Province-Specific Traits and Ancillaries

I was thinking that family members who spend a lot of time in one province (whether as a govenor or no) should progress beyond the 'Attuned Govenor' trait into more of a province-specific 'Base of Power'. Some of the historical examples that I have in mind are the Barcids in Spain and Caesar in Gaul. Once a family member achieves an 'Iberian Power-Base' (or Gallic, or whatever) the trait should be permanent, regardless of whether that family member then leaves the province for bigger and better things. The bonuses for the family member should be;

Increased Influence;
Decreased Cost of Hiring Mercs in that Province;
Increased Tax Income in that Province;
A Province-Specific Bodyguard Ancillary that increases Hit Points (e.g. Tiberius' German Bodyguards)

Also the Province itself should have an increase in Trade and Population Growth as long as that Family Member is alive, to reflect his patronage, but could have an increase in unrest whenevr he leaves.

This could also be tied into government resources- Type One govs shouldn't allow Family members to develop a personal base of power that could potentially rival the homeland provinces.

Speaking of conquered provinces rivalling the homeland- I'd like to see the 'Change Capitol City' function become a scripted event triggered by demographics and totally out of control of the player. Probably hardcoded, though.

Tiberius spent lots of time in Rome though, didn't he?

No Qin, that's for sure. It was incredibly short dynasty of one man's lifetime (practically), so if any get the Han. The silk road ancillaries should be Indian or Middle Eastern, as it would have been them by the time the silk had reached that part of the world (they travelled a few miles down the road then sold it to some merchant, and travelled back for more).

I don't think there'd by any way of implementing the unrest thing... just have an unrest decrease when he's there.

Also, Rome could make a person slyer, being the home of Roman politics? Athenian wives should not have any kind of influential thing: they were to be seen and not heard most of the time. They'd also be weaker. Perhaps also the harsh Spartan wife, who criticises runners? This could increase morale.

EDIT: almost forgot this. Spartan nannies make the sons have higher morale. Perhaps give some generals the trait 'Raised by Spartans' or 'Raised in Sparta' traits? The former would have a morale bonus (more demanding of his troops, greater expectation due to his own harsh upbringing) and the latter would have morale and experience bonuses (going through the agoge). It could also perhaps have a decreased management skill, because the Spartans didn't do much in the way of teaching their children literature, only having the most basic and necessary skills in reading and writing.

Corinth

"Under the Romans it became the seat of government for Southern Greece or Achaia (according to Acts 18:12-16). It was noted for its wealth, and for the luxurious, immoral and vicious habits of the people. It had a large mixed population of Romans, Greeks, and Jews."
Wealthy should be a common trait in Corinth.
Immoral and vicious: more wrestlers? Definitely less chance of being unselfish in a city like this.

" The city was renowned for the temple prostitutes of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who served the wealthy merchants and the powerful officials living in or travelling in and out of the city. "
Perhaps a temple of Aphrodite since the beginning? Increased fertility.


NOT ABOUT CORINTH
It said sometime a few centuries (forgot date) Athenian potters overtook the Corinthian potters in dominance. Perhaps give the Athenians more pottery to trade?

Antioch

"About 6 km west and beyond the suburb Heraclea lay the paradise of Daphne, a park of woods and waters, in the midst of which rose a great temple to the Pythian Apollo, also founded by Seleucus I and enriched with a cult-statue of the god, as Musagetes, by Bryaxis. A companion sanctuary of Hecate was constructed underground by Diocletian. The beauty and the lax morals of Daphne were celebrated all over the western world; and indeed Antioch as a whole shared in both these titles to fame. Its amenities awoke both the enthusiasm and the scorn of many writers of antiquity."
So, during 272 BCE there would be a temple to Apollo and statue to Musagetes. There would also be the 'park of Daphne'. Musagete's cult-statue could increase unrest (it's a cult!) and Apollo could just be a normal temple. The sanctuary itself could increase happiness and increase tradeable goods.

