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Tinto Talks #51 - 19th of February 2025

Welcome to the 51st Tinto Talks, the Happy Wednesday where we give you information about our entirely secret game with the Codename of Project Caesar.

Today we will talk about subjects and how they function in our game


Subjects and their Overlord
In Project Caesar, as it starts at the end of the Medieval Era, and reaches into the Post-Napoleonic World, we have to have a system that works for feudal states and also for grand empires spanning the world. This is simulated by our subject system.

A Subject is any country that is subordinate to an overlord. It typically has limitations on its diplomacy in return for protection in a war. Subjects may also suffer subject taxation, and have a certain percentage of their great power score exacted by their overlord. Additionally, a subject may not become a great power. The exact rules are dependent on the subject type. Subjects have subject loyalty towards their overlord, and a liberty desire - both of which indicate their current stance on their subordination. Any subject may in turn be the overlord of other countries, allowing long chains of Subject-Overlord relationships.

An Overlord is a country that has any number of subjects as its subordinates. In return for protecting each subject in wars, it typically receives subject taxation, and exacts a certain percentage of the subject's great power score. The exact rules are dependent on each subject's subject type. Any Overlord may in turn be the subject of other countries, allowing long chains of Subject-Overlord relationships.


Subject Loyalty
Every subject has a Subject Loyalty towards their overlord. Ranging from 0 to 100, and when a subject has less than 50 subject loyalty towards its overlord, it becomes a Disloyal Subject. When in such a state, it will no longer join the wars of its overlord and cannot be annexed.

There is also the concept of ‘Liberty Desire’, which represents a subject's current drive for independence from its overlord, and it affects subject loyalty. Its value is from -100 to +100, but it has a monthly decay towards 0. The value is also used as a currency in some Subject Interactions.


subject_loyalty-png.1256229

The Bretons are loyal.. for now..



Diplomatic Capacity
As we mentioned in earlier Tinto Talks, the cost of having a subject is not a fixed number as in previous games we have made, but depends on many factors, including the type of subject.

diplomatic_capacity.png
Of course we have nested tooltips to find out detailed information..



Create New Subjects
If you have locations in more than 2 different provinces, you’ll always have the possibility to create a subject of one of your provinces. You can also select from the valid types of subjects that your country can have in that province. After you have selected the type of subject you want, you may, if the type of subject allows it,also pick the character to be the ruler of the new subject.

There are also ways to convince your subject to change from one type of subject to another type, where it would be valid.


Vassal
The most typical type of subject, a vassal oversees its territory on behalf of its overlord, pays vassal fees and joins the military campaigns of its overlord.

Almost all countries can make Vassal Subjects.

vassal.png

Probably needs to improve and merge some lines here to make tooltip less unwieldy..

Fiefdom
A Fiefdom is a junior title that is the property of its overlord's ruler. This can only be created and maintained by a Monarchy though. There are some drawbacks to it, as it can not be created by diplomatic offers, and does not grant any prestige.

March
A March is a subject country focused on defending our domain, acting as a barrier between their overlord and external threats.

A March pays half the gold that a vassal does and can not be annexed, but the March gets a discipline boost and gets better-lasting forts that are also cheaper.

Colonial Nation
A Colonial Nation is a subject centered around the administration of overseas colonies on behalf of its overlord.

There are two ways to create a colonial nation. First of all, you can make one from a conquered overseas territory, but secondly, and most commonly you have the option to create one directly from when one of your colonial charters finishes.

A Colonial Nation gives up 33% of its trade capacity and trade advantage to their overlord, while also giving up 10% of their manpower and sailors, and pays 20% of their tax to the overlord.

Conquistadors
Conquistadors are the leaders of a private army who have signed contracts with their rulers to explore and conquer certain territories in exchange for the title of Governor, and a share of the new lands and spoils.

This is a unique type of subject that is only available to Catholic countries with the Capital in Iberia, and this advance is available from the Age of Discovery.

A Conquistador can be commissioned by selecting an area in America, and then a character to lead them. It will also require about 2,000 manpower and some gold to start. It will start with preparing in a nearby good port.

conq_1.png

Just a few months…. And then it’s Conquest of Paradise.

Afterwards the Conquistador have gathered enough resources for their expedition they will set sail, and you will hear from them the next time in a few months time, informing you that they have started their activities.

conq_2.png

Let's see what he can do!

This spawns an army-based country in a location in the area, starting with about 2 regiments of conquistadors. They start at war with the owner of the location where they spawn, and will automatically conquer any location they get control over. They also have the capacity to raise levies from the local people, even if it's from a non-accepted culture. If they manage to get to peace or get enough locations they will convert into a colonial nation of yours.


