Faction Improvement suggestions; the Empire

TeNoSkill

Main focus is on improving the elector counts system.
As of now it is merely another means to the same end;

Painting the Map

it also is not entiiiirely accurate to how the Empire works.
Namely as a decentralized union of semi-independant states with the Emperor tending to the larger threats and maintaining cohesion.



So I suggest

Smaller things
-Imperial palace gives +1 Imperial authority
-Ghal Maraz (literal sigil of the Empire!) gives +1 Imperial authority
-Add passive ability to Karl Fanz´ Emperor trait that gives +1 fealty to the Imperial faction in which Karl Franz currently is
(After all people always pretend to be more loyal when the authority is right before them



Give Imperial authority a second positive/green stage and increase level for final green stage
Going from "absolute" to "waning" is too close and thinning it out helps keeping the pace better.
It makes it harder to go into the negative but also getting the full positive bonus, similar to the design-philosophy of public order now.

So I suggest adding
-a second green stage at 1+ Imperial authority giving growth and leadership to your troops
-moving current green stage to 4+ imperial authority




Make confederations progressively more expensive
The more electors you absorb the more the rest will cling on to their independence.
It also allows for better gameplay pacing by not making confederations hard in the beginning and easy in the end.

So I suggest
-Make the confederation costs progressively increase, maybe +1/2/3...Imperial authority and -2/4/6/8....public order



Make rebellions of Empire factions more severy
I´m not talking about the secession but when you go OVER negative 100. Since this is a rebellion against Imperial Authority I´d reckon that it could have more support e.g be more widespread to really nail it home that you better keep the Empire happy.

So I suggest
-make the rebellion at -100 be in half the counties of the province instead of the capital region only
-maybe a event window that keeps popping up from -25 Publi order onward creating a Dilemma regarding rebellion




Expanding the electorial machinations
Since the "Empire resurgent"-update the diplomatic options with the electors have been more limited.
How are you supposed to monitor the Empire and help out the counts if the diplomacy works not reliable so that you can react to the threat in question? (I guess you aren t)




So I suggest

adding additional options to the electorial machinations;

buy Imperial authority(IA), maybe 1 IA for 5000 influence

force trade agreement; influence cost
force military access; influence cost
force non-aggression pact; influence cost

force Imperial tribute; costs 1 IA and reduces diplomatic relations with the counts, gives you money (maybe a fixed sum of 2000)
force military alliance; costs 1 IA and reduces diplomatic relations with the counts,

this way you (as the Empire) are capable of working more reliable in unison with other states and maybe even punch above oyur weight in the early game.

Inspired heavily by this mod
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2265550083
and this one
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1930807912&searchtext=Prestige




Allow us to de-confederate
But why should anyone want to do that? Exspecially now that we can abandon settlements?
Good questions!
Now, the main ideas behind this is
a) you get Imperial authority out of this
b) you have the AI take over in a scenario you cannot deal with (basically the AI becomes a speedbump)
c) it fits with the theme of "the Empire takeso ver in the hours of need and leaves then" (or the other way around, lol)
d) also a bit of a emergency option for when you confederated to fast

So I suggest
adding a option (button/event) to de-confederate an imperial province to delegate the local problems to the AI and getting higher fealty with the resurfaced faction aswell as Imperial authority and influence out of it.





More building options
More Buildings allow for more customization of the campaignplay and reduce repetitiveness

So I suggest

"Imperial magistrate"-chain;
TI-III, gives influence up to 25 per turn, increases taxation by up to 10% and public order up to 4

"Markeplace"-chain;
TI-III, increases income from trade-ressource buildings by up 15% in the province aswell as adjcent regions
increases ammount of tradable ressources in the region
increases growth based on the public order up to 20

"garrison-quarters"-chain
TI-III, decreases upkeep for troops in the region up to 40%
gives unit experience per turn up to 80
decreases recruitment cost by up to 15%
gives garrison of 2 halberdiers

(this building chain is intented to save you costs when you try to play the Empire less centralized and therefore don t have as many provinces).

TeNoSkill

Obviously the more advanced features must not neccessarily be handled by the AI if it becomes too complicated for them.