I've tried this new beta version. Playing as Castile, as the wiki says, is for beginners
. Hmm... In general, everything is very good, but ... There is always a but, but this is very big.
1. Number of forts. Not the ones the AI built itself. And those that the game designers conceived and placed. Which meet you from the very first day of the game. Some of the developers had a lot of fun. Thanks.
In the past, the AI quickly removed most of these forts, and everything somehow stabilized. But now he was taught to protect valuable property. But this property was originally too much. Therefore, the problem was initially, only became noticeable only now. That is, it can only be solved by completely revising the original fort placement design at the beginning of the game.
Why, in my opinion, so many forts is too much. Of course you can play, but it's better to avoid it.
a) Perfect imbalance of placement. Each country has forts at key points. If a country has vassals, then each vassal has one or two forts. If the country is in patches, then each patch has its own fort. If at the beginning of the game the country has vassals, and even it is scattered in patches, it has very, very serious advantages.
For example Morocco. One country, three vassals. There are 6 forts in total, 2 of which are 3 levels. And in Castile there are only 2 (two) forts. Or Burgundy, which had 3 (three) forts on the patch with the capital. I don't even want to talk about France. It was already a super monster, but now.
b) There is no technology to besiege forts, no ideas, no tools like cannons. There is nothing but a dull siege. Due to chance, this can happen quickly, or very slowly. My favorite number is 753 days of siege. It seems that so many forts will give a boost to military traditions, but this is not so. The siege is so slow that all traditions have time to fly away before new ones come. Therefore, with the generals, everything is also sad.
The war turns into a long, tedious and boring series of sieges that seem to go on forever. Sieges eat up the manpower, which is already scarce at the beginning of the game. Because of them, war exhaustion is constantly growing, which is why the speed of the siege drops even more.
I took part in three wars. One with Granada, Morocco and Tunisia. The second against Burgundy, which attacked Liege. And the third with France, which I am angry with for the last game, and therefore I decided to sort it out at the very beginning. Each lasted 5 years.
And please devs remove this idiotic system where after 5 years human player gets "Call for Peace" when they are not a war leader. Until then, it only interfered in this great war of religious leagues, but now it seems to be permanent.
c) Another problem is that if the enemy has captured your forts, it is very, very hard to get them back. So it all comes down to who is faster, who has more forts. It is very important if the enemy cannot physically reach your forts or you can guard them. This also applies to allies. There is no time and resources for skirmishes and battles (the beginning of the game).
It follows from this that the allies should be located close to each other. The alliance of a small state with a big one is always a loss. Whatever the war and no matter how it goes, it is always the first to be occupied, and AI in this case immediately signs the peace. An alliance of a bunch of small states against a big one is useless. Welcome to the world of unstoppable blogging.
2. Allied AI can do amazing things. Since he was taught the basics of economics, he can ask for a siege at level +35, since there is nothing to loot from the province. And go besiege another fort, one where you can profit. This happened twice before my eyes. Since the successful siege of each fort is the key to victory, then for such an escape you want to kill someone.
3. AI knows how to use sea transport, but for unknown reasons, he can sit on the island for years, although there is a war.
4. After a long and hard work on AI, the developers completely intimidated him. AI is afraid of everything and everyone. The slightest superiority in technology, discipline, spacecraft, and when the army approaches, all the enemy scatter like cockroaches. Although they could probably stumble me. No one canceled random numbers, but AI should be 140% sure that they will beat. By the way, allied AI also has a habit of not supporting me in battle, but standing aside.
The AI is so smart, knows so much and thinks so well that even at the very beginning of the war he decides that he lost or won. Those. he categorically refuses to fight. And the war turns into a long and boring series of sieges. It's a game. The AI is just designed for the player to defeat him. And what kind of victory is this, if in order to join the battle you have to run after the enemy for a long time.
If he is so smart, then give him the opportunity to give up right away. Or reduce the threshold of necessary confidence, let it be not 140%, but for example 90%. The desire to save the AI from suicide is understandable, but you should not intimidate him so much.
5. The Hundred Years War lasted 2 years. England declared war, it looked like an event, then the English AI looked at France, estimated the number of forts, the size of the army, and did nothing. The French besieged what they could, for a couple of years they captured all and then waited until the points were ticking. And that is all. And why is this mockery necessary at all. In the current scenario, England has no chance. Even I understand this, and the intimidated AI even more so. France at the beginning of the game is too strong. Either it needs to be reworked somehow, or just thrown out, otherwise it's a mockery.
Some illustrations
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