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CK3 Dev Diary #31 - A Stressful Situation

Dev Diary #31 - A Stressful Situation
Hello everyone! I come to you today with the long-awaited Dev Diary on how Stress works in Crusader Kings III! While the system is relatively straightforward, it does have some rather far-reaching ramifications for how characters choose to behave, so let us dive right in!

Stress
Stress is a representation of a character’s mental well-being. As characters accumulate Stress, they will increase up their Stress Level, with each level causing increasing penalties to their health and fertility values. The penalties at Stress Level 1 are fairly minor, but the penalties at Stress Level 3 can lead your character to an early grave!

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[A screenshot showing the player character with nearly-maxed out Stress]

The primary way that characters gain Stress is when the demands of the realm force them to take actions which go against their nature. For example, a Compassionate character will gain Stress for executing prisoners in the dungeon, even if those prisoners were traitorous rebels or, ahem… inconveniently positioned in the line of succession.

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[A screenshot showing a Compassionate character gaining 42 Stress for executing a prisoner]

There are other sources of Stress too, though. Being locked up in the dungeon of another character will gradually increase Stress over time, as the isolation and neglect take their toll on your psyche. Other causes include overwork or the death of a loved one. Regardless of the source, once a character accumulates enough Stress to pass a certain threshold and gain a Stress Level, they will suffer from a Mental Break.

Mental Breaks

Mental Breaks are a special kind of event which occurs when Stress overwhelms a character and compels them to do something — anything — to gain relief. Exactly what type of Mental Break a character has depends heavily on their personality traits, and each one gives the character several options for dealing with the situation they have found themselves in.

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[A screenshot showing the player character suffering from overwhelming guilt and shame as part of a Mental Break]

Not all Mental Breaks are equal, and the severity of the Mental Break will depend on your Stress Level when the event occurs. A Level 1 Mental Break may cause a Wrathful character to yell at one of their vassals in front of the whole court, insulting them and wounding their pride… but a Tier 3 Mental Break may instead drive that same character to murder their chosen heir in a fit of rage!

In addition to differing by Stress Level, some Mental Breaks are influenced by the situation you find yourself in. As an example, characters who are locked up in a dungeon cell will suffering from completely different Mental Breaks (often of greater severity), some of which can radically change their personality.

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[A screenshot showing the player character swearing vengeance on their enemies from prison]

Regardless of what kind of Mental Break they suffer from, all Mental Breaks give the afflicted character the opportunity to lose a large amount of Stress. Many of these options will also grant the afflicted character a Coping Mechanism trait, which will help them relieve stress in the future and thus reduce the likelihood of having additional Mental Breaks.

Coping Mechanisms
Coping Mechanisms are traits that represent the long-term methods characters have developed to deal with the Stress of their life. Most of them impose some form of minor penalty on a character’s skills, but in exchange they will enhance the potency of all forms of stress loss.

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[A screenshot showing a selection of 4 Coping Mechanism traits: Rakish, Drunkard, Flagellant, and Comfort Eater]

In addition to the passive effects of each trait, each one also enables a unique Decision characters can take to indulge in their vice and relieve a portion of their accumulated stress.

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[A screenshot showing the Decision to visit a brothel and lose stress]

Regardless of the form it takes, all Coping Mechanisms are useful in one form or another. Having the ability to make Stressful decisions at-will is often more useful than a few extra points of Diplomacy or Stewardship, and each Coping Mechanism a character acquires makes it progressively easier for them to manage their Stress. It is expected that most rulers will acquire 1 or 2 Coping Mechanisms during their lifetime, though in some rare circumstances a character may end up with more.

Strategic Considerations
As developers, our goal with the Stress system is not to prohibit or punish players for taking certain actions, but rather to make them think twice about otherwise no-brainer decisions. Is it really worth it to execute that foreign claimant when doing so will give you 42 Stress? Maybe, but maybe not! That is a decision you will need to make when the time comes.

In this way, Stress also gives us another tool we can use to balance the various personality traits against each other. Some traits like Ambitious and Compassionate may have higher numerical bonuses, but they cause you to acquire Stress more frequently or in larger amounts. Others like Sadistic may make your vassals loathe you, but your character won’t be bothered by pesky concerns like morality when they have to do what needs to be done. Who knows... they might even enjoy it!

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[A screenshot showing showing the Skill and Stress differences between the Lazy and Diligent Personality Traits]

Regardless of what personality traits your character has, the optimal strategy with Stress is often not to avoid acquiring Stress at all costs, but rather to strategically acquire certain Coping Mechanisms and leverage them intelligently to keep your character’s Stress at ideal levels. Managing your character’s Stress well will ensure you are always able to take advantage of any opportunities that come your way, while behaving recklessly may leave you Stressed to the point of insanity during a crucial moment of your reign…

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[A screenshot showing a stressed ruler having their very own Nero moment]

Anyway, that is all I have for you this week. I hope this has given you some insight into how the Stress system works in Crusader Kings III, and that this has inspired everyone to think of new and creative ways to leverage the system to its full potential! Feel free to ask any questions you have in the comments, as I will be sticking around for a few hours to explain and elaborate on the Stress system.
 
