Some character trait ideas

[Jiben]

So heres a few ideas about traits i could see added to the game.

Scarred: +2% chohort loyalty chance. The idea is that soldiers would more easily become loyal to commanders they can see have fought and bleed with them. We allready have a wounded trait so have a high chance for it to be transformed to scarred when it disapears.

fit: +0.02 monthly health, +5% fertility. Representing people who are physically fit. Other traits and age could impact how likely it is for someone to be fit, the olympics event and holding games could have a high chance to make characters fit to represent the training they do.

Builder: +1 finesse, effects if ruler -10% build cost, -10% build time. Small chance (1% ish?) of happening when a building get's completed. I really think some "administrator" traits could be added.

Calm: +1 finesse, +1 martial. Someone who keeps their calm even when things look dire. Could be a military trait since aggressive is one.

Seducer/seductress: +1 charisma, can seduce others. Gives an option to seduce people of the oposite sex (maybe same aswell?) could give a nasty opinion/popularity hit if it is discovered you slept with someones wife/husband. Could have a chance to be given to characters with alot of fertility.

Genius: +2 martial/finesse/charisma/zeal, higher chance to gain stats during childhood. This would be really rare like 0.5-1% or something, would be discovered during childhood. I know we got intelligent but this would be the "stronger" trait between the two.

Any other ideas? More traits woudl if nothing else enhance the roleplaying parts of the game and make the world feel more "real"

 

[CaptinObvious]

I was thinking about making traits matter more, rather than just adding more irrelevant ones, like for example making the prominent trait give 20% extra power base, and benefactor making governors especially better, but more powerful (think he's well connected, so keep him on your side, and he will make the mountains move in your name).

But also making (purely)negative traits give loyalty, or other modifiers that would make a character easier to control, so that relying on good characters is like building a big Jenga tower, impressive, but somewhat unpredictable and dangerous, but using crap ones is like a one-story slab od concert, yeah it's more stable, but kinda unimpressive to say the least.

and of course, there will always be traits that are undesirable, like abrasive, which just makes the character fight everyone.

 

[EricMN93]

Merchant: If we make many commercial deals during the reign of a ruler. + 15% tax or something like that

Diplomatic: If we establish many alliances and make many friends, the ruler can obtain this trait. +1 alliances available.

Priest: If during the life of a ruler we establish many sacred places and put treasures in sacred places of our religion. 10% assimilation of the main religion.

Explorer: If we establish contact with someone who is very far away. +2 friends available.

Philosopher: If we improve technology a lot, we establish libraries and academies. + 20% technology.

king: Our ruler should have the option of proclaiming a kingdom, something like what Alexander's successor states intended. country name change

 

[Ketchup & friends]

Here are our ideas (specifically considering @CaptinObvious ' advice)

making traits matter more, rather than just adding more irrelevant ones

Spoiler: military traits (HoI style)

These traits are based on same-named HoI traits. (Some or all might get better names for an ancient setting. It’s up to the devs.)

Adding them will make Generals and Admirals more important. Depending on traits, the same charcter would be better for specific tasks. This would add another dimension to consider in addition to Martial stat, loyalty, prominence and Popularity.

I. Terrain expertise traits

Add traits that make a general or admiral better at certain terrain types.

All these traits should buff attack and defence AND Army/Navy speed on the right terrain (similar to HoI3). Precise values up to the devs but can be 10% like in HoI3.

e.g. An army commanded by a Hill Fighter would have +10% speed when moving through in a Hills tile, and +10% attack and defense when fighting on a Hills tile.

- Perhaps the percentage could depend on the character’s Martial stat?

land terrain:

• Desert Fox
• Hill Fighter
• Jungle Rat
• Mountaineer
• Ranger
• Swamp Fox

And two more for:

• Plains
• Farmalnd

Naval terrain:

• Blue Water Expert
• Green Water Expert
• Inshore Fighter

Special conditions:
Similar to terrain expertise they should boost speed and combat performance. Might be stackable with Terrain expertise traits.

