You are constantly shooting for the moon. It is normal that you miss sometimes honestly. The game is not exactly easy. Even seemingly small choices have impacts and you can’t really have everything go perfect in a single run. At least, I never managed it even with code diving. You always have to sacrifice something.
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Alliance involves promising to spare Victoria’s life and betrothing Augusta to her grandson, Marius. In the peace offer option, you can betroth Augusta to Marius or Victoria.
There will be only one “10” check per stat over the course of the story. But it will be impactful.
Yes, the nephew betrothal offer doesn’t occur if Augusta is illegitimate (regardless if that’s revealed or not).
Augusta isn’t actually forced into the betrothal unless the Prefect actually does do that over her objections (and if she’s low strength enough to tolerate the maneuver). She can be convinced easily, depending on the potential groom/bride, her personality, and what choices you make.
As for Dagr, he’s not just a cheery warrior. He’s still a lord. One who views offering his son’s hand in marriage and the large dowry to a Iudia who he still deeply distrusts as a gesture of magnanimity the Legate had to work to make happen. Refusing that is viewed as an insult to his family…which isn’t the sort of thing a lot of people get over easy.
That doesn’t mean he’ll be sabotaging the war, it’s the same status he’s at if you refuse to compensate him for the deaths of his men. But it means you do lose his personal loyalty and friendship, yes.
Yep. That’s part of my game design, there are almost always trade-offs.
Still, I will be revising certain things here and there in my second draft of the chapter, as I have done for the last two chapters. I am open to suggestions and feedback as always.
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Haha, oh I know. There are always sacrifices and trade-offs. I don’t think I’m shooting for anything particularly impossible – as evidenced by the fact that I could manage it on a second go-around each time, it is just funny that every single time on a first playthrough I fall short before having to regroup and figuring out exactly what I need to sacrifice to get what I truly value.
AHA! That’s helpful.
So presumably this means that I can still marry Julia, have Titus shuffle off the mortal coil, and reveal Augusta’s parentage to her privately. What I need for the peace offer then is that reluctant_rival stat, with 40 approval for the foederati.
Now I just need to figure out how to manage that one, as I’ve never pulled it off on ANY run thus far.
Honestly, that’s a relief. I was glad when the game text practically said as much “good thing they’re cousins” or something along those lines. Then I don’t have to worry about them getting along. In fact, it’s probably healthy for her to have family her age she gets along with.
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You also need to save Tristitia’s life then, if you intend to kill Titus (or let Julia kill him).
Only conditionally second cousins, which is quite tame by standards of many past and present royal families. For example, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip were second and third cousins at once, which is a more consanguineous pairing than any in this story.
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Oh, I always save her, so that’s no trouble. Poor kid.
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A legitimate Augusta can still get engaged to Marius and Victoria so incest can still happen
See, it’s a good thing my Augusta is illegitimate. While more distant cousins is more historically common, I’m doing my part to make the marriages more reasonable! Avoiding incest, that’s why my prefect stepped in Titus’s way. I had such foresight.
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Look at all these complex requirements for marriage proposals. Ha! Meanwhile all I have to do is annihilate all opposing factions and Augusta can marry whenever with whomever afterwards. And the price to be paid is just thousands of additional lives lost. A small price, indeed…
I can’t wait to see what wizardry we’re going to do with 10 in economics.
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Augusta is marrying whoever I want and she’s gonna like it because I am the player and I can do whatever I want.
Fr she actually liked it. It was insanely easy to get her to agree to Eugusta. No objections at all.
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My main power hungry Prefect is planning to get rid of Augusta so marriage would be pretty pointless anyway for her that is.
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Is this the new political spectrum?
I’m marrying Augusta off to solidify alliances (either Euric or Victoria, whoever makes the plot more interesting and gives the most benefits) and strengthen my faction enough to beat the Witch King. Where do I fit in?
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I’m not sure why folks are drawing a distinction between duty and love here — or rather, assuming the marriages are all for duty.
My duty prefect switched to love for Augusta in chapter VI, which is why he’s going to propose the Victoria engagement when I redo it. The suck-it-up-and-do-your-duty option is Marius, who she can’t stand. He’d be another Titus. It would be awful for Augusta, but the most stable.
Victoria is someone Augusta has expressed interest in before (as Diana). And it entails a sacrifice of power — Victoria won’t be a doormat, she’ll require a duumvirate.
Augustoria IS the love choice, dangit. That’s my hill. 
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I think the one with the best chance of turning the arranged marriage into a love marriage would be Euric. Depending on your choices, she can already get along with him and it’s insanely easy to convince her to go along with it too. She even seems happy to go along with it, especially if she’s a puppet. The Prefect can even convince Augusta to marry him by appealing to her heart and saying they look like they’d make a good couple. He’s the only betrothal option where the Prefect can use that to convince Augusta to agree to the betrothal.
It may not necessarily be romantic love but they already get along well so there’s a better chance of that arranged marriage turning into a love marriage compared to the other betrothal options.
