Titles

Titles are a new mechanic in the Royalty DLC. They grant the bearer psycasts and allow the bearer to trade with and call help from the Empire, but in exchange the bearer has an increasing number of demands to maintain their mood.

Mechanics

Titles increase in level, starting at Freeholder, increasing to Yeoman, Acolyte, Knight / Dame, Praetor, Baron / Baroness, and Count / Countess. Further ranks include Duke / Duchess, Consul, Stellarch, and Emperor / Empress, but these are not achievable by colonists during standard gameplay. Starting at Acolyte, the title holder will start to demand certain apparel, rooms, and furniture, and may begin to refuse to do particular types of work or eat lower quality foods if the pawn has traits making them Conceited.

Titles are granted upon reaching a certain threshold of Honor. Upon leveling up, you will receive a quest to accept a Bestowing Ceremony. Upon accepting the quest and performing the ceremony, your pawn will also gain levels of their Psylink. All titles, starting at Yeoman, allow an increasing level of psycast.

Some titles come with recreation limits. These, and other limits, generally remain and grow from rank to rank, such that a Baron has all the limits placed on a Praetor, and more.

Additionally Conceited nobles will refuse to do more types of work or eat certain kinds of food as they increase in rank. Non-conceited pawns do not refuse to do any type of work and will still eat everything they normally would.

Slaves can be given Honor and will rank up as usual, and have the same clothing and room requirements as normal. They will not however be able to use permits and their worktypes override any added by Conceit.

Conceited vs Non Conceited

Titled pawns with the Greedy, Jealous, or Abrasive traits become Conceited after gaining Titles, and refuse to do certain types of work or eat certain kinds of food as they rise up the ranks. The game will show a popup warning if you attempt to give such pawns royal honor. Additionally Conceited Nobles replace their normal Expectation moodlets with mood penalties of -6 and -12 at the ranks of Baron and Count respectively, even if the expectations moodlet would otherwise be positive. This can be a significant mood penalty even if colony wealth is sufficient to eliminate expectation mood bonuses.

Titled pawns without those traits can continue to do all types of work and eat all types of food they used to be able to even after gaining higher titles. Conceited nobles maintain their food limits, even when unconscious.

It is generally advisable to not give conceited pawns royal title when other pawns are available, but such alternatives are not always available. The exact encumbrance a conceited noble represents depends heavily on colony design, the work the pawn performs, and the rank to be achieved. A conceited yeoman has no demands for example, while a colony that only uses fine meals and 5x5 bedrooms likely won't even notice the difference if their conceited researcher became a Praetor instead of a non-conceited pawn.

Note that slavery will override the work restrictions of conceited pawns just as it does other work restrictions, allowing conceited nobles to work if enslaved. However, slaves cannot use permits which lessens their utility.

Food requirements

Conceited nobles will refuse to eat certain foods, with fewer items be acceptable as the ranks increase. Non-conceited nobles have no such restrictions.

Conceited cannibal nobles can eat human meat without penalty, and gain the normal positive moodlets from doing so. It is currently unknown if Simple Meals with Human Meat are allowed.

Ascetic food requirements override title requirements, and thus Ascetics still prefer raw or simple food.

Clothing requirements

All titles, starting at Acolyte, desire clothes fit for their station, including some specific apparel choices that are listed below. Any conflicting apparel requirements from simultaneously holding an Ideoligion role are disabled.

Nudists are not exempt from the need to wear Noble-specific clothing, and still take the penalty from wearing any clothes at all. This results in a Nudist Noble always having a negative moodlet of some kind. Pawns with an ideoligion with the Nudism meme however do not take a penalty and can go nude without penalty.

Ascetic do not require noble-specific clothing and are happy in any clothing.

Thrones and Bedrooms

Titles of Acolyte and above require a throne room, and have minimum requirements for bedrooms. These requirements include a minimum number of tiles of room area, specific furniture, and a minimum impressiveness. All throne and bed rooms must be fully floored (no dirt or rough stone), and higher levels require fine floors. Note that a Circadian half-cycler does not negate the desire for a bedroom, even though it negates the need for it.

