What I expected...

[jfoytek]

So I wanted to try and create a thread a bit different the the normal I don't like Conclave, Infamy, Shattered Retreat's etc...

So I expected something really far better then what was delivered.

So I am going to describe some of the idea's or types of things I imagined we were going to get.

I will Start with mercenary bands:

Ability to assign Captain / Marshal / Steward / Spymaster / Chaplain / Chancelor

Each one of these are easily swapped out at my request for a different person in my court.

King (ME) Gets 50% of the Income! (Not the paltry amount we get now)
The Captain gets 25% of the Cash
The Officers get 5% of the Cash

Captain Earns 25% of the Prestige of the Band.
The officers get 15% of the Prestige.

I could use the Band as a place to raise prestige of dynasty members or a place for my commanders to earn valuable experience and get better, so when I need them for my own war they can be recalled and replaced with others!

Assigning People to these positions would give a permanent Positive modifier to opinion!
Captain +15
Officers +10

Firing the captain -20
Officers -15

Promoting the Captain
No loss of the +15 Modifier
Promotion's include any Landed Title, Baron, Count, Duke etc or Marshal

Promoting an Officer
No loss of the +10 Modifier
Promotions include any Landed Title, Baron, Count, Duke etc or Marshal /Captain of the Band or any other Council member.

****Note if Promoted to Captain there +10 Positive Modifier is replace by the better +15 and doesn't stack****

So in my version of Mercenary bands there is far more character development and role play ability! And it would make the Mercenary Band a much more intricate part of the Kingdom almost like a on the job training group....


The council itself I really expected to have Events!!! The whole catchy advertisement video for conclave really had me expecting something fun!

Like

(Culture Event)
Your Loyal Steward and Country men (Anglo Saxon)has come to you concerned. It would seem that our (French) Martial's reputation is earning great strides in our land my lord, your Anglo Saxon people are begging to embrace French custom's!!! We must put a stop to this.....

A) Remove the Frenchmen immediately and banish him from our lands!
-10 Permanent relations with all French Characters
+50 Anglo Saxon influence in all provinces in the realm
Earn New Rival (Banished French Marshal)
Incur +5 Hit to tyranny and -25 Relations with any other French Courtier

****Leads to Next Event in Chain************
If Banished Characters Dynasty has a King or Better Title holder then :

To the most Despicable Tyrant (Ruler Name) I have noticed your treatment of my kinsman! I demand you pay reparations to our great family.

A) Give 15% of Current Gold to Banished Marshal and loss -100 Prestige for Caving into Demands

B) War (If you lose Banished Marshal gets a Random County from your Demesne or Barony if you only have a County, and that holding is transferred to the King who issued the ultimatum that you had to fight to win the war)
Of if you win earn 500 Prestige and +5 Rep modifier with all Anglo Saxon Vassals Considered defender of the (Culture)
**************************************************

B) Ignore the Steward's council
-15 Relations with steward for 5 Years
Anglo Saxon Cultural Faction Created (Random 5-10 Anglo Saxon's Recieve -10 opinion Modifier, Are considered part of Anglo Saxon Cultural Faction)

****Chain Event****************************************
To the most stubborn (Ruler Title) (Ruler Name) as prominent figures in our Cultural community we are appalued at how you allow these most uncivilized people to practice there activities in your realm!

A) Arrest the ring leader if you fail due to low state intrigue find yourself at war with the ring leader and 75% of your Max Realm Troop level.
(If you lose all French cultural coutiers are removed and you lose -200 Prestige)
If you win the Ring Leader is arrested.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

C) Stall the Steward and tell him you will consider his request!

A) Ask Spymaster for help

Outcome 1 Spymaster's Personal opinion of the Steward is Low he uses this as an excuse to kill him! Or atleast try!
If failed Spymaster is imprisoned and The Steward Realize's you were behind it and receives a Favor from you or else he will go public with your dishonorable actions

Outcome 2 Spymaster likes the Steward but still finds out some dirt thats usefull to make the Steward give up his Cultural warpath. Now you owe a Favor to your Spymaster

Outcome 3 Spymaster is French he and the Martial get together and kill the steward, you figure out what happened they owe you a favor!



So This is what I thought conclave would be, I was fully expecting lots of court intrigue, lots of events that push your realm into directions that may or may not be favorable!!!

