Corrupt Governors Aren't That Big of a Deal - Trait Analysis
I know, that's quite the turnaround since my last post complaining about useless Ptolemaioi governors, but the issue with Hellenic factions is that they have MANY exclusive bad traits that can make them horrible. But, with other factions, the generic corruption traits aren't that bad in the end.
The generic corruption traits that can be caused by a large treasure are:
;Trait: Epicurean
; o Gourmet_of_Life (4) 2 <Trading>, -1 <BribeResistance>
; o Refined_Tastes (8) 4 <Trading>, -2 <BribeResistance>
; o Rarified_Tastes (16) 6 <Trading>, -3 <BribeResistance>
Furthermore, we have a bunch of relatively worse traits connected to having Embezzler, which are as follow:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Trait Embezzler [PS: Requires >100K treasure and <6 loyalty to have a chance to trigger as a general rule]
Characters family
;AntiTraits Upright, Austere, Stoic
Level Embezzler
Effect BribeResistance -10
Effect TaxCollection -25
Effect Law -3
Effect Construction -5
Effect Loyalty -1
Effect Unrest 2
Trait Liar
Characters family
NoGoingBackLevel 1
;AntiTraits Upright
Level Untruthful
Effect Loyalty -1
Level Economical_with_the_Truth
Effect Loyalty -2
Furthermore, may cause Corrupt, Aesthetic, Expensive Tastes, Epicurean, and Wealthy.
Furthermore, we have the Luxurious Lifestyle trigger line, caused by being in a settlement with a Level 3 Temple of Fun, Level 3 Market, above-basic entertainment building + very high taxes, uniqueroad1 (?) + very high taxes.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
;Trait: Gambling
; o Likes_a_Flutter (1): <Trading> -5, <BribeResistance> -2
; o Gambler (2): <Trading> -10, <TaxCollection> -5, <BribeResistance> -3
; o Inveterate_Gambler (8): <Trading> -15, <TaxCollection> -10, <BribeResistance> -4
; o Ruled_by_Luck(12): <Trading> -20, <TaxCollection> -15, <BribeResistance> -5
;Trait: Drink
; o Social_Drinker (1): <Influence> 1, <HitPoints> -1
; o Likes_a_Drink (2): <HitPoints> -1
; o Drunkard (4): <Command> -1, <HitPoints> -2
; o Drunken_Lout (8): <Influence> -1, <Command> -1, <HitPoints> -2
; o Sot (16): <Influence> -2, <Command> -2, <HitPoints> -3
; o Paralytic (32): <Influence> -3, <Command> -3, <HitPoints> -3
Furthermore may cause Aesthetic, Expensive Tastes, and Epicurean
So yeah, we have a fairly large collection of traits here that cause reduced income, overcharged buildings, lowered bribe resistance, and somewhat rarely, reduced loyalty. That is not good, specially in the early game, when you are still setting up your infrastructure and economy up. However, later on, when your empire is already well established, to the point you are struggling to keep your treasure <low>, a little help on that by your governors isn't that big of a deal is it?
Furthermore, Corruption and Gambling may give you Wealthy (although Gambling may also lose you Wealthy if you get levels too high). Wealthy gives you influence, and can be turned into other useful traits, like Generous, reduce or even remove Hypochondriac, gives a bonus to Influence, and can be inherited by the governor's sons. Wealthy is a pretty damn good trait, and for all factions but Carthage and Lusitanians (less reliably), the only way you can acquire it is by fighting, or having a corrupt governor or gambler.
Finally, Aesthetic and Expensive Tastes give out Influence, which is very useful for public order, as it directly reduces unrest, and boosts your culture conversion, and money doesn't buy you that.
So yeah, while these traits are, indeed, bad, most of them (exception being Embezzler) have enough of a silver lining to make them worth ignoring on mid game and, hell, maybe even somewhat positive on late game. As I said before, cultural conversion is vital for larger empires and is just something you don't buy, specially if your faction doesn't have colonization, migration, or similar stuff in place to boost it naturally. Besides, lots of factions have useful traits and anciliaries that demand certain levels of influence, and these traits can just help you get above the threshold.
Re: Corrupt Governors Aren't That Big of a Deal - Trait Analysis
I use governors for conversion and public order for most part. At the point where your governors start becoming corrupt, generally there's no need to worry about money. Though I do wish there were a better way to represent the struggles of ruling a large empire (and being rich usually equals having a large empire) than having your generals become decadent. And for Temples of Fun to actually be viable.