V68 Attempting taking over first region - not sure if this is intended

[Fuschia47]

I have 500 pop 100 army of my own an recruiting 60 mercs ( initial cost 215k upkeep 107k per day) . I have 5 army depots with all the goods which took many days to get the equipment to my soldiers on the world map. 800 bows 400 shields clothing is above 400 drinks 800 rations 800 I used the third level army depots with 4 crates and employed 12,6 3,4,4 staff all indicators for equipment are in the blue. I purchased the mercs at the last minute to save on costs. My largest trade partner has two regions on either side of my own. I had to navigate through his region to get to the free lands on the other side of his secondary region. as soon as I entered his territory I recieved a message "Filthy Worm ...." demanding 138000 which was paid the indication being that I would gain 1.00 benefit but no he is now at war with me and my rating is minus 2.46 not the 147. positive it was prior to passing through his territory I have done nothing to provoke him. There is no indication anywhere that I can find that he has anything to do with this territory and it is a free land not supposed to be associated. I am currently beseiging this free land which I assume is going to take a very long time he has sent me another message saying he is mustering his troops wow.

The other thing is Im early in the game I should of been able to have 3 trade partners but this was not possible because one of my neighbours over took the neighbour on my left so now I have 1 trade partner because the second one has just declared war on me for what Passing through his territory and not only that he has also extorted a large sum to boot which did nothing for diplomatic relations at all. ....Edit this neighbour is now messaging me for peace and again wanting more extortion in demanding many items from me this is rediculous mechanic !!!

When Ive done nothing to intimdate him in the first place !! Also he has cancelled My trade agreement I had with him so I have to get it all over again

Taking over a region needs to be done fairly early on because Factions will take over other regions and free lands particularly the ones you want or need.

Please explain

[Spiffy]

Yea they don't like it when you move your army around in their lands anymore. Diplomacy feels a bit finicky atm, open borders option would be cool.

[Vanir]

Trespassing incurs massive diplomatic penalties. Usually, you get the demands when they are about to declare war on you, so you have the option of paying instead.

In your case, you plummeted far past that point more or less instantly. So you got the demand, but paying it was not enough to sway them.

As long as you do not expand, the other factions will not expand either. That did cause some unintended behavior, but as far as I know it still works like that so you have no time pressure.

Also, having less trade partners is not necessarily a bad thing. You can trade more with larger ones.

[Fuschia47]

My Neighbour absolutely expanded before I did !

[Vanir]

Really? That must be a pretty recent change. It did cause some issues if you never expanded. Eventually, the map would be littered with very small factions and lots of free lands.

I think it is worthwhile to bring that expansion protection back, but more localized.

Did they snatch a nearby region?

[Fuschia47]

As stated above the neighbour had over taken one of the other factions (not a free lands) neighbouring myself .This was prior to me initiating the advancement onto the free lands on the other side of his secondary region I had to pass through the territory he had taken over (which was now his region but not his Capital) This was why he dropped out of trade and declared war on me? This was very early game I am only at 500 pop at this point

[Vanir]

Oh, if the faction just took a region from another faction, that is fine. They should not be able to grab free lands before you do though last I checked.

Unless you start near a free region, trespassing penalties will make it difficult to grab one. I think colleagues should be enough to prevent trespassing penalties.

I think this could be improved a bit to make starting locations a bit less luck-dependent.