Some other unique subject types we will go into detail on when we talk about countries that can use them in a Tinto Flavor include Appanages, State Banks, Hanseatic Members and more..


Playing as Overlord
Several types of subjects allow the overlord to annex a subject. Annexation is when an overlord completely takes over one of its subjects. The overlord will gain all of the subject's owned locations, and any character not fleeing to other countries.

A disloyal subject can not be annexed though, and the cost of annexation depends on the amount of cities and towns that a subject has, with rural locations having less of an impact.

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Less than 30 years, should be worth it..

There are also plenty of different subject interactions, like giving locations or provinces to your subjects, take land, manpower, gold or sailors from them and much more.

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And of course there are other unique ones..

Playing as Subject
If you play a country that is a subject you have a few tools at your disposal. First of all there are two different cabinet actions that you can use.

Frustrate Annexation
This action uses the administrative ability of the ruler and the cabinet member assigned to the task to slow down annexation.

By hindering their delegates with an archaic constitutional legislature and obstructing them at every turn, we can increase the amount of time it will take for our overlord to annex us.

Sow Disloyalty
This action uses the diplomatic ability of the ruler and the cabinet member assigned to the task to reduce the loyalty to your overlord.

By spreading cruel rumors about our overlord and espousing the benefits of ruling ourselves, we can decrease our own subject loyalty, potentially becoming a disloyal subject.


disloyalty.png

Maybe I need a better cabinet member to do it?

And if you want to become independent there are two ways to do it.

First of all, there is the classic option of just declaring war on your overlord, but that is often not entirely a good idea, especially not if you have a tax base at about 1% of your powerful overlord.

However, the other option in Project Caesar, is to start an independence movement. This is somewhat similar to a coalition in that it is an international organization with a target country. You can invite other countries to join it, including other subjects of the same overlord, and when you have gathered enough strength in your movement, often securing the backing of another powerful country, you can start the war and have a chance at liberty.



Stay tuned for next week we will delve into weather and natural disasters.
 

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You're only a conquistador for conqueror of indigenous territory and creating a settlement if you originate from the conquistador region of Iberia? Everyone else is just sparkling explorers?
Not to mention the idea of seeing conquistadors in Australia and stuff will be very, very weird. Or really, with the colonization system as it is, it's possible to send conquistadors to somewhere like the Middle East.
 
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A suggestion for a nation specific advance related to colonies I have is allowing Dutch nations to invite Chinese etc merchants, workers etc into their colonies in Asia. This happened in for example in Taiwan during the span of the game, but also in Indonesia (and besides all the money it gave the colonies, it also led to all the tensions you might expect)
 
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  • Are the first two items in the list not 'current factors'? I don't understand the split between the two sections
  • I think that Base value should be first in the list as it is _base_
  • If we are going to have sub-lists perhaps a slight indent to those so the heading is more apparent
  • The last item appear odd. It is not a factor as where we are getting the 61.87%
    • If we keep it at the bottom at least move the Check/X to the right column instead of having it lead the line
    • A suggested move would be to have it as part of the subtitle "Subject Loyalty | Loyal" or "Subject Loyalty | Disloyal"
  • Does the color change based on if I am Brittany or I am France? The 'sense' of the value would
subject_loyalty-png.1256229


  • The sub-tooltip "Cost of Vassal Flanders
    • colors should be reversed, increase in cost bad, decrease good
    • Numbers add to +1.60, in the main tooltip it show 1.15
    • I would list the subject type
    • It appears that the list is sorted by its value, I think it would be better served sorted by 'function'. The order I would do is: Type, Rank, Income, Armies, Navies. This keeps like by like.
  • Main "DC of France" tooltip
    • In the 5.86/5.40, I agree the 5.86 would be red as it is over the cap (I would have it green when under the cap) but why is the cap (5.40) green? Just because it is a cap and something we want?
    • I feel the costs should be white
    • Sort by type first, then by value (or country name). (i.e. Don't put the Guarantee in the middle of the Vassals).
    • "Giving Guarantee with Scotland" is giving bad.
    • Again I would have the Cap color be neutral, but the things going into the gap being green/red
diplomatic_capacity.png


