How do you deal with big empire problems?
Controlling a big empire can be challenging. Rising corruption and the loss of trading partners (for example, if they're conquered by rival factions) reduces your income. Your expansion may cause neutral nations to become hostile, so you may need to fight two or more wars at the same time, so you need more armies. The enemy are more likely to bring high-tier units, so you might recruit elite units to counter them. Having more armies and using elite units increases your costs, at the same time as your income is dropping. At the same time, rival parties may threaten secession or civil war.
How do you handle these problems? I've noticed that ancillaries, agents (if they have the right skills) and research can reduce corruption. Sometimes factions have units that aren't the strongest, but which can be very cost-effective - such as Scythian Hoplites for Cimmeria, which are almost as good as regular hoplites with lower upkeep (especially when given better armour and weapons, when trained for a long time by attaching a champion, and giving the champion skills to give your units as many experience chevrons as possible and when the army has traditions which improve the effectiveness of your units).
Last edited by Alwyn; May 21, 2022 at 05:47 AM.