Spymaster with intrigue 6 can't be fired for 25 years

[sbudy]

I love this game, but some of the RNGs are down right moronic. In what world incredibly incompetent advisor could hold on to his position for 25 years without any leverage on his ruler (no, the idiot does not have any hook on me)?

What I'm supposed to do with this RNG fart besides restart?
I'm the Byzantine Emperor with intrigue 0. There's no way I'd survive the next year, much less the next 25. Yes, even with a spouse with high intrigue.

Why does this happen, and how to prevent this s**t from happening?

[Kovs]

Have you check the vassal's feudal contract? They might have the Council Right, to which they can demand a council position without having a hook on you.

[Kimlin]

Kill them.

[Half-lidded Bruiser]

Before the release of RC, I'd have said "don't let people get hooks on you" to prevent it, but there's something allowing rulers (and their spouse, for some reason) to automatically gain a hook on you. Not sure what specific event is responsible for it, either; the only announcement is a generic message. It might be tied to the Petition Liege decision, but I'm not sure.

Anyways, for you to get hit with this out of left field means it was probably a vassal with Guaranteed Council Rights in their feudal contract. If a sub-vassal got "independence" and their contract already had that clause, guess what that means for you.

[BrowneHawk]

If they get a hook on you they can sometimes use it to secure their council position. It happens easily when throwing feast when you're clicking through events. You puke on them, they get a hook, they are now your crappy servant.

[ZenAgain]

You can't fire them off the council but you can reassign them to a different council position. Swap them with your Chancellor as that is pretty much the most useless position. Then you can assign a competent Spymaster.

[jerrypocalypse]

Originally posted by ZenAgain:

You can't fire them off the council but you can reassign them to a different council position. Swap them with your Chancellor as that is pretty much the most useless position. Then you can assign a competent Spymaster.

This right here.

[Crim]

Time to tell your spymaster you have a new person you want to add to your murder count

[Sputnik]

Note that your Heir can get hooked before even taking the throne. This seems to happen when you've granted them their own title. They arrive for duty encumbered also with enemies, injuries and debts etc.

So it's a toss up: On-the-job training vs OH&S disasters.

[sbudy]

That worked! Thanks.

[captain403]

If he's landed, get an arrest reason and then arrest him. Either he's in prison, or he's revolting. In the latter case (assuming you win the war), he's still in prison. Either way, he's not your spymaster.

If he has a guaranteed council position, release him to get a hook -> modify contract. Done.

[sbudy]

I'd just wait for an intrigue ruler to fabricate hooks on all council rights vassal.
New titles I've created won't have this clause, right? Just old ones.

[sbudy]

BTW, what determines whether a certain title include council rights? Because I'm pretty certain this happened in the past with titles I've created, and I certainly don't recall inserting council rights into any of them.

[jerrypocalypse]

Originally posted by sbudy:

BTW, what determines whether a certain title include council rights? Because I'm pretty certain this happened in the past with titles I've created, and I certainly don't recall inserting council rights into any of them.

It'll be the feudal contract for feudal vassals.

But this can also happen as a one time thing if there person has a hook on you. They can use the hook to force themselves onto the council for X number of years. This situation won't show as a contract modification sincw it's just a temporary hook use.

[teron]

There is a version of this where they have a strong hook on you, which means that you can't plot their murder/take more aggressive actions.

If they are a much lower tier vassal, you can however transfer them to another vassal thus making them that vassals problem and not on your council. Bonus points if the person you transfer them to is their rival/nemisis since their new liege will likely screw them over.

[jerrypocalypse]

Originally posted by teron:

There is a version of this where they have a strong hook on you, which means that you can't plot their murder/take more aggressive actions.

If they are a much lower tier vassal, you can however transfer them to another vassal thus making them that vassals problem and not on your council. Bonus points if the person you transfer them to is their rival/nemisis since their new liege will likely screw them over.

Along with this, if they happen to be a ruler of a small bit of land you don't care about, you can grant them independence so they're no longer a vassal, and then just retake the land when they die.