I don't really understand the layers of plot manip, so I don't have much to comment. The same Plot Manip im talking about affected the real world players.
Quid pro quo on how layers work:
Example:
P1 has plot Hax (0 layer potency) and P2 has Plot resistance (0 layer resistance)
*P1 uses Plot Hax against P2. It fails because P2 resists.
*P3 uses Plot Hax against P2. It succeeds meaning P3’s Plot Hax operates at a higher potency than P1’s and was potent enough to bypass/overwhelm P2’s resistance = 1 Layer Potency for P3
*P3 uses Plot Hax against P4. It fails meaning P4’s plot resistance operates at resiliency higher than P2’s to be able to resist P3’s Hax = 1 Layer Resistance for P4
*P5 uses Plot Hax against P4. It succeeds meaning P5’s Plot Hax operates at a higher potency than P3’s and was potent to bypass/overwhelm P4’s Resistance = 2 Layer Potency for P5.
And so on and so forth. Layered Hax and Resistance basically adds addition “layers” of potency to Hax and resiliency to resistances. If your character has no layers to speak of and/or fewer than someone else’s then no amount of plot Hax used by them can affect the opposition and no amount of resistance they would have protect them plot Hax from the opposition as well.
Also Layers don’t matter when faced with a higher dimensional potency.
For Example:
P6 has 100 Layers of Plot Resistance (4-D)
P7 has 1000 layers of plot resistance (4-D)
P8 has

layers of Plot resistance (4-D)
P9 has 1 layer of Plot Hax potency (5-D)
P9 can affect P6, P7 and P8 because while P9 has less layers his Hax operates at an infinitely higher level.