Some documentation on the feature, for those who are interested:
How Factions Work in CK2Plus (as of 3.06.5)
In regular CK2, factions work in one way: vassals who want something specific join them, and once they reach a certain strength in comparison to their liege they will make a demand to either get it or rebel. CK2Plus has factions that work that way (the Independence, Pretender, and Religious factions), but there are also four “regular” factions which work quite differently.
These factions represent vassals who band together out of common interest. When there’s more than one in the same faction, they will occasionally meet and pass motions based on how collectively happy or unhappy they are with their liege (tracked as the “faction mood”) and can then either demand things from their liege or offer him rewards to demonstrate their loyalty.
Types of factions
Court Faction
These are vassals who are primarily interested in maintaining their personal autonomy, and tend to approve of things that benefit or honor themselves as individual lords. This faction tends to attract vassals with an Intrigue education, or those who are ambitious, proud, or greedy.
Things that will increase the opinion of Court Faction members:
Things that will decrease the opinion of Court Faction members:
Glory Faction
These are vassals who are primarily interested in prestige and the benefits of war. They approve of victories or anything that brings prestige to their liege (and, by extension, themselves). This faction tends to attract vassals with a Martial education, or those who are brave, wroth, or cruel.
Things that will increase the opinion of Glory Faction members:
Things that will decrease the opinion of Glory Faction members:
Prosperity Faction
These are vassals who are primarily interested in wealth. They want more money for themselves, and they want the land to prosper. This faction tends to attract vassals with a Stewardship education, or those who are greedy or diligent. Patricians and republic rulers are also much more attracted to this faction.
Things that will increase the opinion of Prosperity Faction members:
Things that will decrease the opinion of Prosperity Faction members:
Tradition Faction
These are vassals who are of the liege’s religion (only), and are interested both in traditions being maintained and their faith being honored. This faction tends to attract vassals with an Ecclesiastical education, or those who are zealous. Bishops (any ruler with a temple as their capital holding) are also much more attracted to this faction.
Things that will increase the opinion of Tradition Faction members:
Things that will decrease the opinion of Tradition Faction members:
Faction Moods
The “Faction Mood” is determined by the average opinion of each member of that faction towards their liege – weighted by their rank. So a Duke’s opinion of the liege is worth more than a Count’s, and a King’s is worth more than a Duke’s. A faction that is Happy overall is likely to support their liege should a rebellion occur, and far more likely to offer the liege rewards. A faction that is Unhappy or Rebellious is one that will likely make a demand of their liege or start a rebellion to simply overthrow him.
Faction Meetings
If a faction has at least two members, it is able to hold a faction meeting at least once every two years. The meeting can occur sooner if the faction mood is Rebellious, and will not occur during a rebellion, but otherwise it happens regularly. During that meeting, the faction leader will determine the agenda – and that will depend entirely on the faction leader’s specific opinion towards their liege. A faction leader who likes their liege but who is in an Unhappy or Angry faction may try to talk their faction into calming down, for instance…but that could end up with them being removed as leader.
The sorts of actions a faction leader may attempt during a meeting:
Handling Factions
These are some tips for how to keep factions from becoming an issue:
How Factions Work in CK2Plus (as of 3.06.5)
In regular CK2, factions work in one way: vassals who want something specific join them, and once they reach a certain strength in comparison to their liege they will make a demand to either get it or rebel. CK2Plus has factions that work that way (the Independence, Pretender, and Religious factions), but there are also four “regular” factions which work quite differently.
These factions represent vassals who band together out of common interest. When there’s more than one in the same faction, they will occasionally meet and pass motions based on how collectively happy or unhappy they are with their liege (tracked as the “faction mood”) and can then either demand things from their liege or offer him rewards to demonstrate their loyalty.
Types of factions
Court Faction
These are vassals who are primarily interested in maintaining their personal autonomy, and tend to approve of things that benefit or honor themselves as individual lords. This faction tends to attract vassals with an Intrigue education, or those who are ambitious, proud, or greedy.
Things that will increase the opinion of Court Faction members:
- Low Crown Authority/Tribal Organization
- Vassal Tax Privileges law
- Having any Court Faction member on the liege’s council
- Holding feasts and tournaments
- Granting a landed title (of greater than Baron tier) to any member of their faction
Things that will decrease the opinion of Court Faction members:
- High Crown Authority/Tribal Organization
- High feudal taxes
- Crown Tax Privileges law
- Crown Levy Privileges law
- High decadence for Muslims
- No member of the Court Faction belonging to the liege's council
Glory Faction
These are vassals who are primarily interested in prestige and the benefits of war. They approve of victories or anything that brings prestige to their liege (and, by extension, themselves). This faction tends to attract vassals with a Martial education, or those who are brave, wroth, or cruel.
Things that will increase the opinion of Glory Faction members:
- Vassal Levy Privileges law
- Any Glory Faction member being appointed as Marshal
- The liege having high Prestige
- Winning wars (rebellions do not count)
- Holding tournaments
- Granting a landed title (of greater than Baron tier) to any member of their faction
Things that will decrease the opinion of Glory Faction members:
- Crown Levy Privileges law
- The liege's Marshal not belonging to the Glory Faction
- The liege having negative Prestige
- Five or more consecutive years of peace
- Losing wars (rebellions do not count)
- High decadence for Muslims
Prosperity Faction
These are vassals who are primarily interested in wealth. They want more money for themselves, and they want the land to prosper. This faction tends to attract vassals with a Stewardship education, or those who are greedy or diligent. Patricians and republic rulers are also much more attracted to this faction.