• Engineer (faster crossings, boost when attacking while crossing a River or Strait or defending a crossing)
• Invader (faster embarking and disembarking, boost when attacking in an amphibious invasion)
• Urban Assault Specialist (because Urban is not a terrain type in I:R, speed and combat boosts in territories that are City or Metropolis, but NOT in settlements)

Adaptable

Cancels -1 negative modifier when attacking.


Blockade Runner

Naval combat trait. Increased ship speed and Reduces chance of ships being captured by enemies.


Fortress Buster

increases chance to capture fort.


Logistics Wizard

Reduced food consumption.


Old Guard

Commanded troops get less XP. Notable boost to Popularity and Prominence.

Spoiler: Bloodline Traits

I. more present Bloodlines from the Bloodlines mod and the proposals made by @Gurkhal (here and here).

1.5 will add Blood of Aiakos. That’s a first step, but more is better.

Why it matters: Increases the importance of characters and families with such traits. Certain claims (If Ruler), events, decisions and missions could be enabled (or ruled out) by particular bloodlines. (See @Gurkhal ‘s proposals for details.)


II. Dynamic bloodlines.

The head of a very powerful family that has no Bloodline could create new bloodline for their family. Benefits would depend on the founder’s traits.

Question: Would this (creating NEW traits mid-game) be even possible?

Why it matters: Makes powerful Families more important. Would also pander to those Players who have an RPG-like playstyle (e.g. create a Blood of the Julii trait).

Spoiler: Other traits

Lead poisoning (Health): It was common in Rome due to lead pipes for water. According to some theories this contributed to the Decline of the Roman empire.

Effects: -2 Finesse; reduced fertility; slightly reduced health.

Why it matters: chance to get it should depend on Civilisation level. Almost never in tribal nations, likely in a highly civilised metropolis.


Autoritharian:

Effect if Ruler: slight monthly increase of Tyranny (perhaps +0.05)

Effect if General: small boost to discipline, small debuff to morale

Why it matters: There are 2 traits that lower tyranny (Forgiving and Trusting) but none that increase it by themselves.


Loyal

Effect: strong boost to loyalty.

AND

Disloyal (opposite of Loyal)

Effect: strong debuff to loyalty.

Why they matter: There are many traits affecting other secondary attributes but none dealing with Loyalty.


Bastard: children born out of wedlock. Should reduce the chance to inherit in a monarchy. A bastard should be placed behind all non-bastard Members of the Royal Family in the line of succession, but still above people NOT from the Royal Family. for balance, might be also less likely to get elected in Republics and less likely to become clan chief in Tribes.

effect if Ruler: small Legitimacy debuff.

Why it matters: currently Bastard children are treated same as like legitimate in the game. While it was less important than in the Middle Ages, Bastardy were still important in regards to the line of succession (e.g. Alexander’s unborn son and half-brother inherited, not the older Bastard son). The game currently ignores that.

Spoiler: Traits and temporal modifiers

Add a modifier indicating that a character’s eligible for Triumph.


(I put it here because some of us think this should be reworked and no one objected.)

Some of temporal modifiers are actually permanent stuff and even changes primary stats. Things like Argyraspides, Former slave, First Generation Aristocrat. But 1. They are easily overlooked cuz they are modifiers, not “Real” traits. 2. They disappear after a character dies.

Temporal Modifiers should be reserved to

• Time-limited circumstances (like gambling win/loss, pregnancy).
• removable special circumstances (imprisoned, foreign citizen etc.)

Some Traits (Seeking Treatment and Olympic Competitor) fit in these categories and should be changed into temporal modifiers.

EDIT:

Hm, I've no idea if there is a hard cap from a technical point of view, but I know we've implemented it so you'll never have more than 4-5 traits at max, I believe.

As the number of traits is limited, these two should DEFINITELY be changed into modifiers.

Why it matters: would make the game more consistent (part of UI rework/improvement).