Couples containing one or more nobles can still share a bedroom. Additionally, any number of nobles can share a throne room, however they need individual thrones and the title's usual requirements must still be met.

Throne rooms cannot have workstations, however they can simultaneously function as impressive rec and dining rooms. The meditation throne itself also functions as a chair, and if near the appropriate furniture can be used while dining or recreating.

Ascetic bedroom and food requirements override title requirements, and thus Ascetics still prefer an awful bedroom. Moreover, Throne Room requirements (braziers, drapes, instruments, size, flooring) do not need to be satisfied. They do still need a throne room to satisfy their need for Authority (No authority results in a -18 moodlet), and based on the Impressiveness of the room they may get a negative moodlet (-6 for awful, -2 for dull (with the moodlet "mediocre throne room", possibly a bug)) if the room is less than Mediocre. In practice, this means that an Ascetic Count/Countess (or any title) may be kept happy with raw food, a 1x2 awful bedroom, and a 3x3 smooth stone throne room with a normal throne and a light source. Do also note that having a throne room that meets or exceeds the requirements and is sufficiently impressive can result in a positive moodlet, which may be useful but is a very expensive way to get a mood bonus.

Honor

Honor Icon

Honor is the "currency" of the titles system - there are honor requirements that must be reached to gain each rank of nobility and it can also be expended to access permits within thier cooldown. Honor is offered as a quest reward or can be purchased from Royal Tribute Collector caravans in exchange for either gold or slaves.

Royal tribute collector

If you are not enemies with the Empire, Royal Tribute Collectors will visit your base approximately twice a year. They accept gold and prisoners in exchange for Honor. The pawn who initiates the trade receives the Honor.  

Gold's exchange rate (listed in the trade window) is 0.015 point of Honor per gold, rounded down, and is not affected by Social skill. The amount of gold required for each point of Honor is as follows:

Gold	Honor
67	1
134	2
200	3

Prisoners generate 3 Honor - factors such as bionic body parts, missing limbs, etc, do not appear to affect the trade value. Prisoners do not need to be at full health in order to exchange, but they must be healthy enough to walk. You can see the Honor value listed under View Information for prisoners. Offering prisoners for Honor will generate the same mood and social penalties as selling prisoners to slavers.

Bestowing Ceremony

See also: Quests

A colonist with enough honor for a new title can accept the received quest to invoke the bestower, a ceremonial priest-like figure who arrives by shuttle with a retinue of guards. He goes to the colonist's throne room, confirming that it satisfies the title requirements, and does the bestowing ceremony there. The ceremony itself gives the psylink upgrade and title. You can also betray the bestower to steal psylink neuroformers if you wish.

• 

  A bestower granting the countess rank to a pawn.

• 

  Bestower and guards leaving on shuttle after granting a title.

Inheritance and Renouncing

Heirs are automatically assigned with additional weight to spouses. Can be changed by using a Comms console and performing a ritual. Should a noble die and be resurrected, the heir keeps the title. Titles can be renounced.

Speeches

Initiate a speech from the throne. <PAWN NAME> will go to <PAWN POSSESSIVE> throne and call all colonists to listen to a speech there. If all goes well, listeners will feel inspired, and gain respect for <PAWN NAME>. If it goes poorly, the speech will do social damage. The outcome depends on <PAWN NAME>'s social abilities.

— In-Game Description

At Praetor rank, Nobles gain the ability to give speeches. This ability is manually triggered by the player. These speeches have a cool down, require an assigned throne, and cannot happen while another gathering is happening. Speeches last 10,000 ticks (2.78 mins) or 4 in-game hours. Like weddings and parties, undrafted pawns will attempt to attend. Pawns must attend to gain the benefits or detriments of the speech.

