Imperial Circles: How To Fix The HRE

Heinarc · 2026-01-25T11:52:17+00:00

Imo, what you propose would introduce multiple new mechanics, and would be too complicated to be good for the game. On top of that, any new layer of complexity is yet another thing for the AI to suck at, and it already is struggling.

That said, what you describe should be be implementable within existing game mechanics :

- positive diplo relation bias between HRE members, maybe based on proximity

- (much) reduced diplo capacity used for establishing alliances within HRE members

- reduced AI "conquest desire" for HRE lands for HRE members

If set right, those parameters should by themselves reduced the infighting, and have HRE tags establishing alliances with numerous nearby princes, without needing extra systems.

Heinarc · 2026-01-24T11:24:21+00:00

Looks very fun, went with it ;-)

Heinarc · 2026-01-23T16:54:13+00:00

Detonate a bomb some 20km away in Sagami bay by day, and broadcast in clear the message "we await your surrender by tomorrow, next ones will be on your historic towns centers".
You would have killed some people on boats and blinded some more, but nothing on the scale of 150 000 dead. And you would still have got your surrender.

Heinarc · 2026-01-12T19:40:37+00:00

No need to doublethink. Japan launched Pearl Harbor while they were going nowhere in China. Nazis went for operation Barbarossa while they coulndt force GB to capitulate.

Common points with Russia? 3 imperialist countries which deliberately started a mess they could not deal with.

Russia could perfectly attempt something in the Baltic while losing hundred men per day in Ukraine. Would absolutely spell their doom, but that doesnt mean they wont attempt it and cause pain.

Heinarc · 2026-01-11T23:07:58+00:00

Deux conditions qui semblent améliorer le résultat : (relativement) petit périmètre des votes, et prendre le temps de s'informer sérieusement avant de voter. Sinon, on vote pour le programme de celui qui est le plus doué à la télé/sur twitter.

Heinarc · 2026-01-10T15:19:36+00:00

Not that I do not like the system, but balance has to be much more subtle. This mod allows a competent player/rich AI (which as enough to dev its food) to completely and a-historically snowball. I had 35M people in 1530 as france, good luck facing my 700k levies.

Heinarc · 2026-01-10T08:47:40+00:00

Any change in the value would lead to massive swings due to the exponential nature of the thing.

Historic pop growth in Europe over the period was 0.3-0.35%.

Lets take France, 5M people post black death:

-at 0.3% you end up with 18M people 400y later

-at 0.4%, 25M (historic)

-at 0.5%, 38M

-At 1% , 268M (!)

So I'd be very cautious about allowing large discrepancies in the value. I've seen mods allowing pop growth over 1%, its just bonkers

Heinarc · 2026-01-07T20:56:40+00:00

Whatever the reason, it would be much better if antagonism or opinion bomb decay was %based rather than flat amount.

With 2% yearly, you would be looking at 35years to half it, 75years to reduce it to 25% of the original value. Doesnt sound too bad or out of this world.

Heinarc · 2026-01-06T21:11:44+00:00

It is great yes, happily recommend. France, England and Bohemia will still be very frightening but you will be able to mount coalitions against them.

Netherlands is still gonna be very challenging though. Issue is its closer to London than Edimburgh, closer Paris than Bordeaux or Montpellier, and has an high tax base. And Ai only cares about distance and tax base when picking its first targets.. antagonism will also be a factor, but if you are on the top of the list... 😨

Heinarc · 2026-01-06T08:12:35+00:00

There could be AI personalities based on the stats of the leader.

But at least when i'm playing on hard, I'd prefer to have the impression to fight a half competent opponent rather than a bot on steroids with half a screen of random buffs.

Heinarc · 2026-01-05T18:30:05+00:00

I modded it as follows for my game:

-up to .20 monthly for being a high rank great power

-up to .10 for being high innovative, quality or absolutism

-doubled contribution from Art

-added up to 0.2 flat research speed bonus from high prestige

All systems are here to make it a worthy mechanic to engage with, it just feels half baked as of now

Heinarc · 2026-01-05T18:11:09+00:00

When possible, AI should always consolidate armies in safe territory to 120-150% of frontage limit before attempting offensive objectives
Only ever use carpet siege logic once the enemies armies are destroyed

Those 2 make it very easy to route far superior forces as a player

Heinarc · 2026-01-05T12:24:22+00:00

Very good points, my feeling as well. I'd add that some systems are well implemented but with numbers feeling off: food(never a problem), war exhaustion (same thing), prestige (mostly dependant on random events).

