Steppe hordes

Horde ideas

Notes:

For steppe nomads.

Traditions:

−10% Aggressive expansion impact

−5 Years of separatism

Life of the Steppe Warrior

−20% Land attrition

Traditions of the Great Khan

+20% Cavalry combat ability

Horse Supplies

−5% Land maintenance modifier

Steppe Leaders

+1 Land leader shock

Tradition of Conquest

−25% Core-creation cost

Logistics of the Khan

+20% Manpower recovery speed

Glory of Conquest

+25% National manpower modifier

Ambition:

−10% Stability cost modifier

Steppe hordes are countries with Nomadic governments. All hordes are located in the territory of the former Mongol Empire and are essentially successor states to it. These nations are characterized by relatively large amounts of low developed land, with steppes and desert being by far the most common terrain, making further increasing development costly.Steppe hordes have access to a variety of horde-specific mechanics added with Patch 1.14 along with the Cossacks DLC, such as several unique casus belli, succession crises, horde unity, razing and significant bonuses to cavalry and warfare in general.

Mechanics[edit]

Steppe nomads have a few unique mechanics, setting them apart from other government types.

Steppe Nomad government type[edit]

Most of the hordes' unique features derive from the Steppe Nomad government type, which has the following effects:

+20% National manpower modifier
+20% Land force limit modifier
−5 Years of separatism
+50% Looting speed
−15% Institution spread
+20% Movement speed
−50% Reinforce cost
+25% Cavalry to infantry ratio

Always have Casus Belli on neighbors. See Tribal Feud and Tribal Conquest below.
Bonus +25% or penalty −25% to damage in the shock phase of combat depending on whether the terrain is flat or not. See Steppe shock bonus below.
With The Cossacks DLC, use horde unity instead of legitimacy, and may raze non-core owned provinces for monarch power and loot.
Can reform the government to become an a Monarchy, a Republic or a Theocracy via the governmental reform mechanics

Units[edit]

Steppe hordes belong to the Nomad technology group. This technology group provides access to early-game strong units, with their effectiveness decreasing later on. They will change to Eastern tech if Christian, Muslim tech if Muslim, or Chinese if otherwise.

Uniquely, nomads enjoy a +25% Cavalry to infantry ratio, meaning they can maintain a higher number of cavalry regiments within an army before suffering from the insufficient support penalty (provided they can afford the maintenance). Combined with an extra +25% Cavalry to infantry ratio for being Tengri (for eastern hordes) or the additional +10% Cavalry to infantry ratio for being Sunni (for western hordes), it makes for very cavalry-oriented nations.

Tengri hordes (with no syncretic faith) can therefore comprise 100% cavalry, requiring no infantry, and therefore no concerns about insufficient support. This makes merging units after battles very easy. Tied to bonuses for attrition, manpower, manpower recovery and cheaper reinforcement costs it makes Tengri hordes some of the most powerful in the game.

Horde unity[edit]

Horde nations have Horde unity instead of legitimacy. Like legitimacy, horde unity provides scaling bonuses when it is above 50 and penalties below:

Variable	0%	50%	100%
National unrest	+2	0	−2
Discipline	−5%	0	+5%

Horde Unity is gained and lost as follows:

Base −2 per year
−0.01 per 2 total development the country owns, limited to −3
Tribes estate Loyalty below 30:
- Influence below 20: −1 yearly
- Influence at least 20 but less than 40: −2 yearly
- Influence at least 40 but less than 60: −3 yearly
- Influence at least 60: −4 yearly
Looting: +1 per 4 ducats looted
Razing: +1 per point of province development before razing
+0.005 yearly per point of power projection (+0.5 at 100)

Several ideas and polices increase horde unity:

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+1.0	—	Golden Horde idea 1: Legacy of the Golden Horde Ilkhanid idea 1: Restored Ilkhanate Manchu idea 4: The Later Jin Oirat idea 3: The Four Oirats Timurid idea 4: Chagatai Literature	—	Administrative-Aristocratic: The Licensing of the Press Act Diplomatic-Plutocratic: Mandatory Service
+0.5	—	Jurchen idea 2: The Queue	—	—

With Rights of Man DLC enabled, hordes can gain horde unity in exchange for military power by strengthening the government on the Government tab. Spending 100 military power will increase horde unity by 10.

Tribal Conquest[edit]

Hordes get the Tribal Conquest casus belli against any bordering nation that is not nomadic. Using this casus belli has the following effects: 75% aggressive expansion, 100% prestige and 100% warscore cost for:

All provinces
Monetary reparations
Enforced vassalage
Enforced tributary state

Ticking warscore is based on battles won; if one side gains over 10% warscore from winning battles then the wargoal will start ticking in their favor.

Tribal Feud[edit]

Hordes get the Tribal Feud casus belli against any bordering nation that is nomadic like themselves. Using this casus belli has the following effects: 75% aggressive expansion, 100% prestige and 100% warscore cost for:

All provinces
Monetary reparations
Enforced vassalage
Enforced tributary state

The casus belli targets a specific province and ticking warscore is based on control of that province.

