Faction Leader personalities - why not have them influence the faction's AI behavior/diplo/buffs on the campaign map?

[hanbarc]

See title. The idea that each faction leader has a number of attributes, forming an overall personality (eg 'warmonger' or 'trader') is not new to the series. What I'm suggesting is that these traits should influence, to a medium degree, the decisions we see the AI take on the campaign map - what buildings they build, who they declare war on, how likely they are to declare war, how easy they are to befriend or to bribe, etc.

This should hopefully add some vareity and 'feel' to each seperate faction, and make each game even more 'sandboxy'.

For example, the new German leader is a 'warmonger' and 'hates Roman culture' as the Roman faction killed his father in battle. When he comes to power the German AI then becomes much more likely to build units rather than buildings, maybe even receives buffs to do so, and is also more likely to declare war on his neighbours, especially if they happen to be Romans. Or, the new Carthaginian leader is a 'trader' and 'loves Greek culture'. Trader would mean he is much more likely to sign and keep trade routes open, and 'loves Greek culture' makes the Carthaginians more likely to trade and form strong alliances with the Greeks, Macedonians, etc.

This would add both realism and fun to the campaign - kings or emporers often made rash or brilliant decisions based on personality! If done properly, it should make diplomacy vibrant, and far easier for the human player to predict and understand, and maybe even easier to manipulate to your advantage. Which in turn should make it more fun.

Agents would also become more useful. Assassinating faction leaders secretly if you can becomes much more appealing because this could affect the attitude of the AI to your benefit, if the heir has more agreeable traits to your cause. You could also plant diplomats or ambassadors to attempt to moderate or increase an aspect of a leaders personality to your gain.

I know this is at odds with the general development tree as seen in Shogun, so maybe there could be a way to keep a generals personality, and those perks seperate.

[Zimmy]

I like it. If your faction leader dies in battle the new leader should hate whoever the battle was with and have a Vengeance trait adds more attack when facing them in battle.

[snarst]

I like it. If your faction leader dies in battle the new leader should hate whoever the battle was with and have a Vengeance trait adds more attack when facing them in battle.

What if they didn't like the faction leader or were disloyal to him?

[Evalation]

then the leader would get thrown in a river, then all hail the new king!

[Evalation]

oops double post.

[hanbarc]

I suppose if a heir has a 'dislikes his leader' trait then he might become grateful to the faction who kills off said leader, especially if via assassination. Maybe could even be a random event/mission to assassinate with a reward sent to the human for doing so plus the diplo gain with the new leader!

Anyway, this is small touches, I was mostly talking about effects of personality on what the campaign AI does as well as what you can do with the diplo.

[The Great Montrose]

I suppose if a heir has a 'dislikes his leader' trait then he might become grateful to the faction who kills off said leader, especially if via assassination. Maybe could even be a random event/mission to assassinate with a reward sent to the human for doing so plus the diplo gain with the new leader!

Anyway, this is small touches, I was mostly talking about effects of personality on what the campaign AI does as well as what you can do with the diplo.

great idea there about the player being paid to kill a factions leader

[Vissewalde rex de Gerzika]

I suppose if a heir has a 'dislikes his leader' trait then he might become grateful to the faction who kills off said leader, especially if via assassination. Maybe could even be a random event/mission to assassinate with a reward sent to the human for doing so plus the diplo gain with the new leader!

Anyway, this is small touches, I was mostly talking about effects of personality on what the campaign AI does as well as what you can do with the diplo.

I believe that a mission like this is in M2TW already, but it comes up very rarely and could go into much more depth.

Lso, if you fail the attempt there could be a chance that the heir escapes and joins your cause along with settlements/armies loyal to him, that would be amazing.

[snarst]

I suppose if a heir has a 'dislikes his leader' trait then he might become grateful to the faction who kills off said leader, especially if via assassination. Maybe could even be a random event/mission to assassinate with a reward sent to the human for doing so plus the diplo gain with the new leader!

Anyway, this is small touches, I was mostly talking about effects of personality on what the campaign AI does as well as what you can do with the diplo.

That happened to me in medieval 2, I was at war with turkey as Egypt and 5 heirs in a row wanted me to assassinate their leader for a relationship bonus. It was around king number 5 I decided it was getting ridiculous and stopped assassinating them since it wasn't helping me.

[Ne Obliviscaris]

CA have promised intrigue and treachery; perhaps this is how they'll make it happen.

[hanbarc]

Only issue is that it should (rightly) be very hard to assassinate a faction leader. So maybe you'll only get this if you farm a high level assassin or two. Would be high risk to reward too. Actually, would be even more awesome if you fail with the attempt, and the heir who gave you the quest gets killed for treason instead as well as your assassin. Who knows, fun to guess though!

[Okuto]

Only issue is that it should (rightly) be very hard to assassinate a faction leader. So maybe you'll only get this if you farm a high level assassin or two. Would be high risk to reward too. Actually, would be even more awesome if you fail with the attempt, and the heir who gave you the quest gets killed for treason instead as well as your assassin. Who knows, fun to guess though!

Not in shogun.......I assassinated faction leaders like hotcakes.....

Likewise the AI assassinated my faction leaders just as easy......

[hanbarc]

But that's my original point. If leader's personalities reflected how the faction behaved in the campaign, then you as a player are more likely to want to manipulate the situation to get someone you want into power, eg a trade minded rather than war minded leader if you need someone to trade with.

[Anna_Gein]

I agree. This would add more variety, fun and immersion to the campaign.
That could add a more natural AI behaviour in diplomacy. So a peaceful king wouldn't go to war against you. A loyal wouldn't betray you if you are ally.

I suppose the mission wasn't believable in medieval 2 because it was trigger by the faction and not the specific heir.
I have myself been contacted by the different heir of a same faction while it was rare to get it from a different faction.

[hanbarc]

That could add a more natural AI behaviour in diplomacy. So a peaceful king wouldn't go to war against you. A loyal wouldn't betray you if you are ally.

Yep, that's the idea. At the moment all the AI factions 'feel' the same in the game because they all act in very similar, and often confusing ways diplomatically.

Sure, having different unit types and cultures back in Rome compared to Shogun will help a bit, but it would be much much better if the AI behaved to represent the personality of its leader, or the culture of the faction for that matter.

[ngr]

Really great idea! I hope CA will make it.