Dev thoughts 2 - Lifestyles
It's time for another "Dev thoughts" post, and today I feel like Lifestyle traits would be a good topic.
As you might remember from one of the dev diaries for 14.2.0, Tianxia will be adding a new Lifestyle trait: Renowned Matriarch/Patriarch. This will create something of an imbalance when it comes to the distribution of Lifestyle traits since there will be four traits with Diplomacy as the primary stat, which we will not be addressing in the short term... but what about the longer term? Well, I have some thoughts on that.
CK2 Lifestyle traits all have either +3 to one stat (e.g. Socializer is a +3 Diplomacy trait) or +2 to a primary stat and +1 to another stat (e.g. Architect has +2 Stewardship and +1 Martial), as well as generally some side benefits (e.g. same trait opinion). This means that if that distribution of stats is maintained you can have five traits per primary stat (not counting gendered versions), and that there will be nine Lifestyle trait slots left once 14.2.0 is released.
Diplomacy:
- The +3 Diplomacy trait is Socializer. Not much to say; it's a reasonable trait for that slot.
- +2 Diplomacy and +1 Martial is Game Master. War games and strategic thinking in games might translate to military applications in some ways, so this isn't bad.
- +2 Diplomacy and +1 Stewardship is the new Renowned Matriarch/Patriarch traits. Putting it in the Diplomacy category was obvious, and I felt that Stewardship was more reasonable than Learning.
- Hedonist is in the +2 Diplomacy +1 Intrigue slot. I suppose the latter stat is meant to imply keeping some of the hedonism under wraps or something, and I overall think the trait is a good enough fit for this slot.
- Finally, we have the +2 Diplomacy +1 Learning slot, which is empty. Currently, I am thinking that maybe an "Orator" trait would be an option (probably giving a little extra vassal opinion on top of the base stats), but that's not set in stone.
Martial:
- Hunter sits in the +1 Diplomacy +2 Martial slot. Reasonable since hunting would be both a social activity and a martial pursuit.
- Duelist is the +3 Martial trait. Honestly, I'm not really sold on that, because while the trait belongs in the Martial category someone that's good with a sword (or other weapon) isn't automatically going to be a good commander. I'm tentatively looking at a "Warlord" trait for this slot that'd be even more focused on what goes on on the battlefield than Strategist, with Duelist moving to +2 Martial +1 Intrigue since you're probably learning how to feint and spot feints as part of that trait.
- +2 Martial and +1 Stewardship is the Strategist trait. Theoretically, it could move to the Duelist slot to open up this slot, but I feel the logistics implications from Stewardship are pretty good for a Strategist.
- The +2 Martial +1 Intrigue slot is currently free. As mentioned above, I think this probably should be the Duelist slot.
- Finally, +2 Martial +1 Learning is empty. I don't really know what I'd like to put here.
Stewardship:
- I feel a "Trader"/"Merchant" trait might be suitable for the empty +1 Diplomacy +2 Stewardship slot; for one thing, it'd be something that'd have synergies with MRs and the Silk Road (and the Trans-Sahara route), as well as a good fit for the Business Focus. It could also possibly go in the +2 Stewardship +1 Intrigue slot if there's something more interesting for this slot.
- Architect has +1 Martial and +2 Stewardship. A good fit, considering military fortifications and such.
- Administrator is the +3 Stewardship trait. Feels very reasonable to me.
- The +2 Stewardship +1 Intrigue slot is empty. Not sure what to do with this one.
- Finally, we have Gardener at +2 Stewardship +1 Learning, which I think is a good enough trait for this slot.
Intrigue:
- Master Seducer/Seductress sits in the +1 Diplomacy +2 Intrigue slot. No complaints, since knowing when to be tactful probably can be an advantage in seduction.
- +1 Martial +2 Intrigue is currently free. I sort of feel maybe Impaler should be moved here so that the +2 Intrigue +1 Learning slot can be freed up.
- +1 Stewardship +2 Intrigue is also free. Not sure what would go here that's not covered by Master Schemer.
- +3 Intrigue is Master Schemer; that's certainly a good choice.
- +2 Intrigue +1 Learning is currently Impaler. As mentioned above, this might be possible to free up, even if I'm not entirely sure what to put here; impaling doesn't feel like a particularly learned activity, however.
Learning:
- +1 Diplomacy +2 Learning is empty. The stat distribution matches Renowned Physician, which feels rather tempting to put here; however, that'd either mean making that trait exclusive with other Lifestyles everywhere (e.g. for recruited physicians) or changing the number of Lifestyle traits someone can have to at least 2.... which has balance implications and changes vanilla to a greater extent, but might be attractive in some cases where a historical person could go in a lot of different directions Lifestyle-wise and could let long-lived characters get noticeably good at more than one thing. Another option might be to move Theologian here; more on that below.
- +1 Martial +2 Learning is likewise empty. No ideas about this one at present.
- +1 Stewardship +2 Learning is Mystic. I sort of feel that this could be better in the +1 Intrigue +2 Learning slot, since I'm not sure what the Stewardship is about and charlatan mystics sounds like a thing that wouldn't be unreasonable (even if not every mystic would be a complete fraud). This would free up this slot.
- +1 Intrigue +2 Learning is Theologian. In some ways, this might make sense since someone that knows their holy book (or oral traditions) very well might be good at "creative interpretation" or cherry-picking if it suits them, but the average Theologian might not be that kind of person, so moving it to +1 Diplomacy and +2 Learning might be better, particularly as it feels like it'd fit with religious debates, proselytizing, and so forth. The +1 Stewardship +2 Learning slot might also be an option, if the administrative aspects are considered important enough for that to make sense.
- Finally, Scholar is a very good choice for +3 Learning since it is about overall learning.
Also, let's briefly touch upon a few Lifestyle-related topics:
- The (non-WoL) Lifestyle events are something I feel maybe could be polished up/expanded (and maybe unlocked with WoL too) to give the player more opportunities to pick up Lifestyle traits (on top of focuses, society powers, and a few scattered events elsewhere). I don't consider it a priority at present, however.
- It would be possible to add new Focuses, but I currently think improving on those that already exist is a higher priority since some of them are... not great. 14.2.0 will contain improvements to/overhauls of the Family and Seduction Focuses since those are closely tied to other things in the update, and I plan to get around to others when they make sense from a development standpoint (e.g. the Intrigue and War Focuses would probably be looked at in updates with a focus on intrigue and warfare, respectively).
- New Lifestyle traits would of course be integrated into relevant societies (and some other things) if/when we add the traits (and/or applicable societies); I don't plan on adopting a "We can't change existing content!" approach to development.
That's all I have for now. Much like last time, I plan to post one of these in a couple of weeks.