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This honestly sounds like one of those 'masterstrokes of game design' mechanics, if this is properly balanced (who am I kidding, this is PDX)....the potentials are...limitless...
 
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Were there male brothels in medieval Catholic countries (in game terms, male-dominated with female adultery criminal)? I'm not very comfortable with that either.

Maybe rephrasing as "visiting a paramore "?

Are people seriously thinking male prostitution didn't exist in Catholic lands? Of course it existed, just as of course it is much less documented when homosexuality was considered a major sin and male ascendency was the main justification for legitimacy.

And in more general term even today male prostitution is much less known (it is generally given the better term of "escort") because of the general view on women.
 
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I hope that the more titles a ruler has, and the higher the tier of the titles, the ruler accumulates passive stress from ruling over the titles? That may set up a soft cap on hoarding titles.

I like how certain traits can increase or reduce stress. Is it possible that a ruler with the content trait gains stress when upgrading their tier from Count to Duke? While a ruler with the ambitious trait increases stress if they haven't increased their tier in, say, twenty years, and loses stress when they finally do?
 
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This all sounds amazing. Will have to wait and see how it plays out in game, but it seems like a logical and useful resource to manage. And has some great roleplaying experiences. I like that there seems to be so many events tied to it, I just hope it is enough events and we don't just keep seeing the same things over and over.

What are the AI characters' weights for various things? Completely random?
 
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Right now we don't have degrees of coping mechanism traits; however, the game would support this for mods and/or if we decide to revisit things at a later point.
I forsee a myriad of mods with different flavors of how to cope.

Would love to see events if I've managed to establish a traderoute to asia to aquire certain herbal products to deal with stress
 
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Are people seriously thinking male prostitution didn't exist in Catholic lands? Of course it existed, just as of course it is much less documented when homosexuality was considered a major sin and male ascendency was the main justification for legitimacy.

And in more general term even today male prostitution is much less known (it is generally given the better term of "escort") because of the general view on women.
the issue seems to be more with the wording...like someone just used the find and replace tool to invert the genders in the event text.
 
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Is the AI also affected by stress ? Meaming you can drive someone mad by forcing him doing thing against his nature using hooks or schemes for exemple ?
 
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I thought the same, it's very mathematic... like "you have exactly this stress, at this rate, you will have a breakdown in 5 years". I think your suggestion is better, they could give messages like "you're stressed" and "you're very stressed and you may have a breakdown soon". Hidden values are better in this case.
It's less, "you will have a breakdown in 5 years", and more "one more serious thing could push you over the edge". Given the inevitably random nature of some events, that could come at practically any time, so there will still be a need to reduce stress regardless.

This is, at the end of the day, a game. Making sure that mechanics are clear and can be easily understood doesn't really strike me as much of a problem, and seems actively beneficial instead. It's hardly any different from knowing exactly how much prestige and piety you have, or what your stats are exactly.
 
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... and is suicide one of the options for some level 3 stressed characters?

Linked to that, will characters still become depressed?

So many questions, I know. Sorry for flooding the tread!
Suicide is an option for characters in some situations, including when they high Stress Levels. It's not a decision to be made lightly though, as the act can have notable repercussions for your successor...

I forsee a myriad of mods with different flavors of how to cope.

Would love to see events if I've managed to establish a traderoute to asia to aquire certain herbal products to deal with stress
Certain herbal products you say?

Hashishiyah.png
 
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Why does stress reduce fertility?

Psychological stress (as opposed to oxidative stress from ions and free radicals in your body) doesn't decrease biological fertility - it DOES appear to make you age faster by shortening telomeres faster, which in turn leads to genetic damage (aging is basically the macroscopic symptoms of your body falling apart at the microscopic level)... but the science behind how this happens exactly isnt yet rock-solid. And for the avoidance of doubt - genetic data in sex cells are separate from your body's own cells, so this doesnt (as far as we know today) apply to them.

I mean if I'm thinking about my job security all the time I might not be as keen to get into a relationship, but it wont make me any less capable of "delivering the goods".
But if I'm a king my "job" stability literally depends on me having a "strong and stable" realm, and a strong realm requires a dynasty to prevent a power vaccum. So if anything a stressed king would be more fertile as he'd be trying harder to impregnate any woman (of suitable class) and get a (traditionally) male kid out.

If anything I feel like stress should age your character faster - maybe decouple the aging graphics from the biological age, so you can be biologically 40 but look biologically 50 for someone who'se aged poorly (stressed people often get grey hair sooner, for example).
 
