Cure for teh "Lover's Pox".

[Ed Mike]

(...) and apparently permanently blocks the particular seducer involved.

That last tidbit is new to me. And very good to know, thanks. Hope it's correct, since it would make all the difference.

That's like saying that you want Saxony to be purple on the political map, and the game is broken 'cause Saxony's brown instead.

Going on this tangent, yeah, I wouldn't call it broke either, but oh, man, how I HATE yellow-ish Portuguese Empire!
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR... (rising a furious fist against Paradox heavens). That makes me über mad.
Portugal feels like quite a non entity under Léon & Castile color pallete, wisht there was a way to change the color without incuring in unplayable Ironman.

I do understand the idea of they being in a same empire but, geography and politics are really not the same.

 

[mrstevehazzard]

I haven't sat down and actually figured out the mechanics, but just from what I've noticed on playing the game, once or twice a generation a seducer will just start endlessly seducing everyone he can until stopped. It's easy to assassinate him since he's pissed off half the husbands in the realm, and once he's neutralized in one way or another, it should be quiet for a couple decades. If every woman in your realm has lover's pox, more than likely your seducer or seducers have been at it for a while unchecked.

 

[Admiral Fischer]

Loaded my previous 5 runs one by one just to see what was happening back then, only to find out AI realms were disgustingly affected by massive epidemic of this 'Lover's Pox'. So, it was just my kingdom being lucky to not get caught the orgy plague.

So the way to control this madness is assassination, however it is nearly impossible to assassinate a count from a two-counties size duchy as there's simply not enough people to bribe and invite. 'Spy on' from the Intrigue focus decided to stop working for me, and for three years I couldn't arrest a single professional adulterers before one of them finally reached the Queen, who had been my lover thanks to the Family focus.

And I couldn't arrest the seducer without damaging relations with my vassals. I can't punish those adulterers even with a dedicated effort to do so, and according to the game any attempt to arrest an exposed sinner is a sign of tyranny. I have simply no way to punish a criminal legitimately.

Apparently adultery is not a crime in the world of Crusader Kings 2. If this is not the sign of a broken mechanic then I don't know what would be. I'm turning off this DLC forever.

 

[Audoucet]

Seriously, I have never had a character with lover's pox and I choose seduction relatively frequently. It is not broken. Stop it.

I'm playing in 2.4.5, and I don't even care about it, because of its frequency. ALL girls get it on their 16.

 

[T. Hermil]

lover pox? you mean herpes? its still incurable today, and depending on the region of the world, from 20% to 80% of the people has it haha, thing is it only comes out occassionally , sometimes just a few times in 25 years, so its kind of innaccurate to set it as a stable modifier probably

 

[ahyangyi]

So I decided to play a norse dynasty called 'Gautske' in 867 start. The game went fine for awhile and before 1000 I managed to form the Kingdom of some random unpronounceable norse place name AKA Sweden, with 25 dukes and counts serving the King.

Before the Conclave I never patched the game beyond the SoA so I had no experience with the infamous 'Seduction' focus, and in my 5 previous post-Conclave games I had no adultery problem pehaps because I picked the 'Family' focus first. Now this time, about 3 or 4 dukes and counts in the Kingdom decided to go seduce spree and unfortunately my firstborn couldn't pick any focus, because he's unlanded.

Eventually his wife decided that some random 56 years old count of unpronounceable place is better than her ambitious, quick, diligent and 'Grey Eminence' husband, who happens to be the Crown Prince by the way. I picked the 'Intrigue' focus and had imprisoned the dude, but couldn't imprison nor assassinate the Crown Princess because her stats was so good.

At this point I had no idea how bad this thing could go, and I went to see what was going on by using in-game character finder. Turns out almost every adult woman had either 'Rejecting Seduction Attempts' trait or 'Lover's Pox'. The old man had 'Lover's Pox' as well. I suspect he was spreading it to these victims, and eventually to the Crown Princess.

Okay, so now I know that the Way of Life DLC is broken, even a year and half after its release, and that any sane, good man should not even buy this one, but I want to finish this run first. I think I'll just jail anyone who has picked up the 'Seduction' focus from this time on, however teh 'Lover's Pox' on the seduction victims remains a problem, even more so as I suspect this disease to be a STD. Is there any cure?

The problem with Lover's Pox is that you shouldn't be able to see it unless you slept with said people. CK2 needs some privacy system. A deceitful guy might try to deceit people into believing he isn't really deceitful. Nobody will tell you "I have lover's pox" unless they are on your bed. A guy could be choosing the intrigue focus and also trying to letting you think otherwise, isn't it the point of intrugue?

 

[doktarr]

Assassinate them. Once you get rid of them, your court should be safe for a while. I have around 80 courtiers, most are clean.

I tend to be fanatical about keeping my court numbers down. Courtiers who don't do anything useful for you are just fodder for plots, plus past a point there's the malus to fertility. Not to mention seduction and other annoyances, as this thread makes clear.

I marry off random women I don't need to old mayors in other realms. I marry off random men matrilineally to forgotten daughters. Random married men get handed mayor jobs when they pop up. Clean out the prison regularly - if you have no use for them and they can't be ransomed, execute if there's no opinion hit, otherwise release.

It's annoying micro, sure, but it's not hard to keep your court under 30 most of the time.