  • Are there subject type that can cancel the relationship? If not that this doesn't need to be listed.
  • Annexation limits
    • the '<Subject> can (only) be' feels redundant? Is it needed.
    • Is the 'monthly progress' a limit?
    • 'if they got have at least'
    • Is the opinion a start or a progress condition
    • maybe change to Annexation
      • Monthly progress +5.00
      • Annexation can start
        • after 10 years
        • Opinion of <Overlord> is at least +150
  • Are there types where the building rules aren't "<Overlord> can build in <Subjects> Locations'?
    • Perhaps changing the title to "<Overlord> building rights in <subject>" then list the item, with a green check on the right
  • Diplo rules
    • the first statement is vague
    • France doesn't need the DC as we can see you can go over the limit, it uses or spends it.
    • Costs shouldn't be red by default. Spending to maintain the relationship may or may not be a good thing.
    • I would change the will joins to a always/never case and a conditional case. This would reduce down the current 4 lines into 2 lines and only be longer where there is an actual condition.
      • <Subject> will (never|always) join <overloard's> (offensive|defensive) wars
      • <Subject> will join <overloard's> (offensive|defensive) wars if:
        • list of items
  • Benefits sections feel off with mixing of the dotted list style and the "left thing/right effect" style.
vassal.png


That is it for now. I will see if I can come back for the others later
 
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It feels like Conquistadors might be too focused on just geographic expansion in the Americas - Portuguese Conquistadors like Afonso de Albuquerque built trading posts and conquered coastal cities in Africa and Asia, but they didn't build large colonies themselves.
Agree that portuguese viceroy with the focus on more diplomacy should be a thing... Maybe something like the conquistador having a choice between being more in a "let's conquer everything" or more "just agree to leave us this diplomatic and trade outpost and we'll let your country at peace".

Also, regarding the state not being the only one to fund these expeditions, maybe a priviledge for the nobles may allow them to get more influence but give a chance they'll invest their eco into a conquistador launch ?
 
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I believe due to the timeframe this game starts in a crusader type vassal should be a thing, leaving room for some alternate history. Say I the British or French king decide to launch a crusade against the mamaluks or any other middle eastern nation, I should be able to set up a crusader state which is a vassal with similarities to the conquestadors, however they should have some special abilities like being able to call in non overlord nations into defensive or offensive wars, with offensive being much harder to convince other nations to. Also a slight bonus to religious conversion and cultural acceptance, cultural acceptance due to the large amount of European peoples of different cultures moving to said state. Catholic and orthodox nations should be allowed these vassals and the crusader vassal state should become non existent at some point in the later parts of the game. With similarities to the conquestadors, these states have the ability to set up military orders like the knights Templar etc. that can privately crusade. Also once the local culture has converted to the religion of the overlord of the region, the state can raise levies of those culture. However once this state is set up it should cause a major malice with the surrounding nation or nations of that religion. Reducing trade with said nation. These crusader states will not always have their overlord protect them.
I do hope for some expanded and detailed crusade mechanics in the game, given the extra hundred years of medieval history to play with. Crusader states being formable would be awesome though maybe they shouldn't be subjects though I could see some sort of situation where they can be "sponsored" or something, where pops of your culture would migrate there and in exchange you get trade advantage and religious currency and clout to use for the papal system.
 
Still on Conquistadores, their personal characteristics had a big impact on the future colonial countries, so I'm thinking if colonial countries should getperhaps distinct administratons or even subject types in accord with the initial conquest, ie key figures shaped their colonies through distinct personal traits.

A conquistador turned governor’s personality would influence expansion, economy, relations with natives, and even the colony’s long-term loyalty to Spain. Over time, regions would develop unique identities based on their leaders, with neighboring colonies either reinforcing each other’s traits or clashing, leading to instability.
 
Subject Loyalty
Every subject has a Subject Loyalty towards their overlord. Ranging from 0 to 100, and when a subject has less than 50 subject loyalty towards its overlord, it becomes a Disloyal Subject. When in such a state, it will no longer join the wars of its overlord and cannot be annexed.

There is also the concept of ‘Liberty Desire’, which represents a subject's current drive for independence from its overlord, and it affects subject loyalty. Its value is from -100 to +100, but it has a monthly decay towards 0. The value is also used as a currency in some Subject Interactions.

In general, it seems like it can get really confusing in the game when we have a mix of 0-100, -100-100, etc and that's going to make tracking the huge amount of metrics difficult.

For any metric where you have to sit somewhere on a scale like this, I think it would be really good to clean them up as one format: 0-100 I feel sounds like the most common?
 
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I also think conquistadores should have a complex diplomacy with the Natives and not just blobbing.
 
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Just curious- and it always made me wonder in EU4 as well- but what's the rationale for not allowing to annex marches? It makes sense from the strategic point of view to create marches on the boundaries with major rivals, but if geopolitical situation changes, incorporate marches back into the metropolis. At a cost of course.
 
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Like others in this thread have said I also agree that Conqistadors being locked to Iberians only is weird. I understand that they are meant to represent the unique turn of events that caused the Spanish conquests of Mexico and Peru but many other European explorers and early colonizers acted in a similar way - they were funded and prepared by a European country, then sent on their merry way and showed results based on their own merit.