A speech grants attendees a moodlet and changes the listener's opinion of the speaker, both proportional to the success of the speech. A "Terrible Speech" will grant a -12 negative mood to attendees and a -30 opinion of the speaker. An "Uninspiring Speech" will grant a -4 negative mood to attendees and a -15 opinion of the speaker. An "Encouraging Speech" will grant a +4 positive mood and a +20 opinion of the speaker. An "Inspirational Speech" grants a +8 to mood and a massive +40 opinion of the speaker. In addition, each listener of an Inspiring Speech has a 5% chance of getting an inspiration.

The cooldown between uses of the speech ability varies by rank. At Praetor rank this cooldown is 1,200,000 ticks (333.33 mins) or 20 in-game days. At Baron rank this cooldown is 900,000 ticks (250 mins) or 15 in-game days. At Count rank this cooldown is 600,000 ticks (166.67 mins) or 10 in-game days. While Nobles above the rank of Count are not generally available to the player, if one is gained by for example by recruiting an Empire prisoner, then they will have the same cooldown as the Count.

While the speech success chance is proportional to the Social skill of the speaker, the exact relationship is unknown. Similarly, it is known that the Social Impact stat also improves chances, but the exact relationship is once again unknown. Despite this, it is known that it provides a significant improvement, which give the headwear all speech-giving nobles ask for have a practical use. Prestige helmets are still highly recommended, but swapping to a top hat just the length of the speech is a good idea.

Decrees

Main article: Decree

Nobles will sometimes issue quests with no reward except for a positive moodlet of +6 to the noble when fulfilled under ?? conditions. The noble that issued the decree  will experience an increasingly negative moodlet if the quest remains unfulfilled, starting at -?? and increasing by ?? after ??. Conversely, they will experience a positive moodlet of +6 if fulfilled. Decrees demand things such as producing, harvesting, or killing a certain amount of things. Dying, being kidnapped, or renouncing a title ends any current decrees as of 1.1.2579.

Permits

At certain levels nobles gain permits. You choose which royal permits you want to come with that title. Some permits require minimum titles before they can be chosen, allowing you to customize your nobles somewhat. Permits generally cannot be used during their Cooldown, however Honor can be paid to use the permit again during the cooldown if the pawn has sufficient excess honor. If they do not, the permit cannot be used again - a pawn cannot demote themselves to spend more honor.

All permits can be returned at which the permit points are returned and a different selection of permits may be selected. This costs 8 honor plus the "cooldown" cost of any currently cooling permits. For example, if a pawn attempted to return their permits while the "Silver drop" permit was still on cool down, it would cost 8 honor + 6 honor, for a total of 14 honor. Any new permits will not have the cooldown, however it is more honor efficient to just purchase the permit on cooldown rather than reset permits, as it increase the price by an additional 8 honor.

Enslaved nobles cannot use permits.

NPC nobles will generate with a random number of permits appropriate to their rank.

Permit Name	Prerequisite	Cooldown (Days)	Honor Cost (if used during cooldown)	Description	Equiv. Value
Call transport shuttle	Knight/Dame	40	8	Call a shuttle for your own use. It will transport colonists, items, and animals on a one-way trip to anywhere you like within 70 world tiles. The shuttle can hold a total of 1000kg when loaded on a colony map, but as of 1.2.2900 it ignored this weight limit when called for a caravan on the world map.	N/A
Call laborer team	Acolyte	60	4	Call a group of 4 laborers to assist you for 4 days. These workers can only do general labor tasks. You can control them as though they were your own colonists. You are required to keep them safe.	N/A
Call laborer gang	Count Laborer Team Permit	60	8	Call a group of 8 laborers to assist you for 4 days. These workers can only do general labor tasks. You can control them as though they were your own colonists. You are required to keep them safe.	N/A
Call aerodrone strike	Knight/Dame	45	6	Call a single-impact aerodrone strike at a target position. 45 tile range, 3 tile miss radius, 8 tile explosion radius, 50 Bomb damage, 120 ticks (2 secs) warmup time.	1,000
Call aerodrone salvo	Praetor Aerodrone Strike Permit	60	8	Call an extended salvo of aerodrone strikes around a target position. 45 tile range, 8 tile miss radius, 6 tile explosion radius, 50 Bomb damage, 120 ticks (2 secs) warmup time. 6 rounds with 60 ticks (1 sec) between them.	?
Call trooper squad	Acolyte	40	4	Call a group of 4 light troopers to aid you in battle.	N/A
Call janissary squad	Praetor	50	6	Call a group of 4 professional janissaries to aid you in battle.	N/A
Call cataphract squad	Count/Countess Janissary Permit	60	8	Call a group of 4 heavy cataphracts to aid you in battle.	N/A
Steel drop	Acolyte	45	4	Call for a drop of 250 steel.	475
Glitterworld medicine drop	Baron/Baroness	45	8	Call for a drop of 5 glitterworld medicine.	250
Silver drop	Knight/Dame	45	6	Call for a drop of 500 silver.	500
Food drop	Acolyte	45	4	Call for a drop of 20 packaged survival meals.	480