"The inhabitants were turbulent, fickle and notoriously dissolute. In the many dissensions of the Seleucid house they took violent part, and frequently rose in rebellion, for example against Alexander Balas in 147 BC, and Demetrius II in 129 BC. The latter, enlisting a body of Jews, punished his capital with fire and sword. In the last struggles of the Seleucid house, Antioch turned definitely against its feeble rulers, invited Tigranes of Armenia to occupy the city in 83 BC, tried to unseat Antiochus XIII in 65 BC, and petitioned Rome against his restoration in the following year. Its wish prevailed, and it passed with Syria to the Roman Republic in 64 BC, but remained a civitas libera."
Increased unrest and decreased law in Antioch?

"It enjoyed a great reputation for letters and the arts (Cicero pro Archia, 3); but the only names of distinction in these pursuits during the Seleucid period, that have come down to us, are Apollophanes, the Stoic, and one Phoebus, a writer on dreams."
Increased chance of being a 'Lover of Beauty', or a 'Stoic'.

Perhaps, given the notorious intrigue and backstabbing of the great families of Rome as regards the senate as so forth, someone born in Rome should be more skilled in the arts of intrigue and be less loyal, but perhaps more intelligent.

I think in some of the cities that have a great independant history, such as perhaps Syracuse or Pergamon or Sparta, the governor is likely to be swayed by Romantic tales of it's history and start imagining himself as ruler of a once more independant state, with a corresponding drop in loyalty.

Could coastal provinces with a lot of traders be more cosmopolitain and therefore more likely to introduce a 'welcoming to foreigners' trait? Whereas maybe inland, out of the way provinces, especially for more insular groups such as the sweboz and casse might be more likely to result in a more xenophobic attitude.

Would it be possible to have a 'High and Mighty' trait that governors acquire through governing a very large city, or perhaps generals acquire when they win a lot of battles. Makes generals more ambitious, and gives them a very high opinion of themselves. It might give his troops higher morale and increase his influence but decrease the cost of a bribe because he is less content merely being a general under your command?

Will you guys be using the new loyalty thing in BI where if their loyalty goes too low they rebel and become renegades?
Cus the previous suggestion would work a whole lot better if generals could set out on their own as rebels. It would mean that once your general has won a lot of battles and got a lot of command stars you'd have to start watching him, cus he might have such a high opinion of himself he'd start seeing himself as a better ruler than you.

I guess any governor of sparta might get a small morale bonus for his troops, and maybe a little influence too, just because of the respect earned from having 'governor of sparta' in your title.

I know it never happened historically, but is it possible for the governor of Seleukia, especially if he was say ptolemaic or parthian, to decide to reestablish Babylon? It wouldnt necessarily mean having to change the name of the town to Babylon cus if I remember Seleukia was not built on the ruins of Babylon but some distance away. It could result in an increase of population happiness and an increase in trade goods, but a decrease in revenue cus hes spending all this money on reconstruction.

Maybe the governor of that greek province that contains the oracle of delphi could become reliant on the oracle, unable to make a decision without its guidance. This could cause a drop in influence and command stars.

Given that the wars between the aedui and the arverni were a civil war, and they shared the same language and customs, could aedui/arverni generals get a 'relatives on the other side' trait?

So an Aedui general born in a province bordering the arverni might get a 'Arverni cousin' trait which lessens his hatred for them and lowers his command when fighting the arverni? to counter that, arverni deserters should be more common for the aedui as ancillaries and vice-versa, because of the similarities in culture, which would give a general more command stars.
You could have a whole bunch of stuff to flesh out the complicated relationship between the two confederations. You could have 'The murderer of this general's brother fled to arverni where he was not punished- this general hates the arverni with a passion' or 'cannot stand killing other gauls, the thought of fighting his own people makes this generals stomach turn'

You could do similar things with the greek factions. You could have a koinon hellenon general who is in awe of the achievements of Alexander the Great and so suffers a penalty fighting macedonians. If a character was in the olympic games but lost you could give him a trait that explains that he was beaten by a bactrian at wrestling and he bears a grudge against all bactrians.

