0.93/month is going to take a while. If I didn't have Content giving +0.5/month it'd be even worse although this is nerfed a bit by him also having Cynical with it's -0.2/month. I have the Ecumenical Patriarch as a vassal with 8 other Bishops for crying out loud.

Now to try & trigger events to remove Content or get Ambitious and hopefully get Humble. I foresee lots of Grand Hunts, Summer Fairs & Feasts in this Basileus' future.

I think this might be screwing the Alans & Georgians too as they're all but gone from my game in just over 50 years (Alexiad start & it's now 1146).

They seem to be getting enough piety fine in my games.

 

[Meneth]

How does the HRE fare in most of your test games, Meneth? It seems a tad too monolithic and troop rich. For example, in my current game it didn't have a single large rebellion by 1200.

Bit monolithic, yeah. They do often lose much of Italy though, so that's good I suppose.

 

[Meneth]

Hi Meneth. I am willing to give soon a try in Project Balance.

If you don´t mind, a few questions:

1- Do you play Project Balance using Viet mod and SWMH mod in combination? Is that the configuration you use to test and balance your own mod?
2- Very shortly, what have you done to make the republics and the HRE not so overpowered?
3- What about the Muslims? Do they sometimes win the Reconquista war, or are they always an easy prey, just as in vanilla? Will Muslims lose almost all holy wars and have low religious moral authority as a result? Do they know how to manage decadence in your mod?
4- Does historical plausibility means that the final results will quite often get repeated over and over? Would that mean Christians, for example, will in the end always win the Reconquista war? No surprises at all, nothing unpredictable will ever happen?
5- I imagine I should not turn on Sunset Invasion while playing Project Balance, right? Do you eventually turn it on and balance your mod for the Aztecs arrival?
6- Do hordes always appear in your games? And if so, are they always just as overpowered as in vanilla?

Thanks in advance, Meneth. (I am awfully sorry for making so many questions.:wub

1. For my tests I use PB+SWMH.
2. Republics get less income, and have slightly higher costs.
3. Some of their special CBs are restricted. They win the Reconquista from time to time, though usually they slowly lose. The conflict is almost never decided in a few decades like in vanilla.
4. Historical plausibility just means that I try to avoid results that simply couldn't have happened. If the Muslims consolidate quickly while the Christians don't, the Muslims will generally win for example.
5. I doubt I'll ever mod anything to do with Sunset Invasion. Turning it on shouldn't break anything though.
6. The Hordes appear as often as in vanilla. I haven't done anything yet to balance them, as the focus has mostly been on the balance earlier in the game; no point balancing the hordes much if by the time they show up the world makes no sense.

 

[Meneth]

It sounds good, Meneth. I will give it a try this afternoon and see how it goes.

One final question. When you say the focus has been on the balance earlier in the game, does that exclude the 1081 starting point? I am asking this because that´s my favorite year for a new campaign. But if you tell me your work is mostly oriented towards 1066, I wouldn´t mind starting there instead.

Well, the 1081 starting point isn't that different from 1066, so it should be reasonably balanced.
However, currently no events in the Rum event chain will ever fire if the campaign is started after the formation of Rum. I think I'll address that next patch though.

 

[Meneth]

My last 1081 game saw the behemoth of Holy Polish Hungary. I quit.

Sometimes strange things do happen.

 

[Meneth]

That would be great. I can´t understand why so many people prefer the earlier start. In my opinion, 1081 is so much more interesting. I am curious to see how playing some Muslim emirate will be in your mod. I have recently started playing on that side of the map, and I have to say those have been my most enjoyable campaigns so far. Playing vanilla can be a problem, though. You have to face the overpowered republics and the HRE joining all holy wars and winning them all, thus resulting in religious moral authority usually below 40 and Heresy spread everywhere. Add to that the Holy orders, the decadence system that the AI can´t handle well and the smaller number of allies and provinces belonging to Islam, and the result is usually a game over.

CK2+ would fix that problem, since there would be Holy orders for the Muslims as well, decadence mechanics would not make them implode (although I prefer vanilla mechanics from a player´s perspective) and offensive HRE would be weak, since they would raise few levies - and this was really good. In Project Balance, Republics being nerfed and limited CBs might do the job just as well, right?

Personally I have no real preference to the start date, but I do all my testing based on 1066 since that's the date most people start at.
Playing as a Muslim should be a bit less annoying than in vanilla yeah. I've tuned down decadence some, and with the CBs being more limited you won't get crusaded or holy warred to death quite as easily. On the other hand though, the special Muslim CBs are also more limited, so expanding will take longer.

 

[Meneth]

It is possible use holly war CB(none bordering holy war CB) on Africa, when play as King of Sicilia? I meet every condition, dont have bad traits, have piety, have king peace... and nothing, I cant use my cancelor to make claim too, sometimes it is brainteaser use this holywar cb

As long as you meet all the requirements (Base, Non-bordering, and Non-dejure in this case) you should be able to declare war. The only exception is if the target is more than two sea-zones away, but that isn't the case for anything between Algeria and Egypt as long as you own one of the southern counties in Sicily.

Are you using VIET by any chance? It changes the requirements without updating the decisions showing the requirements. If so, that's the cause of your issues.
If all of the above is as it should be, could you please send me your save so I can look into the issue?