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Is the AI also affected by stress ? Meamin you can drive someone mad by forcing him doing thing against his nature ?
I think it is a general mechanic.
But not a general one as I doubt that the AI will often go against the interests. A nice AI is less likely to burn you at stakes while you as nice human might be able to see the bigger picture of ti
 
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It wasn't that satisfying and you felt like half the time, you have all these prisoners that just rebelled, or that you caught plotting. And you can't really do anything with them, besides leave them to die, because it's wrapped up in game balance and will only let you do 1 or 2 actions at most.

You CAN do alot of things. It´s just that your vassals will dislike you for it. It´s a arbitrary system, -10 for all. Some should probably like you for it, some should dislike you for it. Some should not care too much. But at least you CAN do stuff with your prisoner. Not without concequense but that´s a good thing, he? :)
 
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Why does stress reduce fertility?

Psychological stress (as opposed to oxidative stress from ions and free radicals in your body) doesn't decrease biological fertility - it DOES appear to make you age faster by shortening telomeres faster... but the science behind how this happens exactly isnt yet rock-solid. And for the avoidance of doubt - sex cells are separate from your body's own cells, so this doesnt (as far as we know today) apply to them.

I mean if I'm thinking about my job security all the time I might not be as keen to get into a relationship.
But if I'm a king my "job" stability literally depends on me having a "strong and stable" realm, and a strong realm requires a dynasty to prevent a power vaccum. So if anything a stressed king would be more fertile as he'd be trying harder to impregnate any woman (of suitable class) and get a (traditionally) male kid out.

If anything I feel like stress should age your character faster - maybe decouple the aging graphics from the biological age, so you can be biologically 40 but look biologically 50 for someone who'se aged poorly (stressed people often get grey hair sooner, for example).
I would say being extremely stressed would make it harder to get in the mood and make one less willing to do it with their partner.

also having the characters be aged by stress sounds really cool
 
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Why does stress reduce fertility?

Psychological stress (as opposed to oxidative stress from ions in your body) doesnt decrease biological fertility - it DOES appear to make you age faster by shortening telomeres faster... but the science behind how this happens exactly isnt yet rock-solid. And for the avoidance of doubt - sex cells are separate from your body's own cells, so this doesnt (as far as we know today) apply to them.

I mean if I'm thinking about my job security all the time I might not be as keen to get into a relationship.
But if I'm a king my "job" stability literally depends on me having a "strong and stable" realm, and a strong realm requires a dynasty to prevent a power vaccum. So if anything a stressed king would be more fertile as he'd be trying harder to impregnate any woman (of suitable class) and get a (traditionally) male kid out.

If anything I feel like stress should age your character faster - maybe decouple the aging graphics from the biological age, so you can be biologically 40 but look biologically 50 for someone who'se aged poorly (stressed people often get grey hair sooner, for example).
I think you're misinterpreting things a bit here. It's not about biology at all. While some people may choose to have sex to destress, a lot of the time people who are stressed simply don't feel like having sex, as they just aren't relaxed enough to be "in the mood", so to speak. For men stress can also actively contribute to "performance anxiety" and erectile dysfunction. Equally, depending on the causes, people who are stressed may spend more time working and simply not give themselves much personal time, or they may distance themselves from their spouse, either deliberately or by accident.
 
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This is a good point. I'll make sure to raise it with the team.
That's good to hear, thank you! Accounting for little details like this does wonders for immersion so I'm happy to know you're willing to go the extra mile.

Speaking of which, I'm curious. How is the event structured in regards to the character's sexual preferences? Would it be different if Matilda was homosexual? And if so, how would it work if she was bi instead? Would there be a random chance of featuring either male, female or Blorg lovers, or would it just always default to one?
 
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But what other areas of gameplay might stress be used to balance out?

Specifically I am looking at "this is an act of tyranny and will cause -10 for vassals."

Might the fact that execution and imprisonment can cause stress, might that not open us up to more options for tyranny-free punishment options for those that have dishonored us?

I'm not looking to torture people over and over it's just..

Many many players were frustrated by the fact that the ramifications for say a rebellious vassal was really only so much. In the early days of CK2 it was pretty much, you get one title.

Oh but then if you kill this traitor that's considered tyrannical because well you already got one title, later it was expanded to two titles. And a lot of it depended on the CB used if they were even flagged as traitorous.

It wasn't that satisfying and you felt like half the time, you have all these prisoners that just rebelled, or that you caught plotting. And you can't really do anything with them, besides leave them to die, because it's wrapped up in game balance and will only let you do 1 or 2 actions at most.

Shouldn't stress' involvement with both execution and being imprisoned loosen that up a bit?

Solution: Byzantine Culture Group
 
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