Did I break something?

[Leonello d'Este]

The other night I started a new game, and to try to raise the difficulty level - sorry guys, but the game is boring in an almost frustrating way - I played in debug mode, giving some Muslim kingdoms in Spain and the North Africa of monetary advantages - I gave 60,000 gold to each - giving them claims on neighboring kingdoms and titles and making their rulers more intelligent, capable and ambitious.

And ... and nothing happened.

For decades of play, none of these characters have done anything, there has been hardly any territorial expansion, no religious warfare, nothing.

So, I have a question: can "artificially" advantage of NPCs or playing in debug mode hinder or "break" the game AI?

 

[prismaticmarcus]

how could it? i doubt it.

 

[void0x00]

Maybe give them Ambitious?
I think the AI's personality wont change just because getting rich.

 

[PDXOxycoon]

Just because an AI "can" do something does not mean they "will" do it. AI personalities are the major deciding factor on which actions they will take.

 

[mario1789]

Thanks, that's really cool and nice to know.

 

[Greifental]

I think I have to check some personalities traits now. In my recent run an AI could create Kingdom of Norway, he had the gold and the land to do it. And I wondered why he didn't and let partition strike instead...

 

[Trunting]

Just because an AI "can" do something does not mean they "will" do it. AI personalities are the major deciding factor on which actions they will take.

I think, if this was made more visible in the game, it could greatly improve the user experience.

To be honest, I never pay traits of other rulers much attention. And I'd never have thought, that they have their own strategy.

 

[prismaticmarcus]

I think, if this was made more visible in the game, it could greatly improve the user experience.

To be honest, I never pay traits of other rulers much attention. And I'd never have thought, that they have their own strategy.

did you know about this?

Character - CK3 Wiki

ck3.paradoxwikis.com

 

[Slow Bathroom]

I think the AI mostly makes decision based on their income and not on their current gold. I tried to give an AI king a bunch of money to see what they do with the crazy grandeur bonus but even with thousands of gold they refused to pay the like 3 gold a month to max their amenities.

 

[Spaninq]

did you know about this?

Character - CK3 Wiki

ck3.paradoxwikis.com

The amount of times I've been called into an unwinnable war by an aggressive ally that turned out to be either an Insane _____ or a _____ Maniac is far, far too many.

 

[ErinHenry552]

How is it even possible, you can record a video clip or throw off the game save, it's just hard to believe.

 

[prismaticmarcus]

The amount of times I've been called into an unwinnable war by an aggressive ally that turned out to be either an Insane _____ or a _____ Maniac is far, far too many.

lunatic and arbitrary people will make lunatic and arbitrary decisions

 

[Trunting]

did you know about this?

Character - CK3 Wiki

ck3.paradoxwikis.com

Honestly no, I didn't

 

[La Clef]

Honestly no, I didn't

And you're not supposed to. What you asked for and what I think useful too are relevant informations in game, not out of the game.

 

[prismaticmarcus]

And you're not supposed to. What you asked for and what I think useful too are relevant informations in game, not out of the game.

well, the descriptors are right there

 

[La Clef]

well, the descriptors are right there

Indeed, they are. But the descriptors of what ? You don't know it in game. It looks like more poetry (Forgiving Grasper, Vindictive Lackey ...) than a precise indication of the character's behaviour.

 

[mario1789]

I think that if this system were perfectly transparent that people would complain about it being perfectly transparent, that we don't have mind reading and so on. Now I get what you mean, because on the one hand, the lack of transparency inhibits player agency. But I think the system as-is is a novel compromise.

 

[prismaticmarcus]

I think that if this system were perfectly transparent that people would complain about it being perfectly transparent, that we don't have mind reading and so on. Now I get what you mean, because on the one hand, the lack of transparency inhibits player agency. But I think the system as-is is a novel compromise.

and still, underneath everything, is dice rolls, so things still retain an element of unpredictability.

 

[Leonello d'Este]

Maybe give them Ambitious?

Done several times. Nothing.

AI personalities are the major deciding factor on which actions they will take.

I know, and in fact I also worked on the NPC traits, but nothing ever happened. And that's why I got doubts.

 

[Mcgan]

So you want to test if a ruler can start wars while being in a situation where they don't need it, basically?


Well, I can think of a few things to try:

For traits, make the ruler arbitrary, impatient, ambitious and zealous
As extras, you can also give them Irritable, Lunatic, Possessed, Adventurer, Heresiarch and anything that reduces opinion, like Murderer or Cannibal (if not virtuous).

For faith, make sure their faith is not pacifist (I know it's obvious)
Avoid Eastern faiths (too much tolerance there)
Fundamentalist doctrine helps (bad opinion)
The Human Sacrifice and Warmonger tenets give huge bonuses to war chance and cooldown

For culture, again, not pacifist (still obvious).
Ethos: Bellicose
Traditions: Malleable Invaders and Quarrelsome help a bit
NOT Isolationist (gives huge penalties to war chance and cooldown)
NOT Forbearing (huge penalties to war cooldown)
I'd avoid Xenophilic and Religion Blending too.

If they don't go to war even with all that, then yeah, I'd say there might be something broken...