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Crusader Kings 3is famous for being a game about medieval intrigue. From murder plots to hidden affairs, nearly every character in CK3 is involved in some kind of hidden skulduggery. Even a relatively honest noble needs spies to watch their back, because palace politics can get messy when money and power are on the line.
The Basileus Update for Crusader Kings 3 introduced a new system for Schemes, giving you more control over all your dirty secrets. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the new rules of engagement before donning your cloak and dagger for your next campaign.
Potential, Phases, And Secrecy
Starting a Scheme in Crusader Kings 3 is done the same way it always has - right-click the character that you want to plot against, and pick from the available actions that you can take. Some Schemes are simpler than others, but no matter their complexity, they all share three important components;Potential, Phase Length, and Secrecy.
How To Recruit Agents
Most Schemes allow you to recruitup to five Agentsto help carry out the deed. These will usually be members of your own Court or the target’s, and unless they’re supremely loyal or have a reason to help you, they’ll need an incentive before they join your Scheme.
When you select a potential Agent, you’ll be given alist of possible offersthat you can make them. Select as few or as many as you like, offering themGold, Prestige, Hooks, or other favors to get their acceptance score above zero.
The role to which you assign an Agent will determine how they help, either byincreasing the Scheme’s Potential,speeding up Phases, or increasing Secrecy.Note that sometimes roles with two different names will affect the same element of the Scheme; in these cases, that usually means that theycheck different Agent stats, so an Agent that doesn’t do well as a Thug might excel as a Footpad, for example.
How To Execute The Scheme
Once the Scheme has started and the Agents are in place, you’ll need towait several Phasesbefore you can actually make your move. At the end of each phase, the Scheme gains oneAdvantage, denoted by a Key icon, and gains some Success Chance if it hasn’t already reached its maximum Potential. You can only select theExecute Schemeaction once you have enough Advantages to pay the cost.
You can also spend Advantages to recruit Agents. This slows down the Scheme, but saves Gold and other resources.
You can choose how many Advantages to spend when executing the Scheme. The more Advantages you spend, the better the result will be. You’renever one hundred percent guaranteed to succeed,though, even with perfect preparation.
Breaches
After the grace period ends, the game will also start checking forBreacheseach time a Phase ends. If the Scheme fails in its Secrecy, it suffers a Breach - an Agent may be exposed or the Scheme’s existence may be leaked. Success Chance drops with each Breach, and if the Scheme accumulates five Breaches, itautomatically fails.
Countermeasures
If you suspect that there are plots afoot in your own court, you canenact Countermeasures from the Intrigue panelto foil them. you’re able to have one Countermeasure active at a time; each has benefits and drawbacks, so choose your security protocols carefully!
