DeI Politics and Character Development
Q Sertorius
13 February 2025
Table of Contents
Summary Screen
Always pay attention to your particular faction, party traits, and government type throughout the campaign. You can see the faction traits and party traits when you pick them on the selection screen. These characteristics should be a rough guide to your game strategy. While this should not tie your hands completely or dictate exactly how you play the game, in many cases it can be a useful guide.
After covering some basics, I will show you an example Summary Screen from a Properly Managed Roman Patricii campaign, a Horribly Mismanaged Hannonid Carthaginian campaign, a Decently Managed Kingdom of Pontos campaign, and a Poorly Managed Iceni campaign.
In each case, pay attention to how the faction and political party characteristics interact with how well you play the Politics system. For each faction, at any given point in the game, there is an ideal amount of political power (influence), and an ideal Government type. For example, a Republic will be more successful if you maintain a balance of power among the parties. A Kingdom will be more successful if your dynasty can control most, but not all, the power in your faction.
All these things are gradual and constantly evolving. If you pay attention to these characteristics, you will be less frustrated as you get deeper into the campaign. Decisions you make early on in the campaign will have ripple effects later on, but usually not utterly devastating ones.
Basics
Do:
Do Not:
Influence and Gravitas
Properly Managed Republic
This example is from a Roman campaign. Rome’s governmental philosophy is Republican.
As a Republic, ideally you want between 40-49% influence.
The ideal influence rating does not change when you change governments!
A republic probably should use generals from each party.
Properly Managed Tribal Confederation
This example is from a Parthian campaign. Parthia’s governmental philosophy is Tribal Confederation.
As a Tribal Confederation, ideally you want between 30-39% influence.
The ideal influence rating does not change when you change governments!
A tribal confederation should use generals from each party.
Properly Managed Monarchy
This example is from a Mauryan campaign. Maurya’s governmental philosophy is Monarchy.
As a Monarchy, ideally you want between 70-79% influence.
The ideal influence rating does not change when you change governments!
A monarchy should probably only use family members as generals.
Properly Managed Politeia
This example is from a Rhodian campaign. Rhodes’s governmental philosophy is Politeia.
As a Politeia, ideally you want between 60-69% influence.
The ideal influence rating does not change when you change governments!
A politea can use generals from any party, but should probably focus on the ruling family.
Properly Managed Chiefdom
This example is from a Lusitani campaign. Lusitania’s governmental philosophy is Chiefdom.
As a Chiefdom, ideally you want between 70-79% influence.
The ideal influence rating does not change when you change governments!
A chiefdom should only use family members for generals.
Summary Screen - Poorly Managed Chiefdom
This example is from 100 turns into a Poorly managed Iceni campaign.
I should be aiming for higher party influence. This will give me better bonuses to upkeep, research, public order, morale, and limit the number of political events. I want to stay between 60-80%.
I made the mistake of initially playing this Chiefdom like a Republic.
Politics Screen
Always pay attention to your particular faction and political party’s characteristics. These characteristics should be a rough guide to your game strategy. While this should not tie your hands completely or dictate exactly how you play the game, in many cases it will be something you want to work around, it can be a useful guide and paying attention to it can help you avoid some frustration deeper into the campaign.
Politics - Properly Managed
When you first begin a campaign, immediately check out the Politics screen to see what characteristics the other parties possess.
The first two party traits come from that political party and do not change during the course of the campaign. In this case, throughout this campaign, the Equites will be Mercantilists and Pacifists.
The third Equites’ trait, Hates Easterners, comes from the Equites’ party leader. When he dies, this trait will be replaced by his successor’s trait (Xenophobe).
Politics - Properly Managed (cont.)
I decided that this was a useful and interesting set of party characteristics and would make for a good complement to my Patricii.
For this campaign, I intend to be “No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy.” So, I will not trade or have any diplomatic agreements with anyone, unless they are a client state or military ally.
The only trait I really do not like is the Pacifist one, because I plan on being at war a lot.
Politics - Properly Managed (cont.)
The third party, in this case the Plebeians, is always the most important!
