Quote Originally Posted by Old Celt
Diplomacy is hurt by the save / load bug too. A consequence of the load reassessment is the AI factions become completely vulnerable to becoming Protectorates automatically regardless of faction strengths if they are asked to become Protectorates on the turn following the load. This can lead to factions with only a few provinces having much larger ones as Protectorates. The best you can do is avoid reloading as much as possible. I have seen no statement anywhere that indicates CA will change this.
Before 1.2 the romans expanded and became a huge empire.
But when CA fixed the bug where a roman faction could attack another roman factions protectorate, they hardly expand anymore.
`Cause (almost) all the neighbours of the roman factions are protectorates!

I have never seen a non-roman faction with a protectorate though.