If you send a character from an insular culture like the casse far from his home province could you give him a 'homesick' trait, or 'feels unwell in foreign climes' with a drop in command and troop morale.

I dunno, I'll come back with some more when I think of them

Good ideas, but how could living in a certain place make you more intelligent? Intelligence is something you're born with, you either have it or you don't. He could be more well versed or things like that though (unless he was very dull of course).

Well, personally I don't think that intelligence is entirely based on genetics. It's not really the point though. If you were immersed in the politics and intrigue of the city from a young age you'd probably be more adept at it than someone who grew up somewhere out in the remoter regions of the realm. Certainly you'd have a greater sense of the workings of power. Now that I think of it though, that would probably be best exemplified by a small influence bonus rather than making them 'sharp'.

is it even possible to give someone a trait based on where they grew up? Or only where the govern?

How about also a trait 'Loves his province' for a governor: something like 'this man has become very attached to his region. He likes nothing better than to ride through the countryside admiring its beauty.' Which would give a population happiness bonus and maybe a command bonus when fighting in his province but maybe a drop in stats when fighting outside his province. I have no idea if that could be done, but if it could then you could also have the opposite: 'this man detests his province: the sights, the smells, the dirty commoners, all of it. He yearns for somewhere more civilised and spends most of his time in his chambers' which would have the opposite effect.

Similarly, you could have 'knows his province like the back of his hand- this man knows every valley and stream in his province- he should be relied on to make full use of any terrain advantages if he is fighting in his home province.' with a command bonus. If possible, a general should only get that trait if he has been ruler there for a long time.

Also, you know the way EB has effects based on the part of the world and the season? well you could make that more general-specific .

Something like 'this man finds it hard to leave his command tent in this cold land. he spends his days shivering and dreaming of more mediterranean climes.'

Or the opposite. 'this man cannot abide the accursed heat of this land. He finds his energy sapped by the sun and is usually found in a foul mood. He dreams of returning to a land with proper weather.'

You could also have the occasional general for whom the effects of a foreign clime are less marked. Something like 'Likes The Cold' This man finds the bracing northern air a welcome relief from the oppresive heat back home. Nothing is so refreshing for him as to feel the cool rain on his face.'

Or: 'Enjoys the sunshine: This man is overjoyed at having escaped the cold winds and gloomy skies of home. Each day he walks out of his tent and smiles as the sunlight hits his face. He has no time for men who complain about the heat: who can look at a clear, blue sky and not be filled with wellbeing?'

You could also have generals who rule in heavily forested areas given better LOS. Something like 'good pathfinder: This man spent his youth hunting boar and deer in the deep forest. He is good at finding a trail and understands the need for good reconnaissance and scouting. Scouts are happy to serve a man who understands their art.' Or something

One last thing is that in provinces with a low level of government and low population happiness you could have a trait that 'this province seems to have forgotten that it has a master, taxes have been collected laxly and the population seems eager to reestablish independance. Which would mean a drop in income there and a lower population loyalty plus a decrease in the cost of a bribe.

In the end, if someone is simply too stupid, they won't be intelligent whatever or however much you teach them. Intelligence is due to genetics. How clever you are is more to do with how much you know and how you can apply that knowledge, so a very intelligent person who hasn't learned anything could be less clever than another person, say a stupid teen and a baby genius. You wouldn't say that a teen was clever if he could speak, but you would say that a baby/toddler (aged 2 or so) was intelligent (even a genius!) if it could speak.

Yeah, so anyway, would it be possible to have a brief description of some interesting provinces in the governors traits- something that provides a bit of information about the type of people living there, their lifestyles, customs, climate, history, trivia- that kind of thing?

If we had people to do them - yeah, maybe. But right now the number of people who are actively working is fairly small. Porting and fixing problems has been the main concern for those who are around, and then after that is totally over it's time for new stuff.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Teleklos Archelaou

If we had people to do them - yeah, maybe. But right now the number of people who are actively working is fairly small. Porting and fixing problems has been the main concern for those who are around, and then after that is totally over it's time for new stuff.

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And with the porting nearing to an end.... ~d