[Squirrelloid]

So, i did some checking with test games. 3 starting provinces with the 75% gold setting can generate a starting income discrepancy of over 100 gold trivially between two powers based solely on the quality of the bonus provinces. This doesn't strike me as a good way to test anything, unless starts are going to be forced to be equal somehow (and then equal at what level?)

Also, why is Kailasa at +25% upkeep for research. IIRC, Kailasa has a bunch of sacred mages which let them research reasonably cheaply otherwise - shouldn't that reflect itself here with a -25% upkeep bonus rather than a +25% penalty? (Also, the scaling of upkeep over time strikes me as rather bizarre. For a good research nation, that last 500gp jump for an additional 80RP/turn nets out to 50 gold *upkeep* per 8RP researcher equivalent, which is insane even without sacred mages. 8RPs cost somewhere around 250 gold up front, which is in the ballpark of a 25 gold upkeep cost iirc, ie, about half as expensive, 1/4 as expensive for nations whose mages are sacred).

With the game settings the way they are (75% gold), and research hugely overcosted in upkeep, the game is effectively forcing everyone to take a pretender with great scales just to be able to actually play the game. This is rather lame. If settings and mod remain as advertised I'm no longer interested in playing.