The reason for this is that due to the way CA built the game, the third party always absorbs whatever influence the other parties lose. So, you can generally count on the third party gaining relatively high influence.
In this case, 108 turns in, I have 47% influence, the Plebeians have 48%, and the other parties have a negligible amount. This is right where I want to be throughout this campaign.
Politics - Mismanaged Example
In this case, I made some poor decisions early on and got severely in the hole on influence. My major mistake was not using my faction leader aggressively enough.
It is going to be very hard for me to recover from this mess, but I can do it if I stop using the other party members as Generals and Admirals and win some battles with my family members.
In this case, 78 turns in, I have 19% influence, the Landowners have 43%, and the other parties have a significant amount. This is not where I want to be!
Politics - Secure Loyalty
Not every faction has the same options, but if you need to stop a Civil War from occurring, Secure Loyalty can really help.
Politics - Provoke
If you want to make a Civil War happen, this is a very useful tool
Politics - Purge
Not every faction has the same options, but if you want to make a Civil War happen, this is a very useful tool (indirectly, it may help you lower loyalty enough to use Provoke).
Character Screen
This is the screen where you will spend most of your time playing the political aspect of the game.
Your Rival Parties are on the left.
Your Family is in the middle.
Your Other Nobles (who count as part of your party) are on the right.
In this case, I have eight Rival Party characters and eight Family/Other Nobles characters. This makes maintaining my <49% influence rating relatively simply.
Character Screen - Secure Promotion
At certain ages, characters become eligible for promotion. If the character is eligible, the button will be lit up.
You never need to use this button on a female character (unless you are a nomad and promoting a female general).
The best way to promote female characters is to use them on missions.
Don’t promote more than one character per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Improve Relations
I personally never used this button. It is expensive in terms of Gravitas and the rewards are small and don’t last long. But, in a pinch, after you have used other options, it is there for you. It might just be enough to prevent a Civil War (assuming you don’t want one of those).
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Leisure Time
This is a very good action, once you get your character up to 6 Zeal and 6 Authority (you can use a combination of Praise and Do Favor for that).
This is my normal way of promoting my female characters. Each time they go on vacation, they gain one promotion rank (and one Cunning), without lowering loyalty for my Rival Parties.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Send Emissary
Directly, this action is good for those times when you miscalculate Food and you need more of it. Fast. Send the character to the province with the lowest food.
Indirectly, this action is good for raising Loyalty. Using it on a Rival Party member also promotes her another level (if she needs it).
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Organize Games
Directly, this action is good for those times when you need Public Order in a province.
Indirectly, this action is good for raising Loyalty. Using it on a Rival Party member also promotes her another level (if she needs it).
I estimate that I use this action almost every turn (when I can afford it).
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Send Diplomat
Directly, this action is designed to be a chance to make another Faction like you more.
Indirectly, this action is good for raising Loyalty. Using it on a Rival Party member also promotes her another level (if she needs it).
I don’t like this action and I use it as infrequently as possible. My reason for this is that the critical success chance is that the other Faction gives you a settlement. The critical failure kills your character. I don’t like either of those outcomes.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Assassinate
I rarely use this option, but it is there if you need to get rid of a character with an undesirable trait.
Having the option to use this trait requires having higher cunning than your target. That’s one reason to send your female characters on vacation (Leisure Time increases Cunning).
Note, of course, that this also lowers Loyalty. If you want to provoke a Civil War, stabbing your rivals is a good way to begin.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Spread Rumors
I rarely use this action, but it is there if you want to piss off your rivals.
Another way to help initiate a Civil War, if that’s part of your plan.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Gather Support
This action can be very useful for some factions, but it is less useful for others. If your optimal Governmental Philosophy requires high Influence, you will probably use this a lot.
For other factions, it can be useful to keep you from sinking too low, if you mismanage character ratios.
Another way to help initiate a Civil War, if that’s part of your plan.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Political Marriage
This is one of my favorite actions, when there is a target available. It does require good planning.
First, you need to have a single family member with >30 gravitas. Second, you need an eligible target with lower gravitas than your character. So, get your character’s gravitas up first. Then hire the Rival Party character. Then do the action.
