Too many tags and provinces

[ZeitForPrussia]

One of the most common themes in updates to EU4 and by far the largest part when it comes to suggestions to the game is the addition of new provinces and tags. I honestly don't get the reasoning behind this, because as far as I am concerned, the game doesn't get more enjoyable and fun with random HRE minors like Goslar and Konstanz a.e. or 35 new provinces to some random new Indonesian island. Especially not when all other aspects of the game aren't rebalanced and tweaked to this. For example, one of the reasons why playing in the HRE is absolutely atrocious nowadays is because there are too many tags that get affected by aggressive expansion which makes it harder to diplomatically maneuver around. The number of provinces in the HRE also seem to make the reformation weaker than it was before, even though it starts much earlier than usual (1480-90 ish) due to the facts that the Centers of Reformation are to weak and slow to convert everything. And finally, I mean, would you prefer 15 fleshed out and interesting nations to play, or 40 anonymous tags that are there just to fill the gap?

The primary focus should instead be on making the already playable nations more interesting to play (better ideas, mission trees, government mechanics and so forth). You could rebalance or redraw some provinces, but please Paradox, I don't want more in literally every update, especially not in an already clustered region like Europe...

 

[Sidolowka]

there are too many tags that get affected by aggressive expansion which makes it harder to diplomatically maneuver around

But... diplomatic manoeuvring so you don't get coalitioned by the entirety of Germany is the whole point of playing in the HRE. If you want an easy game with no challenges maybe try lowering the difficulty. Or try the Ottomans, I've heard they're pretty easy to play.

35 new provinces to some random new Indonesian island

Or maybe, just maybe, people actually want to play one of the Indonesian tags? I know, incredible right? It's not like they have one of the largest populations in the world and an accordingly interesting history to expand on aye?

Centers of Reformation are to weak and slow to convert everything

They're not supposed to convert the entirety of Europe though. Historically Protestantism only really took hold in certain parts of Germany, the Lowlands, Scandinavia and Britain. The old centres were complete bullshit with everyone from Aragon to Lithuania flipping Protestant.

The primary focus should instead be on making the already playable nations more interesting to play (better ideas, mission trees, government mechanics and so forth).

Every single one of the European majors are already fleshed out. The Ottomans, England, France, Castille, Portugal, Austria, Poland, Prussia and Muscovy all have dedicated mission trees, decent to great ideas, unique government forms/mechanics and a whole slew of special events. What more do you want? For the game to spoonfeed you wars?

Just because you only like playing easy majors doesn't mean everyone else in the playerbase does too. Those '40 anonymous tags that are just there to fill the gap', could be someone's favourite tag to play, and you have no right to command Paradox to remove them from the game.

What Paradox should try to aim for isn't to remove already existing tags from the game, but to instead try adjusting the old mechanics to the new map. Removing tags because certain players whine about 'waaah HRE coalition too stronk' and 'RoTW has too many provinces I can't steamroll them in 5 years' is definitely not the way to go.

 

[ZeitForPrussia]

If you want an easy game with no challenges maybe try lowering the difficulty. Or try the Ottomans, I've heard they're pretty easy to play.

Jesus, I'm not asking for the typical "just lower the difficulty" or "try the Ottomans", please. Since the new update came out I've played many minors successfully (The Knights, Cilli, Hamburg and so forth) and these are problems I've realized existed mainly when you play in the HRE, not when you're playing as a major when you're literally able to circumnavigate the entire game. And yes, expanding in the HRE should not be easy,

For example, the Reformation...

They're not supposed to convert the entirety of Europe though. Historically Protestantism only really took hold in certain parts of Germany, the Lowlands, Scandinavia and Britain. The old centres were complete bullshit with everyone from Aragon to Lithuania flipping Protestant.

The Reformation in the new update is too weak to even be historically accurate. In most game I've played the only areas that get converted is Germany, Italy and some other minors around them. England never goes Anglican, and no other major or semi-major (Sweden for example) usually go protestant. This causes you to have a continent where protestant minors just get bullied by the larger catholics. The protestants can't ally strong Catholics due to the massive "opinion of heretics"-modifier which makes absolutely no sense both game-wise and historically. Let's just not forget the absolutely horrendous Defender of the Faith-mechanics, where majors claim the title and then use it to prevent minor protestants from expanding. This closes down the other expansion route there are for HRE minors, which is against nations like Denmark, England etc., nations that already are hard enough to fight as a small HRE nation. "Well, call in you allies then?" you may ask, but this is pretty hard when most major allies usually go into heavy debt from their failure to adapt to the new mechanics.

Sure, while the old reformation where most of Europe instead went protestant was historically inaccurate, it was fun, interesting and more dynamic. Nowadays most nations just stay catholic all game, a religion that despite it's developments, remains weak and boring. The only reason you would want to stay catholic is to avoid the DotF. Hell, reformed, a religion with three buttons is literally stronger than catholic.

Every single one of the European majors are already fleshed out. The Ottomans, England, France, Castille, Portugal, Austria, Poland, Prussia and Muscovy all have dedicated mission trees, decent to great ideas, unique government forms/mechanics and a whole slew of special events. What more do you want? For the game to spoonfeed you wars?

But what if I don't want to play majors? What if I want to play minor nations, but Paradox laid more focus on adding new tags insetad of fixing those they already have? If I could choose between the HRE consisting of 30 very fleshed out nations or 60 tags with no unique playstyle, I would choose the former.

Just because you only like playing easy majors doesn't mean everyone else in the playerbase does too. Those '40 anonymous tags that are just there to fill the gap', could be someone's favourite tag to play, and you have no right to command Paradox to remove them from the game.

Here we have this strawman again, "Just because you only like playing easy majors", but I've aready explained myself enough so I won't delve deeper into this.

Yes, I understand that people could want new nations and stuff, but why add more minor tags when you can start with improving those who already exists? And I'm not against adding a few new tags and provinces, as well as new formable nations, but adding too many tags in an area not needing of more tags pure game-mechanical-wise? Yes, that is unnecessary unless you actually rebalance the game around them. A complex game like EU4 can't just be modified in any direction without it affecting everything else.

And lastly, I'm not commanding anyone to do as I please, I am simply stating my opinion. If you don't like it, then you're free to come with criticism.

 

[JKiller96]

First of all, the Reformation is more powerful than ever. Not only do the reformed centers mass convert beyond historical limits, the new possible Anglican centers have pushed the reformation to convert most of central, northern, and the British isles to a protestant religion. The increased number of tags has only helped the reformation.

"Some random new Indonesian island" - that is someone's home, possibly someone's most favorite tag to play. My favorite tag, Adal, has no flavor whatsoever but I play them regardless. Just because you don't find something fun and intriguing doesn't mean other people don't as well.

If your problem is partially the AE gain, introduce a suggestion to modify AE to fit the increased number of tags, as this is more likely to gain support than reducing the number of trags or provinces, which WILL NOT happen- Paradox's expansion of the game relies on more provinces, more countries and this plan is shown in multiple games (Imperator, CK3). They will not reduce the amount of provinces added, only add to it.