Steppe shock bonus[edit]

On provinces with flat terrain, hordes get a 25% increase in damage during the shock phase. Positively affected terrain includes Plains, Steppe, Farmlands, Grasslands, Drylands, Coastal desert and Desert (surprisingly not savannah). However, on provinces with no flat terrain (Hills, Mountains, Highlands, Forest, Woods, Coastline (non-desert), Savannah and Marsh), hordes get a 25% decrease in damage during shock phase. Hordes get the bonus/penalty whether they are attacking or defending. In a battle between two hordes, they both get the bonus/penalty.

Succession crisis[edit]

Under regular circumstances - Horde unity above 50 - when a horde nation ends up in a regency, the heir will be replaced by a new ruler with a strong claim from a random dynasty, and 25 horde unity will be lost.

However, if the ruler dies without an heir of age or if Horde unity is below 50, a succession crisis will fire.

A size 2 revolt of pretender rebels will spawn in a random owned province. The nation gets the choice of siding with the underage heir or a new ruler from a random dynasty. Siding with the underage heir will spawn revolts of size 1 of nationalist rebels in any province that is not cored and unrest will be increased by +10 in all provinces until the succession crisis is over. Siding with the new ruler will remove the current heir, appoint a new ruler and deduct 25 horde unity.

The crisis will end once the rebels win or all the pretender rebels are defeated. Defeating the rebels will increase stability by 1 and add 25 horde unity.

Razing[edit]

Hordes can raze uncored and owned provinces for monarch points at the cost of development in that province. Razing a province:

provides all the remaining loot in the province and increases its devastation by 10%
lowers the province's development by 1 in each category and an additional 1 for every 5 development in that category before razing (rounded up)
provides 20 monarch points in each category for every point of development razed.
Provides 1 horde unity for every 2 points of development in the province before razing, regardless of the amount razed
Decreases opinion of former owner by -25

Once razed, a province cannot be razed again for 30 years for provinces above 30 developments, 20 years for provinces above 20 developments, and 10 years for the others.

Development cannot be brought lower than 1, and provinces with 1 development in each category cannot be razed at all.

For example, razing Venezia (10/12/5), with total development 27, at military technology 11, would lower its development to 7/8/3, and provide 51, 68, and 34, plus 13 horde unity and any loot remaining.

The final government reform slot can be using to increase the monarch power gain by 33%, and this combined with the perpetually at-war nature of horde nations makes this a considerably more attractive option than the horde unity reform option.

Note: If the tribes estate is disloyal, monarch power gained from razing is decreased by 25% ~ 100%, depending on Tribes Influence level.

Tributaries[edit]

Main article: Tributary

Steppe hordes have access to a special form of subject type called tributaries. Tributaries retain full diplomatic independence and may start wars and have subjects of their own. The overlord receives a call to arms if the tributary is attacked (unless if by another tributary of the same overlord), but does not have to accept. Each year, the overlord may demand a tribute of money, manpower, or monarch points. If the tributary pays the tribute, trust increases slightly; if it refuses, trust falls significantly. Either party may renounce the tributary status at will, unless they have a truce.

Tributaries are one of the most powerful parts of a horde world conquest: They take zero aggressive expansion (so fewer coalitions), can core the land you just razed, and give you ducats, manpower or mana.

Hence, with your Tribal Conquest CB that gives you zero diplomatic cost for all provinces, get the target to (1) release the smallest nation, (2) take maximum cash (25% war score) and war reparations (10% war score) as your loss making horde economy will need it (3) take maximum land (4) immediately make the newly released nation a tributary, then (5) keep all provinces with trade modifiers (i.e. estuary or center of trade) for yourself, destroy forts (for easier conquest next time) and only then raze all these non-cored provinces and hand them to the newly released tributary (they'll hate you for razing their cores, but they are already tributaries) (6) when the razing cool down is done, break tributary status and raze them again.

Economy[edit]

Hordes are tough to play for beginners as they have no economy to speak of in the beginning. All their land is low development (high development in fact causes horde unity loss up to a maximum of 3 units per year) and they get no real economic bonuses.

Therefore, in the beginning, warring is required to get maximum cash (25% war score) and war reparations (10% war score) from all your victims in order to offset your massive negative cash flows each month from maintaining a powerful army and fleet and probably from servicing huge loan interest.

With the Tributary strategy as outlined above in the Tributary section one will achieve two critical strategic foundations over a long time:

Trade dominance: you will dominate each trade node as you will own the key trade provinces while having razed the other provinces in that node. In fact, with Wealth of Nations or Dharma, a country receives+1 merchant for each trade company where your directly owned provinces make up more than 50% trade power (ignoring bonuses).
Powerful home economy base: you will use all the mana points razed from your enemies elsewhere to develop a high development, home culture, same religion home node. The same culture and religion will ensure no penalties to your income generated there, while the high development provinces neighbouring each other around trade provinces will spread institutions quickly once you have spawned them there through focused province development.

Once established, this home node income and the trade income will ensure any cash concessions from victims will be a bonus that can be applied to building as many manufactories in your home node as you can.