1)Pause the game out of primetime.
Set a decent time, like 7pm-11pm Eastern time, where your guys actually move, and can attack. During non-primetime you could change directions for your guy, and buy and sell and trade in fiefs, but your army just won't travel. This would make blockades more effective (real 'sieges' now that there is crime), and prevent people taking advantage of stupid hours for attacks. The asses. Plus, with most people on at the same time, there would be a lot more cat and mouse with caravans and armies (I admit I took advantage of being a west coaster to sneak past people late at night).
2) Make player's army cap dependent on renown.
This would inspire people to fight more. It would also help factions that fight from the beginning against the guys who sit on their asses making money. You can still be a peaceful trader, just you'd only have, say, 200 'caravan guards', and to carry more you'd need horses or donkeys to carry the crates. When someone is in battle, troops could be transferred without penalty, but after the battle, if you win, you'd have to transfer them back.
3)Pay C-Rpg gold in Strat battles.
People always bitch about losing their X5 right before battles. Battles can last an hour or so, and that's a lot of ticks missed. I'd say start with 10,000 gold for first place, then go down 150 gold for each ranking based on points. This would not only encourage more people to play, it would get the good players to take opposing sides. ie, I could get probably get around 8th place (8,800) on team A, but I could get 3rd place on team B (9,550 gold). Also players will jump on small rosters, ie 'I can get last place with Team A with 47 players (2,950 gold) or last place on team B with 38 players (4,300 gold).
Maybe the numbers are a little high since there's no upkeep, but some mathematician type could figure out a decent number. It shouldn't cause too much inflation as it hopefully will take a lot of guys off the other servers.
So sez I.
