Okay, this is basically an analysis of what I have seen in both my Austrian and Spanish campaigns. The purpose of this will be to address the faults I think exist within the current infamy system that were not that damaging in EUIII and HoI 3. For my evidence, I will use my experiences in Victoria II, EUIII, and HoI 3, while keeping in mind the game mechanics for each game.
1. Infamy Increase vs Infamy Decrease-
Infamy has always been something that one could obtain rather quickly. In Victoria II, one obtains 20 for every annexation, 10 for state acquisition, and 9 for seizure of colonies. EUIII had it increase by 3 for every province that you annexed (also the casus bell system would have that increase or decrease). EUIII had a balance out mechanic in the form of advisors that allowed for a decrease in infamy. Diplomats would decrease the infamy based on their experience. Victoria does not appear to have the same mechanic and instead, leaves the player constantly suffering penalty after penalty for their conquests. In fact, considering infamy is obtained for just about any military objective on Victoria II's chart, doing simple things like free another nation can land you into the deep depths of infamy. With no real sure fire way of lowering the infamy by other means other than your leaders statistics, Victoria II becomes extremely punishing. What needs to be done is the addition of a system that allows you to either host a diplomatic meeting to decrease your infamy, or offering to pay to restore lands destroyed during the war. By having a sure fire way of reducing infamy, the game can become more enjoyable without being a quagmire of punitive punishment for expansion.
2. Removal of Punitive "Police" Nations
This is based on my personal opinions on how I see other nations reacting to my wars. As Spain, my war with the uncivilized Morocco and Haiti were met with constant wars with France. After constant reloads, I finally was able to reach a limit without punitive punishment from the big, blue, police state, France. Next, I decided to wage war with the Turks after a decade or so of peace. The war occurred after Austria begged me for assistance. The British evidently did not like that and has declared war on me. Russia also quickly declared war on my after i resolved my war with Turkey with the annexation of Libya. What surprised me most of all was Russia's attack on me, considering I just slapped around his arch-nemesis. England, made no sense considering that I have always worked to have peaceful relations with the nation. Yet, the cumulative conquest so of Haiti, Northern Morocco, and Libya evidently triggered the punitive code in the AI, and the biggest baddest world powers declared war on me. This sort of police state delegation has some major flaws. 1. The AI never really does this to other AI. Prussia has been involved in dozens of wars (I know, I fought him on many occasions), yet he has not received any sort of containment punishment. The same goes for Austria who has managed to declare war on everything and lose at everything. The cumulative infamy obtain from Prussia and Austria's constant fighting, along with Prussia's annexation of Austrian territory should earn them punitive punishments. However that never happens. 2. Delegating countries like Russia, England, France, and Prussia to police state power does not create a balance to conquer happy characters, it actually creates an imbalance by allowing these countries to wage wars with incurring a penalty. England is already extremely powerful right off the bat, why allow it to become stronger by allowing it to be the world's judge? England can now go about punishing those who conquer a lot with out being punished to an extensive degree. Essentially the police state forces everyone smaller than the police states to play fair, but always be weaker than the police states who can conquer them. 3. EUIII already had an excellent system. If you conquered too much, your NEIGHBORS hated you. As the Teutonic Knights, I always could expect a punitive war from Poland, but sure as hell never from Spain. In Victoria II, I can always expect a punitive war with France or England, while also expecting punitive wars from Russia. That's not right, because why would Spanish conquests on the other side of Europe possible cause Russia to attack it?