I've been having a blast, lately, playing as 769 Orissa on the latest patch, but I've noticed some things that bother me. Now, I'm sure these issues have been talked about a million times, but in my defense, I'm only a casual player of Paradox games, and so I tend to be "behind" the community.
The issue I have with the game is the failure of the AI to adequately defend itself, the way that post-Conclave alliances make the game worse, and the way tributaries are overpowered. To begin, let's address alliances.
As many have argued before me, not being able to break an alliance is ridiculous. In fact, I believe Paradox announced that they're changing that in the next major patch, in which case it's not really an issue now. But yeah, it's an issue, and for more reasons than just me not wanting to defend my allies. See, with allies being unable to turn down a call, you can pretty much use them as your personal guard.
Trust and Favors were introduced to EU4 specifically to keep nations from abusing alliances to expand, but in CK2, you don't even have the choice of whether or not to abuse them; if you have an alliance, it is automatically an offensive alliance, and they will fight (no matter how they feel about it) for you. I remember playing vanilla CK2; I had to be careful about when I called in allies (since they may shoot down my request, they'd definitely be annoyed), and I could also weigh my options and choose to betray them. It wasn't a sure thing, and that uncertainty and made the game more fun.
Then, there's the matter of tributaries. Now, I'm not really a medieval history guy, but I thought that tribute was basically the national equivalent of extortion. Why, then, do you get to call your tributaries in as allies? See, the way the system is set up, it sounds like tributaries are worse than vassals... but when you actually calculate it, they're not. My vassals get pissy and they stop paying me taxes, they stop giving me leveis. My vassals get pissy and they plot to kill and overthrow me. My tributaries pay me 40% guaranteed, give me their full levies (even if I can't personally command them), and they'll never threaten my throne. What's more, I can make ANYBODY a tributary. It's really overpowered compared to traditional vassalization, and I feel like it could be balanced well by just limiting it and removing the alliance aspect, or even having there be an obligation to protect your tributaries, but not having them come to your aid in your own defensive wars. Tributaries should also be able to gang up to all declare independence at once.
Finally, the AI doesn't seem to know how to use these features to protect itself. That's the main reason the game is so easy - the player is the only aggressive actor, unlike in CK2. If the AI were more clever, it would actively form alliances and actively take new tributaries. Instead, it sets around, pushing claims but not trying to create a diplomatic network to support it. By the time your Threat gets high enough for a coalition, it's too late for the AI to stop you.
The issue I have with the game is the failure of the AI to adequately defend itself, the way that post-Conclave alliances make the game worse, and the way tributaries are overpowered. To begin, let's address alliances.
As many have argued before me, not being able to break an alliance is ridiculous. In fact, I believe Paradox announced that they're changing that in the next major patch, in which case it's not really an issue now. But yeah, it's an issue, and for more reasons than just me not wanting to defend my allies. See, with allies being unable to turn down a call, you can pretty much use them as your personal guard.
Trust and Favors were introduced to EU4 specifically to keep nations from abusing alliances to expand, but in CK2, you don't even have the choice of whether or not to abuse them; if you have an alliance, it is automatically an offensive alliance, and they will fight (no matter how they feel about it) for you. I remember playing vanilla CK2; I had to be careful about when I called in allies (since they may shoot down my request, they'd definitely be annoyed), and I could also weigh my options and choose to betray them. It wasn't a sure thing, and that uncertainty and made the game more fun.
Then, there's the matter of tributaries. Now, I'm not really a medieval history guy, but I thought that tribute was basically the national equivalent of extortion. Why, then, do you get to call your tributaries in as allies? See, the way the system is set up, it sounds like tributaries are worse than vassals... but when you actually calculate it, they're not. My vassals get pissy and they stop paying me taxes, they stop giving me leveis. My vassals get pissy and they plot to kill and overthrow me. My tributaries pay me 40% guaranteed, give me their full levies (even if I can't personally command them), and they'll never threaten my throne. What's more, I can make ANYBODY a tributary. It's really overpowered compared to traditional vassalization, and I feel like it could be balanced well by just limiting it and removing the alliance aspect, or even having there be an obligation to protect your tributaries, but not having them come to your aid in your own defensive wars. Tributaries should also be able to gang up to all declare independence at once.
Finally, the AI doesn't seem to know how to use these features to protect itself. That's the main reason the game is so easy - the player is the only aggressive actor, unlike in CK2. If the AI were more clever, it would actively form alliances and actively take new tributaries. Instead, it sets around, pushing claims but not trying to create a diplomatic network to support it. By the time your Threat gets high enough for a coalition, it's too late for the AI to stop you.
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