Bulgaria should be really easy: just capture Constantinople, which will make the Byzantines collapse, then mop up the rest. But the problem is with just 3 excess cities (Athens, Nicaea, Ephesus), my expansion becomes untenable. My cities kept on declaring independence and I had build and rebuild my Orthodox buildings (with 8 cities I had built 12 monasteries, 10 churches, 3 cathedrals and maybe 8 scriptoria just to get to 8/2/6). I was the most advanced and largest civ in the world from 800 onwards, and if the civil war mechanism had worked I would have collapsed 10 times already.
Also, in the High Middle Ages I had Electorate, Feudal Law, Merchant Republic, Vassalage, OR and Free Peasantry, yet my civics stability was -33 (which was my other main source of instability). I purposefully stayed away from Bureaucracy (because I now have 12 cities in 1200) and other high maintenance civics. What gives?
I suggest one or more of the following:
1. Decrease non-core tile occupation instability to 50% of what is current
2. Give older civs a lower economic penalty (i.e. because of inevitable stagnation compared to the new civs)
3. There should be "neutral" tiles for expansion so that you can get new cities running without penalty AND be able to grow your economy.
4. Cities declaring independence cause TEMPORARY, not permanent damage to expansion stability. (Makes sense if you want to lose some cities to avoid overexpanding again)
5. Make a reference table showing which civics work with each other.
Also, I noted that wonders don't give stability. Is this intentional
2
water tile instead of a riverside hamlet with 3