Also, I only ever use my men to marry their women. I would rather get another potential loyal general through using the regular marriage option for my women.
Political spouses have a red wreath.
You can see the short term benefits to Political Marriage on the right, but the long term benefit is that Political Marriage spouse ancillaries provide, on average, more Loyalty than regular marriage spouses.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Entice
This action can be very useful for some factions, but it is less useful for others. If your optimal Governmental Philosophy requires high Influence, you will probably use this a lot. That is because you want most of the characters to be yours, but the available candidates rarely start out that way.
Another reason to increase your female characters’ Cunning.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Embezzle Funds
This action can be very useful for some factions, but it is less useful for others. In my Arevaci campaign, I used it almost every turn. I don’t think I ever used it once in any of the others. A lot depends on whether you are struggling with Loyalty.
Another reason to increase your female characters’ Cunning.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Send Gift
I don’t use this option very often, but it can be useful for a temporary boost to Loyalty, or to raise Gravitas to have enough for another action.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Do a Favor
I use this option almost every turn (assuming I have the money).
I only ever use this to target my own characters.
It is very good for raising your characters’ Authority up to 6 so they can go on a vacation.
Generals with high Authority spread their aura further.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Flirt
I don’t think I have ever used this option, but it could be useful to make it easier to get a Political Marriage.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Praise
This is another one I use almost every turn (in this case, I already use it once, which is why the cost is 36 instead of 30).
I only ever use this to target my own characters.
It is very good for raising your characters’ Zeal up to 6 so they can go on a vacation.
Generals with high Zeal are more deadly.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Insult
I rarely use this action, but it is there if you want to piss off your rivals.
Another way to help initiate a Civil War, if that’s part of your plan.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Provoke
I rarely use this action, but it is there if you want to piss off your rivals.
Another way to help initiate a Civil War, if that’s part of your plan.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Seek Spouse
I use this option as often as I can. As you can see from my faction screen, all my characters are currently married.
There is no real good reason to leave a character unmarried - unless you are waiting for a Political Marriage between one of your male Family Members and a Rival Party female.
If you use Seek Spouse for your Rival Party members, that improves their Loyalty. The spouse ancillaries provide Loyalty bonuses (some more than others).
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Divorce
I rarely use this action, but it is there if you get a really bad spouse. If you are going to do this, then do it early, don’t wait to try to “fix the marriage.” That doesn’t happen in DeI.*
*May or may not apply to real life.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Usurp Legacy
I have never used this option, but I can see it being useful if you screw something up elsewhere.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Educate
If you can afford it, there is no reason not to use this action for every eligible child (>5).
I usually use it as soon as a kid is eligible, that way I don’t forget to use it before they come of age. But, you could technically wait until they are over 10, so they are less likely to die while off at school.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Declare Heir
I use this one, when I can, whenever I identify an heir with a good personality trait. This will help you avoid the Selfish Leader, Disdained Leader, etc.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Character Screen - Adopt
I use this one, when I can, whenever I identify an character who will make a good general, or even a good potential heir.
It only works on characters from Other Nobles. So, if your Rival Parties have a character you wish to adopt, you have to Entice them first. Then Adopt them.
Don’t use this action more than once per turn. Costs go up exponentially.
Boii Campaign Example
This is the faction screen from the Boii, on turn 22.
As you can see, I have married off all my rival party leaders. I have used their wives to hold feasts, host games, and conduct diplomacy to get their loyalty up. Now I can afford to do some things which will lower it.
Meanwhile, my faction leader has had three children (one illegitimate - hence the line in red). He’s also adopted a daughter, Eburia, who popped up as part of an event.
I have big plans for Eburia…
Boii Campaign Example
First, because I have a Wargames in my capital, I got to choose two Skills for her. This moved her from three Zeal to five Zeal. Even though these skills are not good for much else (apart from an extra point of gravitas each), this extra boost to Zeal is critical.
Why Zeal? Well, a character needs six Authority and six Zeal to go on vacation, which will give her one point of Cunning each time she vacations. Cunning is the critical attribute needed for Enticement - wooing a rival politician over to your cause.