^* Roughly equivalent to a Doomsday rocket launcher

List of titles

• Freeholder: The Imperial title of freeholder is used by the Empire to signifies a fully-respected individual. Most Imperial citizens earn it while young through volunteer work or military service. The title is also offered to outsiders who act with honor in the eyes of the Empire.
• Yeoman: The Imperial title of yeoman is held by those who serve a noble lord in an important, specific way. While it is not a noble title, it does give the holder the right to use low-level psychic abilities. This title is often held by senior soldiers, warskiff pilots, spies, advisors, diplomats, intrusion operatives, and other key individuals. Many important people spend their entire lives as yeomen, seeking success outside the strictures of nobility.
• Acolyte: The title of acolyte is the first title of noble duty, an encompasses a wide range of practical positions. Some acolytes are purely students, learning to lead troops, manage societies, or use psycasts in specialized schools. Others come from wealthy families and might own city buildings or farm complexes. During wartime, an acolyte might lead a platoon of troops, captain a small frigate, or serve their lord as an advisor. Their low rank within the nobility makes them paradoxically less useful as diplomats than yeomen. Sending a low-ranked acolyte to a negotiation can itself be seen as an insult, whereas a non-noble yeoman negotiator is seen only as the mouthpiece of his lord.
• Knight/Dame: The title of knight is held by nobles who have largely passed their training, but who have not ascended to higher leadership roles. Many knights never advance further, and spend their lives as respected managers, advisors, or warriors. Most knights have some wealth, but a few remain quite poor while others may be very rich. In peacetime, a knight may manage a factory complex, commercial district, or small farming region. In war, some knights lead troop companies and assault squadrons, while psychic-focused knights engage in espionage, sabotage, and battlefield psychic combat.
• Praetor: The title of praetor is a bridge between the service-oriented lower titles below and the power-holding nobility above. During peacetime, a praetor will usually manage a city district, asteroid sector, or agricultural region. During war, they take authority over the smallest combat units that fight independently - terrestrial troop cohorts, or space-borne destroyers or combat groups.
• Baron/Baroness: The title of baron is the lowest of the middle nobility. While lower titles focus on personal service at war or commerce under a lord, barons hold title as semi-independent rulers. Each baron is subordinate to his liege lord, but his obligations are mostly in supplying wealth and troops, and not in personal service. In the Empire, a baron will typically own a city sector, mining colony, or similar outfit. At wartime, a baron may captain a capital ship in name, or control a regiment of troops.
• Count/Countess: The title of count is the middle rank of middle nobility. In peacetime, counts hold title to a city or colony, and might have a small personal fleet, possibly including capital ships.
• Duke/Duchess: The Imperial title of duke is the highest of the middle nobility. In the Empire, dukes control provinces, mega-cities, or moons. At war, a duke can field a division-level force, or a fleet with capital ships and dozens of support craft.
• Consul: The Imperial title of consul is a lower level of high nobility. In the Empire, consuls control planets. At war, a consul can usually field an army-sized force of multiple divisions, supported by several fleets. Some command from a super-capital ship or control space-based megastructures.
• Stellarch: The Imperial title of stellarch represents dominion over an entire star system. In the Empire, since interstellar travel times are years long, stellarchs rule their systems with a great degree of independence. They each swear fealty to the Emperor, but since the Emperor may be many light-years away, a stellarch may go years or decades without interacting with him.
• Emperor/Empress: The Imperial title of emperor indicates sovereign dominion over the entire Empire, all its peoples, planets, and fleets. All other lords swear fealty to a high lord, while the Emperor swears fealty to no one. However, even the Emperor depends on the support of lower nobles to remain in power.

