Part of Crusader Kings 3 is about winning the popularity contest with a lot of different people. The more characters and vassals in your kingdom who love you, the more willing they are to work with you and help you complete your program. You have to be careful how your vassals see you and almost every other character in the game. Their opinion of you appears as a small number next to their avatar. But for those you want to convince to work with you, how can you increase their opinion and gain their trust?
You have a handful of methods for gaining the trust of others. For most of your vassals and those in your court, you must influence them. Right click on their portrait to view the different interactions you can choose from with them. You should have the opportunity to convince them. To influence another character, it takes several months to convince them to see your point of view.
It usually takes several months, but the time increases or decreases depending on your character's diplomacy. If they have any traits that prevent them from talking to others. For example, a character with the Shy trait means he's gaining stress for trying to talk with him, and the overall process takes longer. Random events can happen when you try to influence them to facilitate their conquest. These events could also negatively impact your efforts.
You can also quickly increase another character's opinion by sending them a gift. Exaggerated opinion does not last forever, and each year their opinion of you decreases by a certain amount. It's a good idea to use a giveaway to take advantage of their opinion of you for quick action.
There are many other factors that make another character like your character. It can come from having a similar faith, a similar culture, if you are a member of the same family, if you have killed members of their family if you have taken something or a number of things from them. You can hover over this character's opinion count to see why he might hate you more than others. Once you find out why you can try to find ways to fix it. Above all, you want to make sure that your vassals are happy with you. Over time, see if you can win over neighboring rulers to turn them into vassals or build alliances to become a more powerful empire.