 

[DPS]

Loaded my previous 5 runs one by one just to see what was happening back then, only to find out AI realms were disgustingly affected by massive epidemic of this 'Lover's Pox'. So, it was just my kingdom being lucky to not get caught the orgy plague.

So the way to control this madness is assassination, however it is nearly impossible to assassinate a count from a two-counties size duchy as there's simply not enough people to bribe and invite. 'Spy on' from the Intrigue focus decided to stop working for me, and for three years I couldn't arrest a single professional adulterers before one of them finally reached the Queen, who had been my lover thanks to the Family focus.

And I couldn't arrest the seducer without damaging relations with my vassals. I can't punish those adulterers even with a dedicated effort to do so, and according to the game any attempt to arrest an exposed sinner is a sign of tyranny. I have simply no way to punish a criminal legitimately.

Apparently adultery is not a crime in the world of Crusader Kings 2. If this is not the sign of a broken mechanic then I don't know what would be. I'm turning off this DLC forever.

Dude, chill. You're talking about a game in which known murderers run around free, and you're complaining that you can't arrest people for having cold sores.

 

[ahyangyi]

It's also lovely when you find your chaste wife rejecting all the seducers. Chastity is a Christian virtue. You can't assume everyone has it.

 

[Robert II]

Dude, chill. You're talking about a game in which known murderers run around free, and you're complaining that you can't arrest people for having cold sores.

Cheating on the crown prince is worse than murder. Same goes for fucking the kings daughter(s).

 

[DreadLindwyrm]

Cheating on the crown prince is worse than murder. Same goes for fucking the kings daughter(s).

So deal with it and take the consequences.

Sure you might need to manufacture a reason so that you're not seen to have been cuckolded, but that should be manageable...

 

[Llyw olaf]

It's much better than it used to be, but I still feel more could be improved and done with seduction and lovers.

Why no rivalry, jealousy and drama between the lovers a character has? If a wife or daughter has been seduced by their liege, how about a option for unscrupulous husbands and fathers to use it for blackmail, titles, land or favours with their liege, rather than becoming a rival? How about having Mistress as a honorary title? Why doesn't Lover's pox ever spread from the infected to their faithful spouses? I think some kind of event should be possible and cause tension between the couple.

I also wished that these Master Seducers would slow down with age, is age a factor concerning success? It's rather strange seeing a 65 year old count, with a number of lovers already, trying it on with his king's 16 year old daughter, a handsome young duke I might accept, but c'mon! shouldn't a member of the royal family be more picky and wary. Seducing higher than your rank should be much harder and riskier, a young king should have a much easier time than an old count.

I'm hoping a future dlc does more with rivals, friends, lovers and honorary titles.

 

[ahyangyi]

Going on this tangent, yeah, I wouldn't call it broke either, but oh, man, how I HATE yellow-ish Portuguese Empire!

The Moorish Andalusia is green, so maybe the developers think a clear distinction between the Christian realms and Muslim realms is more important for the player's clarity.

 

[Magnificent Genius]

My problem with the seduction focus is I'm trying to run a breeding program to get high quality heirs and I can't do that if some jerkwad seduces my wife/daughter/daughter-in-law and his worthless genes foul up the works.

 

[BeyondExpectation]

Cheating on the crown prince is worse than murder.

Not true. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_of_Burgundy,_Queen_of_France

 

[frolix42]

I managed to form the Kingdom of some random unpronounceable norse place name AKA Sweden

Svíþjóð means Land of the Swedes (aka Sweden). "þ" roughly = "th". So I think it's pronounced like Sweeth-yoad or Sweethioth.

 

[ahyangyi]

Svíþjóð means Land of the Swedes (aka Sweden). "þ" roughly = "th". So I think it's pronounced like Sweeth-yoad or Sweethioth.

I read it as "Sweethiohth", with the first "th" as in "thin" and the second as in "this". But it's more like creating an acceptable pronunciation for my own enjoyment of the game than going for historical accuracy

 

[frolix42]

I read it as "Sweethiohth", with the first "th" as in "thin" and the second as in "this". But it's more like creating an acceptable pronunciation for my own enjoyment of the game than going for historical accuracy

In any case, not difficult to pronounce once you look it up. It's not Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu

 

[geminus]

The DLC is not broken, but the seduction mechanic still is. First off, it is way too easy to seduce someone. This should be a lot harder, and almost impossible to achieve without the lustful and/or deceitful traits present on the target. Secondly, there should be a distance restriction on who you can seduce. An imbecile ugly 54 year old count on the other side of the map will seduce and bang your wife and daughters the very day you get married and the day they come of age. The seducer will have to reside in relative proximity to the target to have the opportunity in the first place. Lastly, there should be justifications for imprisonment and title revocation if seduction attempts on your wife and daughters are discovered. Banging the queen was considered high treason, and you should be able to execute/banish the perpetrator if discovered, and strip him of all his titles - without incurring any other negative consequences on opinion with your other vassals.

 

[Kazanov]

Tyranny is the way to go. I marry the evil doers to distant allies, kill them when i cannot, imprison them when i force them to revolt.

In a game i forced to revolt nearly all my vassals and then gived the titles to my kin, because of stability...

... and because some random jerk seduced my wife... and then, after a failed attemp to imprison that guy and winning against the revolt that resulted from it, a concubine of mine killed the witch and i revoked or great blotted all the traitors . I learned the lesson.

You must enjoy the randomness of this game. Thats the thing that made CK2 great.