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I don’t know what a Euric is. Is that some sort of condition?
But seriously, as that option doesn’t exist on the Senate and People path it doesn’t really enter my calculation. The only person I’ve seen Augusta get along with is my nephew Laurentius, and they’re family so it’s a no-go. Even if he were an option, Laurentius is the most blatantly corrupt and awful option and I could never. Reminds me too much of corrupt behavior that brought down dynasties IRL.
And it does seem you can tell paragon Augusta that Diana was Victoria, and her interest in her seems to play a factor in paragon Augusta being far more willing to consider Victoria than the others. The text even notes Augusta doesn’t even bat an eye that she’d be marrying another girl. I definitely think there’s interest there on Augusta’s part.
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Azan could do the funniest thing and reveal that Marius is actually the best betrothal option for Augusta.
I kinda hope we’ll see more of him if we agree to betroth Augusta to him. I wanna see what that boy did to make Augusta dislike him so much. The way Augusta talks about him in Chapter 3 makes it seem like she hates him for smiling and trying to make small talk and I just find that funny.
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The vibe I got was that he was encouraged by Leta to get along with Augusta and he didn’t quite know how to do that, but he was trying. This, awkward energy all around and Augusta — not used to kids her age — picked up on that and decided he was weird.
She probably did write him off too easily but I get why she’d resent being compelled to marry him if it came to it, based on just her first impression. That could definitely change if she ever tried to get to know him, who knows.
or it could be another Titus — a one-sided infatuation from someone well-meaning but not a good match for the empress.
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This appeared when Augusta is an Unburned Puppet.
Bald hair, also in this he has a beard so maybe that could be used.
A repeat.
Overall I found quite amusing that Augusta as a Puppet is a brat that tries the Prefect’s patience, big “be careful what you wished for”.
I do believe Augusta should be more curious about the idea of the engagement to Marius, at least a “Wait, isn’t he on the other side of the war?” before going into how she finds him weird.
Also I think we should have the option of admitting to Leta if we were the ones to kill Julia, just drop that bomb on her, hell, if we also spared Tristitia go all out and point out to her that she knows we have gone against Julia before and if she had asked we would have helped in her plan to depose her and avoid this war altogether (Maybe also take into account if we told her we understand our “duty goes beyond who sits upon the throne” in Chap 3?).
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In a lot of ways, this depends on your view of ‘best.’ Laurentius is perhaps what one could call the most innocent or pure of the options. He doesn’t have the same grand designs and social expectations pinning him down. As a son of well-off but not upper crust plebeians, he doesn’t necessarily have the same aristocratic upbringing that shelters and educates. He is, to put it simply, the most normal, for better or worse. He doesn’t have any political acumen, but that also means he has no agenda.
Marius understands his social expectations, he’s been brought up as any son of a matrician family ‘should be’ as according to Iudian society. He understands his place, he’s unlikely to exceed it, and he has been prepared and educated to those standards of coming to assume certain family and household duties that husbands are often given. He isn’t totally naive to politics but he has no stomach to influence or challenge a future spouse. He is the safest choice, and one not likely to cause any harm…outside of whether he and Augusta can actually make the relationship work.
Euric is the son of a king. That may not mean too much to a Iudian, given he is a barbarian, but it still puts him well above the vast majority of people in this setting. He is a trained young warrior and a competent scribe, politically astute and eager to pursue his own agenda. That means he’s able to operate on a level of royals and rulers, and one where he is primed to influence and potentially challenge a future spouse. He’s also like to cause controversy with Iudians and inspire loyalty in the foederati. But he seems keen on forming an actual relationship with Augusta, which is why should you let them meet, she’s most open to this arrangement.
Victoria is someone who the reader has already been able to inhabit the head of, so you understand she is not someone who takes to the role of a consort. She is certainly the most experienced and able of candidates, with a drive for justice and righteousness. She would not accept any less than a duumvirate, but how she would operate in that does remain very unknown to the Prefect. Would she try to betray Augusta and take the throne for herself? Would she leverage the marriage to influence Augusta to try to do her bidding? Would she and Augusta actually get along and form a lasting partnership?
Who knows? Whether any one of these outcomes happen depends on Augusta’s personality, status, and skills. Victoria is by far the option with the most uncertainty and risk.
Pretty much. It’s important to remember that Augusta is an isolated, moody teenager dealing with power and puberty. It’s an awkward mix.
Will fix all three, thanks!
If you coddle someone into immaturity, you get immaturity.
Seems a reasonable suggestion.
I’ll give this one some more thought. It’s certainly one of the weightiest of revelations to drop, maybe it can work and maybe not.
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That’s some prime bonding material for Leta and regicide Prefect, especially if the latter was in a relationship with Julia.
Prefect: “You know, Leta, I killed Julia for the sake of Iudia.”
Leta:”Well dang, I know how that feels.”
Leta is such a great character. She’s top 5 for me definitely.
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