Hello everyone, I have something interesting for you today. I have been experimenting with Subregions for a bit and found that they make an interesting addition to the game, but since they are a very significant alteration I want to gauge your thoughts before I commit to implementing them.
What are Subregions?
Subregions are those little province things you can select on the map with Ctrl-click. Every region is made up of around 5-10 of them, and they dont really do anything in the game. However, I have made a change that treats them like regions for the purposes of unit movement, but not economics.
In a sense, that means that each region can now have many locations inside it for units, which is cool for wars and makes them more interesting in my opinion.
Other Changes
Manpower recovery speed increased
War exhaustion now decreases manpower recovery speed
AI likes to build factories MUCH more
Factories now 10x as expensive, but give 5x as much industrial capacity
Battles take twice as long
Default template nukes will have more breakthrough (AI will also use these)
All land units can now carry aircraft up to 10% of their size with them
Default tank template now includes Fighter support
Changes to AI colonization logic
"Last Stand" bonus for countries that are losing wars, which reduces war exhaustion
The other changes will almost certainly be added to the game, so the only thing I am testing is the subregions.
Overall, the tweaks to the AI result in them being 2-3 times more threatening overall, especially in the mid game. I would be wary of playing on higher difficulties until you get a feel for them.
The war changes make cycling your units more important, and also make morale more important since now morale decay is often a more significant factor than damage for morale. This is interesting but sometimes produces interesting effects, where you can lose despite outnumbering the enemy 10 to 1 because they have more morale than you. I am ok with this because it discourages mindlessly overstacking battles, which makes war more fun.
It is also much harder to dismantle large countries in single wars, not only because subregions make capturing their territory more difficult but also because they will gain the Last Stand bonus as you capture their territory, meaning that if you get stuck halfway in then they will eventually overwhelm you.