Alright, time to get back to the actual discussion on improving the game, rather than argue who is what and who in which war.
1) Make it possible to TO cities with which you don't share a border, possibly automatically creating a new duchy for them, as a new version of the old CTOs
- I like suggestions in this area because of the following: Right now war is generally very static with chokepoints and risk areas defended by militia etc. When you add the risk that regions beyond the direct border (sometimes just 1 or 2 regions) and introducing the risk that regions beyond that can be taken is interesting. Some additions and options to such a view:
--- Regions which are cut off from the main realm cannot be taxed, or far less because of a broken supply line.
--- In stead of direct TO, allow realms to create true colonies where they can also cash bonds. This would enable war campaigns further from home, but also grants the risk that the colony suddenly demands autonomy and removes this special status. Downside is that it would require an additional diplomatic option "Colonized"
2) Bring back (the option of) communal taxes.
- As Delvin said, I would prefer a more mixed version where the central government is better able to levy taxes on the Dukes/Lords
3) Bring back wealth tax
- I agree with Delvin's view on introducing it, but making it optional.
4) Lower the family wealth cap to 5000
5) Make any action that uses family gold for military purposes instead use personal gold
6) Make buying regions only possible in your own realm or in realms you are allied with.
- I'm not sure how I feel about the family wealth thingies. I do agree that the leeching of gold from realms to a family can be quite problematic, so in that sense I agree with it. Also a lot of the guys with high family wealth actually never spend it, they just keep it high.
I can attest to the fact that you can funnel a lot of gold through, because I've done that with Oligarch. So in that sense I understand there's an issue, I'm just not so sure about what the solution is. I'm more in favor of changing the mechanics than removing them tbh. (Ps, Chenier, all my family wealth comes from looting rogue DWI lands, we're the new breed of 'wealthy').
7) Make religious takeovers factor in realm sympathy and a bunch of new factors to make it almost impossible to pull off, at least when done on human-held lands. Enable it anew in rogue lands.
- What is the reasoning behind this needing any change? I have not seen a RTO in ages myself. So did I miss something here? And allowing this for rogue regions will just mess up Dwilight entirely I fear. Then priests become the only ones to TO and then the army just marches to defend and we'll see quite some expansions lowering the density further.
Remove peasant militias completely: only player actions should stop player actions.
- When it comes to the peasant militia which rises upon arrival due to hatred, I completely agree. I've raged against this for IRL years by now, pretty much since it was introduced. It's a rediculous mechanic which completely ruins any form of fun warfare, especially for smaller realms. As Oligarch we were ultimately unable to leave our capital without facing 6k peasant armies in an instant.... It also completely destroyed the option of looting, which is a shame.
- When it comes to the peasant militia based on looting, I think it should be reduced, but I'm not 100% certain it should be removed. What is the reasoning behind this in more detail?
9) When too much looting is done, instead of peasant militias, locals should run away to nearby regions.
- And will they then return later on in your plans?
10) Convert 15% of all militia units to local population every week. Reduce this decay by 2% per fortification level.
- Right now militia doesn't really leave when they're getting pay. I'd suggest fixing this first to avoid a lot of militia in regions which can't really support it. This should already help. Now what you're proposing goes into militia being much more short term, but that would require some more thought than just this I think.
12) Return the distance from capital radius to what it used to be, if not larger.
- For all I care it's nearly reduced, especially for travelling armies.
13) Add a "Demesne" alternative to lordships, where a region goes lordless without penalties other than a tax penalty or 100% of it going to the communal pot. Referendums don't run for it in democracies. The game has too many regions like Wasteland and the Desert of Silhouettes that don't deserve putting any nobles to them, but which in some cases must be taken for a number of other reasons.
- I liked the discussion on this matter. Now Delvin has some plans on this so I'll react to those in stead:
I like the idea of a more dynamic war, but do have quite a specific question about Delvin's plan:
Realm A has 20 nobles and core regions + some outer regions
Realm B has 7 nobles and a ring of core regions + no outer regions
Realm A attacks B and takes two of their core regions (which becomes an outer region for realm A) and then has to go to refit
Realm B uses the refit to quickly take back both regions (outer regions, so they're taken super fast right?) and they become realm B's core regions again and then withdraws back to the capital once Realm A's army arrives again (possibly attacks some more outer regions from A first)
I'm trying to better understand your plan to see the pros and cons of it, to help also identify pitfalls. Because if it works like the above, it will become nearly impossible to destroy a realm or really damage them once you reach the core regions around the capital.
