I had this idea from a save game of mine that I just finished. I ended up at war with Sumeria and 2 city states, one of them on my border (Hattusa), and the other halfway across the world. I ended up conquering the one on my border, but I didn't really WANT to. I had zero desire to destroy Hattusa, but that was the only way to stop them from being a thorn in my side.
What I propose is that when you conquer a city state that you are at war with, the "Liberate" option is replaced with "Install Puppet Government". Installing a puppet government friendly to your empire in that subjugated city state instantly adds 6 envoys to that city state and removes all other envoys from that City State. Other City-States dislike this course of action, and any City-State that you have met that you are not suzerain of will lose up to 2 of your envoys. This also could "lock" the city state from ALL further envoys influencing it for, say, 30 turns, representing the decreased political independence of the city state, until it is able to gradually restore control over its own foreign policy (also, this should apply to the controlling empire so they can't abuse their puppets further by increasing envoys to high amounts when there is no competition allowed).
The only way to regain a "locked" political status is to invade the city state again (there could possibly be a notification of the city state's impending independence, and it could result in a choice to allow independence, or a declaration of war. This declaration of war should be countered by the high likelihood of an emergency, so that other powers have the opportunity to protect the city state during this vulnerable time).
This could also have an effect on certain city-state specific agendas (such as Pericles and Frederick Barbarossa), and could also increase the utility of Frederick Barbarossa's power for players that really don't like conquering city states, but now can install puppet governments to force city states into their spheres and take control of their bonuses.
What do you guys think?
Edit: There's also a historical argument to be made here since many major world powers have done this, especially in the last couple centuries...
What I propose is that when you conquer a city state that you are at war with, the "Liberate" option is replaced with "Install Puppet Government". Installing a puppet government friendly to your empire in that subjugated city state instantly adds 6 envoys to that city state and removes all other envoys from that City State. Other City-States dislike this course of action, and any City-State that you have met that you are not suzerain of will lose up to 2 of your envoys. This also could "lock" the city state from ALL further envoys influencing it for, say, 30 turns, representing the decreased political independence of the city state, until it is able to gradually restore control over its own foreign policy (also, this should apply to the controlling empire so they can't abuse their puppets further by increasing envoys to high amounts when there is no competition allowed).
The only way to regain a "locked" political status is to invade the city state again (there could possibly be a notification of the city state's impending independence, and it could result in a choice to allow independence, or a declaration of war. This declaration of war should be countered by the high likelihood of an emergency, so that other powers have the opportunity to protect the city state during this vulnerable time).
This could also have an effect on certain city-state specific agendas (such as Pericles and Frederick Barbarossa), and could also increase the utility of Frederick Barbarossa's power for players that really don't like conquering city states, but now can install puppet governments to force city states into their spheres and take control of their bonuses.
What do you guys think?
Edit: There's also a historical argument to be made here since many major world powers have done this, especially in the last couple centuries...
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