Banok said:
So I see Tingyun recomends hardcore budget, but I'm tempted to do the opposite and go beginner but NOT buy enterprises at all. we'll see how that will play out, no idea if that will be harder or easier tbh than hardcore with enterprises.
Great idea. It will be harder with your houserule (VC budget setting only changes troop upgrade costs, it isn’t a very drastic effect on the game), as lack of enterprises will make the army size you can support much more tied to your fiefs and success in looting, forcing you to operate much more strategically in when you leave troops garrisoned for reduced upkeep vs take them with you.
Personally I have a similer but less restrictive rule—I let myself purchase 3 enterprises, and require that each be a different type.
Banok said:
but I would like to suggest this mod or future mods should attempt to balance longterm ecconomy around not owning every enterprise, and instead removing or limiting enterprises in some fashion in order to multiply fun.
The economy should (in my opinion) work better here with no or limited enterprises.
I think you and I have similar preferences—I dislike games having a long grind followed by an invincible steamroll period, and I love instead having meaningful strategies trade offs and limited resources throughout the game. Restricting enterprise use will achieve that for you, and your army upkeep will have to be strategically planned around, possibly some periods hunting with a smaller group while letting the bulk enjoy lower garrison wages and ensuring you get more loot, interspersed with campaigns where you take the large army out to conquer. You will also have to rely more on fief income, creating a more sensible progression to your rise.
Anyway, on the idea of restricting enterprises or rebalancing them—I actually considered doing that a great deal. Somewhere around 5.0 or 6.0 I put doubled enterprise costs into my test build, then realized that would just prolong the grind. I then started messing with how upkeep and production works, but ended up abandoning it.
My reason was partly to devote time to other aspects, but mostly I began to feel like I was limiting a certain play style that was opt-in for players (enterprise grind), which would potentially make things less fun for those who enjoy it while not being needed by players who can choose to avoid it anyway.
I’m not sure I was right about that, it’s a murky design principle to follow. For example, I did reduce the insanely high sale prices for gear at bandit camps/storyline merchants (the code originally did not include the new merchant types VC added to the equipment discount code, which led to the crazy high prices, so I fixed that). Arguably I was limiting an opt-in play style there, though I did a lot of other things to preserve and enhance a bandit style play through, so I thought it made sense.
So basically, I think if I had had the time to make enterprises more fun, I probably would have nerfed them as well, but I didn’t ever devote enough time to do that.
Anyway, sorry for the long musing sort of post. Basically, I think you will have a lot of fun restricting enterprises with your house rule.
. I get that danes are "da best" but I prefer the "thrones of britannia" approach were there is a little more flavour to each.
