Ireland: to share or not to share and family mechanics

**Ireland** · April 07, 2015, 07:39 AM

1. I'm interested what others approach might be to the Celtic tribes and how they deal with their neighbors. When I have been playing I've tried it both ways. I'll work out friendly alliances and we will divide up england and live peacefully. Problem with that approach is the pics and Caledonian's rip through western Europe and spoil my pie by taking all the worth out of sacking. I've tried taking all the isles but find myself missing my now dead and rotting friends.

2. I've found it can be hard to plan ahead for the family tree and keeping control of politics. Any tips? I have a way of playing that is defensive. I take most of the isles then sit and try to rule my empire. Come to find out nobles are gaining tons of influence while my family generals fall behind or out of favor. Tips?

**Slaists** · April 07, 2015, 08:55 AM

An easy an cheap way to get rid of the opposition's influence is to ping-pong them through the political promotions (1 switch per turn). Each promotion switch costs their influence.

Alternatively, can send wives of your characters to "reduce influence" of the opposition. Also, since the overall power is 50% dominion, 50% control, you can boost control to 100% (again, by using the influence of wives preferably) via the "gather support" action.

Still another way: marry the opposition into your family (works only if you have appropriate brides and the target is not already married) or adopt them.

As to Britain: I find controlling your "home area" is best even if it means killing off friendly nations. All it takes is one switch of a ruler (going from a reliable ally to an aggressive, treacherous opportunist) and you can have your heartland razed to the ground. It is cheaper to eliminate those troublesome neighbors early.

**Ireland** · April 07, 2015, 10:14 AM

All good stuff here! What do u usually use your own family as? Governors or generals?
Easiest to keep up influence?
Should I not use my family's influence to keep it high? Or just not the kings so ppl stay loyal?

**Slaists** · April 07, 2015, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by Ireland

All good stuff here! What do u usually use your own family as? Governors or generals?
Easiest to keep up influence?
Should I not use my family's influence to keep it high? Or just not the kings so ppl stay loyal?

I tend to avoid using the influence of my family's generals for anything other than political promotions. Their wives are used for any sabotage/political actions.

If a general gets an opposition objection against a political promotion I dip into my king's influence pool since his help ensures a loyalty boost for the general in the question. Otherwise, try to keep king's influence as high as possible (so no general has his higher than the king's).

Other than that, I do not bother about 'balancing' influence between non-family and family members. I just use the man who is best for the job (some characters have a better trait lineup to be a governor; some are better to be generals). I use the "control" side of the politics to balance the power bar right where I want it.

**Bramborough** · April 07, 2015, 12:10 PM

In the early phase when you're fighting a lot, use your family characters as generals. But then when things settle down and your armies might sit quite a while without fighting, switch those family guys into governorships, and put the opposition guys in charge of the armies. A general fighting a lot will gain influence quickly, faster than a governor. But a governor does earn a steady amount per turn, as opposed to a general sitting on his butt, earning zero.

One thing I do is I always keep my FL in a governorship (in the safest province I have, which is usually the original home province and therefore the richest, or at least close). A) Keeps him safe, almost zero chance of battle death, and B) between the governorship and his FL trait, he still earns influence as quickly as even a pretty active general.

**Slaists** · April 07, 2015, 12:33 PM

One thing about governors: they seem to earn influence when buildings are completed. If they're sitting in a built-up rich province they gain influence very slowly and even get negative traits. So, if you want a governor to earn influence, put him in a province that has a lot of development going on.

**Ireland** · April 07, 2015, 12:48 PM

I have found that trying to change generals to governors or anything else really makes them angry with the disbanding of them. End up losing loyalty. Is there a better way to go about this? A button I am missing if I want a general in a governor position?

**Slaists** · April 07, 2015, 01:10 PM

Originally Posted by Ireland

I have found that trying to change generals to governors or anything else really makes them angry with the disbanding of them. End up losing loyalty. Is there a better way to go about this? A button I am missing if I want a general in a governor position?

It's random. Sometimes they get upset, sometimes they don't. But in general, yes: switching them around between armies/positions is a bad idea in Attila. I guess, CA did not like the constant rotation players were using in Rome 2.

**Ireland** · April 07, 2015, 01:21 PM

Stoked to try out some of these tactics. A couple I had no clue about

**Bramborough** · April 07, 2015, 07:31 PM

One tip about family politics. Be wary of using the "Diminish Popularity" action. I used it a couple of times in my first campaign upon release, and quickly learned not to touch it again. If you have an otherwise-useful character whose influence you want to tap down a bit, there's much better ways to do it (i.e., office promotion). Using Diminish Popularity saddles the guy with the long-lasting "Out of Favor" trait, and might get him lynched by a local mob.

Perhaps CA might've dampened this effect a bit with patches, but I haven't seen anything in patch notes to that effect (which of course doesn't mean it didn't occur).