Toning Down Looting - War Rebalancing

[Adriddae]

Is there any incentives to have more than 1 region per noble?

I think you require two nobles per region at minimum. A lord and a knight with an estate.

[loren]

So if, under your proposed change, you can still heavily damage a region to the point that it's a burden on your enemy (low production and therefore small harvests, but still a relatively large population), how will this encourage people to do takeovers rather than looting?

Because as has been pointed out it is relatively easy to repair regions if you're uninterrupted.  You can temporarily deny their use to the enemy by looting them, but if you wish to truly do lasting damage you need to take them.  However, the current mechanics mean that you can just deny their use by removing them from the enemy realm altogether.  Put another way, its a matter of the temporal nature of war.  Looting should be more tactical, not more strategic.  As it stands people are devoting entire strategies around loot the other guy's regions till they're mostly all rogue and he capitulates.  Not take those regions by force from the outset, and loot regions where it makes tactical sense to do so.

[fodder]

you don't "need" more than 1 noble per region. more regions than nobles? eh... that's pushing it a bit, isn't it?

[Chenier]

you don't "need" more than 1 noble per region. more regions than nobles? eh... that's pushing it a bit, isn't it?

Realms where the ratio approaches 1:1 are not that uncommon. From what I see, most seem to float at about 2:1, though.

[GoldPanda]

How can you maintain control when all the local government officials are dead or have fled?

Making looting less effective will only make things even easier for the defender, who already have most advantages in this game. It will only encourage more gang-up wars, because 1:1 wars will become nearly impossible to resolve. Two realms can trade border regions back and forth forever, because crippling the other realm's economy is no longer a viable option. The damage caused by your entire army can be undone with a few courtiers.  ???

Just once, I'd like to see someone make a feature proposal that is not a subtle bid to help their own realms. Just once. ::)

[Penchant]

The damage caused by your entire army can be undone with a few courtiers.  ???

That's not really true considering in about a week I know of a region that had lost 3k peasants limiting its production considerably for quite sometime. Also the "if you can loot all the regions why not take the capital, I know of one example where they couldn't take the the capital but could loot the rest the regions. Carelia's army could not defeat the Suville army looting it but Suville couldn't attack the capital because with the long time militia Suville's army would outmatched.

[GoldPanda]

That's not really true considering in about a week I know of a region that had lost 3k peasants limiting its production considerably for quite sometime. Also the "if you can loot all the regions why not take the capital, I know of one example where they couldn't take the the capital but could loot the rest the regions. Carelia's army could not defeat the Suville army looting it but Suville couldn't attack the capital because with the long time militia Suville's army would outmatched.

If it's a single region that lost 3k peasants, then it will recover quickly because all of your adjacent regions will be pouring in theirs, assuming that the local region lords know what they are doing.

If many of your regions are down 3k peasants, then yes, you're in trouble, but the enemy had to take a lot of time and effort to achieve that.

[Chenier]

If it's a single region that lost 3k peasants, then it will recover quickly because all of your adjacent regions will be pouring in theirs, assuming that the local region lords know what they are doing.

If many of your regions are down 3k peasants, then yes, you're in trouble, but the enemy had to take a lot of time and effort to achieve that.

Hell, if it's on the border, your enemy's regions will also deplete themselves to populate it!

[Revan]

Looting has become more prominent as a method of warfare because of the estate system. Denying regions is a better way to win a war than to try and take them all with your already abysmal land-to-nobles ratio. There's no need to rebalance this as the new estate system should do a lot to help turn the tide and bring us back to the good old days - where wars were nearly always fought for land, as novel as that sounds!

It's also harsh, I think, to blame the mechanics. The estate system aside, the game doesn't force anyone to loot. Yes it's effective, but once you start looting with impunity, your enemies start doing it too. That's the risk you take. Really a lot of realms ought to be more gentlemanly in their warfare, because when all's said and done, both sides want to come out of the war strong and intact, without the prospect of prolonged, eye-wateringly dull efforts to restore battered regions. And what's fun about camping a big army in a region to loot, being constantly interrupted by peasants (though that changed recently?) and avoiding open-battle? It's so boring.

For me this doesn't need changing, the primary suspect in the growth of looting is about to die a death with the stable update. Couple that with migration now being able to revive ravaged populaces much more easily and I'm happy enough with that.

[Ketchum]

I believe looting already got enough damage as with current mechanism? :o

Takeover failed (16 days, 8 hours ago)
The people of Bruck have not only resisted our attempt to take control of the region, they have even risen up against us and stopped our takeover attempt.

Losses during takeover (16 days, 8 hours ago)
During the failed but bloody takeover in Bruck, 2 of your men were killed and 4 wounded by rebels and resistance fighters.

[egamma]

I think you require two nobles per region at minimum. A lord and a knight with an estate.

On stable. On testing, you only need a lord.

[Indirik]

You don't actually *need* a lord. But you can't get the food without one.

[fodder]

heh. eh.. if there's to be auto sell in new trading.. would a region without a lord still have an auto sell offer?

ie... appoint lord. stick up auto sell. step down.  no auto sell when it expires?

[loren]

How can you maintain control when all the local government officials are dead or have fled?

That's what a takeover explicitly says it influences/does.  Pillaging in fact never talks about government officials afaik.

[egamma]

heh. eh.. if there's to be auto sell in new trading.. would a region without a lord still have an auto sell offer?

ie... appoint lord. stick up auto sell. step down.  no auto sell when it expires?

then the duke gets half the regions' income...