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Hello folks!

It's Thursday, and you all know what that means... pea soup, pancakes and warm Punsch! Also, a Crusader Kings II dev diary. Today's topic is Plots. Like in EU:Rome, characters can have a specific ambition in life. It can be innocuous things like getting married, getting rich, or having a nice glass of warm Punsch, but sometimes it can be more sinister, like having your wife fall down the stairs. These nasty ambitions are called Plots, and they are hidden from other characters unless they are in on it (or have been made aware of it.) Those of you who have played Sengoku will recognize the general concept, although it works slightly differently in Crusader Kings II. You pick an available plot, then you can start inviting other characters into it. If the plot is military in nature, like gaining control of a title, the plot gains power from rulers commanding a military force. If it's an intrigue plot, you should rather invite those who are close to the target of the plot. Plot power is just a percentage, and will unlock new events and decisions the further along it is. At 100% plot power, the plot is likely to succeed.

The problem is that Spymasters (the council position) can discover plots, depending on their intrigue skill vs the plotter's intrigue skill. Unless they too are in on it, they will report to their liege, who can then choose to take action. If you are lucky, he might just demand that you cease and desist. However, since he has evidence of your scheming, he is allowed to imprison you without repercussions (normally, other characters will perceive you as a tyrant when you throw people in the dungeon.) Being imprisoned automatically ends the plot, by the way.

CrusaderKing2_DevDiary_111006.png

These are some of the more interesting plots:
  • Change the Succession Law
  • Take a landed title from your Liege
  • Have a character killed

Over the last week we've been balancing the succession law plots, because everyone and their uncle were plotting to institute Elective Monarchy. (In 1453, all kingdoms had ended up with this law.) Of course, it does make perfect sense for vassals to pick this plot, because it gives them a chance of getting elected themselves. However, it wasn't very nice of the Duke of Aquitaine to start a civil war over this right when King Philippe was trying to take Normandy back from William the Conqueror... So, we tweaked the likelihood of others joining in the plot and tightened up the conditions for taking it.

That's all for now!
 
Hmm..

I've been quietly reading these posts the past day or so, and I think at this point everyone is simply just making assumptions about what kind of Plots there will be in CK II... For one we truly don't know cause none of us are in the beta, so I think at this point we're complaining just to complain in my eyes, but that's just my personal opinion.

If I was everyone I would take a step back about this issue, CK II will have plots, and it'll probably be a lot more than what Sengoku offered (based on the DD here and Gamespot Preview), but until we actually see what they are (which we won't till Feb), then there's no use in talking about it at the moment at least until Feb rolls around..
 
Frankly I think plots are a fascinating little addition to the game. Its going to add a lot of flavour to the game and be an important element to driving gameplay.
 
Is "Paragon of Virtue" position the new diocese bishop now? That makes even less sense than "Lord Spiritual" :blink:.

im working on the assumption that the name is a place holder, or that i'll just mod it in the localization two seconds after getting the game.
 
Is "Paragon of Virtue" position the new diocese bishop now? That makes even less sense than "Lord Spiritual" :blink:.

It's not a job position.
 
Presumably it's to amass a certain amount of piety. Could be other things though, like establishing monasteries, but I'd assume any of those other things it could be would also earn you piety.
 
That's it. It's just one of many harmless ambitions.

Does teh AI choose the characters ambition based on their traits? so will a cruel pragmatic person get a an ambition to kill his King brother way faster? :) also will there be any country specific ambitions?
 
Are plots only internal to kingdoms, or can a King plot to, for example, gain the loyalty of a Duke who is the vassal of someone else?
 
Please consider renaming "Lord Spiritual". It just doesn't make any sense.

my guess would be renaming a title would take two seconds in the localisation files if it would get in the way for you.
no name is going to be perfect, its just there to notify a function and it does that function. Not everywhere would marshals be marshals or stewards stewards, chancellors too. The name is there no the play can tell whats going, its not so important in itself, the function is important not what you call it.
 
"Papal lapdog" would probably be even better rambly ;)

But on a more serious note, I really don't see the beef with "Lord Spiritual"? I'd feel kinda weird naming someone "Prelate" when there's plenty more "Prelates" in my kingdom already? If i understand correctly, in game terms that is, the "Lord Spiritual" is someone you designate, right? Sounds like a better title for someone at the court, than just plain out Prelate to me, but I've been known to have weird views on subjects in the past :)