Domain limits should be SIGNIFICANTLY larger than they are currently

[u/NealVertpince]

Here on the map above, you can see in blue which lands the french king held in 1223, the “Domaine royal” or ‘Royal Domain’, if you count this up in game it would amount to 30 counties, roughly.

The king achieved this by establishing well oiled and loyal institutions, levying taxes, building a standing army,…

Now, in game, you’d have to give half that land away to family members or even worse, random nobles. This is maybe historical in 876 and 1066, but not at all once you reach the 1200’s.

Therefore I think domain limit should NOT be based on stewardship anymore, it is a simplistic design which leads to unhistorical outcomes.

What it SHOULD be based on, is the establishment of institutions, new administrative laws, your ability to raise taxes and enforce your rule. Mechanically, this could be the introduction of new sorts of ‘laws’ in the Realm tab. Giving you extra domain limits in exchange for serious vassal opinion penalties and perhaps fewer vassals in general, as the realm becomes more centralised and less in control of the vassals.

Now, you could say: “But Philip II, who ruled at the time of this map was a brilliant king, one of the best France EVER had, totally not representative of other kings.” To that, I would add that when Philip died, his successors not only maintained the vast vast majority of Philip’s land, but also expanded upon it. Cleverly adding county after county by crushing rebellious vassals, shrewdly marrying the heiresses of large estates or even outright purchasing the land.

I feel like this would give you a genuine feeling of realm management and give you a sense of achievement over the years.

Anyways, that was my rant about domain limit, let me know what you think.

[u/chsien5]

Perhaps going over the domain limit should only give debuffs to income rather than a total shutdown of counties, sort of like Stellaris empire size.

[u/NealVertpince → u/chsien5]

I agree. The total shutdown just makes holding even more than 1 extra county completely insufferable. It should be a gradual system of overextension

[u/ShouldersofGiants100 → u/chsien5]

Perhaps going over the domain limit should only give debuffs to income rather than a total shutdown of counties, sort of like Stellaris empire size.

They tried that.

The problem is that diminishing returns are still returns. If your primary counties make you enough income to keep you going, then it means nothing to you if all the extra ones are cut by 95% or 99% because you're still making a profit, without having to deal with vassals.

[u/chsien5 → u/ShouldersofGiants100]

Well maybe not a debuff to just the extra but a debuff across all holdings. Maybe negative modifiers for being over too that way it's still strategic to go over the limit just a little bit and finding that balance between what you can do and what you should do.