I've found that in all of my M2TW campaigns, the first 50 or so turns have been the most fun and immersive by far. Its feels realistic for the Scots to fight off the English, for Venice to struggle against the Byzantine Empire, for Spain to reconquer Iberia from the Moors. However, once your faction has acquired around 20 provinces from the local rivals, the game just seems to turn into a big rush to conquer the necessary provinces to win. To be fair, features like the Mongol/Timurid invasions and the discovery of the Americas do add a lot to gameplay and keep up a decent AI challenge, but by the time Denmark has conquered western Europe things just seem to have lost their perspective.
Rather than the 45 province dash, could some more interesting victory conditions not be introduced. Perhaps something along the lines of:
- Unification (eg. unite Germany as Prussia)
- Imperial Dominace (own a majority of colonial areas spread across each continent)
- IndustrialPower (be the most industrialised nation)
- Social Advancement (in terms of parliaments, government)
- Monopoly on Trade (gain sole influence over certain resources)
- Alliances (build a strong network of alliances with world powers)
- Development (have the most advanced settlements, low taxes, civilian buildings)
- Naval Might (rule the waves as whoever you play)
- Colonisation (establish large settlements in your colonies)
Those are just some ideas of the top of the head, but trying to secure realistic objectives would add a lot to gameplay.
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