How to improve the mid/late game

[Batory]

Very good ideas guys....

They should also increase the number of rebellions within your empire(the bigger empire the more often a rebellion), that would certainly keep players busy...

[cegman]

No that would be bad. The reason I quit is because the rebellions are stupid and I am sick of dealing with them.

[econ21]

No that would be bad. The reason I quit is because the rebellions are stupid and I am sick of dealing with them.

Depends what you mean by a rebellion. If you mean, the vanilla RTW bandits, I agree - they are a right royal pain in the you know what. I have played so many Roman vanilla/RTR/EB campaigns where about 100+ battles were trivial affairs with a handful of rebels. The 1.5 patch allowing you to cut their spawn rate was a life-saver for me.

But the MTW rebellions - entire provinces errupting in disloyalty, often respawning dead factions - were great and really helped kept the mid/late game alive. I remember one Almo PBM, where I instantly lost 10 provinces on becoming king because I did not have the influence of my deceased father - it was an exhilarating opening to a mid-game reign.

BI went some way to getting these back with Romans having loyalty stats and the rebel factions. However, I don't think they went far enough - as WRE, I never see the WRE rebels, nor lose a single general to disloyalty. It's too easy to manage loyalty and unrest once you know how it works.

[Hochmeister]

I agree that the mid/late game can get repetitive.

Rebellions are part of the answer but as mentioned the main reason people dont finish a campaign once the "critical mass" is reached is that it is no longer fun.

I think it just needs some variety in there, some random thoughts:

Interesting late game units that take a lot of teching up to reach.
Rebellions/Faction reemergence (decent sized ones not the RTW type)
An expansion on the jihad/crusade/pope situation which may change late game??
Unlock units/attributes/factions after a campaign is completed.
Have an epic high quality end game clip when total domination is reached!

[screwtype]

No that would be bad. The reason I quit is because the rebellions are stupid and I am sick of dealing with them.

The rebellions are certainly stupid in RTW because of the way they are handled. A handful of units randomly appearing in a province somewhere just becomes a nuisance.

It would be different though, if the rebellions started from within your cities, so that you actually lost provinces and had to retake them. I also think that in a rebellion, some or all of your existing troops in that province should defect to the rebels.

Mind you, I think it would be difficult to get the balance right for such rebellions. It all depends on how well the mechanic is implemented. Too weak rebellions and you've just got a nuisance value again. Too strong and it's a disincentive to play. You've got to get the balance right.