I'd argue the opposite, that we're more like a small late classical civilisation with some specific weaknesses, but also some specific advantages.
That's....our financial system is in its infancy - we do not even have any source of organized loan/debt systems. And finances matter. Although marketplaces will provide impetus for those most likely.
We've only recently acquired idea of "taxing subordinates", which is just hilarious and speaks a lot about how shit we are at managing subordinates - we did not even have idea of "get some tribute" somehow. That's, like, not even 3000 BC.
Our roads are still on "gravel" stage, which is niice, but not really good enough and will get less and less enough as time goes on.
We still do not have flat barges and are trading even bulk goods via not-entirely-bulk-goods-suited ships, it seems.
That's a part of bigger point by the way: unlike Rome or Egypt we lack silly amounts of sea to use for connection. Our major arteries are going to be Lowland rivers and we are not using them because we lack the Dam, which means we are way way worse interconnected than any of major empires - maybe with the exception of Persia, but it did, in total, last ~1/10 of our lifespan at most so they are not exactly a role model.
It should still hold even if we're shifted south, due to the seas. If we can forest the area to the west of the not Dnieper, the nomads will have a hard job ever taking it again.
Consider that the temperature forest region is all going to be be primordial forest at that point. Yes, there's a region of steppe to our north, but the region the Western Ymaryn should be expanding into is perfect for our style of combat and absolutely appalling for horse nomads.
This, however, is something we need to do soon, before the indiscriminate felling of the forests starts. Waiting for iron tools to spread everywhere is therefore not a good idea.
Ehhhhh. Spreading forests take time. And it requires, you know, spreading forests and not conquering lands, setting ourselves on fire via overextension, then nodding sagely and saying "be cool if it was forested".
I am first to argue for more forests, but if we are not even foresting what steppe we have, taking more is just silly.
And indiscriminate felling...first, cat is out of the bag already; second, those lands are most likely pretty sparsely inhabited. So I am not too worried about those forests being wiped out any time soon.
And often massively ahead. We have something like late nineteenth century AD Europe levels of fertilisers and tenth century AD China levels of material science
We also need the drivers to invent these technologies. Deliberately retarding our development will retard it in all areas. There's no natural force that causes growth above the Malthusian limit to happen. We need to seize advantage of those times we do have a surplus to invest in higher order activities that need specialists. If we don't have a social need for something if it's even invented it will at best be a toy, if not ignored completely.
This was justification for Tax Crisis 1, and it almost killed us.
There is, of course, the need to stimulate society, but there is the difference between stimulus and suicidal charge into physically unwinnable crisis.
It's not like we are stagnating - we have a hilarious amounts of innovations going on, enough that we barely keep up with them as society (whether we are even keeping up is the big question).
We have 7 (or 8?) cities with > 100 000 population.
In our
core.
Let's be generous and assume core has 4,000,000 people. It still means 700,000-800,000 people live in cities. It still means
almost 1/4 of population is urban. In iron or classical age it is absolutely insane and we lack societal structures which are normally developed slower and smoother with waaaaaay more gradual urbanization.
Like, Roman Empire - one of most urbanized civilizations of its time - had, like, 10-20% urbanization circa 0 BC. We are more urbanized than Rome ever was millenia earlier than Rome. Without Roman legal system and tradition and way more gradual urbanization.
And also. "100 000 people" is a low end estimation of True City population; our capital and Redshore are most likely waaay more populous.
Like.
The cumulative urban population for the empire is estimated at just above 10%, in peninsular Italy at between 15% and 20%, comparable to urbanization levels in 1800.
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Our urban population is 20% or so already, likely higher. Without millenia of institutional experience or anything to handle it.
We do not need
any more fucking stimulus.
