Improvements for a future (hopefully) CK2. Just my oh-so humble ideas...
More control over your court and more intrigue. Create a new game "idea" called "Plots". Each plot has a chance to succeed depending on your characters stats and each plot has repercussions if you fail. Each plot takes X amount of time and costs Y amount of gold. A character gets X amount of plots per year depending on his intrigue, but no more than 3 or 4 max. For example, right now, pretty much the only way to get rid of a useless courtier is to kill him/her or give them a county. It would be nice if the player had more options. You should be able to banish people from your court if they are heathens, for example, or excommunicated. This could fit in to the court intrigue and game play. Examples...
Plot A - Accuse courtier of heresy. If you have a courtier that you want to get rid of, instead of whacking him, spend 50 gold and create a "plot" to bribe your bishop to petition the pope to excommunicate them, so you can banish them. Maybe your bishop is too pious or honest to do this and refuses, making his loyalty drop or even asking the pope to excommunicate you instead. Maybe the bishop won't do it for 50 gold but would be happy to do it for 250 gold.
Plot B - Accuse courtier of treason. You should be able to ask your spymaster to frame a courtier, accusing him of treason, theft, whatever. You spend X amount of gold to create the plot and then hope it works. If it fails, you lose lose prestige and piety, gain a rival, etc.. If the spymaster succeeds, you should be able to choose from a few options - 1) behead him, lose piety and gain trait cruel 2) banish him forever, lose prestige and gain a rival, 3) banish him, but only for X amount of years, gain trait forgiving and piety bonus.
Plot C - Accuse your wife of infidelity. Spend X amount of gold to create the plot with your spymaster. Then spend X amount of gold to bribe your wives handmaidens to accuse her of infidelity. The more gold you spend, the more likely you are to succeed but there should still be a decent chance of failure. If you fail, your wife becomes a rival and takes a huge loyalty hit. Your vulnerability to assassination increases.
Plot D - Recruit a relative from another court. Spend X amount of gold to create the plot with your spymaster. If a member of your bloodline is a courtier in another court, and has martial 23, offer him X amount of gold to join your court and become your marshall. Your spymaster will show him fake evidence of how his current liege is plotting against him. Again, the more you offer, the more likely you are to succeed. If you fail the liege of that court becomes your rival and conspires with your relative to gain a claim on your title...or whatever.
The options for plots are endless, so thinking up a few more should be no problem. 5-10 "Plot" options would give the player more control, more options, and something else to spend money on besides building and upkeep.
Another thing, your advisers should get a loyalty bonus. Being appointed to your court should increase their monthly loyalty and give you a one-time loyalty bonus. Dismissing a courtier should have the same effect but in reverse. For example, Steward A is aging and has become ill. Steward B is now a better choice. A has loyalty 100, B has loyalty 67. You appoint B as your new Steward, B gains a 25 point loyalty bonus and +.5 loyalty per month. A loses 50 loyalty and -.5 loyalty per month forever or for a limited amount of time. So swapping advisors around willy-nilly has consequences. Have more random events that lower/raise loyalty within the court.
One more thing, since a player can bribe/reward his vassals, why not his courtiers? It wold be nice if I could spend 50 gold to increase my spymasters loyalty by 50 points. The catch being that it becomes less and less effective over time. First time 50 Gold = 50 Loyalty. Second Time 50 Gold = 25 Loyalty. Third Time 50 Gold = 10 Loyalty. Fourth time 50 Gold = 5 Loyalty and thats it, no more bribes. Reset when you have a new liege in charge of the court.