 

[Meneth]

I dont use Viet, I only dont see some conditions, when go with crusor on holy war requiarments it shows my only parts below "religion is catolic", because I have small monitor. Is in that certainly part somenthing what can disable me from use this cb?

The decision will only be executable if you meet all the requirements, so that's a way you can check if you meet them.

 

[Meneth]

Anyone who's experiencing a lot of crashes since 1.092, this can be solved by disabling the Legacy of Rome DLC, as the CTDs are caused by a retinue bug Paradox introduced.
I've made it all the way to 1421 now without a single crash.

 

[Meneth]

All I play is ERE so this is terrible news XD

Yeah, it sucks, especially as PB uses retinues as a balancing mechanic by giving small realms more retinues compared to their size than large realms (though still less overall, of course).

 

[Meneth]

hey Meneth, any update coming tomorrow? :happy:

Yup, though it isn't all that big:
3.1.22

• Sicilian culture will no longer spread via melting pot events to Greek provinces outside Italy
• Removed the event giving pagans a bit of free piety
• Fixed Shia muslims being unable to take the Sadaqah decision
• The events related to the formation of Rum can now fire in campaign starts after Rum is formed. The dejure changes are also reflected, so in campaign starts after the formation of Rum, Rum will be a dejure kingdom
• You now only need 75% of all an empire's provinces to form it (from 80%)
• You now only need 60% of all an empire's provinces to usurp it (from 80%)
• Increased the prestige cost for refusing to join an ally's war by 50%
• Somewhat increased the frequency of combat event. They now have a chance of happening every 5 days rather than 7
• The Byzantines will now set Constantinople as their capital even when the Legacy of Rome DLC isn't enabled
• Changed the limitations on fabricating claims; you now need to share a sea zone or a border with a province in order to forge a claim on it

Project Balance Module Pack 1.7

• Shattered Balance: Crusades are now disabled
• Shattered Balance: Immortals now get a -30 opinion modifier with other immortals
• Shattered Balance: Increased the bonus Lucky AIs get
• Shattered Balance: Ensured the Lucky AI bonus always goes to a feudal lord
• Shattered Balance: Made the AI more aggressive
• Shattered Balance: Pagans will no longer get the Warrior Cult building

PB + SWMH Compatibility Patch 1.8

• Fixed Occitans getting two cultural buildings
• Prevented the use of County Conquest and Holy War against the Saharan provinces

 

[Meneth]

How does the Imperial reconquer CB work? As the Byz Emperor I occupy all the holdings in ever county in a duchy. When I hover over the enforce demands it says my character takes all occupied territory. When I make peace, I only vassalise them. Am I misunderstanding the CB?

It is meant to vassalize when possible yes. Blame Paradox for the description being bad.

I should probably wait until tomorrow then.

I haven´t experienced any crashes playing vanilla. Is it happening too often with Project Balance patched to 1.092? Is it still a problem even if you are not playing as the ERE?

It happens quite a bit in vanilla as well, but more in PB due to more people having retinues (they're 250-man in PB rather than 500-man). Disabling Legacy of Rome fixes it. Tomorrow's PB patch won't do anything about it, as the only thing I could possibly do is disable retinues outright.

 

[Meneth]

can't you just change the localisations or something?

I could, but I generally don't touch localisation for things I don't actually modify.

 

[Meneth]

Disabling Legacy of Rome would mean playing without retinues, right? Are the crashes so bad to the point of justifying having the DLC disabled?

Definitely justifies it. Before I disabled LoR I didn't get past 1250 a single time before the CTDs got so frequent the game became unplayable.
With LoR disabled I got to 1444 or so without a single crash. I restarted at that point because the map was a bit of a mess

 

[Meneth]

Can someone here help me on excommunications. I've been playing CK2+ for most of my time on CK2 and recently started with this mod combined with ARKO, VIET and SWMH mods. I started as the Duke of Puglia, of course with the intention of forming Sicily but in the past decade things have gone from bad to worst. My prodigal heir was rendered incapable in battle and died soon after. Then my ruler died to give the throne to my incompetent grandson. As if this wouldn't be bad enough but then, lo and behold, he is excommunicated by the heir to the Croat Throne, because, you know, I was totally a huge threat to him. Venice, in all their religious splendor took the opportunity to take a break from fighting for hegemonic control over the most expansive trade theater in the game in order to declare war on me. Coming out of a war which I had believed I was fighting to create the Kingdom of Sicily (this failed because the person whose claim I was fighting wasn't my vassle after a hard fought victory) and during a revolt to replace me as a ruler, I stood no chance against there 8k forces seiging Bari. I surrendered and then it all winded up with my game plan being destroyed and me losing the Duchy of Puglia to some *$%^& that were my vassles. So, my question is, how do I avoid excommunications since they have been the bane of my game?

Keep the Pope happy.
Or just pay him a bunch of money to get recommunicated.

 

[Meneth]

Will retinues disappear from the map without LoR on?

That would be really depressing.

They won't disappear from ongoing campaigns, though no new ones can be created.
Disabling LoR thus probably won't fix CTDs in ongoing campaigns.