There it goes, fun factor low.

[jsberry]

It hit me today too. The weariness, the boredom. It's just about buying another stack of troops to go take another enemy capital - way too easy.

The essence of 1700s diplomacy was that nobody should be allowed to get too powerful. That should be very easy to hard-wire into the AI diplomatic choices. Likewise, nobody went for the jugular. Frederick's conquest of Silesia (ONE province) took two major wars and was considered "great." He never came close to taking Vienna. Only one major power was removed (Poland) and it took three concerted invasions by other powers, in the LATE half of the century.

This game is the other extreme. Any game that allows Hollard to conquer and annex France (and England... and Prussia...) is fundamentally flawed.

Here's a no-brainer that the developers could easily implement: Certain regions (France, England, most home nation capitals) CANNOT be conquered - the major powers CANNOT be removed from the game. If capitals are taken, the loser must agree to terms (X regions, Y money, Z techs). That would keep the game both balanced and grounded in a 1700s context.