Making it harder to hold a large empire

[wryun]

I was thinking that one of the things I find annoying about GoT is that holding a large empire is too easy. I never have the declaring independence things that happen to the AI, and I can control dissent no matter how high I tax or how few happiness buildings I have by employing masses Levy/Astynomia units (which cost very little to maintain in cities).

So... has anyone tried:
- toning down the happiness contribution of various things
- reducing garrison effectiveness
- adding 'revolt' events which cause a temporary happiness drop
- increasing the happiness malus caused by a large empire

?

Also, does anyone know what controls the independence thing? Is it just cities that have been vassalised by you, or can any city do it? Whay happiness level? Can it even effect a human player?

Yes, I could do all this myself, but I'm lazy

[duncan]

I hate to admit that it happened to me once. I made a distant nation vassal and when some other empire took one of their former cities (I couldn't send my armies that quick), they became independent again (and got conquered by their enemies anyway), so the answer is YES, it can happen to you player, but I've seen only with vassals, never with one of my own cities. Rebels are easy to handle, though.

I don't know about the rest, but to make the game more challenging you can always let the romans and Persians expand at leisure at first, wait until they're so powerful and big and then save the Greek world fighting the two baddies at the same time. You're still not getting revolts, but you have unleashed hell (or whatever was that gladiator line) and you'll have a challenging game. Easy modding, without changing the .txt-s. Have fun!

[wryun]

I hate to admit that it happened to me once. I made a distant nation vassal and when some other empire took one of their former cities (I couldn't send my armies that quick), they became independent again (and got conquered by their enemies anyway), so the answer is YES, it can happen to you player, but I've seen only with vassals, never with one of my own cities. Rebels are easy to handle, though.

Thanks for the info - I just ran a test, and that looks to be the only the trigger: if someone captures a city, they can reappear (determined by VASSALRUNCHANCE in the tweaks file). Has nothing to do with happiness or troop level. And I even caused some 'peasant rebels' to pop up by letting my city's happiness get too low, but boy, did it have to get really low. Also found a 'bug' in the game where your people are happy if you _promise_ enough food, you don't need to deliver. Of course, that obliterates your armies if you go on too long.

I don't know about the rest, but to make the game more challenging you can always let the romans and Persians expand at leisure at first, wait until they're so powerful and big and then save the Greek world fighting the two baddies at the same time. You're still not getting revolts, but you have unleashed hell (or whatever was that gladiator line) and you'll have a challenging game. Easy modding, without changing the .txt-s. Have fun!

Hmm, yeah, probably should try that. I've only played the 1300BC and 1500BC 'grand' scenarios so far. I also think I need to disable diplomacy - I usually pay off my enemies until I'm ready to deal with them, which makes the game too straightforward even on Impossible. Or perhaps I'm choosing the wrong starting locations

[sum1won]

Play ironman. In other words, don't be a military nut-expansionist, don't use exploits (huge cheap militias to control cities while your elite armies stomp the enemy). Play it softly. Not ultra-efficent. Role-play. Slitherine's games are incredibly fun for role-play style gaming.

[Redpossum]

The thing I don't get about that masses-of-militia technique is where the heck people get enough food to feed them all.

I am always worrying about food production after I get past 15 cities.

[wryun]

The thing I don't get about that masses-of-militia technique is where the heck people get enough food to feed them all.

I am always worrying about food production after I get past 15 cities.

I find it's usually easier to trade than produce for food, as long as you have enough gold/marble/iron cities. On the other hand, I haven't run very big empires - I pull out at the victory condition (i.e. at most 30 cities).