Obtainable Titles	Royal Honor Required (total)	Psylink Level	Incapable of Only if Noble is Conceited (New this tier in Bold)	Throne Room Requirements (New this tier in Bold)	Bedroom Requirement (New this tier in Bold)	Food Requirements Only if Noble is Conceited (Lost next tier in italic)	Clothing Requirement (New this tier in Bold)	New Abilities with this Rank
Freeholder	1	0	None	None	None	Any	Any	None
Yeoman	6 (7)	1	None	None	None	Any	Any	None
Acolyte	6 (13)	2	Cleaning	Area 24, Throne, all floored, Brazier x2 All braziers must be lit	Area 16, all floored, Double bed	Fine meal, Packaged survival meal, Simple meal, Pemmican, Lavish meal, insect jelly, milk, berries, ambrosia, chocolate, beer	Formal shirt, Top hat (male) or Ladies hat (female)	1 Permit Point
Knight/Dame	8 (21)	3	Cleaning, Haul	Area 30, Impressiveness 60, Throne, all floored, Brazier x2, Column x2, Harp All braziers must be lit	Area 24, Impressiveness 40, all floored, Double bed, End table, Dresser	Fine meal, Lavish meal, insect jelly, milk, berries, ambrosia, chocolate, beer	Formal shirt, Top hat (male) or Ladies hat (female)	1 Permit Point Trade with Empire Caravan/Settlements
Praetor	10 (31)	4	Cleaning, Haul, Plant cut, Grow, Mining	Area 40, Impressiveness 90, Throne, all floored, Brazier x2, Column x4, Harp All braziers must be lit	Area 24, Impressiveness 50, all floored, Double bed, End table, Dresser	Fine meal, Lavish meal, insect jelly, milk, berries, ambrosia, chocolate, beer	Formal shirt, Top hat (male) or Ladies hat (female) (All apparel must be at least Normal quality)	1 Permit Point Give speech once per 20 days
Baron/Baroness	14 (45)	5	Cleaning, Haul, Plant cut, Grow, Mining, Cook, Construct, Smith, Handle, Tailor, Craft	Area 60, Impressiveness 120, Grand Throne, all fine floored, Brazier x2, Column x4, Drape x2, Harpsichord All braziers must be lit	Area 30, Impressiveness 70, all floored, Royal bed, End table, Dresser, Drape	Lavish meal, insect jelly, milk, berries, ambrosia, chocolate, beer	Formal shirt, Formal vest (male) or Corset (female), Coronet (All apparel must be at least Normal quality)	1 Permit Point Trade with Imperial orbital traders Speech cooldown reduced to 15 days Expectations replaced with Noble Expectations if Conceited
Count/Countess	20 (65)	6	Cleaning, Haul, Plant cut, Grow, Mining, Cook, Construct, Smith, Handle, Tailor, Craft	Room area 80, Room impressiveness 160, Grand throne, all fine floored, Brazier x2, Column x6, Drape x2, Piano All braziers must be lit	Area 30, Impressiveness 80, All fine floored, Royal bed, End table, Dresser, Drape	Lavish meal, insect jelly, milk, berries, ambrosia, chocolate, beer	Formal shirt, Formal vest (male) or Corset (female), Prestige robe, Coronet (All apparel must be at least Normal quality)	1 Permit Point Speech cooldown reduced to 10 days Expectations replaced with Royal Expectations if Conceited

