Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[a1s]

ahem.

Vassals increase the suzerain's manpower and land force limit,

the wiki says so at least. Even if you don't want the AI generals in your war, you'll want their men.
(I also remember reading that vassals don't lose the money you get from them, but the wiki doesn't support me on this)

[Mictlantecuhtli]

And you can get more money and power out of the lands yourself instead of if it were given to a permanent 'vassal' roadblock.

[WealthyRadish]

I actually like the idea of marches. As you start to push into the hundreds of regiments spread all over the world, and are basically always fighting a war somewhere, it can be a pain in the ass to try and simultaneously babysit multiple mass sieges. Usually if I have one reasonably fed vassal around, it's more enjoyable and manpower efficient to just hunt down all the enemy armies and let the AI siege for you. I can't tell you how many times I've zoned out while fighting an incidental war with France or some other blob, and their spidey senses have let them know to trek across the continent to the 3 regiment siegers sitting around.

But is there any reason to do it for the most optimal strategy? I doubt it. The bonuses aren't that great for the AI. But I definitely think I'll be using it, to keep pet vassals around to do my bidding. I think the concept of having a "buffer" is fairly useless though, unless we eventually get to create vassals province by province semi-independently of cores.

[a1s]

And you can get more money and power out of the lands yourself instead of if it were given to a permanent 'vassal' roadblock.

Vassals cost points to annex, and are not worth bothering with, IMHO, if you don't already plan to keep them as pets. 

[Tarran]

Not even if you have an absolutely massive amount of diplo points and a massive shortage of admin points?

[Sheb]

I would actually use marches. In my current game, I am the Emperor and have passed all the reforms but the last one. As such, I have a crapton of vassals: all the HRE state but Austria, plus Norway and Ukraine. I also lead Great Britain and Hungary in a PU. Add to this the colony of Prussian Florida and Britain's colonial empire, and I directly control about a third of the troops fighting my wars. It makes war much less micro-managy (I kill the troops with my big stacks, then let my vassals siege everything), and make sieging defensive countries much less of a drain on my manpower. I'd totally turn all my HRE vassals in marches.

Speaking of which, is there a way to get the AI to join the Empire/add provinces to the Empire? Several of my HRE vassals have non-HRE provinces, which I'd like to get in for the Imperial Authority. I'd also love for Ukraine and Norway to join, to free up diplomatic relations and eventually absorb them. I tried grabbing Kiev, adding it to the HRE then giving it to Ukraine, but they don't seem to want to move their capital back.

[Sergarr]

From what I've heard, HRE is overpowered anyway, so if marches were intended for HRE, then it is making an OP thing even more OP.

[LordSlowpoke]

germany is meant to be a counterweight to france

france is france

they will be op as fuck no matter what

[Karlito]

Speaking of which, is there a way to get the AI to join the Empire/add provinces to the Empire?

I believe the AI will add provinces to the Empire, but never when a player is Emperor.

[Erkki]

Just started another HRE game as Saxony... Managed to ally both Austria and Bohemia, annexed Wurtzburg and Anhalt quickly and Emperor didnt care. Set Palatinate my rival and conquered a province. 20 years in the campaign and king of Austria dies, Palatinate voted for new Emperor --> all conquered lands given the Unlawful status --> all neighbours and some further states except Austria and Bohemia formed a coalition against me --> Coalition war, Austria doesnt join as its helping Sweden become independent! 

[Sergarr]

Obviously you instead of annexing should have demanded to become the protectorate of Anhalt.

And bam! coalition-proof.

[Catastrophic lolcats]

I know you're probably joking but it's only Indian and below that can become a protectorate of Western tech.

[Sergarr]

What about Ottomans?

[Catastrophic lolcats]

Protectorates form when there is a gap of +50% technology cost or more. Western tech (+0%) will make protectorates of Indian tech (+50%) and below, while vassalising anything higher. Ottoman tech only has a modest +25% tech cost and therefore cannot become a protectorate (which is a shared trait of Western, Eastern and Muslim).

This does mean that Ottoman tech will make a vassal out of Chinese tech (+60%) while a Western tech nation will make it a protectorate. Horde tech cannot become a protectorate even though they have a +75% tech cost (this is hardcoded).
Chinese tech (+60%) could vassalise Sub-saharan (+100%) but would protectorate Mesoamerican (+150%) and North American (+250%).

[Sergarr]

This +250% cost modifier for North Americans boggles my mind. Was it set so high so that Europeans could crush the resistance on the continent with impunity?