Boii Campaign Example
So, I could have given her two Cunning skills, which, when combined with a couple of useful ancillaries, would have maxed her out at seven Cunning. Seven Cunning is pretty good, but it will not always be enough to Entice every character the Rival Factions can spawn. For that, you want around nine Cunning.
Which means that what we now need for Eburia is an ancillary who gives plus one Zeal. Once we have six Authority and six Zeal, she can go on vacation. Each time she does this, she gains one Cunning.
Boii Campaign Example
Every time she goes on vacation (up to four times for regular female characters, but many more times for Nomadic female characters), Eburia also gains another rank, which gives additional advantages. And, going on vacation does not make the rival factions angry - unlike using her for a mission. So, there is no loyalty penalty for sending her on vacation.
Boii Campaign Example
I also married her off as soon as possible, in order to gain another general. Winning battles greatly increases prestige, so whenever possible, you want to use your own family members to fight battles.
If you use a member of the rival parties to fight battles, they will gain immense prestige and may eventually cause significant issues for your influence and their loyalty.
If you use a character who is not currently a party leader or family member, such as a member of your Other Nobles party, they may eventually form a fourth political party and become another rival party.
Character Development
Character Development can be a fun and rewarding part of the game. The first thing you need to understand is how the Academy works.
The Academy
Any character you hire in the city with an upgraded Academy gains free ranks.
If you put your Academy in the capital city, then any character you hire from the Hire Politicians tab on the Character screen, will get the free levels. You can “hire” them on this screen, then raise an army with them at any city you want and they will have the free levels.
If you put your Academy in the capital city, then any character you get through an event spawn, will get the free levels.
If you put the Academy in any settlement other than your capital, you must hire them in that city.
Family members and spouses do not get the benefits of the Academy. Family members can be educated by the faction leader.
Event Characters
If you put your Academy in the capital city, then any character you get through an event spawn, such as in the example to the right, will get the free levels.
I see no good reason to ever Refuse one of these characters.
Growing and Developing a Great Character
Here is an example from a Syracuse Campaign (I created a confederation with Epirus to form the Hellenic League).
I got Aristomache from an event. Because I have a Level IV academy in my capital city, she started at Level 4, which in my Developed World mod gives her eight attribute points to spend.
I put those points into skills which improve Authority and Zeal. I had some left, so I put them into the skill which provides Research bonuses. In 1.34, it is best to put them into Zealous Patriot. This is a very useful skill for a character who is purely passive.
Sending her on vacation...
Here you can see the Vacation button, the associated costs, and benefits.
Rank has its privileges
Here you can see the benefits this character will provide once she reaches Rank 4 (Matriarch).
This 1% reduction in Empire Maintenance can be a huge amount of money in the late game.
Meet Alcandre...
Alcandre, unlike her gifted relative Aristomache, did not start with such wonderful skills. That’s because she was gained through marriage with a general. Such characters do not benefit from the Academy building.
Praise...
We can Praise Alcandre, and she will gain Zeal. Note that this requires a character with high Zeal. Your faction leader is usually a great person to use for this, but he has to be acting as a politician, not a general, in order to do this.
Do a favor...
We can Do a Favor for Alcandre, and she will gain Authority. Note that this requires a character with high Authority. Your faction leader is usually a great person to use for this.
So, once Alcandre gets enough Authority and Zeal, she can also go on vacation… gaining cunning and rank, then she can also Entice.
Using entice...
Here you can see the costs and requirements for the Entice skill.
Once you get a couple of characters with enough Cunning (by sending them on Vacation and or giving them the right ancillaries), you can Entice characters from the Rival Parties to your Other Nobles. Then, if desired, you can adopt them.
You cannot entice the head of the Rival Party. You could entice the spouse, if you wanted… but that usually makes their opinion of the spouse go down.
This works best when you hire a character using the Hire Politicians window, then entice them to your Other Nobles.
Civil War Planning
Sometimes Civil Wars will just inevitably happen, other times, they can be wars of choice. In either case, you want to know how some of the mechanics work so you can prepare appropriately.