NPC Titles	Psylink Level	Incapable of	Throne Room Requirements	Bedroom Requirements	Food Requirements	Clothing Requirement	Abilities New with this Rank
Duke/Duchess	6	Cleaning, Haul, Plant cut, Grow, Mining, Cook, Construct, Smith, Handle, Tailor, Craft, Art, Research, Basic, Doctor, Firefight	Area 80, Impressiveness 160, Grand throne, all fine floored, Brazier x2, Column x6, Piano All braziers must be lit	Area 30, Impressiveness 80, all fine floored, Royal bed, End table, Dresser, Drape	Lavish meal, insect jelly, milk, berries, ambrosia, chocolate, beer	Formal shirt, Formal vest (male) or Corset (female), Prestige robe, Coronet (All apparel must be at least Normal quality)	None
Consul	6	Cleaning, Haul, Plant cut, Grow, Mining, Cook, Construct, Smith, Handle, Tailor, Craft, Art, Research, Basic, Doctor, Firefight	Area 80, Impressiveness 160, Grand throne, all fine floored, Brazier x2, Column x6, Piano All braziers must be lit	Area 30, Impressiveness 80, all fine floored, Royal bed, End table, Dresser, Drape	Lavish meal, insect jelly, milk, berries, ambrosia, chocolate, beer	Formal shirt, Formal vest (male) or Corset (female), Prestige robe, Coronet (All apparel must be at least Normal quality)	None
Stellarch	6	Cleaning, Haul, Plant cut, Grow, Mining, Cook, Construct, Smith, Handle, Tailor, Craft, Art, Research, Basic, Doctor, Firefight	Area 80, Impressiveness 160, Grand throne, all fine floored, Brazier x2, Column x6, Piano All braziers must be lit	Area 30, Impressiveness 80, all fine floored, Royal bed, End table, Dresser, Drape	Lavish meal, insect jelly, milk, berries, ambrosia, chocolate, beer	Formal shirt, Formal vest (male) or Corset (female), Prestige robe, Coronet (All apparel must be at least Normal quality)	None
Emperor/Empress	6	Cleaning, Haul, Plant cut, Grow, Mining, Cook, Construct, Smith, Handle, Tailor, Craft, Art, Research, Basic, Doctor, Firefight	Area 80, Impressiveness 160, Grand throne, all fine floored, Brazier x2, Column x6, Piano All braziers must be lit	Area 30, Impressiveness 80, all fine floored, Royal bed, End table, Dresser, Drape	Lavish meal, insect jelly, milk, berries, ambrosia, chocolate, beer	Formal shirt, Formal vest (male) or Corset (female), Prestige robe, Coronet (All apparel must be at least Normal quality)	None

Trivia

The royal favor icon is reminiscent of the head of the eltex staff carried by the Bestower. This is fitting, since the bestower grants the received titles to the pawn.

Version History

• Royalty Initial Release: Added
• 1.1.2571: Baron can now do Animals, Count can now do commoner work and instead is now only unable to do same as Baron, plus Animals.
• 1.1.2575: added the ability to renounce the title from the bio tab.
• 1.1.2579: mechanics were changed from all Nobles having hard restrictions, to only some. Dying, being kidnapped, or renouncing a title now ends decrees.
• 1.1.2654: rename esquire to acolyte. Adjust some title descriptions.
• 1.2.2719: added permits system, previous ally summon abilities subsumed into it with new abilities added. Speech duration: 5hrs -> 4hrs. Inspiring Speeches have 5% chance to inspire each attendee. Titles no longer gained instantly nor neuroformers drop podded in - both replaced with Bestower and Bestowal Ceremony.
• 1.2.2753: Added new permits: Steel drop, Glitterworld medicine drop, Silver drop, Food drop. Renamed Orbital Strike and Orbital Salvo permits to Aerodrone Strike and Aerodrone Salvo (for fiction coherence reasons). Increased warmup time for aerodrone permits by 1 second. Titles no longer instantly transferred to heirs upon death of noble - now triggers bestower quest for the heir. Added new noble compatible clothing: Beret, Cape, Eltex Skullcap, and Stellic Crown. Stellarch and other non-rewardable title holding pawns now get any permits. NPC nobles now purchase random permits on generation.