Things that will increase the opinion of Prosperity Faction members:
- High Crown Authority/Tribal Organization (they like order)
- Vassal Tax Privileges law
- Any Prosperity Faction member being appointed as Steward
- The liege having high Wealth
- Five or more consecutive years of peace
- Holding summer fairs
- Granting a landed title (of greater than Baron tier) to any member of their faction
Things that will decrease the opinion of Prosperity Faction members:
- Low Crown Authority\Tribal Organization
- High taxes, especially for cities
- Crown Tax Privileges law
- The liege's Steward not belonging to the Prosperity Faction
- The liege having negative Wealth or being in debt
Tradition Faction
These are vassals who are of the liege’s religion (only), and are interested both in traditions being maintained and their faith being honored. This faction tends to attract vassals with an Ecclesiastical education, or those who are zealous. Bishops (any ruler with a temple as their capital holding) are also much more attracted to this faction.
Things that will increase the opinion of Tradition Faction members:
- Lifetime Appointment for councilors law
- Any Tradition Faction member being appointed as Lord Spiritual
- The liege having high Piety
- Declaring holy wars and crusades
- Indulgences and charity
- Granting a landed title (of greater than Baron tier) to any member of their faction
Things that will decrease the opinion of Tradition Faction members:
- High temple taxes
- High decadence for Muslims
- The liege's Lord Spiritual not belonging to the Tradition Faction
- The liege having negative Piety
- Losing religious wars
- Changing succession laws
Faction Moods
The “Faction Mood” is determined by the average opinion of each member of that faction towards their liege – weighted by their rank. So a Duke’s opinion of the liege is worth more than a Count’s, and a King’s is worth more than a Duke’s. A faction that is Happy overall is likely to support their liege should a rebellion occur, and far more likely to offer the liege rewards. A faction that is Unhappy or Rebellious is one that will likely make a demand of their liege or start a rebellion to simply overthrow him.
Faction Meetings
If a faction has at least two members, it is able to hold a faction meeting at least once every two years. The meeting can occur sooner if the faction mood is Rebellious, and will not occur during a rebellion, but otherwise it happens regularly. During that meeting, the faction leader will determine the agenda – and that will depend entirely on the faction leader’s specific opinion towards their liege. A faction leader who likes their liege but who is in an Unhappy or Angry faction may try to talk their faction into calming down, for instance…but that could end up with them being removed as leader.
The sorts of actions a faction leader may attempt during a meeting:
- Attempt to strengthen themselves, either by requesting funds from the rest of the faction members or by improving the opinion of faction members towards him (and thus making it more likely they will approve of votes in the future).
- Make a speech to improve the opinion of faction members towards their liege. This could go poorly, depending on the leader’s Diplomacy, resulting in a drop of opinion instead.
- Offer their support as a faction towards their liege. This is done either by offering funds to their liege (if successful, the liege receives a certain amount from each member: 30 from a King, 20 from a Duke, or 10 from a Count) or through a “show of support” which transfers a bonus based on the faction: the Court faction offers a feudal levy increase, the Prosperity faction a city tax increase, the Glory faction offers prestige, and the Tradition faction offers piety.
- Denounce the liege in a speech, resulting in a drop of opinion towards the liege by all faction members. Again, this could go poorly, depending on the leader’s Diplomacy, and result in an increase of opinion instead.
- If the faction is Unhappy or Angry, it can make a demand. The type of demand it can make is specific to the faction. Court factions can demand a reduction in Crown Authority or Tribal Organization, a change in the Tax Privilege or Levy Privilege law, or lower Feudal Taxes. Prosperity factions can demand a change in Tax Privilege law, a reduction in taxes, or can demand that the liege pay them coin (if he has any). Glory factions can demand a change in the Levy Privilege or Tax Privilege law, a reduction in Crown Authority or Tribal Organization, or lower Feudal Taxes. Tradition factions can demand lower Temple taxes, Council Life Terms law, a reduction in Crown Authority or Tribal Organization, or a reversion to an earlier succession law (for laws which have changed since the game began). All factions can also demand that a non-capital county be turned over by their liege to a faction member. If the lord refuses the faction’s demand, they will take a vote on whether to go to war. Even if that vote fails, they may vote to overthrow the liege later should the faction get strong enough.
Handling Factions
These are some tips for how to keep factions from becoming an issue:
- Make sure the faction leaders have a good opinion of you. If their opinion radically differs from that of their faction, it’s likely they’ll get voted out as leader – but that does mean they’re unlikely to put forward motions against you in the meantime.
- If you use your chancellor to improve relations with the faction leader, that can lead to a chance for your chancellor to address the entire faction and increase all of their opinions towards you.
- If you have a particularly troublesome faction leader, use your spymaster to undermine him with the rest of his faction. That will make it harder for his motions to get passed.
- Remember that ANY action which increases or decreases the opinion of your vassals towards you will affect their faction moods. It doesn’t matter if it’s something on the list which a faction specifically likes or dislikes. If you have some vassals in a faction who hate you because you revoked some of their titles, their hate will affect their faction mood – so keep an eye on the average. Sometimes bribing some amenable members to bring the average opinion up can help.
- If a faction rebels, they’re going to ask other factions to join them in the rebellion: a faction is only going to join that rebellion if they are Unhappy or Rebellious. If all your factions are Unhappy or Rebellious, a rebellion can be an incredibly dangerous thing. It might be better to give into their demand rather than risk it.
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