In this case, the Royal Philoi rival faction has an extremely undesirable Party Trait for a Total War game. My plan was to get rid of them as soon as I got a good opportunity...
Civil War Planning (cont.)
Unfortunately, I waited too long!
The Royal Philoi control an entire province.
Because they are first on the list, they get control of the second province in which I take a territory.
If I make them revolt, then Galatia, my primary food province right now, will be lost until I reconquer it. Not what I need.
Political Marriages
Political marriages can be a useful way to tie the rival parties to your family. Whenever possible, I try to marry my male family members to female members of rival parties.
So many candidates for a political marriage…
Intellectual or Scholar Trait
This can improve over time. Be patient. It takes time (50-100 turns, depending on buildings available).
Look at the tooltip on the Intellectual trait. It tells you exactly what conditions you need to go up the scholar tree (and what can send you back down it).
Your character must be in the settlement (politician doesn't count). You want to have a library and/or academy (or other intellectual building - there are minor settlement variations as well) in the settlement.
You should get as many of the Blue and Orange skills that say "increases the Intellectual trait" as possible. It is better, for purposes of this trait, to have all of them at Level 1 than to have two of them at Level 3 (but eventually you will get them all up). And then, it is also nice to have the ancillaries which improve this trait.
The tooltips tell you everything you need to know…
Intellectual or Scholar Trait
This can improve over time. Be patient. It takes time (50-100 turns, depending on buildings available).
Look at the tooltip on the Intellectual trait. It tells you exactly what conditions you need to go up the scholar tree (and what can send you back down it).
Your character must be in the settlement (politician doesn't count). You want to have a library and/or academy (or other intellectual building - there are minor settlement variations as well) in the settlement.
You should get as many of the Blue and Orange skills that say "increases the Intellectual trait" as possible. It is better, for purposes of this trait, to have all of them at Level 1 than to have two of them at Level 3 (but eventually you will get them all up). And then, it is also nice to have the ancillaries which improve this trait.
An example of the right skill…
Intellectual or Scholar Trait
This can improve over time. Be patient. It takes time (50-100 turns, depending on buildings available).
Look at the tooltip on the Intellectual trait. It tells you exactly what conditions you need to go up the scholar tree (and what can send you back down it).
Your character must be in the settlement (politician doesn't count). You want to have a library and/or academy (or other intellectual building - there are minor settlement variations as well) in the settlement.
You should get as many of the Blue and Orange skills that say "increases the Intellectual trait" as possible. It is better, for purposes of this trait, to have all of them at Level 1 than to have two of them at Level 3 (but eventually you will get them all up). And then, it is also nice to have the ancillaries which improve this trait.
An example of the right ancillary…
Intellectual or Scholar Trait
This can improve over time. Be patient. It takes time (50-100 turns, depending on buildings available).
Look at the tooltip on the Intellectual trait. It tells you exactly what conditions you need to go up the scholar tree (and what can send you back down it).
Your character must be in the settlement (politician doesn't count). You want to have a library and/or academy (or other intellectual building - there are minor settlement variations as well) in the settlement.
You should get as many of the Blue and Orange skills that say "increases the Intellectual trait" as possible. It is better, for purposes of this trait, to have all of them at Level 1 than to have two of them at Level 3 (but eventually you will get them all up). And then, it is also nice to have the ancillaries which improve this trait.
Characters with the right starting Purple Trait can attain different variations of Intellectual.
Miscellaneous stuff
New rival political parties can spawn under certain circumstances. You can never have more than four rival political parties. If you have at least three rival parties, a new party can form from:
So, if you don’t want new parties to spawn, only fight battles with members of your family tree or the heads of existing rival parties.
If you have less than three parties, a new party can spawn at any time, even from the character pool.
Faction Leader Traits
Virtuous,
Cheerful
Dependent, Histrionic,
Anxious
Borderline,
Sociopath
Hot-Headed
Egotistic,
Narcissistic
Magnanimous,
Obsessive
Circumspect,
Calm,
Philosophic