So, after having trouble with inconsistent Atimia and certain trait lines not being mentioned in the manual (like the priestly one for the Getai), I decided that if I want some answers (to hopefully share with the rest of the community), I will need to pop up the hood and take a look at the inner workings. Sadly, despite export_descr_character_traits containing some useful information, it doesn't actually show what actions build up the points in order to acquire the traits, just the threshold (which, I presume, means how many points you need to level up to a trait), and export_vnvs, while handy for containing in-game description for quite a few traits, is not nearly comprehensive enough to be of much help with the factions that are actually giving me trouble.
So, what exactly do I need to do to get to the actual traits file? And is it even readable for someone who is not a modder/coder?
Okay, I understand that what I asked is a pretty big request, but learning a little more about the file itself did help a lot. Furthermore, these tutorials also are being very useful: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...ggers-Monitors
So, if I may burrow a little more of your time and attention, could you help me out by checking if I actually understood how it works, regarding the example of the Atimia?
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Atimia doesn't seem to be a trait line by itself, but rather, a result from the Aner trait line, that is as it goes:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Trait Aner Characters family
ExcludeCultures cul_2, cul_5, cul_4, cul_7, cul_6
Level Aner
Description Aner_desc
EffectsDescription Aner_effects_desc
Threshold 1
Effect Piety 1
Effect Law 1
Effect TaxCollection 2
From what I understand, the Trait starts at level/threshold 1. If you gain up to 5 points, you become Atimia. If you gain up to 15 points, you get the Agora Statue, effectively the positive outcome. Now, it may seem counter-intuitive at first that both are positive values, but the triggers seem make it work by attributing values of 4 to "negative actions" and 14 to "positive actions", which means, effectively, you need two negative actions to become Atimia and two positive actions to get the Statue?
Condition FactionType f_kh
and SettlementBuildingExists >= polis_one
and Trait KHCitizen = 4
and Trait Aner = 1
and Trait CommandExperience > 2
and Attribute Piety > 5
and AgentType = family
Condition WonBattle
and BattleOdds > 0.9
and GeneralFoughtInCombat
and BattleSuccess = crushing
and FactionType f_kh
and Trait KHCitizen = 4
and Trait Aner = 1
and AgentType = family
Condition WonBattle
and BattleOdds > 0.9
and GeneralFoughtInCombat
and BattleSuccess > average
and FactionType f_kh
and Attribute Piety > 2
and Trait CommandExperience > 1
and Trait KHCitizen = 4
and Trait Aner = 1
and AgentType = family
Condition not WonBattle
and GeneralFoughtInCombat
and BattleSuccess = crushing
and FactionType f_kh
and Trait KHCitizen = 4
and Trait Aner = 1
and AgentType = family
Condition FactionType f_kh
and SettlementBuildingExists >= polis_one
and Trait KHCitizen = 4
and Trait Aner = 1
and Trait CommandExperience > 3
and Attribute Piety > 2
and AgentType = family
Condition FactionType f_kh
and SettlementBuildingExists >= polis_one
and Trait KHCitizen = 4
and Trait Aner = 1
and Trait Temperament < 3
and Trait Selflessness < 3
and Attribute Loyalty < 4
and AgentType = family
Condition FactionType f_kh
and GovernorBuildingExists >= polis_one
and Trait KHCitizen = 4
and Trait Aner = 1
and Trait Temperament < 3
and Trait Selflessness < 3
and Attribute Loyalty < 4
and TimeInRegion > 11
and AgentType = family
Condition FactionType f_kh
and GovernorBuildingExists >= polis_one
and Trait KHCitizen = 4
and Trait Aner = 1
and Trait Temperament > 2
and Trait Selflessness > 2
and Attribute Loyalty > 3
and TimeInRegion > 11
and AgentType = family
Condition SettlementBuildingExists >= polis_one
and FactionType f_kh
and Trait KHCitizen = 4
and Trait Aner = 1
and RandomPercent < 50
and Trait Temperament < 3
and Trait Selflessness < 3
and AgentType = family
Condition SettlementBuildingExists >= polis_one
and FactionType f_kh
and Trait KHCitizen = 4
and Trait Aner = 1
and RandomPercent < 50
and Trait CommandExperience > 2
and Attribute Piety > 2
and AgentType = family
Condition FactionType f_kh
and Trait KHCitizen = 5
and Trait Aner = 1
and AgentType = family
Affects Aner -1 Chance 100
;------------------------------------------
The first trigger, I presume, is just to give the trait Aner to start things up. Furthermore, the last trait seems to be a normalization, reducing, every turn, the points pool of the character, so if there's some time between the good/bad actions, the character won't immediately get the trait, some a degree of hurry is required for any outcome.
So, regarding the triggers, I think it is fairly self evident that triggers that Affects Aner 4 are the ones that will lead you to become Atimia, and the ones that Affect Aner 14 are the ones that will lead you to get a Statue, which is what you should pursue.
Conclusions I gather from reading these triggers:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Regarding Atimia, a crushing defeats seems to give 4 around 25% of the time, so while losing battles is not guarantee to Atimia, it is sure the quickest way to get there. Furthermore, there are many triggers regarding ending turns in settlements (with Poleis at least level one, interestingly) with Temperament and Selflessness <3 (so Pessimistic and Selfish characters) and Loyalty <4 (3 or less?), with one being basically a random increment and the other, a penalty for staying too long in the same settlement. In conclusion, to not get Atimia, don't be a Selfish, Pessimistic, Loyalty <4 character mucking in a settlement with a Poleis, specially for too long, and don't have crushing defeats.
Regarding the Statue, a heroic victory with >0.9 odds seems to give 14 points 100% of the time. Any other (above Pyrrhic?) victory requires Command at least 1 and Influence at least 2 for a 15% chance of award. Furthermore, upgrading Poleis to Level 2 offers a 50% chance of award, while a level 3 offers 100%. Furthermore, there are many triggers to award by staying in settlements depending on Command and Influence (C>2 + I>5 = 10%; C>3 + I>2 = 5%; Temperament >2 + Selflessness >2 + Loyalty >3 + Staying >11 turns = 2%; 50% C>2 + I>2 = 2%). So, in conclusion, other than participating in pitted battles and upgrading poleis, getting Command to at least 3 and Influence to at least 5 and staying a long time in a settlement should improve your odds.
Furthermore, many of triggers with incremental chances (namely, <3 Temp and Self + <4 Loyal to Atimia and >2 Temp and Self + >3 Loyalty to Statue) intersect a lot, so that means even Selfless and Optimistic, fairly loyal generals can become Atimia. On the other hand, Selfish, Pessimistic and not completely Disloyal generals have a chance to get a statue. As the player have no control over Temperament and Selflessness of a general least adopting and marrying him into the family, getting a Loyalty above 4 should at least get rid of the random chance to become Atimia.
So the actions the player can actually do to avoid Atimia characters is to strive to stay a lot in the court with a high Authority FL, partake in a lot of battles to build up Command, and do their best to improve their Influence trough the various, rather unreliable means. That should, effectively, remove the passive odds to become Atimia and improve the passive odds of getting a statue.
Its not easy to stay a lot at court/capital for KH characters though, because on the earlier "ages" getting good traits instead of bad ones is favored a lot by staying out of settlements or at least not too much in the same.
Yeah I had a somewhat promising but disloyal character share court in Sparta with the FL (the Rhodian one, you may know him). Got Atimia the next turn. I also remember struggling a lot to keep high loyalty values for long, so I guess hidden personality traits might be influencing that. Maybe some characters are just naturally disloyal and should be kept out of court until they get a statue or become geron.