Just FYI Paradox if you like these idea please bye all means steal them!!!!

 

[Humanoid Typhoon]

Are you suggesting things like these should be in the game? (Apologies if I read your post wrong.) If so then I maybe you didn't give it enough time because these thing pretty much are in the game.

Mercenary group captains can be replaced any time you like as long as you are still hosting them, officers however you cannot. They make money for you if anyone hires them and you can pay 50 gold to increase the size of their Light Infantry, Cavalry and Archers. You can also pay 50 gold to convert Light Infantry or Light Cavalry to Heavy Infantry of Heavy Cavalry. The only minor gripe I have is you don't get a discount if you hire them.

I'm not sure how many council flavor events were added but i've had one so far in my first play through on conclave as the Zunists. It's an event where my Marshal is hassling common folk for money and I can either let it slide or fire him from the council.

 

[jfoytek]

Are you suggesting things like these should be in the game? (Apologies if I read your post wrong.) If so then I maybe you didn't give it enough time because these thing pretty much are in the game.

I am saying this ^^^^^ something I thought up in the time it took me to post would have been far better then the empty hollow event less shell they gave us!

Mercenary group captains can be replaced any time you like as long as you are still hosting them, officers however you cannot. They make money for you if anyone hires them and you can pay 50 gold to increase the size of their Light Infantry, Cavalry and Archers. You can also pay 50 gold to convert Light Infantry or Light Cavalry to Heavy Infantry of Heavy Cavalry. The only minor gripe I have is you don't get a discount if you hire them.

The Mercenary Band's as they are implemented are terrible, you don't make any king of money off them that warrants the hit to your levy's you just don't the money you make off of them is laughable!!! The Captain walks away with 99% of the money and you are the king you get a measly 1 gold coin tossed your way at the end of the year when the captain has made a 1000? No you have to Meta Game this you have to make your heir the captain to get your hands on that money! And anywhere the fix is to meta game is just poor design!

I'm not sure how many council flavor events were added but i've had one so far in my first play through on conclave as the Zunists. It's an event where my Marshal is hassling common folk for money and I can either let it slide or fire him from the council.

You actually consider this an event? Does this event do anything other then annoy you as a player? Does it lead to an interesting chain of events? Can you really do anything logical about the issue? This is a perfect example of a lazy event that really doesn't enhance the game it just becomes something you click on over and over again in likely the exact same way! If this sad event makes you feel like conclave has added depth and flavor to your game play then your very easily satisfied my friend!

 

[Thrake]

The Mercenary Band's as they are implemented are terrible, you don't make any king of money off them that warrants the hit to your levy's you just don't the money you make off of them is laughable!!!

Once merc hit a decent size, they bring money almost constantly. This means that when you're at peace and your levies would be useless, you still get something out of it. Now in times of war, you can use the extra money you gained to pay the upkeep of a merc band larger than what you miss from the levy penalty.

If you have a very large and developped demesne, it's not that true but early game I really find mercs are the best way to go. You can still benefit if you don't really need to raise your own levies or your own levies are large enough (even with the malus) to actually fight your way through most wars. I commonly do it as a tribal; it makes for a good steady income and I don't need the extra troops when raiding for exemple.

Then if you game the system with your heir, it becomes absurdly OPed.

As for councilor events, yeah, the game would certainly benefit from more events, and actually more events that gives input to the councilor. Not just: "you have good martial ability, you raised extra levies and your liege is happy". It's not bad but it does not make being a councilor interesting (hich should be one of the emphasizes of conclave), that's only a liege thing.

Mercenary group captains can be replaced any time you like as long as you are still hosting them, officers however you cannot.

When I do that, merc captain tend to flee to another court, which means a net loss of one potentially good army leader, so a really bad choice.

 

[Humanoid Typhoon]

If this sad event makes you feel like conclave has added depth and flavor to your game play then your very easily satisfied my friend!

Easily satisfied? I probably am. I think you are overreacting a little about Conclave. Sure, there could be more council related event chains but i'm sure some will be written in eventually and some people may not like the new laws system or new things like mercenary bands. Complaining in this thread won't help though, why don't you try to get the dev's attention in the suggestions section. Maybe some things can be removed from the mandatory patch and added in to the DLC itself that way if you don't like it, just turn Conclave off.