First id like to start by saying this is a great game.Q1-Is it not possible to annex a minor if it is a vassel?I was playing as papal stateswhen early in the game france (we ar allies naples is a vassel of spain)declares war on spain.I thought great- a chance to take southern italy.so i took naples(both prov)and happily sent my dip.Well annex wasnt even an option!I settled for their southern province and 250d.only problem was they only gave me 21d(all they had i guess)i did get the province.they should be made to take out loans to pay a war debt.of course players would attack capitals just to extort money so scratch that.but then again taking a stab hit (and BB rating?)just for 250d may not be worth it.anyway my question is if i had initiated the war would annex have been available?what happened after that really bugged me -their army was wiped out yet within 2 years they built it up to 54k men WITH ONE PROVINCE and no money!did they take out loans to rebuild their army?if so at 10d per that would cost 540d -3 loans!ithought they did so i figured in 5 years they would have to claim BR.Yea right!they never had a problem as far as i could see.BTW when playing as brandenburgh in a war with france that england started i accepted a white peace and Hessen(my vassel)stayed in the war.France annexed them.btw the southern province was imposible to defend with out a land route to it(dont let anyone tell you that fleets arnt important!)that brings me to another problem.when you have at least a 3to1 adv. in a naval battle and your techs are close there should be only 3 possible results.1-no action(fleets cant locate each other)2-fleets engage smaller fleet slips away(maybe loses a couple ships-large fleet too)3-fleets engage large fleet has tactical advantage-small fleet is routed perhaps even wiped out(winner loses a few ships too unless his num.superiority is too overwhelming).anything else is just bizzare(4 pirates beating my fleet of 50 warships-yea right!)Pirates should have only two goals 1-looting enemy shiping 2-avoiding other warships(maybe not even in that order).I have one other gripe-suggestion--colonial fortifications.in this time period colonial possesions changed hands far more often than european prov.the problem is that you can build max forts on 700 pop. colonies.these prov. cannot suuport the size army it takes to take them.my suggestion is this-limit the size of the forts to the size of the city.heres my formula-it should be easy to impliment in the next patch.700 to 999-no forts allowed(will incourage players to keep sending colonists after the city is established)1000 to 5000 level 1 fort max---5000 to 10000 level 2 fort max---10000-20000 level 3--- 20000+all forts available depending on tech level.this is for all prov. new world and european.before you say BUT AUSTRIA (as an example) HAS SMALL CITIES I say this. your european provinces will grow faster than this tech.if anyone thinks that colonies dont reach that size think again I finished a game with quebec having over 12000 souls.if you can keep some of the other natives alive long enough like in india your colonies will be even bigger(a good reason to try your best not to wipe out even 500 natives).Anyway just my two cents worth.i would appreciate any feedback.sorry such a long post ONLY A GREAT GAME LIKE THIS COULD MAKE ME RAMBLE ON LIKE THIS!!!! ITS BETTER TO BURN OUT THAN FADE AWAY
If you can afford to keep say even 1K inf. in the colony while building it up - seems to help keep the natives in line (if not your inf GENERALLY wins.)
