How to role-play a civil war?

[V.T. Marvin]

Hello friends, I would like to spice up my campaign by role-playing a civil war within my faction, but I am unsure how to do it properly so that it would actually brought forward some benefit in terms of more challenge and fun. Therefore I am asking for advise and best-practices.

• Probably the easiest way woud be just to give certain provinces to some other faction. But is it possible to cause your family members with their armies and cities to "defect" as well? How would this be done?
• What are the experiences with how the AI copes with such unexpected fortune in form of a bunch of new (and possibly far away) provinces and armies you gave to it?
• Does the AI have to be able to use my barracks for recruiting or is it able to eventually build it own?
• Does the EB government system brings any difficulties for the AI if it obtains new province via diplomacy (as a gift, for instance)?
• What relevant console commands could be used in simulating a civil war?
• I like the civil war between Antigonid and Pyrrhic dynasty in MAAs AAR, but I just cannot understand how he made it, please enlighten me.
• My intent is to conquer the three Indian provinces as Bactria and then let them "rebel" and create an independent Indo-hellenic Kingdom. Which faction would be the most suitable "counter-faction" for this purpose?
• Generally who of you actually does role-play a civil war in your campaigns? how do you do that technically and do you think it worth the effort invested?

Thank you very much in advance!!!

[Lysimachos]

But is it possible to cause your family members with their armies and cities to "defect" as well? How would this be done?

Somewhere there is a guide how to use a change faction script. Use it to control the faction which you want to use to simulate a civil war, take a diplomat, bribe family members. In case they are too expensive, give them some traits, that reduce their bribe resistance, via console.
Then, switch back to your own faction.
I used this once and I didn't experience any serious problems (had to move some armies back where they belong, change construction/training).

Does the AI have to be able to use my barracks for recruiting or is it able to eventually build it own?

The AI will build its own MICs, but it is of course preferable, if they can use the same as you, because in the simulation they are the same faction as you are and shouldn't need to build up their own military infrastructure.

Does the EB government system brings any difficulties for the AI if it obtains new province via diplomacy (as a gift, for instance)?

I'm not absolutely sure, but I think the script spawns a government building in a region which at the end of the turn belongs to the AI and doesn't have one yet (please confirm anyone!). If so, there shouldn't be a problem.

I like the civil war between Antigonid and Pyrrhic dynasty in MAAs AAR, but I just cannot understand how he made it, please enlighten me.

I think he used FD to gift the provinces to Baktria, who share the MICs with Makedonia, changed the faction name and the color (guides on how to do these should be available per forum search). I think that was all that's to it

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

• Probably the easiest way woud be just to give certain provinces to some other faction. But is it possible to cause your family members with their armies and cities to "defect" as well? How would this be done?

I'm not sure. MAA killed the relevant FM iirc and let the game spawn substitutes for them.

• What are the experiences with how the AI copes with such unexpected fortune in form of a bunch of new (and possibly far away) provinces and armies you gave to it?

They spawn FMs.

• Does the AI have to be able to use my barracks for recruiting or is it able to eventually build it own?

It's preferable when the counter-faction is of the same culture like you and shares the MIC.

• Does the EB government system brings any difficulties for the AI if it obtains new province via diplomacy (as a gift, for instance)?

Besides that it's going to war with you, I can't think of any specific difficulty.

• What relevant console commands could be used in simulating a civil war?

create_unit "settlement" "unit"
process_cq "settlement"
give_money "faction" 40000

• I like the civil war between Antigonid and Pyrrhic dynasty in MAAs AAR, but I just cannot understand how he made it, please enlighten me.

I'll leave that to him.

• My intent is to conquer the three Indian provinces as Bactria and then let them "rebel" and create an independent Indo-hellenic Kingdom. Which faction would be the most suitable "counter-faction" for this purpose?

Makedonia. They are of the same culture and share the factional MICs. Also, the "real" Makedonia is far away so it won't cause any interference with them. When the civil war is done, FD peace with them.

• Generally who of you actually does role-play a civil war in your campaigns? how do you do that technically and do you think it worth the effort invested?

I am planning to use Baktria as my counterfaction in my epic Makedonian campaign. The only thing that bothers me is that I border Baktria in the east and don't have any problems with them atm. But I think it's necessary, my empire has become so vast and my Basileus is going to die soon, so...

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

-IMO, it is not worth the effort of getting your family members to go over to the other faction. When an AI faction has more territories than family members, they will "magically" spawn new ones which you can roleplay.

-When the AI has two separate areas of territory, they'll generally concentrate on only one of them (usually the bigger part).

-If the AI doesn not share the same MICs as you, the gifts of the territories will spawn hundreds of "freed slaves" and you'll have to wait a decade or more before they build up their MICs and start making proper armies.

-If the AI uses the same government system as you (normal vs. nomad vs. Pahlava), then they will use your governments normally as though they built them.

-Forced diplomacy can do just about all you need to do, unless you plan to script things...

-From your questions, you pretty much understand what I did and how to do it. There was a whole lot of roleplaying in my AAR, where I couldn't do things gameplay wise.

-To make an Indian faction, your choices really are only Baktria, Pahlava, Saka Rauka, and maybe the Seleukids (since nobody else has any good units in India). Although Baktria and Pahlava & Saka share neither governments nor MICs. If either Parthia or Saka are nearly dead, you could try transplanting them to India and giving them a decade to build up governments and MICs (or script those).

-Don't steamroll a civil war, the AI will be weak and confused by the transplanting for quite some time.

[Lysimachos]

-IMO, it is not worth the effort of getting your family members to go over to the other faction. When an AI faction has more territories than family members, they will "magically" spawn new ones which you can roleplay.

That's correct in most cases. However, in the case I changed the faction to bribe my family members I was pretty determined to get them over, so there was nothing to stop me
It has the advantage, beside certain FMs really opposing you, of getting rid of them and an entry in the family tree as "deserted in xx BC", which I think is quite nice when you browse the tree some decades after the incident.
Trying it once won't hurt, but overall, I guess, it's really not worth it

[V.T. Marvin]

Thank you very much for your advise. I think that I will just give the Indian territories to AS and give them some repite afterwards. They are pretty much doomed right now elsewhere

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

(they have three territories in Asia Minor, three more in Mezopotamia, Persis+Karmania, and Sogdia+that one around Alexandria Eschate - all others taken by Pahlava and PONTOS - amazing AI expansion so far, I will post the picture in the AI expansion thread soon).

so before I manage to conquer India and find a plausible reason for the spilt of my Kigdom, this might well become their last stronghold.

Anyway, thank you - Centurio Nixalsverdrus, MarcusAureliusAntoninus and Lysimachos - once more and if anybody has any new ideas, I will welcome these as well.