A closer look
Sometimes the best foreign policy is showing everyone you have absolutely no morals. Grand strategy games often feature diplomacy engines driven by raw numerical modifiers rather than scripted morality. In Crusader Kings 3, traits like Dread act as a diplomatic currency. By committing atrocities against your own bloodline, you raise your Dread stat, which systematically intimidates foreign rulers into complying with your treaties. It is a brilliant display of emergent gameplay where the game's interlocking mathematical systems reward Machiavellian tyranny over traditional ambassadorial negotiations.
