the mentioned idea should provide some alternative for colony takeover, while all other means to effectively establish and hold new realm would remain. that should enable more independence to the new realm than colony can provide, giving somewhat more dynamics to continental politics. colony takeover, if played ic, retains strong dependence with mother realm for long time, and cannot create such dynamics.
In that case, I misunderstood the intent. Now I have other questions though. How do you replace the mechanisms inherent in a CTO that, for example, determine the colony's government type and its first ruler? And how do you discourage people from abusing this option to create random (and probably doomed) colonies on a whim?
I have also revised my earlier pessimistic outlook when it comes to stronghold colonies. It is actually not entirely unrealistic for an enterprising noble with a lot of initial resources to become a one-man colony. Recruit a very large unit of archers or MI, get two hundred bushels of food in caravans, go buy your stronghold, and then build walls immediately. Since strongholds are actually self-sufficient in food production once they reach their maximum production/population ratio, you could feasibly hold onto a stronghold virtually by yourself. You'd just have to get lucky in getting there with an intact unit and not getting overwhelmed before you got some decent walls built. Risky, but eminently possible if you have several thousand gold at your disposal.
