Expansion was difficult to control in LotR (WotB is a different game that I have no part in, even though it is based on my LotR rule set). Early rapid expansion was expected and did occur a bit faster than I wanted. I eventually popped an event which spawned several large rebel armies to slow down this expansion, which effectively halted the expansion, but there was a lot of griping about the artificial nature of it. After that, expansion continued steadily, but it never really reached KotR levels. The AI in SS 4.1 was decent enough to keep inflicting regular (if infrequent) losses on us, and cities were lost and avatars killed without me doing anything to interfere in it. LotR was far, far more lethal than KotR or WotS, even if you exclude the intentional deaths, and it never had anything remotely like the Cataclysm.
I think the key to controlling expansion is not to do it by pumping the AI, but by creating mechanisms such that the players themselves reign it in. The proposed rules for KotF include some adjustments that might work towards that. As long as the mod itself has a decent AI (mods that give the AI extra cash every turn help here greatly), I think it will be fine. There are some players here who have no problems provoking civil wars and being nasty when their enemies are most vulnerable...![]()
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