I was very disappointed when Henrik said that merchant republics won't be in the game, as I'm a huge fan of the playstyle offered by the republics. So, as the title says: do you think we'll se MRs being introduced later on? And: do you think they should add it?
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As long as the game does well, I imagine it will be one of the first additions along with nomads.
Edit: Almost assuredly as DLC though.
Edit: Almost assuredly as DLC though.
I did not enjoy a lot the Republic playstyle in itself (too few Republican rival vassals, that was too easy to steal their trade posts and reelect myself forever) but did enjoy interacting with republics as a feudal ruler (being paid to fight embargo wars targetting rival republics,...). I would certainly like to see them implemented again.
If they do, I certainly hope it's more than a copy of what we've got in CK2 as it would require them close to no work at all.
I imagine if they were just going to copy-paste Merchant Republic and Nomad mechanics into the game, they would just do that now so CK3 can appear to have more content.
I think the reason both government types were cut out in the first place is that they will be redone with completely new mechanics later on.
We'll almost certainly see them as being among the first DLC, but I can understand the reasoning behind not including them at launch. They're far less numerous than feudal lords, and will correspondingly have a much lower number of players wanting them as their first choice, and at the same time they require a completely different set of comprehensive mechanics to properly simulate their internal political structure and economy, and the developers likely don't want a repeat of CK2's republics being almost completely unmoddable once implemented. I will gladly wait a while longer if it means seeing the Venetian cursus honorum implemented properly, and Guelph/Ghibelline conflict in the Italian city-states.
It seems they disliked how MRs were done in CK2 and will bring a new system for CK3, but it won't be ready at launch.
I'd say MRs (and nomads, and possibly any other features we learn haven't made the cut) probably will be added later unless a) the devs can't figure out how to add it in a satisfactory manner at any point during CK3's lifetime or b) CK3's development comes to an end before they have the time to get around to adding it.