I cant play this game anymore

[Rozmarzony]

Delete 00_factions.txt or lower there requirements for joining factions etc.
Serious, just bribe, I have my all vassals as dodges and max tax for towns, and 0 rebels.

 

[Syber]

I prefer factions over no factions any day of the week.

 

[DarkPhoenix]

Spymaster just isn't effective enough short term. Usually when I resort to the above strategy it's because a faction is on the verge of rebelling right at the most inopportune time imaginable.

But doesn't this mean (seen from a purely neutral perspective) that either there has been some negligence in the past (it usually is better to take care of those problems before they lead to factions), or that you hold land far away from your de jure realm (which means from an ingame RPG perspective rebellious vassals absolutely make sense). I have, of course, also murdered dangerous people away. But I also love how factions discourage ingame blobs with more or less believable ingame mechanisms.

 

[MylesSCP]

The faction system is a million times better than the old system where 10 random counts decided they would all revolt on their own every succession, or the 1 random count who decides to revolt all on his own when nothing else is going on. How people can say the new system is more whack-a-mole is beyond me. It could certainly use some work in how characters decide to join factions, but it's way better than what was there before.

 

[ZechsMerquise73]

Its actually a lot less annoying. All you have to do is befriend the leader or his people, assassinate him, or imprison him. I very rarely have a faction go to war, unless they are larger than me and the rest of the realm put together. In that case, you'd still get a revolt and lose on the old system.

And now there's a lot less cascading revolters. Its just something you have to re-learn.

 

[Revshawn]

Nah, if you bribe or kill the leader of a faction it will usually disband. Then I just use it as a reminder to check my vassals and send a few trinkets to anyone who's less than 50 opinion of me. It works well for me.

Independence factions work differently though. They don't disband when you kill the leader. You have to take care of them as soon as they form. Either bribe, or kill them as soon as they pop up before anyone joins.

Of course this means that almost all of my money goes to gifts and assassins. I feel like Caligula.

How and why do you do this? The bonus you get from gifting is only temporary no? Why would I pay any money at all for only a temporary gain? o.o

 

[TAoD]

I guess Im just bad at the game then because every leader I have, everyone hates him. :x

Ill try some of these suggestions and try the CK plus mod as well.

 

[markmid]

I guess Im just bad at the game then because every leader I have, everyone hates him. :x

Ill try some of these suggestions and try the CK plus mod as well.

Prestige can help with that, titles if you have them, or fighting in allied wars helps, piety for bishops as well.

If you have a lot of doges as vassals they can be harder to keep happy, while bishops are reportedly easier, feudal vassals being the middle ground. You could lower crown laws and levies or taxes. If I play with having doges as vassals I have about 1/3 on wealth provinces and keep city levies to the min setting, giving me +10 relations, as they have a relations hit for being under the wrong ruler type, this helps negate that while still giving me a decent tax income.

Not giving titles to many of your sons will help, as they can cause trouble. I like to see my dynasty doing well too but making multiple sons strong vassals is a quick way to see faction wars, I do sometimes however make them weaker vassals.

 

[TAoD]

Welp..CK2+ made the factions system more bearable, however it adds a bunch of unnecessary mods and such to the game making it even more confusing. Like how the decadence constantly goes up for Muslims because you are at peace... that's a bit silly. Yeah Im throwing this game officially in the "dont care" bin.
It was fun while it lasted to be honest, and thank you all for the helpful tips, but this game is just not for me. I dont like playing games that make me frustrated and angry at the pure illogical nonsense and this vibe that Im playing to lose.
Ill probably go back to playing Vic II or something, where the AI truly hates the player.

 

[SRM]

People seriously want to return to the bad old days of random mayors and barons rebelling non-stop?

 

[Sam L]

I think factions are definitely the way to go but I also think there should be reworking around particularly independence factions so that they not only revolt but can sustain that independence. No use gaining independence for a few weeks or months.

That is the other question you need to ask yourself. If you're a human vassal under a strong liege. Would you rebel for independence only to be vassalized by another liege? I wouldn't.

 

[bmullins0118]

Wiz, creator of CK2+, got a job at Paradox Interactive as an AI programmer.. All we can do is hope.

 

[yezhanquan]

How and why do you do this? The bonus you get from gifting is only temporary no? Why would I pay any money at all for only a temporary gain? o.o

It lasts quite a while, though not as long as the negative from tyranny. Almost all opinion gains are temporary, except for the trait-dependent ones.

