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Hello again folks, it's time for another dev diary on Legacy of Rome! Today, I'll talk about the new Faction system as well as the changes we have made to Plots and Ambitions. Like I mentioned last Wednesday, Factions are part of patch 1.07 and will be available to everyone free of charge.

Factions are, essentially, a kind of Plot; a Faction has a leader, a number of members, and a clear goal (for example, to Lower Crown Authority in the Kingdom of England). However, there are some key differences: Factions always target the liege, and they are always known to the liege as well as the other vassals. A vassal can lead up to two Factions, but be a member in any number of other factions, unless their goals are contradictory. If a faction leader dies, the most powerful remaining faction member automatically takes over as leader. When the leader thinks the Faction is powerful enough, he can issue an ultimatum to his liege. The liege can then either give in to the demands peacefully or refuse, which triggers a Civil War where all faction members revolt together in an alliance.

LoR_01_ERE_Factions.jpg

Currently, we have the following Factions:

  • Succession by Primogeniture in [Title] (used to be a Plot)
  • Succession by Seniority in [Title] (used to be a Plot)
  • Succession by Gavelkind in [Title] (used to be a Plot)
  • Elective Monarchy in [Title] (used to be a Plot)
  • Lower Crown Authority in [Title] (used to be a Plot)
  • Independence
  • Install [Claimant] in [Title]

The last two are of special interest, since they really change the dynamics of the game. AI vassals will no longer just declare wars for Independence, or revolt to install themselves on the throne. Instead, they will seek to gain enough support before daring to take such drastic measures. I.e. all members in an Independence faction will declare war together, and the war score will be determined by their mutual efforts. If they are lucky, other vassals can also ask to join them while the war is ongoing. We are considering adding some more factions, but the more we add, the trickier it is to get the balance right and the AI to pick the ones that make most sense. Factions are, of course, fully moddable, like Plots.

LoR_01_ERE_Possible_Factions.jpg

As a liege, there are several things you can do to suppress Factions: you can make the members like you more (of course), you can imprison or kill the members, and you can send your Spymaster to Scheme in a faction member's province, which can lead to events where the vassal is blackmailed, threatened or cajoled into desisting.

As a vassal, it is dangerous to be in Factions because the liege will not be pleased by your disloyal politicking. If you are not the leader, you can also find yourself dragged into an inopportune uprising when the Faction leader so decides. You can get other vassals to join your Faction in the same way the liege can suppress it; you can make them like you better, or send your Spymaster to "convince" them.

You can start, join, or leave Factions at any time without cooldowns or penalties; it's essentially just a declaration of support for a goal.

That's it for Factions. Another change in patch 1.07 is the separation of Plots and Ambitions in the interface. Characters are now allowed to have both a Plot and an Ambition. Plots are still mainly handled in the Intrigue View, but Ambitions, being personal, are now only selected in the main Character View; and there are more of them. We have added Ambitions for improving each of your basic skills (Diplomacy, Martial, etc), as well as one for decreasing the Decadence of your dynasty. While you have the Ambition, there is chance that various related events will trigger.

LoR_01_Ambition.jpg

I should probably mention that, since they change the core gameplay, all of these features are available for all characters and not just the Byzantine Empire. That's it for now, stay tuned for more tidbits next Wednesday!
 
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so do factions completely overwrite plots?
for example, does the lower crown authority faction take precedence/overwrite/runs in parallel with a lower crown authority plot by a same character?

There is no more Lower Crown Authority plot.
 
Wont it be suicidal to start a faction in the first place if your liege will know about it and can freely imprison you before you can gain backers? Unless I'm missing something?

EDIT: Already answered above, it all sounds pretty cool!
 
Hmm.. In a multiplayer game, I am sure a player would probably act swiftly to destroy any movement of this kind... Sounds cool, the new face pack looks interesting (Still WIP, of course).

If a player character has 80+ relations with his liege, can he still start a faction against his liege? Or is that AI only?
 
This seems like a great new mechanic. And longer will I be able to just keep my vassals weak to have a stable realm, since they will now band together. That's great AAR material right there.
 
Actually I do have a question about the Faction System: Are they just in-country or can other countries join in? I ask specifically for if the king of England has a claim on France, can he or someone in France start a Faction to put him on both thrones?
 
Here's something I asked in the last thread: has anything been planned for the Orthodox leaders that aren't part of the Byzantine Empire?
 
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Hmm.. In a multiplayer game, I am sure a player would probably act swiftly to destroy any movement of this kind... Sounds cool, the new face pack looks interesting (Still WIP, of course).

If a player character has 80+ relations with his liege, can he still start a faction against his liege? Or is that AI only?

Players can still start factions, yes.
 
Actually I do have a question about the Faction System: Are they just in-country or can other countries join in? I ask specifically for if the king of England has a claim on France, can he or someone in France start a Faction to put him on both thrones?

Only the direct vassals of a liege can be in the Faction, although if the goal is to install a claimant, he or she can be anyone.
 
Here:s something I asked in the last thread: has anything been planned for the Orthodox leaders that aren't part of the Byzantine Empire?

Yes. Autocephalous Patriarchs and the Pentarchy. I will talk about those in a later dev diary.
 
Doomdark, please clarify this before you go, if only with a yes or no answer: will something finally be done to represent the pact between the Fatimids and their Ethiopian/Nubian neighbors? For example, can you make it so that Muslims (or at least Shi'a Muslims, perhaps as a compromise) can not launch endless holy wars against them?

Also, has the Orthodox/Monophysite split been improved/reworked? As this DLC pack focuses on the Byzantines and the Eastern Orthodox Church it would seem prudent to do so.

If you've not had time to so far, these (1, 2, 3) threads may be worth glancing thru.

In short, since CK II released the general consensus seems to be that it is both game-breaking and horribly ahistorical for the Ethiopians to be so defenseless. Please do something! :)
 
Thanks a lot, doomdark!

My questions :

Would it be possible that a faction go on war against a concurrent faction ?

When I'm fighting a faction as a liege, will I be able to use my kingdom's full levies? or some vassals may just stay neutral ? will I be joined by concurrent factions ?

Can foreign powers support factions inside my kingdom?
 
Sounds great. Definitely looking forward to buying this... Though I'm not a huge Byzantium fan, I do enjoy myself a good Rus or Georgia campaign.

Also, here's to hoping for a "check box" option in the Intrigue Invite to Plot option. When you're plotting to kill your wife and you have to manually invite 50 people...ugh :(. A check box would be marvelous. Someone from the previous thread suggested this and it sounds awesome.
 
Awesome. Are West Africans included here, or is it specific to the Byzantines?

+1, I really hope this DLC won't be limited to Greeks or Byzantine culture group.

Those events triggering while taking ambitions will be in patch, I assume...?

I really like those new features, I can't wait for the next DD :)
 
If you're still considering expanding factions, might I suggest an idea: 'pro-liege' factions. For example, a faction whose aim is to raise crown authority (likely led by an heir to the throne). Technically, you could probably consider the primogeniture faction to be 'pro-liege' as it is, so its not too outrageous from my point of view. Not that there should be a bunch of them; even just a raise authority faction would be interesting (it probably wouldn't get too many members anyway).