I play almost exclusively SP - I don't have time for MP. And up to now I supported most of the beta changes. I haven't tried the Mar29 patch yet, so I can't speak from authority, but I fear that the latest changes to the tax system and Alliance system could make playing the game less "fun".
I'm all for making tax collectors more useful, but stripping countries of their main source of income seems a little extreme. So some players find it too easy to make money (I don't, but I play other games). Is leaving France with not enough annual income to raise a small army the solution?
The new alliance system may lead to even more easily exploited AI. The player will only create alliances - making the join alliance thing pointless. This will lead to even more clock watching than already happens as the player pauses at the expiry date to reconstruct his/her alliance before someone else does. A war between alliance member Poland and alliance member Austria will come to naught when the alliance leaders France and Russia kiss and make up. This may save Brandenburg and Prussia, but it will also make many potentially interesting wars depend on the whims of the player.
I will finish my current campaign and then test this beta patch.
I'm all for making tax collectors more useful, but stripping countries of their main source of income seems a little extreme. So some players find it too easy to make money (I don't, but I play other games). Is leaving France with not enough annual income to raise a small army the solution?
The new alliance system may lead to even more easily exploited AI. The player will only create alliances - making the join alliance thing pointless. This will lead to even more clock watching than already happens as the player pauses at the expiry date to reconstruct his/her alliance before someone else does. A war between alliance member Poland and alliance member Austria will come to naught when the alliance leaders France and Russia kiss and make up. This may save Brandenburg and Prussia, but it will also make many potentially interesting wars depend on the whims of the player.
I will finish my current campaign and then test this beta patch.