 

[postm00v]

Wiz, creator of CK2+, got a job at Paradox Interactive as an AI programmer.. All we can do is hope.

Really ? If so, that would be awesome !

 

[RaubritterAK]

How and why do you do this? The bonus you get from gifting is only temporary no? Why would I pay any money at all for only a temporary gain? o.o

Like the other guy said, it lasts a very long time. By the time it wears off, either he has died, or I have died, of the political climate has completely changed and I no longer care if he hates me. Bribing works.

Isn't that what a smart human would do?

- Beagá

Sure, if a smart human had any chance of winning. I wonder sometimes if the AI takes retinues into account when calculating troop strength. Because every time a major rebellion happens it is nothing more than a nuisance that I squash with my 60K retinue, where I may only occasionally have to recall troops from the war front to help put it down. Then I'm broke for the next 5 years rebuilding the retinue.

As I said in my first post, my dislike of the factions system isn't that it makes the game hard or unplayable, it just makes the game ANNOYING. These rebellions never win, they never even come close to winning. Yet they happen all the time, and it's boring putting them down. When factions first came out, the concept was fun, but after the 500th rebellion it's just getting to be downright tedious. Which is why I resort to the "cheap" tactic of just saving/reloading until I get a successful assassination of the faction leader. It saves headache.

 

[Lorehead]

I agree that factions are a huge improvement, and lead to much more sensible AI behavior. I think they definitely could be improved, somewhat along the lines of CK2+.

Essentially, the question people should be asking is, What’s in it for me? Imagine:

The Duke of Burgundy wants to become the King of France, and goes looking for support. His son, the Count of Charolais, is happy to put himself next in line. His brother the Duke of Flanders is also willing to help out his dynasty, even though he’s not a vassal of the current King of France. But anyone else will need a reason to support him. If they like him a lot better than the current king, they might accept an office, an honorary title, or just some money from what’s left of his treasury. But perhaps there’s a baron who wants to be count, a duke who wants control over all his de jure lands, or a count who wants a piece of the royal demense. Maybe one Duke will agree in exchange for more privileges (lower realm authority), or for lower levies, or in exchange for elective succession — but, would your son still support the plan then? Maybe the Duke of Brittany would agree to help you on condition that you release him from vassalage. So, you’d have to decide how much you’re willing to weaken the realm you’re trying to usurp. And, if this happened several times in a row, you might end up with a very weak realm indeed.

The fact that the different members of the faction have different goals would also give the defending king a chance to make a separate peace with some of his attackers. Brittany might surrender while Burgundy fights on, and that wargoal would disappear. Or perhaps the King does well enough that he could give Aquitaine the change in laws it wanted in return for switching sides.

 

[_krampe_]

I never had any problems with factions, maybe some people are not fully aware of their mechanics:
- Every factions will start to rebel at 75% of lieges power, except the independence faction which make a move at 33%.
- At 80+ opinion people will leave the faction
- People of your culture, your religion and if you're their de jure liege will NEVER join an independence faction (except Kings!).

So if you're big, you can have a huge retinue making it nearly impossible that a faction gets to 75% until your spymaster has fend of the biggest contributers.
If you have expanded very quickly, haveing lots of non-your-culture vassals (educate their heirs!), let them rebel and swing the banhammer, revoke their countys/duchys/kingdoms and place one of your culture in that position.
(I always destroy Kingdom titles as emperor)
It may take one or two rebellions to cleanup your realm but when it's done it's done

 

[yezhanquan]

Also, do consider plots to bump off leaders or major members. If you can get their spymasters on your side, it becomes easy.

 

[dauncosony]

I have already grown use the faction system and find no problems at all. I think people are too use to being in control. The faction system was designed to make it easier for vassals to wage a civil war on their liege, and most players are too use to being a top tier liege. I'm not sure if anyone has actually tried playing a vassal and using the faction system to their advantage along with if they know how to pay attention to their own vassals.

 

[yezhanquan]

I have already grown use the faction system and find no problems at all. I think people are too use to being in control. The faction system was designed to make it easier for vassals to wage a civil war on their liege, and most players are too use to being a top tier liege. I'm not sure if anyone has actually tried playing a vassal and using the faction system to their advantage along with if they know how to pay attention to their own vassals.

Basically, I'm the type of liege that is very hands-off. Have never revoked a title, but I have given titles to many fellows which are all over the realm. If they want to fight each other over claims, that's their business.