Our LTE is 17 right now, that's not that bad. It's enough to let us do basically everything. I agree with not freeing the city though. (edit: and dropping to 13 would start limiting our actions again)
17?
Well yes, the transferred province gives us more air, but I think we're going to want the room if we're going into a megaproject.
You raise a good criticism about the free city(Taxes ho!), but our Cent dropped for some reason. I think we are starting to see a case of Cent tolerance dropping because we are juggling to many flaming adzes through the King's office.
It also may give them advantage in the debates.
1) We know why the Centralization cap dropped, well sort of:
The trails needed improving, needed a lot of improving, and simply maintaining them wasn't going to be enough. They needed widening, to be made less meandering where possible, for gravel to be laid down as much as possible. As it was, even despite an enormous amount of effort being invested in the project they only managed to uncover just how deep the problems went. It did however improve many of the main trails, allowing for more contact with the furthest parts of the kingdom, which helped prompt the Western Wall to move one of their internal provinces more fully under the administration of the king - they needed to reorganize to account for their own spread anyway.
The reason for the admin strain in the past turn was that we thought our Centralization cap was higher than it really is, because the lack of transportation was masking the actual centralization level, especially compounded with a series of heroes and near-heroes who made things work out by power of personal leadership.
2) I'm not sure that changing the way things have always been done in the holy city would lend much immediate credibility to debate. Maybe if they had become a Free City earlier on, but it looks to the skeptical as admitting they're wrong though?
Wouldn't there be better synergy by giving the Lowlanders our farming tech and restricting them to defensive wars, instead of targeting slavery?
Okay, Lowlander issues:
[] [Low] Force them to follow the spirit of the law (Potential stability loss, potential war with vassal)
[] [Low] Crack down on their priests (-1 Stability, potential war with vassal, potential +1 Religious authority)
[] [Low] Restrict right to wage war to defensive only (Potential stability loss, potential war with vassal)
-What they are doing and why
--Human sacrifice in the name of executions.
---Appeasement of the public's stresses through execution spectacle
----Countered by Festival.
---Appeasement of Xohyr gods to avert disease and drought
----Countered by religious debate.
----Countered by Greater Sacred Forest
----Countered by Sacred Warding
----Countered by Black Soil
--Slavery in the name of half-exiles
---High demand for unskilled labor
----Countered by Mills
----Countered by Iron Tools
---Poor agricultural output in their region means that famine is common and that a greater number of undesirables is needed to maintain standards of living.
----Countered by Black Soil
----Countered by Iron Tools
--Attempting to send tribute in the form of
slaves workers
---Lack of resource production.
----Countered by surveying and developing mines in the area.
----Countered by buying a period of peace where they can take Art Patronage.
--Offensive war against other polities
---Longstanding grudges require resolution.
----Countered by not being defeated for a full generation(3 main turns).
---Indefensible territory makes preemptive strike the best defense
----Countered by conquering up to the river lines to the east and west.
----Countered by breaking neighbors as a threat.
---Lowland mode of war directly translates geographical holdings into military power. The more land the more HP you have and the less military power your rivals can mobilize
----Countered by building tall and hard.
---Low quality territory makes for poor productivity
----Countered by surveying and developing mines in the area.
----Countered by buying a period of peace where they can take Art Patronage.
----Countered by Mills
----Countered by Black Soil
----Countered by Iron Tools
As such, we cannot push back against the right to offensive war without triggering a potential war. As far as their perspective goes, this is suicide.
@veekie you devil you! So sorely are we pressed for actions and you would pick the military option which explicitly states will require more actions! What fiendish pit of hell were you born from that you would espouse such thoughts!
AN mentioned that there is a chance that if we commit the Red Banner through the Hathatyn valley, that the war ends this turn. This is because the hills there are the Red Banner's strongest terrain and puts them in position to threaten the Highlander capital.
Why do people want to do Festival instead of Survey? Seriously, It makes no sense to me unless you think we need that Stability now instead of getting twice as much over the next two turns.
Which...we do? We need Stability buffer to absorb the Difficult Questions of legal reform and to suppress the religious conflicts.
Also worth noting that The Law megaproject eats Art and Mysticism. The reform probably eats the same.
Did we not just expand our forest?
Missed that!