We already have an explorers mechanic similar to the Conquistadors mechanic as shown above - where we fund an explorer and when he is ready he sets sail on his own. I think these mechanics should be tied together, since they're so similar anyway, to be called Expeditions. You should be able to prepare Exploration Expeditions (as was already shown before) or Military Expeditions (the Conquistadors as shown here, but available to any colonizing nation that has a valid target area).

Explorers should have the option to be given permission to establish outposts, giving you free locations sometimes, which would model the many many times explorers ended up founding colonies wherever they arrived.

Military Expeditions (Conquistadors) are a logical continuation of explorers, its what happens when you send an "explorer" to "explore" a developed native empire. There is absolutely no reason why French or English "explorers" wouldn't have done the same thing to the Aztecs that the Spanish did should they have arrived first.

This game's colonialism aspect will shine if various different methods of colonization will be available to any colonizer country, depending on what it colonizes. The two methods above are good for kickstarting colonization of undeveloped and developed areas of the Americas, respectively, and alongside them we also need more trade-focused ways to simulate colonization South/East Asia. Perhaps by having Trade Companies be a special type of subject that can grow inside other countries by building trade buildings and strong navies, and then conquer things on its own? Trade Companies were not mentioned at all in this dev diary sadly.

Explorations yielding free locations as outposts could also apply to the exploration of the African coast and Australia. Any unsettled area that needs to be explored, basically.
Military Expeditions could be also applied in a neat fashion to the Russian conquest of Siberia (as it was done by the Cossack Yermak Timofeyevich's expedition against the Khanate of Sibir).

By the way, now that I mention Timofeyevich, it's interesting to add that his expedition was funded by the noble Stroganov family and not sanctioned by the Tsar. There are numerous other cases of explorers that were not funded by the head of state of the country they explored for, but rather an estate - a noble family, a charter company of burghers, etc. What if some expeditions will launch with the funding of estates without the player's permission?
 
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Conquistadors

Can we call them Conquistadores this time? I know both versions exist, but a clearly-Spanish word being pluralized as an English word looks so silly.

This spawns an army-based country in a location in the area, starting with about 2 regiments of conquistadors.

Nice

They start at war with the owner of the location where they spawn, and will automatically conquer any location they get control over.

Wait what. Most of the Americas has no owner (not even a SoP around). What will happen when a Conquistador spawns in, say, Pernambuco in Brazil? Will they just instantly conquer the location? Or is this mechanic only reserved to provinces with actual settled owners?

And how will the Brazilian bandeirantes be treated? Specially with regards to enslaving native pops.
 
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Not to mention the idea of seeing conquistadors in Australia and stuff will be very, very weird. Or really, with the colonization system as it is, it's possible to send conquistadors to somewhere like the Middle East.
Well there are some conquistador like coloinzation attempts in the east and in africa too. But I would rather have conquistadors being a new world only thing with Iberians unlocking them early than some magical Iberian ability they use globally whilly nilly.
 
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Idea for Conquistadors: Rather than simply being able to recruit native pops into their armies, instead make it so when they attack they can get fast-track diplomacy vs natives they wish to conquer. For example if a native state has disloyal subjects or notable rivals, when a Conquistador appears they can get events to join them in a coalition against the native power. Perhaps they should still be able to recruit troops into their armies as well though, perhaps only unhappy pops.
 
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Conquistadors are the leaders of a private army who have signed contracts with their rulers to explore and conquer certain territories in exchange for the title of Governor, and a share of the new lands and spoils.

This is a unique type of subject that is only available to Catholic countries with the Capital in Iberia, and this advance is available from the Age of Discovery.

A Conquistador can be commissioned by selecting an area in America, and then a character to lead them. It will also require about 2,000 manpower and some gold to start. It will start with preparing in a nearby good port.
This spawns an army-based country in a location in the area, starting with about 2 regiments of conquistadors. They start at war with the owner of the location where they spawn, and will automatically conquer any location they get control over. They also have the capacity to raise levies from the local people, even if it's from a non-accepted culture. If they manage to get to peace or get enough locations they will convert into a colonial nation of yours.
This actually sounds like a really cool system, but it also sounds like one of those systems that's very "inefficient" and min-maxers will hate it and will work to avoid using the system, which will reduce it to non-use.

Let's hope it's fun enough to overcome this.
 
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Will stationing troops for "protection" on your disloyal subjects capital make them less like to declare indapence? Can't imagine many subject rulers would declare independence when there is 10,000 troops station in your capital with there cannons and muskets pointed at your palace.
 
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