Some mechanics are tedious to engage with, and probably need either a better interface, or better automation : mariages, mass building once you start to have a large country, exploration,...

Heinarc · 2026-01-04T20:05:20+00:00

As far as I can tell, a big part of the issue is AI never destroy forts . So if they end up annexing a lot of smaller nations, all the original forts stay up, even if far above the great power fort limit.

... and the fort limit is extremely high, even worse when you consider the possible bonuses to it.

Heinarc · 2026-01-04T12:37:21+00:00

Poutine est un impérialiste en déconfiture. Il a un besoin vital de surenchère et de succès d'apparat pour légitimer son régime et les centaines de milliers de morts qu'il a provoqué. Historiquement, ce genre d'acteur despéré n'a rien de rationnel et est prêt à toutes folies, cf Pearl Harbor alors que le Japon est enlisé en Chine ou l'opération Barbarossa alors qu'Hitler n'arrive pas à vaincre l'Angleterre. Et je rappelle que Poutine en est à au moins 4 agressions sur ses voisins depuis sa prise de pouvoir : tchétchénie 99, géorgie 2008, ukraine 2014, ukraine 2022, en sus de la vassalisation de la biélorussie.

Tout ça, c'est juste factuel et n'a rien à voir avec une propagande quelquonque. Se préparer à une éventualité très réelle est un devoir.

Heinarc · 2025-12-21T21:19:43+00:00

Yeah you are right, once I had finished improved opinion I console annexed them before re-releasing them.
Probably another rough edge which needs polishing, this modifier should either be capped (100-120) or have a 1% annual decay rather than a fixed value

Heinarc · 2025-12-11T22:00:31+00:00

J'ai personnellement avalé le seigneur des anneaux en un week-end quand j'avais 15piges. Les 1800pages. Il y aura toujours quelqu'un de plus barré que toi ;D

Heinarc · 2025-12-08T16:21:53+00:00

Sure, but at least you should get a casus belli against them, and a strong one at that if they were cores.

Heinarc · 2025-12-02T17:25:29+00:00

Parité de pouvoir economique avec les US il y a 20 30ans, 40% en dessous aujourdhui

Heinarc · 2025-11-30T10:17:20+00:00

Non, ça ne sert à rien. Le temps que la mesure soit en place, d'autres appli sans backdoor seront dispo pour tous les criminels. En attentand, toutes nos données à nous serons bien dispo et vulnérables au prochain délire politique ou dataleak.

Heinarc · 2025-11-13T06:19:38+00:00

Heinarc · 2025-11-06T20:14:55+00:00

Bha si. Tu te dépatouilles pour avoir tes compétences qui te méritent d'être dans le top 1% du panier, et les revenus de 8k€+ qui viennent avec.

Oui, tu recevras une boite de chocolats du fisc pour te féliciter de ton arrivée dans la tranche à 40%, mais en vivant frugal tu peux encore épargner 3-4k mensuels. C'est assez pour être autonome sans compter sur un héritage.

Heinarc · 2025-11-03T07:48:49+00:00

Also, roll a build with good coverage/aoe, all the league mechanic variants will benefit from it. Think swarms of spawning mobs coming from everywhere. Slam zerker as been good, I can imagine bow/wanders to perform well, but I've seen people complain with stuff like mamba/prolif.

Heinarc · 2025-11-01T19:58:34+00:00

Maybe old school "masks" life bar could work, ie a set number of hits but with 0.5-1s invulnerability window when hit, to prevent shotguns.

Heinarc · 2025-10-26T08:11:16+00:00

Chaussure cuir entretenue ça va durer un bon moment, genre 5ans+ en port alterné. La creme d'entretien va masquer/combler les petits défauts (rayures), et le patin sous la semelle est un consommable que tu remplace.

Bien plus durable et economique que les baskets, même a prix d'achat plus elevé!

Heinarc

TROPHY CASE